CHICAGO – Applications for the 2018 “Leading to the Future” ALA Leadership Institute (August 6-9, Eaglewood Resort, Itasca, Illinois) will be accepted through March 9, 2018. The institute is designed to help future library leaders develop and practice their leadership skills in areas critical to the future of the libraries they lead.

Building on the success of the past ALA Leadership Institutes, the four-day immersive leadership development program for up to 40 mid-career librarians will be led again by ALA past-president Maureen Sullivan and library and leadership consultant Kathryn Deiss.

The application form as well as details and guidelines are available on the Transforming Libraries website. Applicants may nominate themselves or be nominated by their employer. Participation includes a free one-year membership in LLAMA (Library Leadership and Management Association).

Through reflective and active learning, the institute offers participants an opportunity to delve into leadership practices, concepts, and frameworks, and to shape their own sustainable leadership vision and ethos, at the same time as building a learning community and network. With content based on real-world cases and nuanced situations, participants explore topics related to the greatest challenges and possibilities of leading into a future marked by turbulence and ambiguity.

Participants from the past institutes “can’t sing the praises of the institute enough.” They report gaining the “confidence to become more comfortable networking, get involved in my [local] library association, and seek out new career opportunities” and becoming “a stronger mentor to my staff and utilizing a leadership style which is both inclusive and inspiring.” The consensus is that the institute “inspires confidence and encourages attendees to pursue leadership opportunities they might not have done otherwise.”