Developing Leadership to Transform our Library: The Library Leadership Development Program (LLDP) at the University of Saskatchewan

Purpose - The paper aims to provide an overview of the background and context of the decision by a Canadian research library to invest in developing and implementing its own in-house library leadership development program (LLDP). Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a case study and is presented in three parts: leadership circumstances within the Canadian research libraries, with particular reference to The Future of Human Resources in Canadian Libraries (the 8Rs Study), the University library at the University of Saskatchewan and its Strategic Plan, with particular reference to its relationship and engagement strategy and other strategic HR initiatives; and the conceptualisation, content and competencies of the LLDP. This paper discusses why and how a leadership development program has been implemented. Findings - The paper shows that LLDP is a work-in-progress and is a practical step in a journey to change organizational culture, and build individual and organizational leadership capacity. Practical implications - While some of the context is Canadian specific, the local strategy implementation has relevance and applicability in other academic and research library contexts. Originality/value - This paper provides a discussion of current leadership challenges for Canadian research libraries, including a leadership development strategy exemplified by the experiences and work underway at the library at the University of Saskatchewan

Leadership challenges and issues facing academic libraries

The main objective is to determine academic library leaders\u27 perspectives regarding the key challenges facing academic libraries and leadership, and how library professionals can meet these challenges effectively. The study explores the leadership development opportunities and challenges for senior library professionals and academic libraries of the future, and what type of skills and abilities they need. A semi-structured, telephone and face-to-face interviews were arranged, the author interviewed library directors, managers and most senior librarians, a total of 16 library leaders and administrators were selected to this study. Results identify that a shared vision is key to leadership in academic library that prepares employees for organizational change and reduces resistance. Skills development is the top priority for library leaders at all levels and how organization can support the leadership development while shrinking budget is main concern for both private and public institutions

Academic libraries in the information society

The way that higher education library services are viewed, planned and managed must change radically if they are to survive and thrive in the future. Advances in technology, economic and political pressures, and socio‐demographic factors have combined to create an environment posing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The Joint Funding Councils′ Libraries Review has highlighted the need for stronger management and more confident involvement in institutional planning and organizational change. Electronic communication will transform service provision, with significant shifts towards distributed networked services, empowering the end‐user and offering new roles and responsibilities to information intermediaries. Effective communication between library, computing and academic staff will be essential to ensure relevant and responsive services. New resource models will be required to take account of diverse customer needs and different modes of delivery. Organizational structures and management styles must change to meet future needs and human resource development must be given higher priority. Bold leadership will enable libraries to enhance their strategic role and respond positively to environmental change

Evidence-Based Practice and Organizational Development in Libraries

This article is written for a Festschrift for F. W. Lancaster, and it summarizes the author???s library school experiences as a student of Professor Lancaster and Professor Herbert Goldhor at the University of Illinois. Both professors instilled in students a strong inclination to use real and appropriate information in evaluating situations, making decisions, delivering information services, and managing libraries. The author suggests that this Lancaster-Goldhor approach to information, and to data-driven decision making, anticipated the current movement toward evidence-based practice (EBP) in libraries. He suggests that libraries embrace the premises, philosophy, values, and practices of organizational development (OD) as an overarching discipline that facilitates EBP in the library culture, and ultimately leads to healthier and more effective organizations. This article complements a 2004 Library Trends article on OD, and numerous recent publications on OD and related topics are cited.published or submitted for publicatio

Transforming Technical Services: Evolving Functions in Large Research University Libraries

Technical services functions in academic libraries have evolved in response to fiscal pressures and advances in technology. In this study the author investigates how technical services in large research university libraries are adapting to support the changing roles of academic libraries. The author conducted hour-long phone interviews in early 2014 with the representatives from nineteen out of the twenty-five university libraries in the Technical Services Directors Large Research Libraries Interest Group. This paper presents the results and discussion based on the interview data: use of the name, Technical Services; new and emerging functions of technical services; organizational structure of technical services units; change drivers that are affecting technical services now, and those that will soon; and challenges in managing technical services. Five models of a technical services organizational structure were developed from participants’ organizational charts and interview data. This research also highlights the skills needed among technical services personnel.UT Librarie

The Relationship Development and Learning Organization Dimensions.

This research examined the relationship among learning organization dimensions, leadership development, employee development, and their interactions with two demographic variables (gender and ethnicity) in the context of libraries. The researchers conducted a multivariate analysis of the variance to assess the differences by leadership training groups (low training hours vs. high training hours), or by gender; and by workplace training groups (low vs. high), or by ethnicity (white vs. all others) on a linear combination of the seven dimensions of the learning organization. A conclusive summary is provided along with contributive discussion. Implications and contributions to librarians are discussed in addition to future research recommendations. Also included are conclusive final thoughts accompanied by the limitations of this research

Toward a Library Renaissance

For centuries, librarians have tried to safeguard information, sometimes in the face of destruction. Think of the great Library of Alexandria, the burning of which symbolizes the irretrievable loss of knowledge. Think also of Umberto Eco\u27s novel, The Name of the Rose, and the (fictitious) 14th-century story about the search for a lost volume of Aristotle that no one is allowed to read—but yet must be preserved—because it might reveal that Jesus could and did laugh, contrary to the death-obsessed zeitgeist of the time. Fast-forward to the age of the internet, when some fear libraries are again being destroyed and many ask: Who wants libraries when you have Google? This is not an easy question to address but one need not yield to pessimism. This paper argues that identifiable trends direct to a promising future: in light of these, one should be able to circumscribe plausible scenarios. Approaches to strategic planning that count on ownership should make a big difference and point to desirable skills for librarians. If they also invest in resilience and give unequivocal attention to branding, libraries can enjoy a renaissance

The Changing Role of the Middle Manager in Research Libraries

published or submitted for publicatio

Understanding EBLIP at an organizational level: an initial maturity model

Objective - Existing research around evidence based practice in the LIS (library and information science) professional context over the past two decades has captured the experience of individual practitioners, rather than the organization as a whole. Current models of evidence based library and information practice (EBLIP) relate to, and apply predominantly to, individuals or specific scenarios. Yet despite a growing demand from institutional and library leaders for evidence to demonstrate why investments in libraries should continue, little is known about how an organization can enhance its maturity in evidence based practice. This paper addresses this gap by seeking to understand what an evidence based university library looks like and answering the questions: how does a university library leader know the library’s service and practice is evidence based? How can a university library measure and progress its maturity in evidence based practice? Methods - Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with library professionals employed at Australian and New Zealand university libraries. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. The interviews, combined with a literature review and environmental scan of evidence based practices in university libraries, informed the development of a draft capability maturity model as a framework for developing evidence based practice in university libraries. Results - The model identifies and describes characteristics at five different levels of evidence based practice maturity from least mature (Ad hoc/Sporadic) to most mature (Transforming). Three dimensions of experience help to define the characteristics at each level of maturity and provide a framework to understand how a university library might develop its organizational capacity in evidence based library and information practice. Conclusion - Library leaders and practitioners will benefit from the model as they seek to identify and build upon their evidence based practice maturity, enabling more robust decision-making, a deeper understanding of their clients and demonstration of value and impact to their stakeholders