As a part of her crowdsourcing project to reimagine libraries, Mega Subramaniam published her fourth SLJ article, discussing how decisions are made in a library during an emergency.
As a part of her crowdsourcing project to reimagine libraries, University of Maryland College of Information Studies (UMD iSchool) Associate Professor Mega Subramaniam published her fourth School Library Journal (SLJ) article, coauthored with Linda Braun, titled, “The Right and Wrong Way To Make Decisions in a Crisis.”
In this article, they discuss how decisions are made in a library during an emergency. After working with over 160 library staff, they learned that sometimes, local officials make decisions that will impact library services, but won’t seek input from library staff beforehand.
Furthermore, they explain the difference between a public servant and a library servant, pointing out that public servants make decisions alongside community members, while library servants make decisions for them. In order to move from library servant to public servant, they write that staff must change their mindsets, listen to the community, and lead from wherever they are.
Mega Subramaniam and Linda Braun are nearing the end of their project and ask that anyone who believes they are solving their community needs during crises by innovating solutions with and for them take part in a focus group, and to get in touch with them at lbraun@leonline.com and mmsubram@umd.edu.