Internal and external recruits to positions of academic library leadership: An exploration of issues

The recruitment of a director for an academic library is an event having significant and potentially far-reaching impact upon the conditions and future success of the library. Whether or not the new incumbent is an internal candidate or an external candidate similarly impact significantly upon the recruitment, appointment and transition to new leadership. Yet, no published studies explore the distinctions between recruiting an internal or an external candidate to the director's position within an academic library. The objective of this study was to identify key issues associated with internal and external appointments.;The study was conducted in the spring and summer of 2010 at two Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions, one at which an internal recruit had been appointed to as library director and the other at which an external recruit had been appointed. Differences between the two institutions were minimized in terms of the size of student FTE, type and range of degree programs, primary institutional funding sources, and length of time in which the two directors had served as director for each library. The primary data collection methods were interviews and content analysis. To strengthen the reliability of the findings, a Delphi panel of 6 experts participated in a two-round survey process to corroborate the study conclusions.;The study revealed that the attitude of university administrators towards the predecessor of the new director had the greatest influence upon the recruitment and appointment of the finalist. Furthermore the transition to new leadership was significantly smoother with the internal recruit. There was no significant difference in the short-term ability of each new director to serve as change agents in bringing about major improvements to each library. The library with the clearest mandate for change was also the library at which the external recruit was appointed. Finally, satisfaction levels among library personnel were higher at the institution with the internal recruit appointed as library director.;With predictions that as much as 27% of the current library workforce will retire by 2020, new insight into academic library leadership recruitment assists theorists and practitioners in determining best practices for academic library leadership development and succession.