According to ARL’s strategic goals for 2005-09, there is a need to focus on new and expanding roles for ARL libraries to engage in the transformations affecting research and undergraduate and graduate education. ARL’s Leadership Development initiatives assist research libraries to meet the instructional and research needs of higher education.
In 2006–07, an ARL Board Task Force on Leadership Development identified executive leadership development and succession planning in research libraries as priority activities. A limited number of leadership and management skills training events are available only to member libraries on demand.