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Whether you're a new academic library director or a goal-minded manager, you can take concrete steps to gain and strengthen the leadership skills necessary for the job. That's the empowering message of this new collection which combines recent data with critical reflection to illuminate the path ahead. Featuring contributions from seasoned veterans sharing several careers' worth of lessons learned, this book offers a thorough introductory review on the data and literature concerning academic library directorship; explores key facets of beginning leadership such as surviving the first year, the art of asking, and becoming a supervisor; deals with strategic planning, team-building, shared governance, forming and maintaining important relationships, community outreach, and other crucial skills; discusses safety, personnel-related legal issues, building a new library, managing change, and other potentially stressful situations; and includes references to additional sources for further in-depth study . This work offers a starting point from which academic library directors and aspirants can learn about various leadership skills and then plan their own professional development accordingly.