Cultivating leadership in Asian libraries: a longitudinal impact study
| Published date | 13 June 2016 |
| Pages | 243-264 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-02-2016-0012 |
| Date | 13 June 2016 |
| Author | Tina T Yang,Peter E Sidorko,Esther M.W. Woo |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries |
Cultivating leadership
in Asian libraries:
a longitudinal impact study
Tina T. Yang, Peter E. Sidorko and Esther M.W. Woo
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to describe a study aimed at assessing the impact of the only
recurring Asian library leadership institute on its participants.
Design/methodology/approach –A review of the literature focussing on similar longitudinal studies
was first conducted followed by a survey of past participants aimed at utilizing a self-evaluation approach.
Findings –The study found it difficult to establish a conclusive cause and effect link between
institute attendance and the subsequent changes in participants’professional lives. Nevertheless the
study provides compelling evidence that the institute has enhanced participants’leadership skills,
knowledge and insights and thus contributed directly or indirectly to changes in respect of their career
progression, involvement in leadership activities and changes at their respective organizations.
Research limitations/implications –Like other similar longitudinal studies on library leadership
training, the inconclusive nature of findings suggests that further analysis of participants might be
undertaken through a qualitative approach in the form of focus group interviews with the participants
and over a time period less than the ten years used in the study.
Practical implications –Survey respondents provided overwhelming support for the institute
providing organizers with the motivation to continue to provide this opportunity to librarians in the
Asia region.
Originality/value –As the only Asian library leadership training of its kind, this study has delivered
a unique set of data that provides perspectives that have not been previously documented.
Keywords Management, Leadership, Survey, Training, Asia, Longitudinal study
Paper type Research paper
Background
In 2003, the University of Hong Kong Libraries (HKUL) launched its inaugural Annual
Library Leadership Institute. This residential leadership and management training
experience is aimed at providing library directors and senior librarians from research
libraries in the EastAsia region with the opportunity to developnew skills in the rapidly
evolving area of innovative management and leadership in the information sector.
While leadership institutes for librarians are today relatively common, at thetime the
HKUL Institute was established these were largely concentrated in the USA and to a
lesser extent in other countries. In the 2004 article on library leadership training
programs, Mason and Wetherbee (2004) provide a comprehensive listing of such
programs availableto librarians worldwide and note that “themajority are located in the
United States,but one exists in Australia and another in Canada”(Masonand Wetherbee,
2004, p. 203). In recognizing the dynamicand unpredictable world that librarians operate
within, leadership skills for librarians have become increasingly critical. This need is no
less critical in Asiathan it is in these other countries where such institutes are available.
Today, library leadership institutes are even far more widely available than they were
in 2004. The January, 2015 report funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Cultivating Global Library Leadership (Arabella Advisors, 2015), cites 30 such institutes
from 11 countries including Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Ukraine,
Library Management
Vol. 37 No. 4/5, 2016
pp. 243-264
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-02-2016-0012
Received 23 February 2016
Revised23February2016
Accepted 14 March 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
243
Cultivating
leadership in
Asian libraries
Chile and Hong Kong. Whereas one existed in Australia and one in Canada in 2004, the
2015 Report now cites eight in Australia and three in Canada. The diversification has
grown significantly since Masonand Wetherbee’s (2004) analysis.Interestingly, however,
the University of Hong Kong Annual Library Leadership Institute (HKUALLI) remains
the single of such programs in Asia as noted in the report.
In Hong Kong, and indeed in many other parts of the world, funding for academic
libraries in the early part of the twenty-first century had been reduced or flattened in
response to fluctuating economic climates. In China, however, the situation was quite
different with significant increases in spending on higher education. Much of this
spending has been on improving infrastructure and major library building
developments have been a regular occurrence. The need for strong leadership, new
ways of thinking and reacting to changes caused through economics, social
demographics and expectations, technology and new requisite areas of expertise,
provided the impetus to seek to address the need for some new leadership skills in the
East Asia region. The costs for sending large groups to North America and beyond for
such training was prohibitive for most institutions in the region and thus was born the
HKUALLI. The key objectives for the institute were identified, and remain:
•to develop and enhance innovative management and leadership qualities in
academic and research librarians in the East Asia region including Hong Kong’s
own librarians, particularly at our own university; and
•to enhance collaboration and foster relations among academic and research
libraries in the region.
These objectives served as the guiding principles for the development of the program
that would evolve into HKUALLI. Following the necessary planning and development,
the first institute was held in May, 2003 over a five-day period. Following on from that
successful first year and in response to the overwhelming demand for places, the
institute has been held 13 times with demand outstripping supply each year.
But how effective are library leadership programs and in particular, HKUALLI?
As noted in a previous article (Sidorko, 2007a), the initial feedback from parti cipants at
each of the institutes has invariably been positive, but it has been our determination to
follow-up on participants for a long-term evaluation and to gauge the impact of the
institute, if any, on their professional careers that has been the basis for this study.
Literature review
With the proliferation of the library leadership institutes, the body of literature on these
programs is also expanding. Among them could be seen a number of attempts to assess
the short-term or long-term impact of leadership institutes on the participants in their
career path, professional behaviors as well as their perceptions of the value of the
training. Neely and Winston (1999) surveyed 213 Snowbird Leadership Institute
participants (1990-1998) with a response rate of nearly 71 percent and found an
increased level of leadership activity and largely positive perceptions of the institute’s
value regarding their careers despite the lack of a direct relationship between
participation in the institute and career progression and greater participation in
leadership activities. Barney (2004) looked at the short-term impact of the 2003 Aurora
Leadership Institute, a program modeled on the Snowbird Leadership Institute on its
participants and mentors and found evidence of the benefits of the institute through the
many examples of leadership activity that respondents attributed to their institute
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