Understanding the higher-education context: the Peabody Academic Library Leadership Institute

This article describes the genesis of Vanderbilt University's Peabody Academic Library Leadership Institute as an outcome of a particular philosopby. That philosophy is based on the concept that to fulfill their potential contributions, academic libraries need to direct their planning, resources, and services to support the priorities of their parent institutions. This article addresses the need for campus-focused leadership training; higher education leadership training for academic librarians; and the higher education context for libraries. It describes why Vanderbilt's Peabody College of Education and Human Development initiated a professional development institute for librarians. It describes the institute's history, curriculum, and assessment and explores future directions. KEYWORDS academic libraries, colleges, higher education, leadership, professional development, universities DOI: 10.1080/01930820903396913