Jose Favian Rodriguez Class

This interactive workshop invites academic library leaders to examine the essential competencies that underpin effective leadership in diverse library contexts. Through engaging activities, participants will share their perceptions of leadership and explore how competencies vary in significance across different leadership roles—executive, team leader, and emergent leader. By fostering collaborative discussions, this workshop aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of the capabilities that drive effective leadership while providing participants with the opportunity to reflect on their own practices and skills development. Additionally, those in executive positions will consider strategies for developing future leaders within their organizations. Ultimately, participants will leave with enhanced insights into effective leadership in academic libraries, empowering them to implement meaningful changes in their leadership approach and to foster a culture of growth and collaboration in their institutions.

In 2024, I developed and launched a weeklong series of Earth Day–themed programs at the University of Miami Libraries, held from April 22–25. The initiative was inspired by a presentation I delivered for the UM Libraries Wellbeing Collective in fall 2023, during which I discussed my personal connection to plant cultivation and its role in fostering mental clarity and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Motivated by the positive response and the power of shared personal narratives, I sought to create a platform that would encourage staff, faculty, and community members to explore their own passions while engaging in meaningful conversations about sustainability, environmental stewardship, and personal wellness. This vision led to the creation of Earth Week at the UM Libraries, an annual program designed to cultivate community, promote environmental awareness, and support holistic well-being.

The data used for this study was collected from " Librarians across Institutions: Establishing Outreach Programs, " which gathered data from academic outreach librarians across the United States in order to identify factors that contribute to—and hinder—effective outreach programs. The study examines support for the most and least effective outreach programs carried out by outreach librarians in five support areas. To analyze the five support areas, the author conducted five independent-sample t-tests. The author wanted to test if the mean scores of support from librarians, staff, faculty, students, and volunteers were significantly different at a p value of less than 0.05 across the most effective versus least effective outreach programs. The target group was created by searching LinkedIn profiles for academic librarians whose job title included " outreach " or who had outreach listed in their work experience. The data analysis shows there is a difference in support levels between the most effective and least effective library outreach programs. The results also revealed there are significant statistical differences in the levels of support from librarian, staff, and students between the most and least effective programs. Results from the study confirm our understanding that outreach librarians are innovative and use communication and collaboration techniques to garner support from librarians, staff, faculty, students, and volunteers to create effective outreach programs. KEYWORDS academic libraries, outreach, outreach programs, librarians, outreach librarian O utreach librarians in academic libraries advocate engagement with students, underserved populations, and their local community as part of their mission. In planning outreach activities, outreach librarians must work within the constraints of budget and time for the success of their program objectives. Few academic institutions maintain a budget designated for outreach. A study done by Carter and Seaman (2011) revealed that 23 percent of