Highlight

• Class of 2009–10 Selected (April 13, '09)

Overview

The Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) Program is an executive leadership program designed and sponsored by ARL member libraries that offers an opportunity for development of future senior-level leaders in large research libraries. The program exposes and engages library staff who have the desire and potential for leadership at ARL libraries to themes and institutions that will enhance their preparedness.

The pilot program was sponsored by the University of California, Los Angeles; Columbia University; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Texas at Austin; and University of Washington. The second offering was sponsored by six ARL member libraries: University of California, Berkeley and the California Digital Library; Harvard University; University of Minnesota; North Carolina State University; Pennsylvania State University; and the University of Toronto. The 2009-10 program is being jointly sponsored and designed by Brigham Young University, University of Florida, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Houston, University of Michigan, University of Utah, and University of Western Ontario.

Within the multidimensional RLLF Program structure, fellows:

• extend their professional skill and experience base, enabling more effective leadership in a major research library;
• engage the major challenges and pressures currently facing research libraries in concert with some of the major library leaders who are shaping contemporary responses to these challenges;
• better understand the dynamics and politics of campus life in several of the leading research libraries of North America;
• create a network of colleagues to discuss and debate the critical issues and current trends facing research libraries;
• explore the use of innovative and entrepreneurial techniques needed to support the future direction of research libraries; and
• develop a clearer understanding of what it takes to be a successful research library director.

The program curriculum is designed to build on self-assessment and exploration of a personal and professional area of interest in the context of a group learning setting. ARL faculty, library leaders, and sponsoring library directors integrate the fellows’ learning goals with the "big picture" issues that are most pressing for future leaders of large research libraries. These topics are the focus of institutes that are designed and facilitated by active leaders in the ARL community. The RLLF curriculum is enhanced through short site visits to participating ARL libraries and attendance at ARL Membership Meetings.