Making a Difference: Leadership and Academic Libraries

Leadership is separate from, but integral to, management; and library directors today and for the foreseeable future can be expected to play an institutional role as they lead the library to contribute towards the mission of their college and university. Similarly, new courses in library leadership now accompany more traditional ones on managing organizations and information resources. However, much of the literature on LIS leadership represents a distilled application of principles and practices borrowed from other disciplines, with few reports of research from the library field. Conceived as a companion to The Next Library Leadership (Libraries Unlimited, 2003), Making a Difference includes not only a discussion of effective attributes, but of issues central to the development of leadership qualities, strategies, and dispositions. Essential reading for anyone interested in advancing the quality of leadership within LIS, particularly academic librarians in or aspiring to positions of managerial leadership.

Leadership is separate from, but integral to, management; and library directors today and for the foreseeable future can be expected to play an institutional role as they lead the library to contribute towards the mission of their college and university. Similarly, new courses in library leadership now accompany more traditional ones on managing organizations and information resources. However, much of the literature on LIS leadership represents a distilled application of principles and practices borrowed from other disciplines, with few reports of research from the library field. Conceived as a companion to The Next Library Leadership (Libraries Unlimited, 2003), Making a Difference includes not only a discussion of effective attributes, but of issues central to the development of leadership qualities, strategies, and dispositions. Essential reading for anyone interested in advancing the quality of leadership within LIS, particularly academic librarians in or aspiring to positions of managerial leadership.

Leadership is separate from, but integral to, management. This companion volume to The Next Library Leadership (2002) offers a deeper exploration of the leading issues and concerns of library directors today.

PETER HERNON is Professor at Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where he teaches courses on government information policy and resources, evaluation of information services, research methods, and academic librarianship. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University and has taught at Simmons College, the University of Arizona, and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is coeditor of Library & Information Science Research , founding editor of Government Information Quarterly, and for nine years, been editor of The Journal of Academic Librarianship. He is the author of more than 240 publications, 44 of which are books. Among these are Outcomes Assessment in Higher Education (Libraries Unlimited, 2004), The Next Library Leadership (Libraries Unlimited, 2002).

NANCY ROSSITER is an assistant professor at Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where she teaches management classes, including principles of management, contemporary management theory, marketing the library and information entrepreneurship. Prior to joining the Simmons faculty, she taught for eight years at Bay Path College, Bryant University, Providence College, and Roger Williams University. She was instrumental in developing an entrepreneurship program for women at Bay Path College. Prior to teaching on the college level, Dr. Rossiter owned a publishing company in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. She has also been a consultant, with clients including GTECH, Bryant's Small Business Development Center and Center for Management Development.