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3 books match the query 'Improve'

cover of Cultivating Civility: Practical Ways to Improve a Dysfunctional Library

Cultivating Civility

Practical Ways to Improve a Dysfunctional Library

Jo Henry

American Library Association, 2020

Like other workplaces, libraries can sometimes be stressful, with library workers bearing the brunt of such problems as uncivil patrons, poor communication, inadequate leadership, and toxic behaviors by fellow employees. But there’s hope. Following up their acclaimed examination of the dysfunctional library ("should be essential reading for library leaders" raves Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association), here the authors present a book of proactive solutions and guidance culled from their own research, including interviews with library administrators and staff. Sharing valuable insights that will stimulate thought and discussion towards the goal of a healthier and more harmonious workplace, this book

  • addresses the subject from four viewpoints—individual, team, leader, and organization—focusing on solutions and practical steps in each area;
  • shows how self-reflection and self-awareness can be key starting points for exploring workplace issues;
  • offers numerous suggestions for wellness and self-care;  
  • provides tips for improving interpersonal communication and conversations in ways that prevent silos and span boundaries;
  • sheds light on forming and sustaining cohesive library teams, then provides solutions for misaligned teams and dissenters;
  • discusses why effectively conveying vision, role modeling, and demonstrating empathy are all crucial behaviors of library leaders;
  • shares actions library leaders can take to engage employees in the change process;
  • examines how organizational structures can either detract or contribute to a library’s success; and
  • details types of training that can be utilized to minimize dysfunction, including training for bias, empathy, conflict management, and diversity.

Filled with beneficial advice on every page, this resource will help libraries be better workplaces for everyone.

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cover of Improve, Perfect, & Perpetuate

Improve, Perfect, & Perpetuate

Oliver S. Hayward

Dartmouth College Press, 1998

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cover of The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics

The Will to Improve

Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics

Tania Murray Li

Duke University Press, 2007

The Will to Improve is a remarkable account of development in action. Focusing on attempts to improve landscapes and livelihoods in Indonesia, Tania Murray Li carefully exposes the practices that enable experts to diagnose problems and devise interventions, and the agency of people whose conduct is targeted for reform. Deftly integrating theory, ethnography, and history, she illuminates the work of colonial officials and missionaries; specialists in agriculture, hygiene, and credit; and political activists with their own schemes for guiding villagers toward better ways of life. She examines donor-funded initiatives that seek to integrate conservation with development through the participation of communities, and a one-billion-dollar program designed by the World Bank to optimize the social capital of villagers, inculcate new habits of competition and choice, and remake society from the bottom up.

Demonstrating that the “will to improve” has a long and troubled history, Li identifies enduring continuities from the colonial period to the present. She explores the tools experts have used to set the conditions for reform—tools that combine the reshaping of desires with applications of force. Attending in detail to the highlands of Sulawesi, she shows how a series of interventions entangled with one another and tracks their results, ranging from wealth to famine, from compliance to political mobilization, and from new solidarities to oppositional identities and violent attack. The Will to Improve is an engaging read—conceptually innovative, empirically rich, and alive with the actions and reflections of the targets of improvement, people with their own critical analyses of the problems that beset them.

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