Corinne Hill
The Urban Libraries Council (ULC), a membership association that includes leading public library systems in the U.S. and Canada who are shaping the future of library service to people and communities, presented Corinne Hill, Executive Director of the Chattanooga Public Library, with the 2013 Joey Rodger Leadership Award at their Annual Membership Meeting in Chicago.
The ULC Joey Rodger Leadership Award, in the amount of $5,000, provides a director or senior manager of a ULC member library with an opportunity to strengthen his/her skills through a structured professional development endeavor. The award may be used to attend an established leadership development program or pursue an individualized program that involves working with a leadership development expert/mentor.
Ms. Hill will utilize the award to advance her skills as a high-performance leader by pursuing a Certificate in Strategic Foresight from the Future Studies program at the University of Houston.
“The overall objective of the course and the discipline as a whole is to anticipate unexpected change and to create preferred change in the world,” according to University’s course materials. Offered twice a year, the UH Certificate in Strategic Foresight curriculum includes theories of social change, trend extrapolation and forecasting, change management and creating transformational change in the enterprise and in the world.
As director of the nation’s leading gigabit library, Ms. Hill said that she is encouraged to receive support from the Urban Libraries Council at such an exciting time in the Chattanooga Public Library’s transformation. “We are on the frontier of so many critical changes. I am looking forward to returning from the Future Studies program’s Strategic Foresight curriculum armed with sharper tools and strategies to share with Chattanooga’s leadership team as we continue our commitment to be change agents for 21st century libraries,” Ms. Hill said.
The Joey Rodger Leadership Award, honors ULC’s first full-time chief executive officer and president who served the organization from 1992-2004, overseeing its expansion as the premier North American membership association for leading urban library systems.
Ms. Hill has been Executive Director of the Chattanooga Public Library since March 2012. Hill is a sought after public speaker and thought leader on the future of public libraries. She has recently addressed the FCC during the 2013 Broadband Summit and was a presenter on the Leadership & Collaborative Innovation panel at the NextLibrary 2013 Conference in Denmark. Hill was recently elected by The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to serve on the Governing Board's Standing Committee for the upcoming 2013-2017 term. Prior to Chattanooga, Hill served as the Interim Director of Libraries for the Dallas Public Library. She is a current member of the American Library Association, The Public Library Association, and Reforma / National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos.