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It is no secret that medical librarians are part of a trend of the aging U.S. workforce and that librarianship is one of the occupations with greater than average proportion of workers over the age of 45. Responses to the 2001 Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) survey indicated 44% of all librarians in academic medical libraries were at least 50 years old. Seventy-six per cent of AAHSL directors were 50 and older as were 61 % of deputy and associate directors.

Against this backdrop, on May22, 2002, a symposium titled "Leadership Reconsidered: Developing a Strategic Agenda for Leadership in Health Sciences" was conducted at the 102nd Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association (MLA) to explore the concepts of leadership and management. The symposium was co-sponsored by the MLA Leadership and Management Section and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries(AAHSL). The overall symposium goal was to develop a strategic agenda for leadership in health sciences libraries by defining the issues and recommending actions. Registrants included 100 health sciences librarians, representing both academic and hospital library environments, including eighteen of us who acted as group facilitators and recorders. Following presentations on library leadership issues and attributes of library leaders from Maureen Sullivan and Peter Hernon, Ph.D., a panel of speakers, including Betsy Humphreys (who described NLM's Associates program and the WoodsHole Informatics Fellowship), summarized leadership development programs and initiatives within the profession. Breakout groups to react to presentations, discuss the themes, define the issues for the health sciences, identify the challenges and suggest strategies and recommendations for action were interspersed throughout the day. Individual topics for the breakout groups were: 1) qualities, skills and competencies for leadership; 2) unique aspects of health sciences libraries leaders; 3) challenges and obstacles to leadership; and 4) leadership roles and career paths.

The Symposium Planning Program Committee has continued to work throughout this past year to analyze the results, findings and conclusions presented by the breakout groups and use the data to present a strategic or action agenda. The agenda calls for partnerships between the various library organizations and groups, including NLM, to identify and implement strategies to recruit, develop and retain future leaders for the health sciences library. The call for an NLM/AAHSL leadership fellows program (put in place since the symposium) was also made.

A full report of the symposium, including the strategic agenda or call for action, will be published in the April 2003 issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association. Additional information about the symposium may be found at http://library.umassmed.edu/~rvanderh/mlanet/.