1/6 Something I’ve been thinking about for a while that the JMLA response brought up again is how much of our toxicity in LIS is the direct result of the inability/refusal for early conflict mediation on the part of management. So often responses are reactive. In the case of

2/6 JMLA, someone was cc’d to indicate there was an issue. The response was “they’ll work it out”, but if it was that simple there would be no need to cc someone else on the correspondence. At that point, a simple meeting to mediate the conflict could have gone a long way.

3/6 I’ve seen this so often. Management that loves to wait until things get to the level of HR, but is that management? So many LIS managers see their jobs as managing services, but neglect the dynamics of staff that provide them. If not neglecting them, they are intimidated

4/6 by the idea of managing the culture & environment. I’ve been on search committees for management positions; I’ve never seen thorough questioning about the readiness and role of this person as a conflict mediator. The passive aggressive nature of libraries is infamous, sooo...

5/6 mediate problems early maybe? DEI training matters, but means nothing w/o methods and techniques for listening and respectful conversation. If there is constant conflict, having trained management can set the example for staff so that they can better manage on their own

6/6 going forward. Expecting people to come in with those skills is obviously not working. This obviously doesn’t fix discrimination, but it could (data needed) be of great help in environments where change is welcome, but still being figured out.