The importance of good supervision in libraries

The importance of good supervision is obvious, so this paper will concentrate instead on the meaning of good supervision and some of the problems of supervision in libraries. In the general personnel management of libraries, supervision is an extremely difficult and sensitive subject and is becoming more so every day. In fact, the direct supervision of experienced professionals probably runs counter to the best ideals of the profession of librarianship. Once a professional librarian has passed a kind of probationary period, one in which the theory, skills and attitudes formed in the library school are modified by the demands of actual practice, and the librarian's abilities have been judged to be at least adequate for general performance, there shouldn't need to be any more direct day-to-day supervision. Since our profession is in transition, the difference between theory and practice in library supervision is substantial. It is best here, however, to discuss problems of supervision from a positive viewpoint.published or submitted for publicatio