Back in May at the 2008 Medical Library Association meeting in Chicago, a group of health care administrators presented a panel discussion titled “Connecting with Leaders: What Do They Expect?” in which they provided their perspectives regarding their expectations for the health sciences library. This was a group of library supporters and their comments revealed their expectations that library leaders need to think broadly and creatively about their libraries’ roles. Suggestions included:

• Participate in community outreach to serve the greater good of the institution and its communities
• Work with IT to find ways that the library complements IT
• Develop allegiances; although forming partnerships isn’t easy, a fundamental component of administration is relationship building
• Stay connected and aligned with operational opportunities and priorities
• Participate! In the “journey” toward magnet status; in research to improve patient care; in the institution’s constant staff retooling and retraining; in instructional delivery; in grant proposal creation; in benchmarking to learn what similar institutions have and what admired institutions have
• Think in terms of dollars but remember other values

This session was on Monday, May 19 at 10:35am and, if you have access to the MLA ‘08 CD-ROM, it’s definitely a worthwhile listen.