Building Emotional Intelligence and Positive Work Relationships

After you attend this course, you’ll be able to:

• Define emotional intelligence and its impact on libraries.
  


• Increase your self-awareness, emotional management, and social awareness.
  


• Apply emotional intelligence to create a more positive workplace culture.
  


• Understand and articulate the links between emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, and burnout.
  


• Apply emotional intelligence during conflict.
  


• Create strategies to initiate repair in interpersonal work relationships.
  

Week 1: Emotional Intelligence Foundations and Training
Thursday, October 21 2025

Course & Workshop Introduction | 2:00-2:15 pm ET
An introduction to the weekly assignments, an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course, and a chance to complete the course pre-assessment.

Session 1 | 2:15-3:00 pm ET
Emotional Intelligence Foundations and Growth
What is emotional intelligence and how can you grow it in yourself and your teams? This opening session will lay the foundations of EQ and teach you practical ways to increase your self-awareness, emotional management, and social awareness. Learn how to show up better for yourself and be a better teammate with these emotional regulation and stress management skills.

Break | 3:00-3:15 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:15-4:00 ET
Emotional Intelligence and Building a Positive Work Culture
How can you use emotional intelligence to help build a more positive work or team culture? This session will equip you with tactics to create and maintain better interpersonal relationships at work. Leave with strategies for individual and group activities to help you and your team build essential EQ skills.

Week 2: Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Relationships
Thursday, October 28, 2025

Weekly Workshop Introduction | 2:00-2:15 pm ET
An introduction to the weekly assignments and a chance to ask questions about the online workshop.

Session 3 | 2:15-3:00 pm ET
Emotional Intelligence, Happiness, and Job Satisfaction
How is emotional intelligence related to job satisfaction, happiness, and burnout? This session will feature a dialogue between two researchers who have explored the impact of emotional intelligence on academic library professionals. Learn evidence-based takeaways that can help you make the case for prioritizing EQ in your organization.

Break | 3:00-3:15 pm ET

Session 4 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET
Emotional Intelligence and Relationships: Repairing Ruptures
What is the role of emotional intelligence in managing workplace relationships, especially when things get tense or uncomfortable? This closing session will teach you practical emotional intelligence tools to help repair harm in work relationships and address challenging conversations with more empathy, kindness, and confidence.

Who should take this course

This course will be relevant for all levels and types of library personnel.

This will be a 2-week online course and will include:

• Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.
  
  
• Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.)
  
  
• Asynchronous workshop: Project-based weekly assignments to connect what you’re learning to your professional life. Includes written feedback from an expert in the field who functions as the workshop facilitator, as well as peer conversation via discussion forums. Workshop available for all multi-week courses plus half-day courses where indicated.
  
  
• Early access on-demand resources: Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace.
  
  
• Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends.

*Note: You do not have to complete the asynchronous work during these two weeks; it will be open to you for six months. However, the feedback from facilitators will only be available from October 21-November 4. 

Expected time commitment

If you watch the recordings of all sessions and participate in the asynchronous workshop, you'll spend approximately 2-4 hours per week on this course. You'll earn 10 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion.

On-demand access

All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on-demand for six months following the initial broadcast as a part of your purchase.

Certificate of completion

Complete the course and earn 10 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you.

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature auto captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Support

For support with online courses, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.

Course Advisor & Instructor

Dr. Michele A. L. Villagranis an Associate Professor at San José State University School of Information. Villagran’s research focuses on diversity and social justice in library and information science and cultural intelligence phenomena within libraries. Dr. Villagran earned her Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership with her dissertation on cultural intelligence in 2015 at Pepperdine University. She also completed her Master of Dispute Resolution and Certificate of Dispute Resolution with Pepperdine. At the University of North Texas, Dr. Villagran completed her M.L.S. degree in Legal Informatics and her M.B.A. in Strategic Management. She is the recipient of the 2023 ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice and Equality, the 2021 REFORMA Librarian of the Year, and the 2021 ALISE Norman Horrocks Leadership Award. Learn more about Dr. Villagran.

Discounted rates are available for a limited time only. Secure your tickets now to lock in the best price.

Group Rates

We offer discounts for groups of 3 or more.

For larger groups of 15 or more, we offer the option to apply group rates across multiple courses to receive significant discounts. For more information, select “Bulk Course Credits Packages” in the form below.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

For support with group purchases, please contact groupsales@libraryjournal.com.