Ensuring the academic library's relevance to stakeholders: The role of the Library Director

This paper presents a substantive grounded theory about how the Library Director can ensure the library's relevance to university and external stakeholders in the face of rapid changes in technology and higher education. A constructivist grounded theory research approach involved 14 semi-structured interviews with 12 Library Directors of publicly funded university libraries in Australia and the United States. The substantive theory and the conceptual model presented in this paper suggest that the Library Director responds to the problem of rapid change by enacting the following strategies: aligning strategic vision with the university; continuously reinventing the library; engaging with stakeholders; building an agile and engaged culture; and demonstrating value to the university. The strategies interact with each other in a cyclical pattern. This is an original theory that emphasizes the important role of the Library Director as the agent and model for library strategy and culture. The theory requires library leaders to be strategic thinkers and to be engaged in strategic planning processes that aim for continuous improvements that make the library agile and engaged with stakeholders. The theory also has a significant impact upon the behaviours required for all library staff members.

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