The Challenge
Leadership vacancies present rare opportunities to redesign an organization structure. However, those with hiring responsibilities – whether library deans, provosts, or boards of directors – are seldom provided the information required to fully leverage the moment for structural change. This leaves legacy positions filled by leaders, often interim, to inherit structures and operations only partially aligned with organizational needs.

What We Provide
A six-week, evidence-based external review of a leadership vacancy position that provides hiring authorities with clear options for using the vacancy to advance organizational priorities and align structure with mission. We achieve this by:

• Establishing a 360 degree view of the vacancy through structured stakeholder engagement to surface alignments, misalignments, and alternative organizational structures

• Analyzing relevant internal documentation, studies, and reports to assess the position’s alignment with organizational reality

• Delivering a written-assessment that synthesizes qualitative and quantitative evidence to outline organizational options and their relative trade-offs

• Recommending next steps, including redesigning the role, adjusting timing, or forgoing the hire, as appropriate

The Challenge
New library leaders, appointed from outside the profession or promoted from within, step into institutional contexts of considerable complexity. The onboarding period is both a risk and an opportunity: leaders who diagnose their context quickly, establish priorities early, and build operational fluency can use the moment to set the terms of their tenure. Without the tools to do so, even accomplished leaders can lose critical momentum.

What We Provide
A three to six-month engagement, retained by the institution as an onboarding resource for an incoming leader. Working directly with the leader in a non-evaluatory space, we provide support for:

• Context diagnosis using established onboarding frameworks to assess the institutional situation, establish priorities, and identify early opportunities for progress

• Priority identification and advancement — including navigating inherited structural challenges specific to the research library environment, program optimization, and team development

• Skills gap identification and construction of a leadership toolkit tailored to the operational and governance demands of the specific role and institutional context

The Challenge
The organizational complexity of a research library grows steadily over time — not always through deliberate design, but through accumulated hiring decisions, grant opportunities, consortial commitments, and inherited governance arrangements. Leaders sense misalignment between priorities and programming, and wish to gain a clear-eyed understanding of how resources align with mission. Internal reviews, however, seldom produce the distance the analysis requires.

What We Provide
A comprehensive, evidence-based external review that brings an independent perspective to organizational structures, resource flows, governance systems, and operational practices. We do this through:

• Structured stakeholder interviews and document analysis to establish how work is actually carried out in practice

• Mapping of resource flows, including for staffing, grant projects and programs, consortial and membership arrangements

• Identification of misalignments, structural constraints, and opportunities for reorientation to mission and organizational priorities

• A written assessment outlining options and trade-offs for institutional leadership to act on