Steady Leadership in Unsteady Times

Helping Libraries Navigate Uncertainty and Change

Course Details

February 17, 2027 and February 24, 2027 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm ET

Two 2-hour Online Course + 4 Self-Paced Course Modules

12 Credit Hours

Recommended for public and academic library leaders.

$299 (Save with early bird and group rates!)

IS LEADING YOUR LIBRARY STARTING TO FEEL LIKE NAVIGATING WITHOUT A MAP?

The ground keeps shifting with budgets, politics, staff needs, and community expectations
You're making big decisions with incomplete information and limited support
You need practical tools for leading through genuinely hard times

This course gives public library leaders the strategies, frameworks, and confidence to lead with steadiness even when nothing feels certain.

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Lead well, even and especially when it's hard.

Live sessions via Zoom:
February 17, 2027, and February 24, 2027, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm ET (recordings available for 6 months)

(Can’t attend live? Recording sent out after the live session.)

This will be a course focused on building the leadership skills required to thrive within modern library services during times of extreme and rapid change and financial instability. The workshops emphasize practical, forward looking leadership, encouraging participants to reflect on practice while developing the confidence to lead with clarity, inclusivity, and evidence-based decision making. This course makes use of a unique approach of combining the knowledge and skills of people focused leadership from an experienced library leader, and the specific techniques and approaches used for organizational planning in corporate environments.

The course will be delivered by Amy Stubbing and Frank Berlanga across two live sessions, allowing time for discussion, application, and reflection between sessions. All sessions are underpinned by skills in data collection and analysis, ensuring participants can evidence impact, inform strategy, and make confident, transparent decisions. Core topics covered include:

The five pillars of leadership
Strategy and Planning
Effective and Creative Budgeting
Preparing for Change and project management
Accessible Leadership and cultural changes
People v. Tools in leadership

The live sessions run on February 17, 2027, and February 24, 2027, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm ET (recorded for on demand viewing). For more details, check out the What to Expect tab.

Enroll for spring 2027

Need an invoice or PO? Orders of $600 or greater can choose invoice at checkout. For orders under $600, submit this form , and we will process your order manually.

Need approval? Email this course to your supervisor. .

TRAINING A TEAM?

Multi-seat discounts are automatically calculated in the cart.

Buying for a larger group? Explore all purchasing options

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What You'll Learn What to Expect

AFTER COMPLETING THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

Apply the five pillars of leadership to lead with clarity and confidence through periods of financial instability and rapid change.
Develop a strategic and operational plan tailored to their library's current challenges and community needs.
Build creative, resilient budgeting approaches that hold up under financial instability and shifting political pressures.
Lead change and manage projects effectively, using practical tools to prepare staff and services for what's ahead.
Foster accessible, inclusive leadership that supports cultural change within their organization.
Balance people-focused leadership with organizational tools and systems, knowing when to lean on each.
Use data collection and analysis to evidence impact, inform strategy, and make transparent decisions.
Leave with a customized resource guide, including templates for planning, budgeting, and change management, ready to implement in your own library.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE

This course is designed for public and academic library leaders.

SESSIONS AND PRICING

Early bird pricing ends one month before the session deadline. Course materials unlock on the session deadline date.

Rate + deadline	Spring Session
Early bird deadline	January 17, 2027
Early bird price	$249
Standard deadline	February 17, 2027
Standard price	$299
Course begins	February 17, 2027 Second live date: February 24, 2027

GROUP OPTIONS

Training a team? Choose the setup that matches how you want to plan and pay :

Group course enrollment: Enroll 3+ staff in this course and save.

Bulk course credits: Prepay once, get the highest per-seat discount on every course, and assign seats later.

Unlimited annual licensing: System-wide access for a year with no per-course approvals.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

Questions? Email groupsales@libraryjournal.com.

COURSE FORMAT

This will be an online course and will include:

Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. All sessions are recorded for on-demand access for six months after the course ends.

Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.

Asynchronous workshop: On-demand project-based modules connecting what you’re learning to your professional practice. Includes peer-to-peer sharing via discussion forums.

Online classroom: The virtual learning platform holds all course content and remains accessible for six months after the course ends.

Note: The asynchronous work is designed to be completed over three weeks, but you will have six months of access to work at your own pace.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT

If you attend or watch recordings of all live sessions and complete the 4-module workshop, you will spend approximately 12 hours on this course. You will earn 12 hours of professional development credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion.

ALL THE DETAILS

By the end of the two sessions, participants will have a resource guide that includes documents that can be used directly in your own organizations to plan and organize wholesale change and create planning processes for their service. This will include access to resource planning spreadsheet templates, strategic and operational plan templates, change management protocols and more.

ON-DEMAND ACCESS

All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on demand for six months following the initial broadcast as part of your purchase.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

Complete all course requirements to earn 12 professional development credit hours and a Library Journal certificate of completion. Certificates are emailed upon completion.

ACCESSIBILITY

All video recordings feature auto-captioning. If you require accommodations, please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration and we will make our best efforts to support your needs.

SUPPORT

For technical or course-related support, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.

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