College and universities possess their own institutional cultures and political climates, as do the libraries within them. As a new library director, developing an understanding of your institution may be the single most important factor in your success. Your professional expertise, for example your knowledge of personnel management, of budgeting, and even your vision of the future of libraries will not hold sway if you are unable to navigate your institutional culture. The development of a good understanding of an institution, its politics and culture is something that happens over time-- years, in fact. Unlike other areas of management, there is no curriculum that directly addresses the skills that enable you to deftly navigate your institutional environment. What you can do is to hone the skills that create heightened awareness of the institutional dynamic and prepare you to work within it.

This published version is made available on Dickinson Scholar with the permission of the publisher. For more information on the published version, visit American Library Association's Website.

Seiden, Peg, and Eleanor Mitchell. Navigating Institutional Culture: Building Bridges and Not BurningThem. In So You Want to Be an Academic Library Director, edited by Colleen S. Harris, 1-13. Chicago: ALS Editions, 2017.