Managerial skills needed for academic library managers: The case of Iran

This survey investigates the extent to which Iranian academic library managers need managerial skills and the influence of their level of seniority on this need. The results revealed that, in general, managers' need for managerial skills is high especially “people related skills” over “analytical and self-related skills” and “task related skills”. Analysis of the mean scores of skills across three levels of managers shows that the middle level managers' need for managerial skills is higher than top managers and supervisors. Overall, most respondents ranked “creating organizational climate” as the skill most needed while few said they needed development for “counseling subordinates.”

► Iranian academic library managers’ need for all managerial skills is high.
► The relative rank of each skill varies slightly based on level of seniority of managers.
► “People related skills” is the most needed category of skills across all levels.