Leadership development requires intentionality and strategy. Leadership skills are best learned by observing and following the examples of leaders–and they are best taught through mentoring. In Leading and Managing Archives and Manuscripts Programs, the editors share their personal experiences, gleaned from a combined five decades of archival leadership, regarding key functions of leaders and managers: communication, strategies, resources and budgets, leadership in transformative change and crisis, building relationships within and beyond the archives, and leadership development. In the second half of the book, five archival leaders further highlight essential aspects of leadership through their accounts of the challenges of directing programs in various institutional settings and what has proven effective. In addition, the former director of the Archival Leadership Institute describes how that program catapulted leadership development throughout the profession.

Leading and Managing Archives and Manuscripts Programs goes beyond conventional wisdom to provide plentiful examples of successful leadership practices from the archives field. Students, aspiring and newly appointed managers, those working alone or with few staff, and veteran practitioners will benefit from these fresh perspectives on archival leadership.