The Academic Library Director: Reflections on a Position in Transition addresses the changing nature of work and the new demands being placed on academic library directors. The authors’broad range of professional experience offers you unique insight on a management position that is truly in transition. Get inside seasoned professionals’heads to save time, effort, and money for yourself and your library. See what these experienced directors did right . . . and learn from their mistakes. The Academic Library Director is the resource that: Considers the challenges of leading an academic library through the transition period between permanent directors; lists the challenges met by interim directors and presents their advice for succeeding in this difficult role. Studies the career paths for academic library directors based on a survey of 21 library directors across the country, with a focus on factors such as gender, education, age, tenure, professional experience, and internal vs. external candidates. Identifies critical criteria for recruiting library leaders for the 21st century. Should your library hire a manager or a leader? Provides a unique, non-librarian perspective on the establishment of a newly configured position of Vice Provost for Information and Dean of University Libraries at a large university. Discusses the perceptions recently appointed academic library directors have about collegiate life vis à vis the realities they’ve encountered since assuming their positions. Shows how a library can thrive in a not-for-profit culture by embracing for-profit principles. The Academic Library Director: Reflections on a Position in Transition will help prepare you and your library for the only sure thing in the future--change. Successful library directors will be the ones who can recognize and thrive on the “management of change.” Unsuccessful directors will find themselves unable to adapt. Use this book to ensure your library comes out on the right side of the line.

Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors: International Perspectives on Library Management presents a series of conversations with the directors of major academic and research libraries. The book offers insight, analysis, and personal anecdote from leaders in the library field, giving a unique perspective on how the modern library operates. Readers will learn about the most up-to-date trends and practices in the LIS profession from the directors of 24 internationally acclaimed academic and research libraries in Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, and the UK and USA. This is the first book focusing on leaders and managers of library institutions to offer a global outlook. Facing the need to respond to the expectations of changing populations that librarians strive to serve, this book aims to develop a new understanding of the core values of academic and research libraries, and asks how librarians can innovate, adapt, and flourish in a rapidly shifting professional landscape. Presents conversations with library leaders from 24 major institutions Offers a global perspective on the operation and management of libraries Discusses the director’s impact on institutional structures and future landscapes Gives insights based on first-hand experience

The analysis of the management activities and effectiveness of the academic library director in Joanne Euster's The Academic Library Director is a fine companion to Rook's work on motivation. Indeed Euster even identifies several key leadership types that characterize certain library directors. Her analyses of those types, and in particular her witty mottoes for each, are a delight. . . . Euster's work is, though, a serious one that is worth serious attention. It is a solid analytical study of how academic library directors operate and what impact they may have on the operation and effectiveness of a library. . . . Her short concluding chapter on the implications of her study offers some extremely valuable insights for university administrators and faculty, library staff, library educators, professional associations, and even directors. Wilson Library Bulletin Although working within a framework largely predetermined by institutional requirements and standardized procedures, the academic library director confronts opportunities and challenges that offer a wide scope for individual creativity. Joanne Euster's new book analyzes the contribution of the director's personal leadership style and management skills to the successful operation of college, university, or research library. Based on the author's award-winning study of the activities and effectiveness of academic library directors, it is the first full-length examination of the subject.

This work offers a starting point from which academic library directors and aspirants can learn about various leadership skills and then plan their own professional development accordingly.

This report on the process by which a university librarian is selected is based on interviews with key participants in searches for library directors at five medium to large universities, each of which had selected a new university librarian within the two years prior to the survey. It was found that the five universities--one private, one state-related, one member of a statewide university system, and two state universities (one rural and one urban)--had a number of common characteristics which contributed to a successful search, including relative openness with respect to the process, a clear understanding of affirmative action guidelines, a commitment to the library by academic officers, and interest from the three major constituent groups, i.e., librarians, faculty, and administrators. Several critical factors in the search process that were common to the searches were also found: (1) careful attention to the composition of the search committee; (2) management of group dynamics within the search committee; (3) accurate representation of the university to the candidates; (4) accurate knowledge on the part of the committee of the type of individual desired by academic officers; and (5) communication of the future direction of the university from academic officers to all involved in the search. The critical role of outsiders in searches, as well as the necessity for an "assertive" search are also considered. Copies of the interview questionnaire and the introductory cover letter are appended. (60 references) (Author/EW)

The Academic Library Director: Reflections on a Position in Transition addresses the changing nature of work and the new demands being placed on academic library directors. The authors'broad range of professional experience offers you unique insight on a management position that is truly in transition. Get inside seasoned professionals'heads to save time, effort, and money for yourself and your library. See what these experienced directors did right . . . and learn from their mistakes. The Academic Library Director is the resource that: Considers the challenges of leading an academic library through the transition period between permanent directors; lists the challenges met by interim directors and presents their advice for succeeding in this difficult role. Studies the career paths for academic library directors based on a survey of 21 library directors across the country, with a focus on factors such as gender, education, age, tenure, professional experience, and internal vs. external candidates. Identifies critical criteria for recruiting library leaders for the 21st century. Should your library hire a manager or a leader? Provides a unique, non-librarian perspective on the establishment of a newly configured position of Vice Provost for Information and Dean of University Libraries at a large university. Discusses the perceptions recently appointed academic library directors have about collegiate life vis à vis the realities they've encountered since assuming their positions. Shows how a library can thrive in a not-for-profit culture by embracing for-profit principles. The Academic Library Director: Reflections on a Position in Transition will help prepare you and your library for the only sure thing in the future--change. Successful library directors will be the ones who can recognize and thrive on the "management of change." Unsuccessful directors will find themselves unable to adapt. Use this book to ensure your library comes out on the right side of the line.