The thesis deals with the leadership styles in the Slovenian public libraries based on the Situational leadership theory, which suggests adopting a leadership style according to competence, commitment or maturity level of the employees. A document called Questionnaire on Leadership Styles (adapted by Zabukovec, 2016) was sent via e-mail to all the 58 leaders of public libraries in Slovenia. A total of 27 leaders responded to the invitation to participate in the collecting of data for the empirical part of the thesis. In the framework of the thesis, data was also obtained on the education of librarians, since leaders highlighted specific areas on which they would like to be further trained. The research results showed that the majority of the participating leaders of Slovenian public libraries use all four leadership styles. Most often, they use the supporting-coaching situational leadership style, which means that they exhibit high supportive and low directive behaviour. However, in case of need, they also exhibit high supportive and high directive behaviour. The research also revealed that, in our sample, age group and educational level do not affect the choice of leadership style, since leaders in all categories chose the same leadership style, that is the supporting-coaching style. Leaders of public libraries in Slovenia have already attended leadership training programmes and they wish to continue attending them. Areas of leadership that represent the biggest challenge for them are: efficient organization of work, project leadership, conducting meetings, leadership styles, communication with colleagues and external partners, relationships, psychology of persuasion, delegating responsibility, motivation, mediation, conflict resolution, communication with difficult co-workers, mobbing, legislation, labour law. The answers obtained can be useful for further development of leadership training programmes for library leaders.
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