Leadership and leadership development in academic libraries: a review

Abstract

PurposeThe article highlights academic librarians' understanding of leadership and leadership development, with the aim to shed light on further research that can inform and improve practices.

Academic library leaders’ conceptions of library leadership in Pakistan

“…Although leadership is the most explored area in the social sciences (Gill 2006), there is no coherent understanding of the concept of leadership due to its subjective, uncertain and multi-dimensional nature (Brundy 2018;Harrison 2018;Hicks and Given 2013;McMenemy 2008;Rost 1991;Wong 2017). Every subject or discipline used the concept of leadership according to its specific conditions, construct, and culture (Giesecke 2007;Gill 2006;Hernon and Pors 2013;Hicks and Given 2013;Riggs 2001).…”

“…According to Jokitalo (2013; p. 3) that "the library is one of the largest organisations among public institutions, there are numerous staff members to supervise who are more heterogeneous than before and many of whom do more independent work than before". Wong (2017) revealed that leadership in libraries is still dominated by traditional headship approach. This was endorsed by Maciel, Kaspar and Vanduinkerkin (2018) who examined the library dean and directors' job advertised data from 2011 to 2015 and found that there is still focus on the traditional library skills and transactional management perspective.…”

“…Library leadership is intermixed with management and both seem difficult to be differentiated (Farrell 2013;Harrison 2018;Mullins and Linehan 2006a;Wong 2017) and a clear line need to be drawn between these (Hernon and Pors 2013;Hernon, Powell and Young 2003;Hunter 2004). According to Hunter (2004) "management is about things we do: the planning, the budgeting, the organizing, problem-solving, being in control, maintaining order, developing strategies, and a host of other things.…”

“…Hoffman (2012) revealed that 'on the job training' was the most used method followed by conferences and seminars, informal mentoring, training programmes, advanced degrees, and formal mentoring. According to Wong (2017), mentorship, special projects/assignments, workshops and specific programmes are the best ways to develop library leaders. However, the main deficiency in the development of new skills is that parent organisation of library leaders are not providing constant support and opportunities (Aslam 2018; Harris-Keith 2016; Wong 2017).…”

“…Leadership is often associated with management and therefore the LIS literature and curriculum may also intermix with these two terms (Hicks and Given 2013). Wong (2017) found that there was no coherent understanding of the concept of leadership due to its multidimensional and fast changing environment. Hence, there is a need to organise comprehensive training programmes for academic library leaders towards leadership, leadership skills and management jointly ventured by library associations and LIS schools (Haider 2003(Haider , 2004Awan and Mahmood 2010;Bashir 2014).…”