In August, the National Library of Medicine renewed funding for an additional three years (2005-2008) for a joint leadership program sponsored with the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), and offered in cooperation with the Association of Research Libraries’ Office of Leadership and Management Services (ARL/OLMS). The Leadership Fellows Program prepares emerging leaders for directorships in academic health center libraries.

The program, inaugurated in 2002, provides fellows with the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of learning settings, including exposure to leadership in another environment. They are paired with mentors who are academic health center library directors and participate in a year-long program that combines in-person leadership institutes with the cohort of other fellows and mentors, site visits and an online learning community. Fifteen fellows have participated in the first three years of the program and several have already assumed positions of greater responsibility.