Refereed article Job satisfaction and motivational strategies among library directors

Niels Ole Pors and Carl Gustav Johannsen

The authors Niels Ole Pors is an Associate Professor and Carl Gustav Johannsen is Head of Department, both in the Department of Library and Information Management, The Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark. Keywords Libraries, Librarianship, Leadership, Job satisfaction, Recruitment, Motivation Abstract In cooperation with the Danish Union of Librarians in 2001 a comprehensive survey of Danish library directors was conducted. There is a growing societal concern about management and leadership qualities and it is evident that leadership attributes are becoming increasingly important in the information sector. The survey focuses on a whole array of topics connected with leadership qualities and perceptions of different future challenges. In this paper the focus is on job satisfaction among library directors. Job satisfaction is a central topic for motivational theories and some of the more major of these are evaluated in relation to our findings. The analysis correlates job satisfaction with a number of both extrinsic and intrinsic factors and the existence of major differences between these factors and levels of job satisfaction among the library directors is found. Some of these factors appear to be connected with the level of activity in the library. The context of the paper is the problems of recruiting the right kind of staff. Included in the context is the need to create attractive workplaces. Electronic access The research register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0307-4803.htm
New Library World Volume 103 . Number 1177 . 2002 . pp. 199208 # MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0307-4803 DOI 10.1108/03074800210433104

Introduction
During the last decades there has been a great deal of focus on staff policies, development of competencies, ethics, attractive work and similar topics. It is evident that it has been a major concern to create jobs and working conditions that satisfy employees. In this paper, we focus on library leaders' satisfaction with their jobs and their working conditions. We take a perspective that includes its significance in relation to recruitment and motivation of staff. We have found that this perspective is of great importance, because many libraries and information centres in the future will face a shortage of qualified applicants for positions as information professionals. There is no doubt that the leaders' perception of their job situation influences the staff members' perception of their job situation.

Background
A new survey of dissatisfaction among employees demonstrates that up to 25 per cent of the workforce leave their job before three years (Deloitte and Touche, 2001). The main reason for this behaviour is not connected with a general high level of mobility. It is connected with dissatisfaction. It is costly for firms and institutions to recruit people. People employed for less than three years express dissatisfaction with the following nine topics: (1) Confidence in leadership and management 31 per cent. (2) Identification with objectives and strategies 28 per cent. (3) Confidence in line manager 27 per cent. (4) Need for education 27 per cent. (5) Helpfulness 27 per cent. (6) Possibility for career 25 per cent. (7) Demands from line manager 25 per cent. (8) Support objectives and strategies 24 per cent. (9) Recognition 21 per cent. The investigation has been conducted among 1,000 employees and it raises some other pertinent questions about salaries (Deloitte and Touche, 2001). A total of 46 per cent of the employees do not know why they get their

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actual salary and what they should do to increase it. People are dissatisfied not with their actual salary but with the whole procedure connected with salary negotiation and transparency. Another problem faces library directors in the future. Students perceive the traditional libraries, that is public and academic, as less challenging than private companies. Students also state that they think it is easier to achieve personal development in information work in the private sector than in libraries. Students at library schools, whatever they are named, prefer jobs in the private sector. At the same time there is evidence that indicates a decreasing mobility among the students according to a recent survey supported by the Danish National Library Authority, The Union of Librarians, The Union of Library Assistants and the Danish Library Association (Undersgelse, 2001). The comprehensive report consisted of survey results from students, newly graduated librarians and library directors. The background for the study was concern about the size of the future workforce of librarians in relation to recruitment needs. The investigation gives a number of rather interesting results, which should cause some concern among library directors in the public libraries. First of all, it is evident that students and newly graduated librarians have equal preference for the private sector (45 per cent) and for a traditional librarian's job in the library system (45 per cent). A total of 35 per cent of the newly graduated librarians prefer the private sector according to the investigation. It is also interesting that the images the graduates have of different workplaces in relation to their expectations to job content show some very interesting features (see Table I). The students' pattern of answering the same question was very similar to the newly graduated.
Table I The proportion of newly graduated librarians, who think that they will be able to get the following according to place of employment Public library (%) Professional challenges and development Personal development Development of competencies Career progression An attractive salary 39 39 28 10 1 Private sector 84 83 82 80 85

