LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOUR IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ACADEMIC LIBRARY

Abstract

The paper considered leadership and innovation behaviours in the academic libraries of the 21st century. Based on an extensive review of literature it explored concepts in leadership behavior that can engender innovation in academic libraries. It was discovered that change is inevitable in environment due to the emergence of a pervasive application of information technology and communication to its operations. Thus, the 21st century library needs to integrate emerging technologies to its routine activities as well as expand the frontier of its services to gain competitive advantage over other information retrieval systems in order to ensure continuous relevance and sustainability. Noting that the extent to which libraries would deploy technologies and conform to global standards is determined by the quality of prevailing leadership competencies and skills. However, it was observed that the Nigerian academic libraries have not been able to find their footings in the scheme of effective leadership and innovation. It is therefore recommended that libraries; promote culture which supports new services, innovation and emerging technologies, put people at the centre by redefining services to provide easy experience for all library users among others.