Across the many diverse sectors and industries in which library and information services operate, opinions differ about their relevance and importance in the 21st century. Many ask the question: are librarians and libraries still relevant in the increasingly digital information landscape and who needs libraries when you have so much online? This book seeks to address this question through examining current and future library leadership. Bold Minds presents a series of essays and chapters which aim to generate and provoke discussion and reflection on attributes and approaches to library leadership.

Leadership in libraries is often considered alongside management, but our intention with this book is to focus exclusively on leadership attributes, behaviours, skills and relationships, and their application in different library settings. The book is broad in its multi-sector coverage, with leadership examples from several different sectors included (for example, academic, public, health and corporate). International perspectives are also examined through the choice of chapters, offering insights into a variety of leadership cultures from across the globe. Each author is themselves a library leader and has been asked to use their own reflections and practices to inform their contributions.

Libraries across the globe face many challenges and opportunities in the 21st century. A review of the current literature surfaces much discussion and trendspotting in respect of these challenges and barriers to libraries. Public libraries in the United Kingdom are currently facing unprecedented issues. Between 2010 and 2016, the number of UK public libraries decreased by 14% (BBC, 2016), the number of library visits by 15% (CIPFA, 2017) and the number of active borrowers by 23.5% (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2016). Commentators have therefore recently argued that UK public libraries are at crisis point in their existence, prompting strong, and often emotional responses (Blackman, 2013; Cassidy, 2015; Library Campaign, 2018). Meanwhile in the United States, Smith (2019) explains that similar challenges are being fought and suggests several societal and environmental contributing factors, which are similar to those being experienced in the UK mistrust of government; mistrust of objective information; decline in civic engagement; decline in reading; lack of diversity; lack of respect; and struggle of library education.