Leading Research Libraries of the Future – The impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 has spawned a new reality for leaders. Research Libraries, like other organizations, are facing hard choices concerning which services to offer, to minimize the risk to their staff, communities, and users. Flexible leaders who can adapt and guide organizations and staff, offer hope, build communities, and see new possibilities, are needed more than ever.This poster is presenting Leadership skills, challenges regarding realigning library ambitions to the new operating environment and design the opportunity for leaders to how create clarity, build resilience, and catalyze positive change and new challenges likely to occur in the post-COVID-19 recovery period. The research question is “what are most significant challenges for leaders at research libraries during COVID-19 and what the new normal?” This research is a part of an international project conducted by a group of library emerging leaders from different countries who shared their experiences as the best perspective from which to present a worldwide on research libraries of the future and a framework for how they might be led. The project presented as a LIBER webinar series in November 2020 and will be published in a scientific journal.With this poster we focus on Leadership skills and challenges and precisely SDUB leadership team´s perspective as a case study.