The Role of Administrators in Professional Development: Considerations for Facilitating Learning Among Academic Librarians

Abstract

The role that administrators should take in enabling professional development is regularly discussed in the library literature. However, this article, seeking to provide information from a new perspective, stems from data gathered via qualitative interviews in order to explore experiences of academic librarians and to identify commonalities among the experiences that participants describe as meaningful. Themes that emerge relate to the balance between administrative suggestions versus mandates, librarians' desire to self-assess and self-select activities, the importance of job relevance, approaches to sharing information, and barriers to participation. They may offer insights to administrators who wish to facilitate continuing education of staff.