Greetings Colleagues, I trust this e-mail finds you well. I'm celebrating with great excitement the announcement of the "Call for Applications" for Phase IV of the HBCU Library Alliance Leadership Institute. The Kick-Off is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, February 16-19 at the TWELVE Atlantic Station Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia. The final session is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, November 8-11, 2012 at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center (GA). The Leadership Institute will focus on intensive development of leadership skills among staff at HBCU libraries, with preference to those who have not been able to participate in previous institutes. The Institute will be offered as a series of face-to-face and web-based classes to reach a new group of librarians. Twelve teams comprised of a library director and an emerging leader will be accepted into the Leadership Institute. If an institution has previously participated, an emerging leader selected by the dean or director, will be considered for participation. Leadership exists throughout all areas of the library. Who are your emerging leaders? Who will take seriously your library's mission and create that mission's reality? Who will "protect and preserve the legacy" of our libraries for increased access and services to meet the needs of the student population? The time is now to groom emerging leaders. The objectives of the Leadership Institute are to: * Provide theoretical and practical instruction and useful resources to encourage the development of leadership skills * Create a support network of leadership mentors and coaches within the HBCU library community * Assist participants in identifying and addressing specific goals, unique to each campus, that will strengthen the library and better integrate its services into teaching and learning The application materials are attached to this e-mail. The Application is a Microsoft Word form that will provide us with information for both applicants. The Emerging Leader should complete the six questions on the form. The Materials document provides information on who may apply and the application procedures. Applications are due by November 21st. Applicants will be notified of selection decisions in mid-December. I respectively request that you take seriously the objective of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant that supports this Leadership Institute: strengthening libraries at HBCUs through better integration of their services into teaching and learning. I humbly ask that you honor the creation, history and mission of historically black colleges and universities. And finally, I urge you to consider your involvement in the fourth HBCU Library Alliance Leadership Institute as an essential component of leadership development at your library. Thanks to the generosity of the Mellon Foundation, your travel, lodging and all course materials will be made available at no cost to you. Selected participants will be required to sign a Commitment form agreeing to complete the program in its entirety. Please contact me directly for additional information or explanation. Respectfully, Sandra SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.