University Librarian: Job Tasks, Competency Requirements, and Development Mechanisms
Zhang Yongcheng, Hao Dongdong, Song Yipin, Wang Jiamu
Submitted 2025-12-10 | ChinaXiv: chinaxiv-202507.00354

Abstract

As strategic leaders of university libraries, directors determine the prosperity and decline of their institutions. The primary responsibilities of university library directors encompass strategic planning formulation, strategic organizational implementation, and strategic control. To this end, directors must, building upon individual endowments, cultivate front-end foundational capabilities—including meta-capabilities, information capabilities, cognitive capabilities, logical thinking capabilities, and imagination—to develop back-end, concrete, and applied strategic foresight, strategic planning, strategic coordination, strategic communication, and strategic control capabilities, thereby enabling competence in the corresponding strategic management tasks.

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Preamble

University Library Directors: Job Responsibilities, Capability Requirements, and Development Mechanisms

Zhang Yongcheng¹, Hao Dongdong², Song Yipin¹, Wang Jiamu¹
(1. Shandong University Business School, Weihai, Shandong 264209;
2. Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai) Library, Weihai, Shandong 264209)

Abstract: As the strategic leader of a university library, the director determines its success or failure. The primary responsibilities of a university library director are strategic planning formulation, strategic organization and implementation, and strategic control. To fulfill these duties, based on individual endowments, it is necessary to cultivate foundational meta-capabilities, information capabilities, cognitive capabilities, logical thinking capabilities, and imagination, thereby developing applied, concrete strategic foresight, strategic planning capability, strategic coordination capability, strategic communication capability, and strategic control capability to competently perform the corresponding strategic management work.

Keywords: University Library Director; Job Responsibilities; Capability Requirements; Development Mechanisms

1 Introduction

During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, with rampant imperial in-laws, eunuch dominance, and political corruption, the centralized imperial system collapsed, warlords rose everywhere, and the realm fell into chaos. Liu Bei, a straw sandal vendor endowed with exceptional foresight, cognitive abilities (particularly self-awareness and understanding of others), organizational coordination skills, and cohesion, discovered new entrepreneurial opportunities amidst the turmoil. However, lacking literary and military prowess, he positioned himself as a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan, took it as his mission to restore the Han Dynasty, and formed a sworn brotherhood with Guan Yu (a jujube vendor) and Zhang Fei (a butcher). He then "visited the thatched cottage three times" to forge a bond with Zhuge Liang, constructed a grand blueprint for the Shu Kingdom, moved people with emotion and righteousness, rallied supporters, recruited soldiers and horses, and fully trusted and empowered Zhuge Liang. By coupling the talents of a commander, a wise strategist, and a general, he ultimately achieved a competitive position among the three kingdoms.

Without leadership, there is no organization. In any organization, the most important element is its leader, followed by various organizational mechanisms—including governance, management, value creation, benefit sharing, and conflict resolution mechanisms—then the quality structure of personnel, and finally the specific value activities. University libraries are no exception. As the leader of the library, the director possesses full administrative authority and, correspondingly, bears full administrative responsibility. In other words, the director's power derives from responsibility, responsibility derives from capability or leadership, and capability serves the organization's goals, forming an integrated whole of responsibility, authority, benefits, capability, and objectives. So what responsibilities must a director undertake, and what capabilities are required?

2 Literature Review

Frederick Taylor, the "father of scientific management," proposed the "exception principle" [1], which states that managers handle exceptions while routine matters are programmed, standardized, and handled by specific staff. Strategy represents the greatest exception for an organization and should naturally be the responsibility of its leader. Accordingly, according to process management theorist Henri Fayol and strategic management scholar Igor Ansoff, strategic management comprises four basic functions: strategic planning formulation, strategic organization and implementation, strategic control, and strategic leadership. Strategic leadership reflects the social attributes of strategic management and constitutes its core function, while strategic planning, organization, and control—which reflect its natural attributes—are all conducted under the leader's strategic guidance. In this sense, strategic leadership permeates the entire process of strategic planning, implementation, and control, making strategic management capability essentially strategic leadership. Mary Parker Follett, a pioneering management theorist, believed that leadership's essence lies in the process of sharing power, working together, and sharing responsibility between leaders and followers. The best leaders do not make subordinates obey their views or make decisions for them, but teach them how to make decisions and solve problems themselves [2].