Two factors were significant in relation to the students' and the newly graduated librarians' preferences. One was the job content and the other was the geographical location. The young people tend to be less mobile than earlier and they really want to work in, or just around, the bigger university cities. It is evident from Table I that young librarians' mental pictures concerning the private sector and the public library are very diversified. We see an idealisation of the private sector and the opposite of the public libraries. These mental pictures exist in spite of the rather strong development and modernisation the whole public sector has undergone. One aspect is the preferences the younger generation have in relation to the workplace. Another is how they emphasise different leadership and management values. Nearly 700 Danish young people, mostly students in business schools, were confronted with an (admittedly) hypothetical situation. They answered the following question: If you were a manager or leader in a company, how important would the following issues be for you? We have ranked the ten issues according to the preferences of the business school students: (1) To have an open dialogue with staff. (2) The basic values of the company and its strategy are communicated to all staff members. (3) To be visible both in and outside the company. (4) To implement a plan for continuous staff development. (5) To make a profit for the shareholders. (6) To delegate responsibilities as much as possible. (7) To inspire group work and cross-departmental work. (8) To increase market penetration. (9) To demonstrate social responsibility towards and with staff. (10) To increase the effort to attract and recruit (Brsen, 2002). Admittedly, the sample of business students was not random but still it gives a very interesting picture of the perceptions, attitudes and orientation of the future workforce and leaders. There is a striking emphasis on people-oriented skills and soft values. The data from these three investigations into different aspects of younger people's

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attitudes, values and perceptions are of great interest for today's leaders and managers in the library and information sector. Recruitment and establishing attractive workplaces are, and will continue to be, of paramount importance in the public sector. Library leaders need to create both attractive workplaces and images of institutions with values and space for both personal and professional development. These are some of the problems that leaders and managers in the library sector have to face. It is in many respects a question about increasing the visibility of the library sector. Increasing the visibility of institutions involves branding, public relations, political contacts and other acts that facilitate the change of mental images.

The focus on leadership

Fortunately, there is an increasing focus on leadership and management in both the private and the public sector. The development of a so-called leadership barometer in Denmark demonstrates this interest. There has been a great interest in the results of the first comprehensive investigation conducted by the means of this instrument (Dansk, 2000). The first edition of the instrument was applied to leaders and managers in both the private and the public sector. At the Royal School of Library and Information Science in cooperation with the Union of Librarians, we developed a similar measurement instrument. We have modified the questionnaire quite considerably and directed it towards the information sector; however, it will still be possible to compare at least some of the main results with the private and other sections of the public sector. The increasing awareness of leadership is a concern not only in the library sector but also in the whole of society. This concern is due to the ever-increasing speed and turbulence of change processes, and especially to some pertinent factors like lack of applicants for job positions in some areas, the need for a constant development of competencies, growing pressures from financing bodies, changes in the attitudes in the workforce and so on. Leadership is associated with management, although the emphasis in leadership is on

development, strategy, vision and adapting the organisation to a changing environment. Management is about planning, organising and controlling the resources of the library, both human and non-human, to achieve the goals and objectives (Riggs, 1997). Much of the literature on leadership in libraries has focused on leadership roles, leadership styles and personality issues (Evans et al., 2000). On the other hand, there is remarkable little evidence on how leaders perceive their role and future challenges (Hernon et al., 2001). A new study (Hernon et al., 2002) asks the same type of questions of library directors as our study. The US study is a Delphi-study involving different samples of 20 directors and 29 deputy directors. In many respects, the library sector does not seem to differ from other public institutions. However, libraries do have some particular features: . there is a relatively high proportion of female leaders; . there are many rather small units; . there are a strong sense of tradition and professional criteria of quality; . there is a strong sense of service towards a community; . there are many myths and prejudices; . there are very radical change processes due to information technology; and . there are growing competition and increasing awareness from political bodies with demands about value for money.

