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This paper discusses an autodidactic approach for strengthening one’s leadership skill set, in an informal, lower cost manner through intentional consumption of, and reflection on, popular culture resources. This paper posits that popular culture is rife with learning opportunities for affective skill building to be used alongside more formal leadership trainings and professional development. This paper provides a concrete example of the application of popular culture lessons to strengthen one’s leadership skills, such as empathy, listening, giving feedback, and dismantling biases to create a positive and inclusive work environment. Drawing on books, podcasts, television shows and movies, the paper provides a model for matching engagement with all types of media to intentional reflection to strengthen one’s leadership skills.

In 2018, the University of Ghana Library System (UGLS) experienced an unprecedented rotation of staff within its main library and satellite libraries. The changes were long overdue as the regular rotation of staff by the Human Resource and Organisational Development Directorate (HRODD) somehow, never affected library personnel. Fifty (50) Junior and senior library staff who had been in one position for more than a decade were rotated within the UGLS. This paper reflects on how the change was achieved, the pre- and post- interviews of staff involved, and lessons learned one year later. Findings emphasize the value of communication, the structured process and transparency to make the change easier and implementation smoother. The paper concludes that regular rotation of staff and the management of such change are significant for the development of the UGLS and for the university as a whole. Recommendations for libraries in Ghana and in Africa embarking on similar staff rotation are captured in the paper.

In the 2014 book "The Good Jobs Strategy" management and organizational theory scholar Zeynep Ton identifies a set of key issues in job design, operational models, and staffing that enable organizations to both create good jobs and, as a result, deliver better products and services. Written primarily about retail, the key concepts in the framework relating to building teams, defining services, and supporting and empowering staff are also relevant to library organizations. Ton’s framework focuses on four principles; offer less, standardize and empower, cross-train, and operate with slack, each of which are relevant to varying degrees to library and archives organization contexts. This essay brings together points from the framework and connects them to issues in library management and organizational theory literature to explore the extent to which issues in the framework connect with issues facing libraries. The paper ends with recommendations for how libraries can similarly benefit from implementing a good jobs strategy that both supports library workers and enables better functions for our organizations.