Media contact:
Beth Dempsey, 248.349.7810 or beth@bethdempsey.com
June 23, 2006 (EVANSTON, ILL.) – The Urban Libraries Council’s (ULC) acclaimed Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) is accepting applications for 20 seats in its new session beginning December 2006. The program has built a track record for success in developing emerging public library leaders into strong urban senior managers. Applicants need not be ULC members to apply.
ELI’s unique program targets a wide leadership path in libraries, matching each ELI Fellow with a senior management Sponsor in the same library. Over the course of the 10-month program, both receive training. Further, the focus of the program is hands-on learning as fellows apply their training on a live and complex leadership challenge facing the library. As a result, ELI learning is spread throughout the institution.
"ELI builds a leadership system, not just a leader, so there is tremendous pay-off for participating libraries,” said ULC President Martín Gómez. “With an investment in ELI, a library begins building a new culture, one that supports leadership talent, risk-taking and new ways of leading. That’s the kind of culture we must create if we’re going to succeed in the dynamic setting that libraries operate in today.”
ELI fellows participate in three instructional workshops, receive in-depth personal assessments and also benefit from professional executive coaching. Additionally, they become part of a national peer network that can provide a career-long support system. The “Action Learning” portion of the program is aimed at building adaptive creativity – a skill that allows leaders to navigate the changing landscape of urban public libraries with greater flexibility.
ELI launched in 2002 and Fellows now number 58. Their industry advancements continue to prove the fundamental impact this developmental program makes in careers. This year alone has seen another promotion to library director, three more fellows honored by Library Journal as Movers & Shakers in the industry and one propelled to continuing leadership training through a newly-formed and unique PhD program, focused on Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions. Participating libraries have included Library of the Year Award winners Las Vegas-Clark County Public Library and San Jose Public Library as well as major metropolitan such as New York Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, Baltimore County Public Library, Nashville Public Library and more than two dozen others.
“Every public library should be looking hard at what they’re doing to develop and keep talented people,” said Gómez. “Succession planning is an industry-wide challenge and we owe it to our communities to meet it.”
Application materials are available from the ULC and include guidelines for identifying appropriate fellows, sponsors and projects. Applications must be delivered to ULC by 5.p.m CST on August 31, 2006. For more information, contact the group at 1-847-866-9999 or visit on the web at www.urbanlibraries.org.
For more than 30 years the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) has worked to strengthen public libraries as an essential part of urban life. A membership organization of North America’s premier public library systems and the corporations that serve them, the ULC serves as a forum for sharing best practices resulting from targeted research, education and forecasting. The ULC’s programs are acclaimed for inspiring new organizational models that invigorate urban libraries and enrich the areas surrounding them. The ULC is headquartered in Evanston, Illinois. For more information, visit the group on the Web at www.urbanlibraries.com.
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