9. Working your Way up the Ladder:. An Updating of Advice to Women Librarians and Information Managers
| Date | 01 April 1984 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054876 |
| Pages | 60-64 |
| Published date | 01 April 1984 |
| Author | Patricia Layzell Ward |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
9. Working your Way up the Ladder:
An Updating of Advice to Women Librarians
and Information Managers
by Patricia Layzell Ward
An earlier version of this article appeared in print in 1981 following participation in
a workshop which had taken what seemed to me to be a negative view of discrimina-
tion.
It was also drafted at a time when I had started to apply for posts in order to
attain the role that for me was important. Soon afterwards I achieved this goal and
had a bonus in moving to Western Australia. The earlier article has been tidied up
and some later publications have been added.
The UK literature on women and librarianship has, to date, mainly concentrated on
analysing the position of women in the profession and discussing the question of
discrimination. Many women rightly feel that this is a major issue in library and infor-
mation management today, and feel frustrated about the many barriers that are fac-
ed in heading towards the top. There is discrimination, there is evidence for this state-
ment, and this is a source of frustration. However, stating the problem does not
necessarily lead to solutions—after all, the remedies lie in the hands of the men who
make the top appointments. (Have you ever been interviewed for a senior post by
a committee where women are in the majority?)
For this reason we must seek other solutions and take positive action to make it more
difficult for men to take all the top jobs. Assertiveness training workshops are now
organised in the UK, and there are also courses designed to develop the woman
manager—and excellent they are. However, they are expensive at around £1,000—way
beyond the means of the individual to pay, and I cannot think of any publicly financ-
ed library or information service that would provide funding to attend the course.
(But sisters in the privately funded sector, especially those working for the banks
and finance houses who have taken a special interest in the development of women
employees, should support these courses.) Nevertheless, there are some useful self-
help guides which will help women library and information managers, and should
also be on library shelves for use by women managers at large. The titles given are
not necessarily the best ones, but have been collected during travels in the USA,
and through browsing in some UK book shops, notably GRASSROOTS in Manchester,
and SISTERWRITE and DILLONS in London. Substitutions could be made for many
of the titles—the list merely indicates the type of reading that helps to flex the muscles,
sharpen the mind, develop the language and adopt a positive stance towards pro-
motion and against discrimination.
Approaches to Management
A great deal of the literature of management describes the manager as being a
superhuman making objective decisions, taking decisive action, and having all the
answers for all the problems of working with people. However, the reality of manage-
ment is different and Mintzberg's The nature of managerial work[1] remains a readable
and reassuring account of a research project which examined the question, "What
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