Adrian Ho selected for ALA leadership development program

Adrian Ho

Adrian Ho, director of Digital Scholarship, will be one of only forty librarians nationwide to participate in Leading to the Future, the American Library Association’s four-day immersive leadership development program for future library leaders. Ho gained admission to the program via a highly competitive selection process.  

The selection committee, headed by the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA), looked for a diverse participant mix based on type of library (public, academic, school, special), organizational responsibility, geography, gender, and race/ethnicity, as well as demonstrated leadership potential, readiness for increased responsibility, professional achievement and community or campus involvement.

Led by ALA Past President Maureen Sullivan and ACRL Content Strategist Kathryn Deiss, the ALA Leadership Institute is designed to help participants develop and practice their leadership skills in areas critical to the future of the libraries they lead, and to allow them to form a vibrant learning community and network. With content based on real-world cases and nuanced situations, participants will explore topics related to the greatest challenges and possibilities of leading into a future marked by turbulence and ambiguity. 

Participants are expected to return to their institution with greater self-awareness and self-confidence, equipped with better skills for leading, coaching, collaborating, and engaging within their organizations and in their communities, and prepared to identify, develop, and implement solutions which will benefit all stakeholders. Participants in the 2013 and 2014 institutes rated the experience and its applicability to their work situations highly.

“I am honored to have this opportunity to participate in the ALA Leadership Institute,” said Ho who has been instrumental in developing UK's institutionsl repository, UKnowledge. He added that, “In light of the challenging but fascinating professional environment, I would like to develop a thorough understanding of effective leadership in order to better contribute to the success of UK Libraries and academic librarianship.  I truly appreciate ALA’s leadership in organizing the Institute and UK Libraries’ support for my application.  I am looking forward to participating in a lively learning community."