Joseph Schumpeter, the father of innovation theory, argued that leadership involves knowing what to do and what not to do, and that success often relies on intuition rather than pure rationality [3]. Management guru Peter Drucker believed that managers are an organization's most expensive resource, only managers can build an organization, and managers must balance the present and future [4].

All management problems are ultimately problems of managers. Against a backdrop of multidimensional and high uncertainty in the external environment and user needs, university library directors must possess corresponding management capabilities to meet leadership requirements due to their positions and responsibilities. Fang Taiqiang (1992) argued that university library directors should be familiar with library operations and possess rich library work experience, with dedication and management capability being crucial [5]. Miao Jiadong (1994) and Jing Jing (2020) successively compared the selection of university library directors between China and the United States: Chinese directors are often transferred from professorial or associate professorial positions without library science backgrounds, while American directors typically require library science backgrounds and practical library work experience with proven results. Both emphasize management capability, but American directors particularly stress strategic planning ability [6][7]. Ke Ping (2011) analyzed requirements and expectations for directors from five perspectives: responsibility and spirit, management and decision-making, leadership art, strategic thinking, and global vision, speaking highly of professional and highly educated directors [8]. Cheng Huanwen and Zhang Qi (2024) argued that a director's basic duties are securing funding, personnel, and collections, and that only directors who understand the history of books and libraries can become qualified and then excellent directors [9]. Jiang Yongfu (2025) believed directors should focus on major issues, strive for various human, financial, and material resources, and achieve sustainable, high-quality library development, while questioning the arbitrary appointment of directors and the "alienation" problem of directors from non-library science backgrounds [10]. In summary, scholars fully affirm the importance of university library directors and their management capabilities and activities, but have not reached consensus on what key management capabilities are specifically required, and rarely discuss how to develop these capabilities.

3 Job Responsibilities

Since the Industrial Revolution, division of labor has become increasingly refined, evolving from Adam Smith's labor division to Fayol's management division and Hayek's knowledge division to achieve various specializations. Based on the "small barrel or large barrel" theory, systems are then enhanced to improve overall capability, thereby reducing costs, increasing efficiency, improving quality, or solving various innovation challenges. For university libraries, management work has also been deconstructed: the director primarily focuses on direction/strategy, using a telescope to identify trends, opportunities, and the future; deputy directors and department heads focus on methods/tactics, using a magnifying glass to fully comprehend the director's intentions and translate strategic plans into concrete, feasible programs; librarians use a microscope to focus on strategies/tactics, combining specific contexts through standardization, programming, and normalization to solidly implement service work.

3.1 Strategic Planning Formulation

A general on a mission does not chase small rabbits. University library leaders engaged in strategic management must do important things, abandon unimportant matters, and avoid turning urgent but unimportant matters into important ones. Strategic planning is a long-term, comprehensive plan—the library's long-term strategy. As the chief architect of the university library, the director's strategic planning work mainly includes: (1) Designing vision, mission, and core values. The vision is the ultimate goal—what kind of library to become in the future—and represents the ideal image shared by all internal and external stakeholders, as the library is co-created by all stakeholders. Currently, the smart library seems to be the universal vision target (though what exactly are the connotations and extensions of a "smart" library? "Smart" originally did not mean "wise," and after debating with many wise men, Socrates concluded that "humans have no wisdom; human wisdom lies in knowing one's own ignorance"—so where does library wisdom come from?). The mission is the library's value, significance, or historical responsibility, with the core mission being to create value for users, opportunities for staff, and responsibility for the university. Core values are the kernel of the entire value system—the spiritual core and specific guide for library value actions and the DNA of library culture. For example, Toyota's core values are "higher quality, lower prices." (2) Organizational function design and transformation. The functional system is the "production relations" within the organization, directly determining the library's service productivity and creativity: structurally, it should establish departments and positions aligned with university development plans, library conditions, and business planning, placing staff in suitable positions with matching responsibilities, authority, and benefits; institutionally, it should establish regulations and use mandatory norms to implement management standardization and construct artificial order; mechanistically, it should combine library conditions and business characteristics, following integration principles to establish reasonable reward and punishment mechanisms that encourage excellence, spur laggards, and stimulate staff enthusiasm; culturally, it should design appropriate core values around staff, users, and service innovation, shaping corresponding library culture through internalization and externalization of these values to foster spontaneous order. (3) Business development strategic planning. The first two tasks are foundational architecture planning, while what is commonly called strategic planning refers to library business development strategic planning. Due to multidimensional environmental uncertainty, cognitive limitations, and the fact that what exists is becoming obsolete rather than more valuable, there must be planned, systematic elimination of old, declining, and outdated elements, never spending time, money, energy, and opportunities defending the past (success). University library leaders should, based on future focus and foresight and combined with the university's overall development plan, lead the formulation of reasonable library business development strategic plans, such as 13th Five-Year, 14th Five-Year, and 15th Five-Year plans. Here, McKinsey's business planning recommendations can be referenced to construct a three-tier business system: current business accounting for 70% of resources, replacement business accounting for 20%, and future business accounting for 10%.

