Patrick Lo, Dickson K.W. Chiu, Allan Cho, and Brad Allard. Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors: International Perspectives on Library Management. Cambridge, MA: Chandos Publishing, 2019. 524p. Paperback. $120.00 (ISBN 978-0-08-102746-2).

Abstract

Library directors are uniquely positioned in academic and research librarianship. They are leaders of libraries, driving internal change and progress, and they also liaise at the institutional and global level to orient the library in evolving practice. Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors examines both of these roles deeply through semistructured interviews with directors and leaders of research libraries in the United States and abroad. The book contains 30 interviews representing leaders from American university libraries including Harvard, Yale, MIT, and UCLA and global research libraries with a primary focus on Europe and Asia. Together, these interviews provide a contemporary look at some of the top libraries around the world. The interviews do not follow a set form, yet all delve deeply into the career trajectories of academic library directors, provide a general overview of how they work and how their library is organized, and serve as a platform for their priorities and interests in guiding the work of their organizations. Each chapter concludes with a short image section showing the interviewee and the library the director leads.