Background Hiring executive leaders from within an organization is an acceptable leadership succession strategy in corporate America1 but is not typical for replacement of academic library administrators.2 Yet, research confirms that changes in executive leadership are periods of instability and risk for any organization3 Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that leadership transitions with internal successors—employees who have been part of an organization for five to ten years—may be less destabilizing and contribute to a sense of continuity from the departing to the incoming leadership.4 This factor in combination with recent anxiety about the 'graying' of the library profession5 makes the study of executive succession of greater relevance than ever. Wilder confirmed that "librarians, particularly academic librarians, are older than professionals in all but a handful of comparable occupations."6 Whitmell noted that "Even with caveats introduced by a consideration of other social trends, the aging of the library workforce remains a cause for concern."7 The concern therefore is that without sufficient numbers of professionals to conduct the work of academic librarianship, positions will go unfilled. Furthermore, it presages a time when the pool of prospective librarians from which to hire will lack the depth that one finds in a profession less challenged by this type of demographic. Wilder projected that between 2010 and 2020, 27% of the library workforce would retire.8 "Succession planning," noted Whitmell "offers a way to deal constructively with the issues raised by both the aging workforce and the array of other changes that are affecting libraries."9
展开▼