3.2 Strategic Organization and Implementation

Following strategic planning formulation comes strategic organization and implementation. As the chief coordinator inside and outside the library, the director must distinguish between work that is important and urgent, important but not urgent, unimportant but urgent, and neither important nor urgent, never "grabbing everything at once" and ending up with nothing clear. On this basis, the director should lead the design of phase milestones and final goals for important work, formulate corresponding action plans, and through effective communication, secure and organize key personnel, resources, and technology. The specific implementation of important work is the responsibility of deputy directors, department heads, and librarians. For unimportant work, deputy directors, department heads, or librarians can take full responsibility, focusing on details, promoting craftsmanship, emphasizing service efficiency, cost, and quality, and seeking optimal resource allocation and effective utilization under given technical and organizational conditions. In this increasingly specialized division of labor context, no one is absolutely important or irreplaceable. Directors must learn to and be adept at cultivating subordinates into leaders capable of self-management, fostering spontaneous order. An excellent leader ensures that whether present or not, every staff member fulfills their responsibilities and daily library operations continue in an orderly fashion.

3.3 Strategic Control

Strategic control and strategic organization and implementation are parallel activities, both immediate subsequent processes to strategic planning formulation. Strategic control governs the organization and implementation process to ensure effective execution and successful achievement of strategic planning goals. As the library leader, while pursuing progress (strategic planning and implementation), the director must supervise the implementation process and correct important deviations: (1) Control direction to ensure implementation does not violate strategic planning requirements—deviating from higher education development direction, library business development track, or user needs; (2) Control phase milestones to ensure important goals in service or service innovation processes are well achieved, thereby realizing final strategic objectives; (3) Especially, directors must first be adept at self-control, clearly understanding their own cognitive and capability limitations, possessing good boundary awareness, knowing their power and responsibility boundaries, and acting within those boundaries without overstepping.

4 Capability Requirements

University library directors engaged in strategic management must possess corresponding strategic management capabilities or strategic leadership. Before strategic planning formulation, they must be able to foresee library development trends and future opportunities, giving rise to requirements for strategic foresight capability (or strategic environmental analysis capability). During strategic organization and implementation, strategic coordination and communication are crucial, while the implementation process also requires strategic control. Thus, university library directors need at least strategic foresight capability, strategic planning capability, strategic control capability, strategic coordination capability, and strategic communication capability. Among these, strategic coordination and communication capabilities belong to foundational management capabilities or leadership of strategic leaders (in management, leadership is a very complex topic that includes communication and coordination as sub-activities), while strategic foresight, planning, and control capabilities are strategic management capabilities or leadership of leaders under uncertain conditions.

4.1 Strategic Foresight Capability

Without foresight, individuals have immediate worries; so do organizations. As the "dream maker" of the university library, the director must understand library operations, focus on development directions and service innovation trends, reject various short-term utilitarianisms while adhering to long-termism, look to the distant and panoramic view, believe in distant, invisible things, and be skilled at linking different imaginations of the future to paint a blueprint for the university library.

Strategic foresight capability is a strategic environmental analysis capability that comprehensively applies information, cognition, logical thinking, and imagination—a sensitivity to trends and ability to foresee the future. It helps library leaders navigate through various "small cycle" mists, "clear the clouds to see the sun," understand and lock onto "large cycle" trends, discover "some certainty" within ubiquitous multidimensional uncertainty, and foresee "vague correctness": foreseeing trends in higher education and the university; foreseeing future directions of library business; foreseeing changes in user needs. This focuses attention on future major service needs and key service innovation challenges, avoids risks, reduces mistakes, and increases the probability of success. Bill Gates once commented on Steve Jobs: "He never really knew much about technology, but he had an amazing instinct for what works" [11].

