Consulting Companies Form Partnership for Library Staffing

The Library Associates Companies (LAC) and Library Strategies partnership offers public libraries solutions to staffing issues - including executive library director sourcing and recruiting, interim director staffing, temporary and direct hire staffing for professional and library technician-level personnel, and consulting expertise on such matters as skill set audits, training on a host of issues including management and budgeting, classification studies, workflow analysis and organizational strategizing.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) January 8, 2009 -- Library Associates Companies (LAC) and Library Strategies have formed a unique partnership to help libraries and library organizations address their staffing needs.

December 31, 2008: The LAC-Library Strategies partnership offers public libraries solutions to staffing issues - including executive library director sourcing and recruiting, interim director staffing, temporary and direct hire staffing for professional and library technician-level personnel, and consulting expertise on such matters as skill set audits, training on a host of issues including management and budgeting, classification studies, workflow analysis and organizational strategizing.

LAC has specialized in executive recruiting and consulting in all areas of staffing for over 22 years, with offices in Los Angeles, Denver and Rockville, Maryland. Library Strategies was created in 2007 as a consulting group of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Library Strategies provides a wide range of services using consultants who are library leaders across the country.

According to Deborah Schwarz, President of LAC, "Libraries are facing huge challenges these days as many directors and senior staff are retiring. Combine this with the effect the economy is having on library budgets and staffing and you have the perfect storm of staffing challenges."

"Together we bring the expertise in recruiting, hiring and training staff combined with a network of library veterans who know just about everyone in the national library community," said Sue Hall, Library Strategies Coordinator.

The partnership came together because the two groups saw the potential for offering a fuller spectrum of services to address staffing needs in libraries and in library foundations and Friends groups. The LAC-Library Strategies partnership will not only recruit and hire staff for libraries, but also support contract negotiations, conduct needs assessments and workflow analyses and provide temporary and remote staffing. Two senior consultants working with the new partnership are C. David Warren, retiring Executive Director of the Richland County Public Library (Columbia, SC) and Miriam Pollack, of Miriam Pollack + Associates, who each bring over 30 years of experience in staff development and training.

"When the economy is down, library funding goes down and library use goes up. This places a huge burden on our libraries to do more with less. This scenario calls for strong library leadership and creativity in staffing solutions," according to Warren. LAC and Library Strategies seek to bring libraries a broad range of support and creativity through their new partnership.

The LAC-Library Strategies partnership offers public libraries solutions to staffing issues - including executive library director sourcing & recruiting, interim director staffing, temporary and direct hire staffing for professional and library technician-level personnel, and consulting expertise on such matters as skill set audits, training on a host of issues including management and budgeting, classification studies, workflow analysis and organizational strategizing.

"We have worked at the center of librarianship, advising, planning and staffing libraries of all types and sizes. Not only do we know those with very long tenure in libraries, but we are also familiar with new leaders that are in the forefront of developing the libraries of the future. Our network is both deep and complex and we know how to screen for the best in the field," explains Miriam Pollack, Miriam Pollack + Associates.

About Library Associates Companies
Library Associates Companies (LAC) provides recruiting, consulting and project management within the rapidly-evolving information industry. With over 200 employees, more than 55% of whom are information professionals, we provide a full range of services to a client base that ranges from billion-dollar government agencies to global law firms, from leaders in the technology and automotive industries to public, academic and special libraries.

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