The data
The data were collected by means of a questionnaire sent to 562 managers in the library sector. We achieved a response rate of 73 per cent.A total of 411 managers completed a comprehensive questionnaire. These 411 respondents represent 265 different public and academic libraries. The questionnaire consisted in total of approximately 250 variables or questions. The questions concerned the following dimensions of leadership: . perception of future challenges; . perception of leadership roles; . knowledge about management tools; . structure and processes of leadership; . the stakeholders; . definition of the job; . job satisfaction;

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. . .

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leadership tools and competences; organisation; and demographic variables like the number of employees, type of library, the degree of digitalisation and use of service quality tools.

On the basis of this investigation (Johannsen and Pors, 2001) we will analyse job satisfaction in relation to different kinds of variables. We will look at the difference between the very satisfied and the satisfied leaders with respect to pertinent and relevant variables as the first step in providing a model that can explain some of the features of job satisfaction and its effects. The empirical link that is missing in the paper is the possible relation between recruitment and motivation and the level of job satisfaction among managers and leaders in the library sector. On the other hand, we are confident that it is possible to draw interesting inferences from our material. The leaders and the staff, including the newly graduated to be recruited, share one very important characteristic. They are all information professionals and knowledge workers. There is no reason to believe that they are motivated by very different factors.

The analysis
We asked the question: How satisfied are you with your leadership job? The options were: . very satisfied; . satisfied; . less satisfied; or . dissatisfied (see Table II). We witness a remarkably high degree of satisfaction with the job among Danish library directors and middle managers. A

catch-phrase springs to mind: ``It is hot at the top not cold''. The most significant associations and relationships are given in Table III. The Table has been formed after we conducted a multitude of calculations of associations and relations. The most indicative and significant will be analysed in greater detail. The Table is based on different statistical measures of associations like Spearman's rho, phi and gamma. The Table gives information about the relationship between job satisfaction and related variables from our investigation. We consider that it is necessary to give a short explanation of the Table. As a startingpoint we have run calculations of significant associations between the variable concerned with job satisfaction and a multitude of other job-related variables. Some of these variables are, as a matter of fact, measuring nearly the same property and we have then selected those of the most significance. The column called ``significance'' simply states whether there exists a statistical meaningful relationship or association. Instead of giving statistical value as, for example, rho = 0.21, we have simply stated in words whether there is a relationship or not. The column called ``direction'' states the direction of the association. We will give an example. If you look at the variable called ``clear responsibilities'', it is stated in the Table as the existence of a positive association. It simply means that the clearer people feel their responsibilities are, the more they tend to be satisfied with their job. It is important to emphasise that this Table gives information about associations, correlations and relations. In itself it does not give explanations. It is not a causal model. It will at this stage of the research be very difficult to determine how variables interact.

Table II The relation between leadership position a and job satisfaction Job satisfaction Very satisfied Satisfied Less satisfied Dissatisfied Total in per cent n Top leader (%) 56 44 0 0 100 36 Leader (%) 42 50 7 1 100 232 Middle manager (%) 27 62 12 0 100 138 Total (%) 38 54 8 0.5 100 406

Note: a A top leader is a director of an information service with more than 51 staff-members or a director in an information service with more than 16 staff members plus extended leadership responsibilities such as leading the municipality's cultural section, including the library. A leader is the director of the library or the deputy director of a library with more than 51 staff-members

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Table III The relationship between selected variables and job satisfaction Significance Direction