4.2 Strategic Planning Capability

Strategic planning capability is an integrative or transformative capability based on value analysis of the external strategic environment (economic or feasibility analysis) and factual analysis of the internal strategic environment (technical feasibility analysis). That is, on the basis of strategic environmental analysis, it is the capability to transform environmental opportunities into library action. As previously mentioned, strategic planning capability is the ability to take a long-term perspective and: (1) Build a foundational architecture by designing a reasonable organizational vision, mission, and core values for the library; (2) Reasonably design or reform the library's structure, institutions, mechanisms, and culture to establish good internal "production relations" that enhance service and innovation capabilities; (3) Especially, on the basis of foreseeing "vague correctness," organically combine environmental opportunities with library strengths to formulate reasonable service and service innovation strategies.

4.3 Strategic Coordination Capability

Strategic coordination capability is a comprehensive ability to acquire, integrate, and utilize resources, including coordinating personnel, resources, and work. Good strategic coordination capability requires the director to: (1) Possess certain authority or influence to convince others through virtue and competence; (2) Be able to attract professional talent; (3) Skillfully use influence to secure various needed important resources; (4) Have clear thinking to distinguish between important and urgent work and assign tasks reasonably; (5) Conduct comprehensive optimization and integration of important people, materials, and matters; (6) Be broad-minded, skilled at coexisting with staff of different opinions and working styles, and treat everyone equally.

4.4 Strategic Communication Capability

No relationship, no communication. Communication is the pipeline connecting people, the bond building trust, and the bridge spanning chasms—its purposes include transmitting information, resolving interface friction, establishing connections, improving relationships, and coordinating actions. Especially within Chinese social and cultural contexts, communication is a crucial task for university library directors that indeed consumes considerable energy: external exchanges, inter-library cooperation, securing resources from superiors, cross-departmental coordination within the university, and internal library organization all rest on the foundation of adequate and effective communication. Otherwise, almost all subsequent work cannot proceed, and no "processes" can occur, unfold, or flow. Strategic communication capability is the ability to express, connect, and solve important problems—a strategic-level management capability rather than a professional technical one. If a director has strong strategic communication capability, it becomes easier (though not inevitable) to establish good cooperative relationships with external partners, secure human, financial, and material resources from the university, and create a harmonious, congenial atmosphere within the library. Thus, strategic communication capability is a director's "soft" power, which at times can be harder than other "hard" powers.

4.5 Strategic Control Capability

University library strategic management is a long-term, systematic, complex task that requires establishing corresponding long-term negative feedback mechanisms for timely reflection and correction of important deviations. As the library leader, the director must: (1) Control business development direction—what users need, what "we" can do, what has prospects, and what represents a "window of opportunity"; (2) Dynamically monitor whether phase milestones are achieved, analyze main problems and their root causes, and systematically propose corrective measures from the source; (3) Possess good self-control capability: first, appropriate self-awareness—knowing what one doesn't know is more important than knowing what one knows, and knowing what one shouldn't manage is more important than knowing what one should manage; second, avoid reckless reforms—never reform what predecessors left behind upon taking office, then reform today's work when inspiration strikes tomorrow. Not reforming seems like not innovating; not making waves seems like inaction or incompetence; reform and disruption become proof of one's capability and achievements, easily negating others or one's own past while busily pursuing "transformation and upgrading" driven by various technological capitals without bearing the costs of misguided reforms. Third, avoid blind command—directors must control their desire to express, command, and control, focusing on important matters rather than unimportant ones, doing the right things rather than doing things right. If a director does all the subordinates' work, are subordinates still necessary? If everything requires the director's intervention, it only demonstrates poor leadership—failing to select and use the right people, establish reasonable processes, norms, and standards, and cultivate subordinates into self-managing leaders.

In summary, foresight is a discovery that depends on the director's strategic foresight capability. Strategic planning formulation, organization and implementation, and control are "transformation" works between discovery and realization—strategic planning depends on strategic planning capability, implementation depends on strategic communication and coordination capabilities, and control depends on strategic control capability. Specific implementation is realization, the work of deputy directors, department heads, and librarians, which does not require the director's personal involvement but only requires building good structures, institutions, mechanisms, culture, and selecting and using the right people.

5 Capability Development Mechanisms

Capability is the integration and utilization of specific elements such as concepts, thinking modes, knowledge, technology, and experience. Therefore, to cultivate and develop applied, concrete problem-solving strategic foresight, planning, coordination, communication, and control capabilities, accumulation, integration, and utilization of front-end elements are needed, requiring first the enhancement of foundational capabilities.

