The Role of Courageous Decision-Making for Deans and Directors in Academic Libraries

Academic library deans and directors from very high research (R1) institutions were surveyed about how often they make courageous decisions, the nature of those decisions, and the level of support they provided and received. Just under two thirds (64.9%) of the respondents indicated they made courageous decisions either often or very often in the last year. Personnel performance or behavior issues required the most courage and emerged most often. Over one quarter (26.03%) reported they had made a decision that either led to their termination, early departure, or jeopardized their employment. Most of the participants acknowledged, at least sometimes, they should have taken a more courageous approach with a decision.