John Lubans Jr. is currently a Visiting Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC.

Biographical Information:

Born on June 15, 1941 in Cesis, Latvia , Lubans spent the early part of his life in a displaced persons camp (DP) in postwar Germany. His father was a military officer in the Latvian Army and after the Communist takeover in 1944, he and his family fled Latvia and ended up in the British sector of Germany until 1949.

On December 2, 1949 Lubans, his mother, father, and two brothers entered the USA on the General Muir troop ship in Boston, MA. For the next two years they lived in Greenfield, MA while his father worked on a farm until starting a construction business in Wollaston, MA. Lubans attended high school in Braintree, MA where he excelled in track and field over academics. (J. Lubans, personal communication, November 17, 2006)

Education:

Lubans graduated from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA with a B.A. in English in 1964. He began his career working at the college library and went on to receive his Masters in Library Science in 1996 from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He later received a Masters in Public Administration in 1981 at the University of Houston.

Professional Positions:

John Lubans Jr. has held a variety of positions at several libraries since 1966, including Head of Circulation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Assistant Director for Public Services at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he served as Associate and later as Deputy University Librarian at Duke University from 1982 – 2001. He has been teaching at the School of Library and Information Sciences since 1984 and his courses include Academic Libraries and Management Systems Analysis, an area which has been a focus for Lubans for much of his career.

Major Contributions:

Lubans has authored numerous published works including three books, reports, articles, and reviews. He co-authored, along with Edward Chapman and Paul St. Pierre, his first book, Library Systems Analysis Guidelines, 1970. Lubans was editor and contributor to a second book, Educating the Library User, 1974. In 1983 he wrote Educating the Public Library User, in which his goal was to “develop a population that can be termed library literate and the ability to find information is increasingly recognized as a vital component of the critical thinking or decision-making process.” Educating the Library User, written in 1974, was featured as one of 25 outstanding professional books in RASD’s silver anniversary edition of the Reference and Adult Services Division journal, RQ. 25:152, Fall, 1985.

Lubans has significantly contributed to the research on the roles of leadership and management within libraries. Since 1980, Lubans' publications include such journals as the Journal of Library Administration, College and University Personnel Association (CUPA) Journal, North Carolina Libraries, and Library Administration and Management Journal. Since 1999, Lubans has been writing a quarterly column, “On Managing,” in the Library Administration and Management Journal, which is the journal of the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), a division of the American Library Association. His article contributions include topics on user needs, team building, library management, and the role of the internet in libraries. His research is not confined to management systems within libraries. Lubans has conducted studies on coaching the women’s basketball team at Duke, the effective management techniques at Tadich Grill in San Francisco and Zabar’s food store in New York City, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Southwest Airlines.

In addition to his teaching, research, and publications, Lubans is an active speaker and panelist, and conducts workshops all over the US and abroad on management and leadership. In 1994 Lubans presented a paper on the organizational redesign of the library at Duke at the Total Quality Management in Academic Libraries Conference in Washington D.C.

Lubans’ recent research interests include several case studies conducted between 1998 and 2002 on the topic of the internet and user behavior among students. His findings have been featured in the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Cause/Effect journal. Smith and Philips (1999) reported in the Cause/Effect journal that one finding indicated that 7th-10th grade students were more internet “savvy” than incoming college freshmen, and the younger group were more confident in their ability to find resources on the internet. “As a result, the 7th-10th graders were less likely to ask the assistance of reference librarians.”

Organizations and Distinctions:

Certificate of Achievement, June 27, 2004, In recognition of his column, "On Managing," in Library Administration & Management since 1999. Presented by the Library Administration and Management Association.

Recognized as the Founder of ALA’s Library Instruction Round Table in 1992.

Duke University. Perkins Library. Friends of the Library. Life Member since 1990.

American Library Association - member since 1970, elected Council 1986-1990.

Reference and Adult Services Division. RQ. Editorial Advisory Panel Member. 1980-1986.

Additional information on Lubans can be found at his website: http://lubans.org/.

References:

Gordon, H. & Lubans, J., Jr. (1994). From Quick Start Teams to Home Teams: The Duke TQM Experience. Proceedings from the 1st International Conference on TQM and Academic Libraries, USA, 123-131.

Lubans, J., Jr. (1983). Educating the Public Library User. Chicago: American Library Association.

Key Findings on Internet Use among Students.(1998). Retrieved November 2, 2006, from http://lubans.org/

Philips, C & Smith, C. (1999). Are Our Academic Libraries Ready for the Internet Generation? Cause/Effect, Volume 22, Number 1.

Annette Doss