Making Our Own Canvas presentation

In Fall, 2011, the Penn State University Libraries administration established a leadership development program. The goal of the program is to “create learning opportunities and experiences for faculty who aspire to leadership positions within and beyond the Libraries” (Penn State, 2011). The authors were two of the four members of the inaugural class who were selected to participate in the program. Since a leadership program had not been undertaken before at the University Libraries, the agenda for this first cohort was fairly flexible, but did include several key components as a framework. During course of 2012/13, the first library leader cohort participated in regular meetings with library and university administrators who were invited to discuss their leadership paths and roles. We all read and discussed Reframing Academic Leadership (Bolman & Gallos, 2011).

Each member of the cohort also applied for and participated in a national leadership institute - some focused on higher education or libraries/IT; others focused on leadership writ large. As the program developed, the cohort expanded their activities to include attendance at select high-level administrative meetings at the University level; visits to Penn State’s branch campuses; and meetings with visiting high-profile scholars - Elliott Shore, Executive Director of the Association for Research Libraries. At the close of 2012, the library administrators charged the cohort to serve as consultants to the library regarding the organizational structure for library instruction programs. The rest of this presentation will focus on that experience - how the group was charged; how leadership roles were negotiated; how the task was carried out; what the report consisted of, and why it didn’t work.