5.1 Cultivating Meta-Capabilities

Meta-capability is the ability to achieve self-awareness, self-control, active environmental adaptation, self-growth, and iterative upgrading. It is the starting point of all capabilities—the capability to cultivate capabilities. (1) Learning capability. Learning is progress—learning from others, doing addition, can update concepts, enrich knowledge, and enhance skills; reflection is verification, correction, and eliminating the false to retain the true—doing subtraction. The deeper the reflection, the clearer the truth. Library leaders must not only learn library science but also understand background knowledge related to library science, especially management knowledge, experience, and skills. Learning capability is a dynamic ability to acquire, understand, and internalize knowledge, experience, skills, and techniques—the foundation for the existence and continuity of other capabilities. Cultivating learning capability requires strong learning awareness, good learning thinking, methods, skills, and pathways, and being adept at reflection, combining learning with thinking, and learning with practice. (2) Metacognitive capability. The object of cognition is external, concrete objective existence, while the object of metacognition is internal, abstract subjective cognitive activity. Cognition is the prerequisite for metacognition—only with cognition can there be metacognition. Metacognition is the reflection, critique, and enhancement of cognition, and the two mutually enhance each other to ultimately achieve cognitive goals. Metacognitive capability is a super-cognitive ability for self-awareness, evaluation, and reflection on cognition. Cultivating metacognitive capability requires maintaining diverse, open information channels, an open mind and thinking mode, a spirit of self-critique, respect for objective existence such as human nature, facts, logic, science, and laws, advocacy of rationality, continuous learning, constant reflection, and promoting consistency between subjective and objective cognition. (3) Meta-thinking capability. Meta-thinking is thinking about thinking—its object is subjective, abstract thinking, i.e., thinking modes and processes. Meta-thinking capability is the ability to reflect on, evaluate, and enhance one's own thinking modes and processes. Cultivating meta-thinking capability requires maintaining open, diverse thinking; requires logical learning and training, focusing both on the process of deductive reasoning within logical systems and on the logical systems themselves; and requires establishing continuous reflection and autonomous error-correction iteration mechanisms.

5.2 Enhancing Information Capability

In English, information and intelligence share the same meaning—they are the only means to eliminate uncertainty and the prerequisite and basis for decision-making. Without information, rationality cannot function; with insufficient or false information, reliable decisions cannot be made. In this era of information explosion/proliferation, with widespread普及 of the internet, digital media technology, and world flattening, people's opportunities and abilities to obtain information have significantly increased, while information screening and discrimination capabilities face great challenges in determining what constitutes authentic and useful information. Directors must possess strong information awareness, enhance information acquisition, discrimination, and utilization capabilities, skillfully use various information management tools and data analysis processing technologies, obtain information, meta-information, and background information related to decisions through multiple channels and dimensions, and screen, sort, and evaluate it to provide reliable bases for decision-making.

5.3 Enhancing Cognitive Capability

The entrance to the Temple of Delphi bears the timeless inscription: "Know thyself." Everyone's cognition has limitations; the external world is often a projection or mirror of the inner world—objective things become subjective. This is human nature for most people. Therefore, accurately knowing oneself and courageously negating oneself often goes against human nature, especially admitting one's greed, selfishness, hypocrisy, ignorance, cowardice, and timidity—things only a few can achieve. Only by accurately knowing and skillfully negating oneself can one continuously change and improve oneself, reaching higher, farther, and better places. Zen Master Huineng's teaching that "one should always place oneself in the lowest position" and Steve Jobs' Stanford speech theme "Stay hungry, stay foolish" both convey this meaning. Cognition includes cognition of cognition (metacognition), self-cognition, cognition of others, professional cognition, and cognition of the objective world. It is a manifestation of rationality and the core basis for decision-making. Beyond information, the correctness of decisions depends largely on cognitive level or capability. Cognitive capability is an abstract understanding ability to see through phenomena to the essence or truth of things, helping enhance rationality, discover the essence or truth of things, discover "first principles" [12], and make reasonable analytical judgments. Enhancing cognitive capability depends on breaking the "chains of ignorance" and "chains of knowledge," depends on continuous learning and reflection, and depends on good metacognitive and logical thinking capabilities.

