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Virginia Library Leadership Academy (VALLA)

VALLA is currently going through a redesign process. The information below is a product of the research and work conducted by the VALLA Task Force.

2026 VALLA Cohort

For information about the 2026 VALLA Cohort, please click here. 

Mission

Provide leadership development and mentoring that is individualized, regular, and accessible. 

Vision

Develop a diverse Virginia library workforce to become leaders in their community at all stages of their careers.

Values

Individualized Leadership:
VALLA values the many leadership styles and stages within Virginia Libraries and aims to meet cohorts where they are in their leadership journey.

Increase Equity, Accessibility and Inclusivity:
Using an equity lens, VALLA is designed to decrease accessibility barriers, including minimizing time commitments and decreasing financial burdens of participants.

Personal Growth:
Realizing that all career growth comes with understanding one’s own strengths, VALLA will incorporate various elements of self-reflection and visioning.

Connection Building:
The spread of great ideas and inspiration only comes through connection with others, therefore VALLA will utilize mentorship, networking, coaching, relationship building, and social learning to create growth within our cohorts and across the Commonwealth.

Who is VALLA For?

Individuals in the library field who are interested in developing their leadership skills, regardless of developmental stage. VALLA is designed to focus on larger characteristics of leadership and can be tailored to the individual’s leadership developmental stage. VALLA will cover leadership topics such as:

  • Visioning
  • Self-reflection
  • Change Management
  • Communication/Interpersonal Relationship Building through an EDIB lens
  • Community Building
  • Cultural Responsiveness
  • Identifying opportunities in challenges
  • Leveraging strengths

VALLA Structure

  • Pre-work that includes readings and asynchronous discussions on Basecamp 
  • 2-3 day, in-person workshop
  • 2 hours/month for 11 months. Includes approximately one hour of new content and one hour of meeting with a mentor group
  • Currently occurs in the Spring of even years

What VALLA is Not!

The focus of VALLA is on developing leadership skills and characteristics. VALLA will not be covering management topics such as time management, performance evaluations, resource management, project management, board management, budgeting, etc. If you are interested in management topics, you can find a list of management development opportunities here. 

Additional VALLA Pages

VALLA Task Force
VALLA Task Force Key Findings
VALLA Additional Development Resources