Principled, Transformational Leadership: Analyzing the Discourse of Leadership in the Development of Librarianship’s Core Competences

Using discourse analysis, this article explores three questions: (a) Why was “principled, transformational leadership” the leadership style added to Core Competences? (b) What was the discourse of leadership in the profession surrounding the development of the Core Competences? (c) How might this competence affect LIS education? And what measures, if any, have MLIS programs taken to address it? Informants involved in the development of the Core Competences indicated that leadership was added because it is an important issue for LIS professionals and it links “transformational” to professional change; however, they were unable to provide a clear explanation for the descriptor “principled.” Discursively, leadership is strongly tied to discourses of management, change, and youth. Preparing leaders is a stated goal of most ALA-accredited LIS programs; however, the discourse on leadership within the profession indicates that schools of LIS may be paying more attention to leadership within their curricula, specifically in management classes.