5.4 Strengthening Logical Thinking Capability

Logic is a powerful thinking tool that makes cognition and decision-making reasonable, while lacking logic is mere self-talk. Thinking is the process of reasoning or logical deduction, which can be deconstructed into dimension and depth. Regarding dimension, one should adopt multidimensional perspectives and panoramic examination as much as possible, avoiding one-dimensional thinking, especially for library science as an interdisciplinary field. Regarding depth, one should follow logical chains without deviating from the topic, continuously questioning, tracing to the source, and exploring the truth. Logic requires every assertion to have clear premises, assumptions, or facts, reliable evidence, a prudent reasoning process, and reflection on the correctness of conclusions. It is a definite, not ambiguous, consistent, not contradictory, and organized, well-founded thinking form. Logical thinking capability is an abstract associative ability to ensure the rationality of reasoning processes and reliability of conclusions, helping derive correct conclusions through reasoning, thereby enhancing cognitive capability, discovering the essence and evolution laws of things, and clarifying underlying logical relationships between causal matters. Strengthening logical thinking capability requires good critical thinking awareness and logical literacy, requires a series of logical thinking training, and requires enhanced learning capability and meta-thinking capability.

5.5 Enriching Imagination

Within cognitive boundaries, rely on rationality; beyond cognitive boundaries, rely on sensibility. If a problem is completely determined, rationality alone can yield the optimal solution and formulate optimal goals and plans. If a problem is not completely determined, rationality has limitations and requires sensibility加持, curiosity, and imagination. Discovering problems requires curiosity; analyzing and solving problems requires imagination. Whether in strategic planning formulation or strategic organization and implementation, university library directors engage in uncertain, exceptional, and creative work that requires foresight and discovery, demanding imagination. Imagination is not irrational wild thinking or aimless daydreaming, but is based on rationality, maintaining professional acuity and professional external钝感力, diverging thinking based on fuzzy information, leveraging intellectual tension, exploring various potential possibilities, seeing or approaching the essence and truth of specific things, linking relevant information, conducting prudent reasoning, and transcending rational boundaries to foresee "vague correctness."

5.6 Management Endowment and Training

As the library's top manager, the director needs good management endowments, such as holistic awareness, altruism, tolerance, rationality, courage, and resilience, especially upright and kind character. Simultaneously, they must master corresponding management knowledge and possess relevant management experience and skills.

In summary, on the basis of cultivating various meta-capabilities, through integrated application of information, cognition, and logical thinking,叠加感性的 imagination, strategic foresight and planning capabilities are enhanced. Meanwhile,借助 "congenital" management endowment and "acquired" management training improve strategic coordination, communication, and control capabilities. With these specific capabilities, university library strategic leaders fulfill their responsibilities: through strategic environmental analysis, they foresee trends, discover opportunities, and identify the right direction; they lead business strategic planning, organization and implementation, and control to successfully transform environmental opportunities, using the right methods and correcting important deviations; specific implementation relies on the professional capabilities of deputy directors, department heads, and librarians to execute correctly, as shown in Figure 1 [FIGURE:1].

Figure 1 University Library Director: Job Responsibilities, Capability Requirements, and Development Mechanisms

6 Conclusion

Whether a university library director engaged in strategic management and serving as a strategic leader possesses a library science professional background may not be important. Liu Bei seemed to know nothing yet established the Shu Han regime. Jack Ma, without computer, finance, or logistics backgrounds, created Taobao, Alipay, and Cainiao. Steve Jobs knew almost nothing about technology yet founded the great Apple company. Especially since library science is an interdisciplinary field requiring much background knowledge to understand accurately; it is an applied discipline where knowing and doing are not the same; it is a contextual discipline where knowledge and capability are not equivalent, and strong professional capability does not necessarily mean strong planning, organizational, or contextual integration capabilities.

Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. Human, financial, and material resources are the difficult, painful, and blocked points in strategic planning and implementation. However, if the director's main responsibility is defined as merely securing people, funding, and materials, this implies that anyone who can obtain these resources can be and is a good director, emphasizing process/means while neglecting goals/ends. In short, those with library science backgrounds may not necessarily make good directors, and those without may not necessarily fail.

Success or failure depends on one person. Excellent university library strategic leaders should undoubtedly possess clear-eyed understanding of human nature, resolute determination to bury the past, perseverance to rebuild cognition, far-sighted vision to洞察未来, and solitary courage to forge ahead. They are skilled at transforming concepts, thinking, knowledge, and experience into higher-order cognition into "wisdom"; can distill important information from specific observations and thinking,洞悉图书馆战略管理与业务发展的 "first principles" and underlying logic; can focus on future major service needs to formulate corresponding strategic plans; and can always center on staff and users as dual axes,统筹性地组织协调各种资源 to advance library service innovation and the continuous evolution of library civilization.

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Submission history

University Librarian: Job Tasks, Competency Requirements, and Development Mechanisms