Although professional development is an individual responsibility, it thrives on partnership with the associations and the institutions that share common goals and values with academic librarians. The ACRL Statement on Professional Development is both declaration and mandate. Through it, the members and staff of ACRL declare our collective intent to strive for professional excellence through rigorous programs of lifelong learning and personal growth. Librarians commit themselves to a program of continual growth that anticipates and complements the evolving information needs of our institutions and of society. At the same time, the professional development of academic and research librarians is a shared responsibility.
Graduate schools recruit and educate candidates for the profession.
Institutions hire librarians and benefit from their continued maturation and growth. In many ways, professional development is the embodiment of an ongoing process of personal mastery aided by organizational interest in, and support for, learning through partnerships. While each partner plays an important role in sustaining professional growth, the foundation for development must be personal commitment to closely held and clearly articulated values. Context for Change Technology is reshaping the world of learning and of scholarly communication, and the effects on academic and research librarians are profound. Librarians are challenged to manage an exploding body of information, weaving electronic, print and non-print resources into a seamless fabric of services for constituents.