Background variables Gender Age Workplace-related variables Type of library Size of library Level of leadership position Salary Organisation of work Project and team organisation Clear responsibilities Perception of leadership roles Follow-up, coordinator, planner Leadership styles Values, dialogue, respect and motivation Job content Strategic leadership Time for strategic work Time to inform and communicate Delegate work and tasks Competency questions Knowledge about 21 tools Future qualifications: empathy Future qualifications: task orientation Need for continuing professional development in different topics Time for professional development Influence on own work Influence on job content Room for decision making Have to do what other people decide
Note: a Significant at the alpha 0.10 level, but not the alpha 0.05 level

No No No No/yes a Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Positive

Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive (all 21) Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Negative

There is, of course, a huge literature concerned with the relationship between job satisfaction and its possible causes. There seems to be a general agreement that the relationships are very complex. There is now a consensus that job content and influence over one's work situation are important. It is also evident that personality factors play a significant role in the same way as a person's view and ideology concerning work. The perception of work is different from culture to culture and it differs also among social groups and among different professions and occupations. It is interesting to note that demographic factors such as gender and age do not play a role in relation to job satisfaction. Workplacerelated factors play only a role in relation to

the actual position of the manager. Top managers are the most satisfied. The perception of salary is not significant. One of the surprising phenomena was that perception of future challenges did not in any way correlate with job satisfaction. The organisation of the work plays a significant role in relation to leaders' job satisfaction. It is not surprising that leaders feel more confident with clear responsibilities and requirements, because it gives room and freedom to operate. On the other hand, it is significant that leaders and managers express their job satisfaction on a high level in relation to the degree of staff involvement in the operation of the library. Libraries that use project organisation and teamwork have more satisfied leaders than other libraries. It is

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evident that it is difficult to judge cause and effect in this relationship. We emphasise the obvious, but not unimportant conclusion: to a certain degree leaders can influence their own job satisfaction by staff involvement. We have also asked the managers questions about their perception of existing and future leadership roles and the message is very clear. Leaders who think that leadership is about personalities, including their own, have a much higher degree of satisfaction than the leaders who emphasise the administrative aspects of the job. This argument is emphasised in the questions concerning leadership styles. Overall, we see an emphasis towards human and communication-oriented leadership styles, when leaders describe the situation in their own libraries. There is a correlation among satisfaction and the modern humanoriented leadership styles, focusing on motivation, respect, dialogue and values. Herzberg et al. (1959) formulated as early as 1959 an influential theory about motivation. Herzberg argued that the content of the job had a significant influence on motivation and satisfaction. The theory is the so-called two-factor theory. Herzberg et al. make a distinction between maintenance factors like pay, supervision, working conditions and structure as base-line expectations and motivational factors, which includes the job itself, recognition, achievement, responsibilities and opportunities for advancement. The first set of factors cannot create job satisfaction but only dissatisfaction through absence. The second set represents the real motivators. Our investigation indicates that variables associated with job content have a significant influence on leaders' job satisfaction. It is evident that time to think and plan in a strategic manner has a positive effect. It is not just the time but also the obligation to do strategic work that is important. Staff-related tasks like delegating, informing and communicating also correlate positively with job satisfaction. Related to these questions is also the influence or power the single leader has on his or her own work situation. Satisfaction is highly correlated with one's perception of influence on job content and the room or freedom one has to make decisions. This fits nicely together with the result that leaders such as middle managers, with a low degree of freedom of decision

