Leadership in Academic
Libraries
Paula Kaufman
July 7, 2011
Think about Library Leaders
You Have Known
• What attributes did they have?
• What did they do?
• What did they not do?
Leadership vs. Management
• Leadership – directly and
indirectly influencing
people to cause change
• Management –effective
utilization of resources to
achieve organizational
goals
Comments from Seasoned
Leaders
“Fundamental change is more likely through
effective leadership than management”
“Effective leadership is based on values”
“Effective leadership can change the culture of
an organization, management cannot”
Leaders instill in their staff hope
for success and belief in
themselves. Positive leaders
empower people to accomplish
their goals
Leading the Library
• Learn and understand the
culture of the University and
the library
• Understand the values of the
University and the Library
Know Yourself
• Why did you take the
position?
• What is your decision
style?
• What are your strengths?
• What do you fear most?
• How will you measure
success?
• How will you stay fresh?
Practical Steps
• Read reports and other materials
• Meet with staff
• Familiarize yourself with library and campus
culture/context/processes
• Identify issues, aspirations, concerns,
perceptions
• Maintain an open mind
• Find a mentor
EVERYTHING IS
INTERCONNECTED
• Management decisions
are financial decisions
and vice versa
• Library services
• Recruitment/retention
• Fund-raising
Managing and Leading the
UIUC Library
Organization structure
• Libraries
• Administration
• Centralization in a decentralized environment
• Divisions
• Administrative Council
UIUC Library’s Mission
• Central to intellectual life of University
• Enhances University’s mission by
providing and stewarding collections
and content and by offering a wide
array of services
UIUC Library’s Mission
• Advance University’s goals by ensuring
unfettered access to information and by
providing a network of expertise that
ensures value, quality, and authenticity of
information resources
• Integrate and manage knowledge to
enable learning and the creation of new
knowledge
UIUC Library’s Mission
• Will be worldwide engaged leader and
information and knowledge broker
through our collections, services, new
technologies, collaborations and
strategic thinking
• Remain stewards of high quality
information
Vision
• Enhance our role as educators and
teachers of information literacy in all
formats
• Sustain an environment that supports
and advances pursuit of excellence
• Embrace change while balancing it with
continuity
Vision
• Building upon a rich heritage, the
Library seeks to maintain a strategic
position as an institution of worldwide
preeminence that offers unparalleled
opportunities for intellectual
exploration
Guiding Values
• Accept nothing less than excellence
• Provide services and content that
advance the endeavors of faculty,
students, and primary external
constituencies
UIUC Library Guiding Values
• Address needs and opportunities of
diverse and increasingly global,
interconnected, constituencies through:
• services we offer
• scholarly content we make available
• instruction we provide
• engagement with external communities
UIUC Library Guiding Values
• Speed the transformation of the
current system of scholarly
communication to one that advances
the distribution of knowledge through
more affordable and accessible
methods
UIUC Library Guiding Values
• Create a nimble and adaptive
institution
• Protect our users’ rights to privacy and
freedom of thought and expression in a
free and open society
"Any people that would
give up liberty for a little
temporary safety
deserves neither liberty
nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin
University Library
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 W. Gregory Dr. | Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-2290
For comments on this page contact: Gateway Conversion
New Service Models
• Build on traditional strengths (including
the depth of our collections and the
quality of our services) to ensure that
Illinois remain as much a leader in the
provision of library services in the
twenty-first century as it was throughout
the twentieth.
Faculty Governance
• One faculty
• Executive Committee
• Broad-based participation
Advisory Committees
• Senate Committee on the Library –
mandated committee
• Student Advisory Committee
Leadership Challenges
• Effectiveness and relevancy
• New services
• Collaboratinos and partnerships
• Territoriality
• Advancing a vision bigger than any
individual library: Library with a capital L
• Morale
• Financial Resources
ATTITUDE MATTERS
• Positive, supportive, empowering –
share information and engender trust
• Reduce conflict and competition by
role modeling respect
• Communicate values and principles
that characterize how you will
function through examples
ATTITUDE MATTERS
• Distinguish criticism from critical
analysis - “blame and complain”
• Don’t overreact – people have
opinions and different personalities
• Don’t delay difficult decisions
• Rumors are important to understand
and address
OUTLINE A CLEAR VISION
FOR THE FUTURE
• Identify barriers and facilitators for
achieving the vision
• Include key individuals that who will
support change
• Begin consensus building and unit
refinements of the vision
• Build shared vision with deliberate speed
OUTLINE A CLEAR VISION
FOR THE FUTURE
• Reward behaviors that contribute to
achieving the vision/goals/values
publicly
• Link individual goals to group goals
• Facilitate collaboration
DEALING WITH
RESISTORS
• Spend time to understand their
concerns
• Define consensus clearly & make
decisions transparent
• Do not empower their position
• Make true merit decisions
A Leader is a Coach for all
Staff
Good staff are key to
meeting library’s goals
Determine best ways to
involve staff in setting and
meeting goals
Measure performance
objectively against progress
towards goals
THE LONG HAUL
• Talk to colleagues holding similar
positions
• Try to be fully informed before making
decisions and remain transparent
• Remember what is said and what is
heard might be different
• Suspend negative judgments as much as
possible
THE LONG HAUL
• Role model desired behaviors
• Cultivate distributed leadership
through influencing others’ decisions
• Don’t worry about who is getting credit
– celebrate together
• Challenge yourself and others to
“figure out a way to get there”
THE LONG HAUL
Distinguish temporary setbacks from the
need to revise goals
• Communicate
• Encourage & support
• Revise methodologies & processes
Identify potential leaders and create plan
to develop their skills
Enjoy the difference you are making!
Your Success as Leaders is
Measured
by the Success of Others
Create an environment that fosters achievement