In her 18 years with JPL, Kathy Tekin has served in
several areas of management and is currently managing Webb Wesconnett Branch. Flexible, quickly responsive to change and
challenge, and ever evolving would describe Kathy's professional life. On
the personal side, Kathy is married to Francis Tekin and has a grown daughter,
Tara, and Tara and her hubby plan to make the Tekins grandparents soon. As a first time expectant grandparent, Kathy is excited and busy
making baby clothes for baby Emma in her spare time.
A: I started full time in July 1998 at the Highlands
Branch as Children’s Librarian under Jane Harris, Branch Manager. In December 2001, I promoted to Library
Supervisor of Programming (children’s and adult), which was a new position with
JPL, and transferred to the old Main Library. I worked closely with the Jaguar
Foundation and the Jacksonville Zoo to create the program ZooTREK (Teaching
Reading Exploring with Kids) in the urban core libraries. At the end of the
fall session, the children and their chaperons could attend a Jaguar game and
sit in the Honor Rows section.
In 2005, I was given the opportunity to work with just
the youth portion and my title changed to Youth Services Coordinator. I worked with two grants—one for summer
reading and the second for Prime Time Family Reading Time. I was also able to
hire our first Early Childhood Specialist for JPL, Susan Mankowski.
In 2013, I changed positions to become co-Library
Supervisor of the Main Library with Erica Brown. I managed Popular/Fiction, Special Needs
Library/ILL, and the Center for Adult Learning.
It was the beginning of new and different responsibilities.
In July 2015, I was transferred to the West Regional
Library and came full circle where Jane Harris is once again my supervisor. In November
2015, my next move was to Webb Wesconnett Regional Library.
Q:
How would you define leadership versus management and how both can best be used
to better JPL?
A: Leadership
is working with a team of people to achieve the same goals by providing direction,
guidance, and leading by example.
Management is keeping the team moving forward toward the
goals through listening, acknowledgement of team progress toward the goals,
recognizing the potential stumbling blocks, and following up on individual contributions to the team effort.
As the manager of a very busy branch, it takes both
leadership and management for staff to achieve the goals of JPL. It also means that you need to be visible on
the floor for customers and staff. It also means communicating your
expectations for BLAST (Believe, Listen, Apologize, Satisfy, and Thank)
customer service and reinforcing the positive interactions with customers and
co-workers. It also means dealing
quickly with the uncomfortable issues that arise.
Q: Are there any lessons in management and/or leadership
that your experience has garnered that didn’t come from a textbook?
A: Good mentors from my past and learning from my own
mistakes are two I can think of. My first professional position was in a small library system with one
building. Sharing what was happening in the
children’s department could really affect the entire building--from the number
of customers to the number of items that were checked out in a given day.
Textbooks also do not teach you how to deal with
day-to-day issues with buildings and difficult/challenging customers. These
items you learn from your supervisors, coworkers, and from other professionals
in the field. In my first position, I learned that I had to plunge the toilet
that overflowed as we did not have a custodian on site all day. The men’s room had a clogged toilet and since
the public restrooms were on my floor, I was given the task to plunge the
toilet.
Q: What
are the differences in managing a department versus a branch?
A: Managing a
branch is smaller in size compared to Main. The branches I have managed are just as busy in regards to computer use
and DVD checkouts. Webb Wesconnett Branch
is busier than West Regional Branch when it comes to computer use and needing
assistance. Staff is smaller and more
dependent on each other, so everyone needs to know how to fill in at the
various desks in a pinch. At Main, you
need to know other departments and their primary functions to fill in during a
pinch and you are less likely to fill in for circulation. Having worked both, I do not see a lot of
difference. You are still responsible for the building and all the services
provided by staff.
Q: Who
are one or two of your mentors or heroes and why?
A: Kathleen Zaenger, Director of Howell Carnegie District
Library taught me a lot about working in a public library. Previously, I had
worked in school media centers for two school districts. I communicated with a
library board and Friends group and learned the importance of knowing members
of your community and other city departments, i.e. police and fire. I was delegated with the task of meeting with a team of
community volunteers to construct a float for the local Melon Fest Parade to
provide the library’s request for an independent millage to support the
library. The children from the summer reading program already participated in the
annual parade each August. The millage rate was passed by the voters for the
library to become a District Library with the necessary funds to expand the
Howell Carnegie Library. Ms. Zaenger provided me the opportunity to use some of
my knowledge from previous work experience in the construction industry when we
expanded the Howell Library. I was the liaison with the architect and
contractor representing the library and library board.
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