making and influence on job content, are the least satisfied. They are in a situation in which they often have to follow other people's decisions. We also get results which do not seem to support the theory put forward by Herzberg. An example is the perception of salary. In the theory a low salary is a maintenance factor, a so-called dissatisfier. The library directors as a whole were not comfortable with their salaries; however, it did not cause dissatisfaction as a whole. There is a difference between a theory formulated in the late 1950s and the working conditions around the millennium. The library directors are knowledge workers or knowledge professionals and their staff will be the same. Much research has pointed to the fact that other factors are important for these groups of people. Sveiby (1998) has formulated very interesting suppositions about what makes knowledge professionals tick. His work is probably more relevant for librarians than the work of Herzberg. It seems that the job features that create job satisfaction are very close to the formulations of the young generation. Overall, the whole field of relations between work, job satisfaction, organisation, personality, identity, enrichment and development in many areas is very complex. Some studies indicate (Gerhart, 1987) that job attitudes, including job satisfaction, are partly associated with underlying psychological predispositions such as happiness or dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is associated within the underlying personality structure and socialisation. We have asked the leaders about their knowledge of 21 different leadership tools. The tools include theories, methodologies, strategies, practices and tools. Examples of tools are: . MBO; . ethical accountancy; . user-studies; . image and branding; . benchmarking; . new salary schemes; . outsourcing; and . staff assessment methods. The more knowledge the single leader perceives he or she has, the higher is the degree of job satisfaction. We find a positive

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correlation in relation to each of the 21 tools about which we have asked. It tells us that the perceived competency has a very deep impact on the level of job satisfaction. It is important to emphasise that the validation of these results is underlined by other questions concerning qualifications and competencies. We asked our sample about their need for continuing professional development in relation to 14 topics. Five of these correlated significantly with job satisfaction. The correlation was negative. It simply means that leaders with a feeling of a high educational need are less satisfied in relation to the job. It is also evident from Table III that it is important that leaders feel that they have adequate qualifications in the classic leadership or management topics. Questions concerning future qualifications also showed interesting results. Managers who emphasised empathy and task orientation as major challenges in the future job situation were more satisfied than other managers. One of the interesting features in relation to the questions about the need for competency development and self-assessment of existing personal knowledge is a rather significant difference between female and male directors. Especially, if we look at the perceived need for professional development, the female leaders express a much greater average need than their male colleagues. We have now looked into some, but not all, of the variables, which correlate with job satisfaction. In this paper, we will now utilise the data to build a conceptual model of determinants and possible consequences of job satisfaction. Here we will restrict ourselves to emphasise a noteworthy observation. It is unclear in which way the variables interact or what are the exact causal inferences. An important fact is that leaders possess the power and authority to change their own job satisfaction. From Table III it is evident that job satisfaction is about both behaviour and perceptions. Education, the organisational setting or milieu, responsibilities and decision-making opportunities, human orientation and factors such as these are all important in relation to job satisfaction. An average leader or manager in the library sector has, at least to a certain degree, control over these factors and he or she will be able to introduce the proper change processes.

The very satisfied and the satisfied leaders

In this analysis, we have identified some of the factors which correlate with job satisfaction. We will now look at job satisfaction from a different perspective. We will look more closely into the differences between the very satisfied and the satisfied group of leaders. Consequently, we will not analyse the group of less satisfied and the group of dissatisfied leaders. The reason for this is methodological. The distinction between people who declare themselves very satisfied or just satisfied is fluid. If we are able to identify significant differences in actions and perception, the analysis gains in credibility. Above we stated that we were unable to determine the causal inferences between the variables. At the same time we focused on variables we believe have an effect on satisfaction. We are not excluding a hypothesis about mutual influence. In the next paragraph we focus on variables we believe are caused partly by job satisfaction. Again, we do not exclude interaction between variables. A question often discussed in the literature is the relationship between satisfaction and performance. An assumption is that people with a high degree of job satisfaction perform better. Even if such an association were found, the direction of causality would remain less than clear. Several studies validate the assumption (Warr, 1996). One must bear in mind that part of the literature points in another direction. It is the absence or reduction of dissatisfaction that causes a better performance (Crow and Hartman, 1995). We asked about aspects of performance in the investigation. The aspects of performance about which we asked were not the performance of individuals, but performance of the single libraries. We find it relevant in this context, because these actions would be impossible without consent and direct support from the library leaders. It is of course an indirect measure but we judge it to be relevant in this context. The first set of variables we investigate is which systematic tools and analysis in relation to optimising the user-oriented services the libraries employ. In the investigation, we asked about the employment of 15 different management tools. We know that it is daring to consider

