Library Management Training: Accelerated Course

Two-week Course + Workshop | Live sessions: June 5 and 12, 2025 | 8:00 am - 1:00 pm

Time Commitment: About 8 hours per week

Learn what they didn’t teach you in library school: how to be a library manager.

This is a two-week, accelerated version of our longer course intended for busy managers who need crucial information quickly to better fit your schedule.

This course will set you up for success in your future or existing management position by training you on the fundamentals of library management.

Built specifically for new managers (or those on a future management track), this interactive, project-based course will provide foundational learning on a broad range of subjects crucial to effective managers, including:

• Building team culture and people management
• Equity-centered leadership
• Managing difficult conversations
• Providing feedback
• Conflict resolution 
• Crisis and incident management
• Supporting yourself and staff through burnout
• Data-informed decision making
• ...and more

You will have the chance to build a community of peers in similar roles across the country and be able to ask questions of each other, crowdsource resources, and work through specific situations you’ve encountered. 

This two-week intensive, online course is created to prepare library managers for the specific challenges you will face but were not trained for. Each live-session week will include:

• Training from an expert guest speaker
• A facilitated discssion and Q&A
• An optional interactive working session to practice new skills with peers

In the week between the live session meetings, you will have the opportunity to work on asynchronous prompts in peer cohort groups that will lead to a culminating portfolio of management resources. You will leave this course with a new cohort of peers and a Library Journal Management Training Certificate.

Learning Outcomes

After you attend this course, you’ll be able to:

• Understand different management styles and what kind of manager you want to be
• Use cultural competency in your management techniques 
• Build a culture of trust and belonging with your staff
• Run an efficient and effective meeting
• Gain communication skills to lead your team through change
• Give difficult and constructive feedback
• Manage conflicts and difficult conversations with confidence 
• Identify causes of burnout for yourself and staff
• Advocate for your team within your sphere of influence 
• Manage your team through crises
• Create career goals for yourself and advocate for your own professional development
• Use data literacy skills to make informed decisions  

Who should take this course?

This course is intended for aspiring and new library managers, or those who feel their training did not adequately prepare them for their library management position.

Course Features 

This will be a 2-week intensive online course and will include:

• Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.) 
• Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.
• Interactive working sessions: Optional breakout groups during live sessions to practice skills with peers.
• Asynchronous workshop: Project-based weekly assignments to connect what you’re learning to your professional life. Includes written feedback from an expert in the field who functions as the workshop facilitator, as well as peer conversation via discussion forums.
• Early access on-demand resources: Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace. 
• Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends. 

CALL Training Partner for this Event: Library Journal