The Library Meeting Survival Manual (review)

The Library Meeting Survival Manual, George J. Soete. San Diego, CA: Tulane Street Publications, 2000. 144p. $29.95 (ISBN 0-9701384-0-7)

Everyone has participated in, or even led boring and ineffective meetings. It is quite embarrassing to realize you are conducting a meeting that is failing in every aspect and you are unable to get everyone back on track. Time is everyone's most valuable commodity, so it is critical for the meeting leader to "pre-plan" the meeting and to have a published agenda. Meetings are held to make decisions, disseminate recent news, divide up work, develop new ideas and insights, or to build teamwork and morale. Sometimes all of these are combined into a single meeting. Since academic librarians tend to participate in a lot of meetings, avoiding the bad meeting is important for all involved.

Help is at hand with George Soete's marvelous "how-to" book, The Library Meeting Survival Manual. This book is not a scholarly work; rather this manual outlines twelve practical, proven, and effective strategies for conducting meetings. The audience is any individual who works in a library and attends meetings, in other words everyone--and everyone should read the book since it is the responsibility of both leader and participants to make sure a meeting is effective.

The management literature is full of articles and books on conducting effective meetings. There are college courses that can be taken to teach this skill. There are even two fairly recent books on meetings in libraries (Program Planning: Tips for Librarians, Gail McGovern. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998; Team Power: Making Library Meetings Work, Barbara Dewey and Sheila Creith. Chicago: American Library Association, 1993) Why, then, should someone want another book on library meetings? The answer lies in the qualifications of the author and in how the manual is organized.

George Soete is a well-known organizational development consultant who specializes in library consultations. He comes to his consulting work with a rich background as a librarian in university, college, and public library settings. Mr. Soete states in the introduction, "For twenty-five years, I was a key actor in the drama--sitting through long, unproductive sessions, taking detailed notes simply to stay awake, and keeping a careful watch on the clock. I have even led such meetings myself!" (p. 2). It is within this context that he set out to write the definitive manual on how best to conduct a library meeting.

He begins his book with a chapter on how and why we meet. The working definition of a meeting is set, "A meeting is a gathering of persons with the common purpose of accomplishing work together." (p. 11). In other words, effective meetings must be treated as work, to accomplish work, and they usually implement task and maintenance skills, which relate directly to the expectations of the participants. In addition, Soete presents background information on B.W. Tuckman's theory of meeting cycles--"forming, storming, norming, and performing" (p. 14).

Section II is the heart of the book, a discussion of Soete's twelve action steps for better meetings. Meetings should be constantly evaluated. Participants should develop ground rules. Flip charts or their equivalent should be used to record decisions. Inclusive techniques must be practiced at all times. A process must be designed and, where feasible, a facilitator should be used. The decision process needs to be clarified. The meeting should always be kept on track. Follow-up is critical, and problem behaviors should be recognized and dealt with immediately. Of course, there is much more involved, but these principles of effective meetings are succinct and well stated.

Section III contains many forms, as well as a checklist that presents all twelve of the action steps in chronological order. These forms and the checklist are designed to help leaders and attendees create better meetings. Finally, the last chapter on Job Aids contains many useful forms that can be freely reproduced...