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the use of these tools as an indicator of the performance of the library director. We also acknowledge that the use of the tools can just as well be the cause of the satisfaction, but from the public's point of view it is evident that libraries with very satisfied leaders employ more user-oriented tools. In Table IV we see 12 tools out of the 15. There is a statistically significant difference between the operations conducted by the libraries headed by the very satisfied leaders and the satisfied leaders. We are aware of the problem of possible intervening variables, but we find the result interesting and provoking. From a user point of view it demonstrates the desirability of a library with a high degree of satisfaction in top management. Pors (2001) presents the use of the different tool in greater detail. The correlation between satisfaction and other service-related factors like instruction in Internet use is also significant and positive. Let us now take a look at how the leaders perceive they run their library or information service. It is a question about leadership style. We look again at the leaders in two groups: the very satisfied and the satisfied and we have confronted them with statements concerning leadership styles employed at their library (see Table V).
Table IV Management tools used during the last three years Systematic tools Systematic user survey Traffic count Queue Users' waiting times Remote use ILL Quality indicators Process speed Benchmarking Collection/user needs Complaints system Ethical guidelines for staff Very satisfied leaders (%) 45 77 18 25 62 18 28 39 29 27 18 30 Satisfied leaders 34 66 9 11 37 9 13 16 10 17 9 16

Note: The figures are the per cent that answered yes to the employment of the tools

There are statistically significant differences between the two groups. It is also interesting to note that no differences exist in relation to questions such as leadership conducted by regulations, giving orders or control. Not many admit that they lead this way. Another remarkable difference in the material is that the middle managers' perception of the employed leadership styles differs significantly from that of the leaders. They have, overall, a slightly less positive interpretation of the employed leadership style. It is simply another way of saying that leaders' perceptions of what they are doing are not totally shared by all staff members. Again, we would like to state that it is not necessarily a causal relationship we are indicating. Most of the theories about job satisfaction and motivation stress the actual content of the job. It is interesting, because one of the very important findings in the literature about what leaders actually do (Mintzberg, 1975) demonstrated a rather chaotic working day among leaders with very varied tasks through the day. The behavioural picture was very different from the more traditional image of a leader and manager as a person who spends his/her time in rational activities like planning, thinking and supervising. Table VI shows the leaders' indication of how much time they spend on different types of leadership and tasks. The higher the figure, the more time they perceive to spend on the task. The perception of how the working time is utilised differs significantly among the very satisfied and the satisfied leaders. It is evident that the very satisfied group of directors perceive that, on the one side, they utilise their time in relation to especially future- and change-oriented tasks and, on the other, they also seem to utilise their time in relation to staff issues and organisational tasks like team building. It appears that it is important in relation to directors' job satisfaction that they do have an image of themselves as being at least to a certain degree removed from the daily routine tasks.

Table V The proportion of leaders that say yes, very much, to the following statements concerning leadership styles in their library Very satisfied (%) Leadership is done by attitudes and values Leadership is done by dialogue and cooperation Leadership is done by motivation and mutual respect 77 96 89 Satisfied (%) 67 84 77

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Table VI The directors' use of time in relation to different types of leadership tasks Very satisfied Staff management Staff development Development management Strategic management Team management Change management Quality management Administration Daily routine management 4.9 5.2 5.6 5.4 4.3 5.4 4.9 4.6 4.6 Satisfied 4.4 4.5 4.9 4.5 3.7 4.5 4.4 a 4.7 5.1

Note: a Significant at alpha 0.10 level. All others significant at alpha 0.05; averages based on a scale from 1-7

