In-House Training of Supervisory Library Assistants in a Large Academic Library

THE SUBJECT OF SUPERVISORY TRAINING for libraries is one that seems to be largely neglected in both library literature and library practice. There are many articles on the training of library assistants but these deal with the technical aspects of librarianship such as book ordering and processing, circulation routines, filing, indexing, etc. Even librarians with exposure to classes in library administration at the graduate level are often inadequately prepared for the myriad of personnel problems that inevitably accompany the supervisory role into which many are thrust. In general, attitudes toward management and the supervision of employees have changed during the past few years to reflect a more complete integration of personal and organizational goals. We have progressed from the impersonal mechanistic approach of the early 1900s, through the humanitarian approach of the 1930s that stressed employee happiness, to the present day systems approach that views personal and organizational