Leadership excellence in African librarianship - the Carnegie Library Leadership Development experience

African librarianship is determined by the socio-cultural, developmental, economic and political contexts within which it is located. The importance of developing leaders within the library and information services (LIS) sector has never been as crucial as it is today. There is a critical need to develop the next generation library leaders who are able to respond and adapt LIS to the needs and demands of community development imperatives, emerging technologies for access to information and knowledge, and most importantly recognise its ability to impact the intellectual capital of the continent. The current model of library practice is steeped in managerialism and positional leadership that disallows innovation, creative thinking and a dynamic organisational culture to evolve. The Carnegie Library Leadership project, located within the University of Pretoria, was designed to address the above by identifying those with the potential to be the next generation library leaders and who will be able to make an impact within and beyond their institutions. The programme recognised that the transition from managers to leaders is not an easy journey but commences with the path to personal leadership, which then leads to more effective public leadership. This approach has succeeded in developing dynamic young professionals who are succeeding in elevating the standards of practice within their institutions and contributing to the development of the profession nationally. This paper therefore aims to share the rich content, learning and outcomes of the programme, and how it may be used for future development opportunities