Another indicator of job satisfaction is the propensity to apply for the job again today. We asked whether the leader would apply for his or her job today. It is evident that the group of very satisfied leaders is more inclined to answer yes to this question than leaders declaring themselves just satisfied. Other interesting effects of the satisfaction level among the library directors emerge. The relationship between private life and the professional life has often interested researchers. This relationship was not a major topic in our investigation but, nevertheless, indicators of it can easily be found in the comprehensive material. Leaders with a high degree of job satisfaction have the following eight features in common: (1) find the leadership less psychologically hard; (2) find it easier to balance different interests at the workplace; (3) are more oriented towards considering leadership as a lifestyle; (4) take work home with them more often; (5) find it easier to find time for holidays with family; (6) are more often away from the workplace in relation to meetings and conferences; (7) do not find that the job is a strain on family life; and (8) find the job more meaningful and enriching. Again, we emphasise that we have investigated correlations and not causal inferences. Still, the results are interesting and paint a picture of a possibly very complex relationship between personality and environment factors. Interpreting the list of features together with Tables V and VI clearly gives the impression that the prerequisites for

a high degree of job satisfaction are a perception of balance in life and a leadership style that is transformational or peopleoriented more than transactional. The findings are in accordance with findings from other studies that emphasise the importance of personality factors, job content factors, workplace factors and the like (Warr, 1996). Sveiby's (1998) very basic and important work on the professionals gives us reason to believe that many of these factors that are tightly interconnected and interwoven with job satisfaction among library directors and library managers are also important in relation to staff satisfaction. One of the correlations we saw in Table IV was the relationship between the employed management tools and leaders' job satisfaction. There is a remarkable co-variation between job satisfaction and employment of professional tools. It is evident that many of these tools possess a symbolic character. The simple employment of them signals modernity, customer orientation and accountability. The employment of the tools in a systematic way requires a high degree of staff development, staff involvement and possibly team-orientation and a high degree of specific qualifications among staff members. On the whole, the employment of tools could give the staff more demanding and complex problem-solving tasks. This is exactly how Sveiby characterises the expert in the knowledge company. He or she likes complex problems, new advances in the profession, freedom to seek solutions and public recognition of their work. Experts dislike bureaucracy, rules delimiting their freedom, routine work and ignorant leaders. This is, of course, a caricature Sveiby paints. On the other hand, it profiles some of the challenges library directors have to face in recruiting people and satisfying the existing experts.

Conclusion
Librarians are professionals and experts in the sense that Sveiby (1998) analysed. Probably, they share the same norms, attitudes and beliefs as leaders. They have identical educational backgrounds. Supported by the research, we have every reason to believe that librarians' job satisfaction and the resulting performance are

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influenced by exactly the same factors that influence or correlate with the satisfaction among directors. The performance of a library and the performance of professionals cannot be fully explained by leaders' job satisfaction (Guest, 1996). Still, it is a factor that contributes to the overall satisfaction and performance in a library. Our starting-point was a bleak picture painted by the investigation conducted by Deloitte and Touche (2001). From this research it is evident that the social and psychological factors in the work environment play a significant role in recruiting and keeping professionals. This is of paramount interest when we focus on knowledgeintensive work places like libraries. We find it important to emphasise that the factors correlating with directors' job satisfaction can be transferred to the whole organisation. These factors are, among others, about: . freedom to organise the work; . delegation; . distribution of decision making in the organisation; . competency development; and . personal development. We will not state that the findings are revolutionary but, in the light of the performance and services directed towards users, it will be of paramount importance to be able to recruit or develop leaders that can make things happen and at the same time create an attractive environment and an interesting job content in dialogue with the professionals. Simply deciding to do it can do much. This is a very important point. Job satisfaction is also about self-motivation and self-assessment. Job satisfaction will probably increase simply by putting things in motion. Hernon et al.'s study (2002) reveals in many ways the same type of attitudes among US research library directors as we have seen among the very diversified group of Danish library directors. Their interviews with library directors and deputy directors revealed that leadership among US directors of research libraries is discussed in exactly the same language as among Danish library directors. Library directors have a modern semantic discourse. The main problem is, of course, to

transfer this discourse to institutional reputation.

References
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