Team Power : Making Library Meetings Work

Designed to help members of library teams to collaborate and to accomplish their collective goals, this handbook describes the methods and skills needed for effective meetings. The book also explains the advances in telecommunications which mean librarians can exchange ideas without meeting.

Dewey has written an extremely useful, succinct book about having and improving library meetings. She emphasizes using meetings for problem solving and for increasing staff participation and contributions to improving the workplace; discusses the reasons for meetings, determining who should attend, advance planning, and organizing an agenda; suggests ways of making meetings fit into the library's organizational life; and considers the internal dynamics of meetings. In special sections, she covers electronic meetings and library conferences. Users of her counsel should be able to think about meetings in a much more organized fashion. Patrick Dewey

In this rapidly changing business environment, librarians are not excused from customer expectations that library services be improved. The emphasis now is on Continuous Quality Improvement. Dewey and Creth present a sound work on teams and meetings, just one part of this major quali ty transformation. These authors have done their homework well, focusing on the basic ingredients of effective meetings, group dynamics, team communication suggestions, and the increasing use of electronic means of communicating. Appendixes offer practical information on meeting planning, problem-solving methods, and computer conferences. Look to Peter Scholtes's The Team Handbook (Joiner Assocs., 1988) for even more useful help as you enter the Quality Movement and commit to constantly improving your processes in order to delight the library customer. Strongly recommended.
- Dale Farris, Groves, Tex .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.