Experiences of a Reluctant Supervisor: Discovering New Skills and Innovative Ways to Manage

Abstract

After going through a long reorganization, technical services at the University of Kentucky looked very different in 2005 than the team-based organization of recent years. A new organization also created new departments and units as well as new names and terminology. One new group was the Special Formats Unit, created by putting together the various catalogers who were not located in the central technical services area of the main library. The many challenges this unit faced included: having a new, first-time supervisor; physical separation with offices in three buildings; changes in job responsibilities; and, with a variety of job duties, learning how to work together when very little work overlapped. In this presentation, learn how the new (and reluctant) supervisor faced these challenges and used some innovative methods for bringing some cohesion to this disparate group.