Dirasat, Educational Sciences, Volume 38, Supplement No. 3, 2011 - 1087 - Characteristics of Successful Library Manager: Librarians' Perspective in Jordan Mohammad Khair "Saleem Abu Zaid", Ihab Khaled Magableh, Nader Ahmad Abu Sheikha and Rebhi M. Alian* ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of a successful library manager from librarians' perceptive and to investigate the effect of librarians' characteristics on their perception. A sample of 350 supervisory and non-supervisory employees in public and university libraries was randomly selected and surveyed. For the purpose of this study, a questionnaire was developed and tested for its validity and reliability. The study revealed the importance of all types of skills that are personal skills, planning and decision-making skills, innovation and development skills, information technology skills, human skills, and communication skills. The importance of each category of skills differs according to gender, type of library, specialization, and years of experience. Librarians in universities libraries highlight the importance of communication skills, while those working in public libraries see personal skills more important than others types of skills. Those who are specialized in library science see that the most important skills are innovation and development skills and communication skills. Librarians with bachelor degree or above see the decision making skills and innovation and development skills are a must to be a successful manager. Keywords: Successful manager, librarians, library management, managerial skills. INTRODUCTION Successful managers drive their organizations to success and growth. Managers' behaviors depend on their managerial competencies and the availability of the required knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics. All managerial positions require three types of skills; technical, human and conceptual skills (Schermerhorn et al., 2005). The acquisition of the right managerial skills adds to the effectiveness of managers (Shipper and Davy, 2002). While different organizations and industries require particular skills from managers, several personality characteristics correlate with effective performance regardless of the organization or industry. However, due to globalization, technological changes and economic development, managers have started to face new management culture based on involvement and participation, rather than on traditional command, control and compliance paradigm (Hamlin et al., 2006). Thus, competences of successful and effective managers have changed overtime (Kenworthy and Wong, 2005). Managers can be categorized according to their efficiency into effective and less effective managers. David (2002) pointed out that the comparison between effective and less effective managers can conducted through their role and behavior in controlling the organization's environment, organizing and coordinating its resources, information handling, emphasizing on growth and development, motivating employees, handling conflicts, and strategic problem solving. Crawford (2007) examined the personal characteristics of highly effective and successful managers. She found that in order to be a successful, managers must be calm and collected, on top of things, work well with others, and combine “thinking” with “doing”. On the same line, Shipper et.al (2003) found a direct impact of self awareness, culture, and managerial skills on managerial effectiveness. Luthon (1988) found that successful mangers mainly focus on guiding employees, managing * Management Sciences Department, Faculty of Planning and Management, Albalqa' Applied University; Talal Abu Ghazaleh College of Business, The German Jordan University; and Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Hashemite University. Received on 19/3/2009 and Accepted for Publication on 31/3/2010. © 2011 DAR Publishers/University of Jordan. All Rights Reserved.