Learning from the Past: Using Emotional Intelligence When Faced with Recession

ABSTRACT

With world markets threatened because of political instability and the COVID-19 pandemic in full-swing, public library leaders find themselves in financial crisis and recession. This study takes an in-depth look at how six, well-respected library directors (all Library Journal Librarian of the Year selectees) used emotional intelligence to navigate the last recession (2007–09). Using narrative inquiry to scrutinize traits belonging to Goleman’s four domains of emotional intelligence, the study surfaced 24 as most valuable. These included the ‘ability to function in a political environment’ and ‘articulate direction for the library’, among others.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotional intelligence
• recession
• crisis
• library directors
• leadership

Notes

1. An acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are major emerging national economies.

2. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) are geographic entities defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for use by federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics. A metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population. Each metro area consists of one or more counties and includes the counties containing the core urban area, as well as any adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration (as measured by commuting to work) with the urban core (U.S. Bureau of the Census 2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gary L. Shaffer

Gary L. Shaffer, PhD, is the Director of Library, Arts and Culture for the City of Glendale, California. He also teaches in the ALA-accredited Library and Information Management Program at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, a program he once directed. He is the former CEO of the award-winning Tulsa City-County Library. Prior to Tulsa, he worked at the Brooklyn, Los Angeles County, and Sacramento public libraries. A 2006 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and former PLA Board Member, Shaffer speaks nationally and internationally on emotionally intelligent library leaders, sustainability, and creating twenty-first century, responsive libraries. He has advocated on behalf of libraries and archives for copyright reform at the UNs’ World Intellectual Property Organization’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. Shaffer is the author of Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking for Library Leaders, Creating the Sustainable Public Library: The triple bottom line approach, and co-author of The Sustainable Library’s Cookbook. Prior to serving in libraries, he ran accounts for large advertising agencies.