2024-25 Library Leadership Webinar Series

Oct 24 - May 13, 2025
Register

OVERVIEW

Tackle the current challenges of today’s academic libraries with a group of thought partners in CCCU library leadership across the United States and Canada. Each webinar will address a current issue through presentations and breakout discussions.

The Library Leadership Webinar series values collegiality and collaboration in thinking about tough topics. Current CCCU library deans and directors are encouraged to register.

The registration fee covers all five webinars in the series. Participants will receive a link for the webinars after registration is complete. Participants who register after the first webinar will receive the link(s) to recordings from the presentations given in earlier webinars. Breakout room discussions from the webinars will not be recorded.

Webinars

All webinars will begin at 2 PM Central Time

Webinar 1: Accidental Leadership: “Sharing Your Story” 

“Open Forum” moderated by Taylor Vanlandingham

Sometimes, leadership finds you when you least expect it. Many of us in the library world have found ourselves in positions where we had to step into leadership roles. This could have been in our institutions; maybe you were tasked to lead work studies or act as an interim director. Perhaps this could have been in your community, taking on a role in your church, or on an event committee. In some cases, it could be a role in a professional organization, such as taking on a committee chair position.  What can we learn from these experiences? Are there skills that we have collected along the way that helped us excel in these roles? Are there any skills or abilities you wish you had?  How can we mentor our staff and others to be prepared for leadership when it happens to them? Bring your stories of Accidental Leadership, and let’s learn from one another, sharing resources and examples of how leadership can sometimes find us.

Webinar 2: Position Descriptions Workshop 

Noelle Keller and Jim Darlack will facilitate the discussion

Are you planning on hiring this year? Need to update your job description? How do you restructure and redefine for reduced staffing? This workshop session will provide feedback on # of job descriptions submitted in advance by CCCU libraries. Come with your best practices and tips for developing job descriptions.

Webinar 3: Difficult Conversations

Brent Etzel, Dean of Libraries, Wheaton College

Difficult conversations are crucial for harmony and productivity in our libraries. So why do we try to avoid them? Brent Etzel, Dean of Libraries and Archives at Wheaton College, will discuss the importance of open communication in the workplace and offer his perspective as an experienced library leader in a faith community.

Webinar 4: Work-Life Balance

Drs. Bryce Bernard and Garrett Trot

How would you respond if someone said, “I really need to strive for attaining a balance between life and my family”? Or “I am trying to find a balance between church and life?”   These ideas of a “balance” between life and family or life and church, either seem odd or simply ludicrous.  Why then is the idea of a work life balance so quickly adopted and adapted into many components of 21st century life?

Drs. Bryce Bernard and Garrett Trott will offer a guided dialog, which will provide a brief overview of the work life balance dialog and a critique of it through a theological lens: specifically, the theology of work. This dialog will close with suggestions from what we can learn through the work life balance dialog.

Webinar 5: State of the CCCU Library

Presenter: C4LL

This webinar will look at the current state of libraries across the CCCU membership and is FREE for all CCCU Library Leaders.

Registration

CCCU library deans and directors are invited to register for the Library Leadership Webinar Series. The registration fee covers all five webinars. There is no cancellation option for this event, you will receive a recording.

Registration is $25 for all five webinars.

Registration is now open! Please click the link below to register and join us for this year’s series.