PurposeThe paper aims to answer the question: “Where is our profession going and who is leading us there?”Design/methodology/approachThe article presents results of a survey directed to leadership institute attendees and attempts to determine the impact of such institutes on librarians' careers, and their willingness to move into administrative positions (department head, director, etc.) or leadership roles (project leader, committee chair). This paper was developed from the poster session, “Follow Me! Are Leadership Institutes Creating the Next Generation of Library Leaders?” presented at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Washington, DC, June 24, 2007. Survey questions allowed data collection on the nature and impact of the leadership institute experience, attendees' supervisory and administrative experience, and their future professional goals. The role of leadership mentors and the potential of mentorship to increase the number of library leaders was also considered.FindingsLibrarians who attended leadership institutes felt it had a direct impact on their careers because they are more willing to move into leadership, management, and administrative roles. The majority of attendees find their leadership institute experience professionally valuable and would recommend it to others. Additionally, survey findings reveal the importance of professional mentors.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was limited to librarians who attended a leadership institute. Approximately 75 percent of respondents were female, with only 25 percent male, which reflects the general demographics of the profession as a whole.Practical implicationsLeadership institutes should be developed to focus on particular constituencies. A variety of formats – retreats, year‐long – will also help address different needs among potential attendees. Current library and institutional administrators should encourage librarians to develop their leadership potential.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the insufficient number of librarians both willing and prepared to take on leadership roles both within individual libraries and the profession at large, which is a growing concern to the library profession.

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Until recently, community colleges have been an overlooked segment of higher education. A recent Brookings Institution report labeled them an "invisible institution" (Goldrick-Rab, 2009, § 1). To many students, however, community colleges are not invisible, as an increasing number of undergraduates attend and/or graduate from two-year institutions. Much like the institutions themselves, community college libraries are similarly unnoticed, particularly in terms of workforce issues that distinguish community college libraries from their academic library counterparts at four-year institutions. Preparation for and recruitment into community college librarianship, for example, have their own unique challenges. Issues of career tracking, tenure/contracts, retention, and professional development are also different for community college librarians. This article examines the particular issues that are most critical to community college libraries, including efforts to increase the visibility of community college librarianship as a career and community college libraries as a distinct yet vital element in the landscape of academic libraries.

insights-library-archivaland-information-sciences.

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