Leadership and leadership development in academic libraries: a review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight academic librarians’ understanding of leadership and leadership development, with the aim to shed light on further research that can inform and improve practices.Design/methodology/approachA literature review on academic library leadership was conducted. Particular attention was placed on the three common leadership modes in academic libraries: emergent leadership, team leadership and headship. The review covers librarians’ conception of leadership, desirable leadership capabilities and existing leadership development.FindingsLibrarians view leadership as a process of influence, and understand that leadership does not only come from formal leaders. Lacking is a more structured knowledge of what constitute effect leadership. In the literature, team and emergent leadership have not been adequately explored; most leadership research in the field takes on a headship approach.Research limitations/implicationsThe publications reviewed were selective; not all papers on the topic were included.Practical implicationsFeaturing the three leadership modes brings librarians’ attention to the crucial differences among them; and hence directs future discussion to a more focused approach that addresses each leadership mode specifically.Originality/valueThis paper differs from previous literature reviews on library leadership; it is the first one comparing and contrasting publications using the three leadership modes.