Teamwork is key to the functioning of any library, especially those that serve academic institutions. This was true in 2004 when “Building Teams: Making It Work!” was presented at Brick & Click Libraries and it is equally true today. One factor that is extremely important for effective teams is psychological safety, which Amy Edmondson an expert on the subject defines as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” While “Building Teams” focused on the inner workings of teams from a team member perspective, this presentation will focus how library administrators can build more effective teams by building psychological safety within their organizations. The outcomes of NYU Libraries’ recent psychological safety work and the Libraries’ specific recommendations for creating psychological safety within academic libraries will be presented.
