The iLead planning grant, conducted in collaboration with national, state, and local partners, aimed to successfully define a leadership program with an equity, diversity, and inclusion focus, identifying the core competencies required for workforce development in Library and Information Science. Through surveys and meetings (N = 491) with advisory committees, we developed a comprehensive understanding of the leadership needs in the field.
Building on these insights, iLead is now focused on implementing a flexible, open-access training program that empowers library professionals to achieve these competencies through stackable micro-credentials, fostering the development of tomorrow’s leaders.
Our national advisory committee includes ALA, COSLA, all National Associations of Librarians of Color (NALCo)—AILA, APALA, BCALA, CALA, and REFORMA—ACRL, ARSL, CORE, and PLA, among others. iLead has six state coalitions, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Carolina, and Washington, and each state consists of four partners—their state library/library commission, library association, and one urban and one rural public library. Some of the nation’s largest and most well-respected public libraries are part of the iLead coalition, including San Francisco Public Library, Seattle Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Las Vegas-Clark County, Charlotte Mecklenburg, Boston Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and LA County and City library systems. In collaboration with these national and state-level coalitions, iLead’s national and state advisory committees reviewed, refined, and vetted the iLead project plan, draft survey, survey report, and final core competencies.
The broad level of review and the aggregate feedback all suggested (1) a desire and need to identify, operationalize, and centralize leadership training for LIS professionals—with an emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI)—and (2) that ALA’s 14 core leadership competencies, while a bit dated, were still valid if supplemented with a set of new competencies.
iLead’s Ongoing Initiatives
1. Cultivate an accessible, flexible, cost effective, and impactful library leadership program that is informed by LIS-practitioner and educator experience
2. Strengthen equity, diversity, and inclusion in both the LIS workforce and within the communities that workforce supports
3. Establish a better-prepared internal pipeline for tomorrow’s library leaders
Project Team
Co-Directors
Anthony Chow, PhD, serves as co-director of iLead. Anthony is a full professor and the Director of San José State University (SJSU)’s School of Information whose expertise includes eLearning, instructional design, and technology integration.
Sanda Erdelez, PhD, serves as co-director of iLead. Dr. Erdelez is the Dean at the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University.
Investigators
José Aguiñaga, EdD, serves as co-investigator of iLead. In 2022, Dr. Aguiñaga joined the School of Information at San José State University (SJSU) as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Aguiñaga’s bilingual upbringing is the foundation for his development as an academic librarian and current scholar.
Rebecca Stallworth, PhD, serves as co-investigator for iLead. Rebecca is an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. Her research areas include marginalized groups and their use of academic library services and resources, diversity in academic libraries, and first-generation graduate students and their information-seeking behaviors.
Project Managers
Sue Alman, PhD, serves as co-project manager of iLead. For Sue, leadership and communication are among the top areas of expertise that have been present in each of her professional endeavors, which have spanned a four-decade career in libraries and education.
Martín J. Gómez, MLIS, serves as co-project manager of iLead and has held high profile leadership roles in both academic and public libraries both on the West and East coasts. Martín is President/CEO of MJ Gómez Associates LLC, an independent consulting firm that was created to support the work of libraries and non-profit organizations.