Leveraging distributed leadership for effective services delivery in the library system

Abstract

The emerging library services called for rethinking the roles of leadership on library operations, with a focus on enhancing flexible and fluid processes aimed at boosting creativity, drive innovations and achieve significant changes across various components of a library system. This paper argues for leveraging Distributed Leadership for effective services delivery in the library system, by acknowledging that Distributed Leadership makes every library personnel qualified of becoming leaders if they have special expertise or value to contribute to the achievement of library goals. It highlights autonomy, accountability, capacity, coaching, shared responsibility, reflection and feedback as attributes that make Distributed Leadership effective for delivery of library services. Distributed Leadership benefits libraries’ personnel on ideas sharing, taking innovation, fostering collaborations among personnel and offers more leadership options to libraries; while the challenges of Distributed Leadership include fostering higher expectations and promoting uncertainty. This paper recommends among others that formal library leaders should always cooperate and collaborate with personnel elevated to leadership position based on their skills and expertise.