The Academic Librarian as the Missing Link: Sustainable leadership and the discipline of librarianship for a 21st century profession
Date
2016-06
Authors
Williamson, Vicki
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ORCID
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Article
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Abstract
This paper addresses all four conference themes by focusing on the critical topic of the professional practice knowledge, skills, and abilities for the 21st century academic librarian. Drawing on the results of national human resources research studies completed for the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), this paper asserts that sustaining and growing the environment of academic librarianship, through sustainable resources, technology, and services can only be successfully achieved through effective leadership and sustainable workforce strategies at the individual, the institutional, and the sector level.
Selected aspects of two national Canadian workforce studies (the original 8Rs Study from 2005 and the 8Rs Redux Study of 2015) will be discussed in terms of proposing what is needed to sustain the academic librarian in the dynamic information environment in which 21st century academic libraries operate.
As the academic library environment progressively demands new librarian roles, and challenges a generally younger workforce, how will library leaders and the profession generally respond to ensure the continuation of a viable and sustainable discipline of librarianship and a positive future for academic libraries worldwide?
Description
This paper was presented at the Academic Librarian 4 conference held in Hong Kong.
Keywords
Canadian library workforce research, Academic Librarian, 8Rs research, Library human resources