Examining the costs of library leadership turnover
Abstract
While all positions in academic libraries eventually turn over, the departure of top leadership positions (deans, directors, or university librarians, hereafter referred to as “deans”) can be particularly disruptive, incurring a variety of costs, including financial, political, and the opportunity costs related to delays. In this manuscript these costs are examined–drawing from existing literature and the experiences of two of the authors who served as interim library deans–and suggestions are presented about how they can be mitigated.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Library Science and Information Literacy
Mentoring and Academic Development
Human Resource and Talent Management
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The Journal of Academic Librarianship
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 103193–103193
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN