The Need for Library Leadership Development Programs: Introducing ELLSSA
Stepping into leadership roles—particularly within academic libraries—can be challenging, given the extensive administrative, managerial, and strategic responsibilities these positions entail. Building leadership capability is therefore vital for institutional talent development, especially within an intergenerational workforce where well-defined career pathways, progression opportunities, and competency frameworks are increasingly important.
In 2024, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) published Learning to Lead: A Scan of Global Library Field Practice, which identified sixty-six leadership development programs worldwide. Among these, Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Emerging Library Leaders’ Summer School for Asia-Pacific (ELLSSA) was recognized as one of the few leadership development offerings in the region (Saleh et al., 2024).
Regionally, Yang, Sidorko, and Woo (2016) documented that the University of Hong Kong Libraries launched the Annual Library Leadership Institute (HKUALLI) in 2003—one of the earliest structured leadership development initiatives for librarians in Asia. Such programs typically combine skill-building, reflective practice, and network development. Their longitudinal study demonstrated consistent growth in participants’ leadership competencies, professional knowledge, and self-awareness. Many alumni subsequently assumed leadership roles and contributed to organizational transformation, although drawing long-term causal links remains challenging. Collectively, these findings reinforce the value of multi-component programs that intentionally foster developmental relationships and nurture communities of practice.
Over the years, SMU Libraries has also received numerous requests for study visits from academic libraries across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). These visits aimed to benchmark best practices and explore emerging trends—including information and digital literacy, collection and resource management, technology adoption, research support, innovative space redesign, and broader digital transformation efforts. Delegations frequently comprised library directors, senior librarians, and occasionally senior university administrators. The sustained interest in such engagements provided the impetus for SMU Libraries to design a more structured, scalable leadership development program that supports capability and capacity building—aligned with the university’s broader growth in Asia strategy.
In this article, we introduce ELLSSA and its distinguishing features and conclude with the role of business librarians’ groups and library leaders in investing in talent through structured leadership development programs.
About ELLSSA
The Emerging Library Leaders’ Summer School for Asia-Pacific (ELLSSA) is an annual five-day, face-to-face executive development program designed for emerging library leaders from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond (Library Association of Singapore, n.d.). It offers an intensive and highly interactive learning experience aimed at strengthening leadership capabilities while fostering a diverse professional network committed to innovation in library services.
The program focuses on helping participants understand key trends in the digital transformation of academic libraries, develop strategic skills to enhance library services, and create actionable plans tailored to their own institutional contexts. ELLSSA is intended for early- to mid-career librarians seeking to deepen their leadership competencies, as well as high-potential professionals nominated by their institutions to serve as future leaders. Since its inception, ELLSSA has experienced significant expansion in participation and geographic reach, with 71 librarians from more than a dozen countries completing the program across the first three cycles (2023–2025).
As illustrated in Figure 1, participant numbers increased from 19 in 2023 to 28 in 2024, before stabilizing at 24 in 2025, indicating sustained demand for the program. Geographical diversity also expanded markedly: while the inaugural cohort represented eight countries, by 2025 the program drew participants from more than twelve countries spanning Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe. This pattern of growth highlights ELLSSA’s widening international appeal and its development into a genuinely cross-continental leadership initiative.
ELLSSA’s Participation and Reach.
What Makes ELLSSA Great?
Ensuring Inclusive Access: From Vendor Sponsorship to Business Partnership
During program development, SMU Libraries surveyed the ASEAN University Network Inter-Library Online (AUNILO) members to understand regional needs. Affordability emerged as a concern, particularly travel costs within ASEAN. Rather than seeking traditional sponsorships, the team repositioned vendor engagement, inviting database vendors to become partners in regional capacity building. Taylor & Francis responded first, funding five named scholarships to help offset course fees for librarians from selected ASEAN countries. The named scholars undertake coursework to apply what they learned in their institutional context such as preparing an issue pitch to get stakeholders’ buy in for acquiring AI tools such as ChatGPT. Today, approximately fifteen scholarships are supported by three business partners who are rewarded with speaking and participant engagement time during the program on allocated days.
Curating a Relevant Program: Collaboration and Partnerships
A key hallmark of ELLSSA’s success is its intentionally curated program, built on collaboration and partnership. A distinctive feature is the partnership with SMU Academy, the accredited professional training arm of Singapore Management University. Through this collaboration, SMU Academy issues certificates of completion, co-brands and supports marketing, and provides essential infrastructure, including registration services and the learning management system (SMU Academy, n.d.). This collaboration also expands the industry reach of SMU’s professional continuing education programs.
ELLSSA is designed for adult learners, with active learning embedded throughout the five-day experience. Faculty members and senior university leaders deliver keynote sessions that provide macro-level insights into digital transformation and, more recently, the expanding role of AI.
Sharing from SMU Libraries, the library’s leadership team and senior librarians lead seminars featuring case studies, thematic deep dives, and best practices. Recent topics include:
Strategies for Managing Digital Collections: Navigating Budget Constraints
Research Publications, Repositories, and Research Impact: The Role of the Library
User-Centred Libraries: Driving Change and Impact through UX and Design Thinking
Libraries Advancing AI Literacy in Our Communities: Instructional Programs and Initiatives
Hands-on workshops encourage participants to think creatively. For example, the Digital Transformation for Libraries workshop conducted by SMU Academy has sparked unconventional ideas and offered fresh perspectives beyond the library and information services industry. An illustrative example of this is the introduction of the Business Canvas Model where participants apply this in a group setting to innovate or create a new digital service. Other program elements—including fireside chats and panel discussions with local and regional leaders—stimulate debate on hot topics in academic librarianship. “Lunch and learn” sessions with business partners introduce themes such as open research and open futures. Learning journeys to modern academic libraries provide exposure to innovative space planning, service models, and design applications, and are frequently cited as a highlight.
Injecting Energy Through Healthy Competition: The “Pitch Tank”
Inspired by the gameshow Shark Tank and conceived by the university librarian, the Pitch Tank is a signature event. Participants identify a pressing institutional issue (together with their supervisors) and deliver a five-minute, evidence-based pitch proposing a strategic solution. The dynamic session comprises:
Academic “Sharks.” Members of the SMU Libraries Leadership Planning Team role-play key institutional stakeholders (e.g., provost, CFO, digital innovator, student success advocate, library veteran).
Structured, fair evaluation. A transparent rubric guides assessment, with monetary prizes adding friendly competition.
Mentor involvement. Mentors attend the presentations, strengthening continuity of learning and support.
The Pitch Tank illustrates how ELLSSA continually evolves its pedagogy, ensuring each cohort experiences a dynamic, engaging, and future-focused program.
Creating Enduring Impact: The Mentoring Program
Mentoring opportunities for librarians remain scarce across many parts of Asia. Yang, Sidorko, and Woo (2016) reported that only 29.2 percent of surveyed alumni had gone on to mentor another professional, underscoring a persistent shortfall in mentoring culture despite formal leadership development programs. Against this backdrop, ELLSSA’s six-month mentoring program extends learning well beyond the five-day course. Each participant is paired with a mentor aligned to the institutional issue identified for their Pitch Tank project. There are thirteen mentors made of senior SMU librarians and current and former library leaders in Singapore and overseas (such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Canada, and Switzerland etc.) who volunteer their time. Mentor–mentee pairs are encouraged to meet at least once every two months over six months whereafter the program officially ends. But some go beyond that.
Feedback indicates that mentoring conversations often expand beyond the original project to include career development, work-life balance, leadership challenges, and workplace dynamics. Mentees report that the relationship provides valuable professional insight and confidence, while mentors describe the experience as reciprocal learning. A suggested enhancement for future iterations is a pre-program group briefing for all mentors to align expectations. For further details, see Munoo (2025).
Measuring Success: Participant Voices
We invited participants to provide feedback on the program’s relevance, its effectiveness in enhancing leadership readiness, its contribution to preparing participants for digital transformation challenges, and participants’ likelihood of recommending the program to others. Each year we have received very positive feedback where 99% of respondents were very satisfied with each of these aspects of the program.
When aligned with the program’s core aim—to equip emerging library leaders with strategic perspectives and practical tools for navigating digital transformation, the feedback suggests that ELLSSA is meeting and often exceeding participant expectations. Participants described ELLSSA as a “big knowledge well,” emphasizing the co-created learning environment enabled by the program’s interactive, best practices sharing. Several reported transformative personal insights, including shifts from fixed to growth mindsets. Many participants see their roles changed after attending ELLSSA. A case in point is that of Ms Joenabie E. Arevalo, a participant from 2023 who went on to become the university librarian at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.
ELLSSA is always refreshed. The program manager conducts an after-action review (AAR) after each run and makes iterative adjustments to the program mix and instructional strategies to maintain pedagogical effectiveness such as providing more time for the Pitch Tank presentations, reducing the number of learning journeys, introducing the mentors on the first day of the program, and replacing seminars with new topics recommended in the feedback.
Conclusion: How can you help?
We recognize the urgency of continual upskilling to remain relevant, particularly in hybrid environments shaped by digital transformation and AI. Beyond training, library leaders should adopt holistic talent management strategies that include clear career frameworks, progression pathways, succession planning, and a culture of coaching and mentoring.
Members of the Academic Business Library Directors (ABLD), the Asia Pacific Business School Librarians’ Group (APBSLG), and the European Business Schools Librarians’ Group (EBSLG) play a pivotal role in cultivating emerging talent and reinforcing the leadership pipeline within their institutions. Their strategic influence positions them to champion structured approaches to talent development—beginning with skills‑gap analyses and needs assessments across their networks to identify priority areas for growth. Leveraging established leadership development programs such as ELLSSA further strengthens these efforts, helping to build international leadership networks that extend well beyond traditional conference interactions and to keep up-to-date with trends and developments in academic libraries in the Asia-Pacific. Just as importantly, initiating intentional conversations with staff about leadership aspirations, career planning, and progression signals a clear commitment to long‑term workforce development and demonstrates the library’s strategic foresight. ELLSSA’s inclusion in the 2024 IFLA global scan of leadership programs affirms its credibility and relevance. Taken together, these efforts indicate that ELLSSA addresses a recognized need for structured leadership development and has become a valued capacity-building program for emerging library leaders across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
References
Library Association of Singapore. (n.d.). How SMU Libraries’ ELLSSA program can make you a catalyst for the digital transformation of your library. https://las.org.sg/smu-libraries-ellssa-programme/ https://las.org.sg/smu-libraries-ellssa-programme/
Munoo, R. (2025, December 9). How can you help an emerging library leader thrive? Assign them a mentor. Katina Magazine. https://katinamagazine.org/content/article/future-of-work/2025/help-an-emerging-leader-thrive-assign-them-a-mentorhttps://katinamagazine.org/content/article/future-of-work/2025/help-an-emerging-leader-thrive-assign-them-a-mentor
Saleh, E., Alsereihy, H. A., Ismail, H. M., & Hassan, R. E. (2024). Learning to lead: A scan of global library field practice. Arab Federation for Libraries and Information. https://repository.ifla.org/rest/api/core/bitstreams/44f68e3d-8f24-4ed9-a846-5628eceb22f6/contenthttps://repository.ifla.org/rest/api/core/bitstreams/44f68e3d-8f24-4ed9-a846-5628eceb22f6/content
SMU Academy. (n.d.). Emerging Library Leaders’ Summer School for Asia-Pacific. https://academy.smu.edu.sg/courses/emerging-library-leaders-summer-school-asia-pacifichttps://academy.smu.edu.sg/courses/emerging-library-leaders-summer-school-asia-pacific
Yang, T. T., Sidorko, P. E., & Woo, E. M. W. (2016). Cultivating leadership in Asian libraries: A longitudinal impact study. Library Management, 37(4–5), 243–264. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-02-2016-0012https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-02-2016-0012
