When the editors at SAGE Publications approached me nearly 4 years ago to describe a new leadership handbook series they hoped to develop and to ask if I might be interested in serving as a series consulting editor, I was intrigued. From the viewpoint of a librarian who has worked with the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, I was familiar firsthand with the needs of both faculty researchers and undergraduate students and topics of interest and relevance. From this perspective, I collaborated with SAGE to develop a list that, over the intervening years, has evolved into a series of two-volume reference handbooks on political and civic leadership, gender and women's leadership, leadership in nonprofit organizations, leadership in science and technology, and environmental leadership.

It is my hope that students, faculty, researchers, and reference librarians will benefit from this series by discovering the many varied ways that leadership permeates a wide variety of disciplines and interdisciplinary topics. SAGE's Encyclopedia of Leadership (2004) has been an outstanding reference tool in recent years to assist students with understanding some of the major theories and developments within leadership studies. As one of the newest interdisciplinary fields in academia in the past 20 years, leadership studies has drawn on many established resources in the social sciences, humanities, and organizational management. However, academic resources that are wholly dedicated and developed to focus on leadership as an academic study have been few and far between. The SAGE Reference Series on Leadership will provide an excellent starting place for students who want a thorough understanding of primary leadership topics within a particular discipline. The chapters in each of the handbooks will introduce them to key concepts, controversies, history, and so forth, as well as helping them become familiar with the best known scholars and authors in this emerging field of study. Not only will the handbooks be helpful in leadership studies schools and programs, they will also assist students in numerous disciplines and other interdisciplinary studies programs. The sources will also be useful for leaders and researchers in nonprofit and business organizations.

I would like to acknowledge Jim Brace-Thompson, senior editor, and Rolf Janke, vice president and publisher at SAGE Reference for their guidance, superb organization, and enthusiasm throughout the handbook creation process. I admire both of them for their intellectual curiosity and their willingness to create new reference tools for leadership studies. I would also like to acknowledge the faculty, staff, and students of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies for the many contributions they have made to the establishment of leadership studies as an academic field. Founded in 1992, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies is the only institution of its kind in the world, with a fulltime, multidisciplinary faculty dedicated to pursuing new insights into the complexities and challenges of leadership and to teaching the subject to undergraduates. When I was assigned to serve as the liaison librarian to the new school in 1992, I had no idea of how much I would learn about leadership studies. Over the past 18 years, I have audited courses in the school, attended numerous Jepson Forums and speaker series, taught library and information research skills to Jepson students, assisted faculty and staff with various research questions, and engaged in enlightening conversations with both faculty and students. Through these many experiences, my knowledge and understanding of the field has grown tremendously, and it is has been a unique experience to observe the development of a new field of study in a very brief time. I thank my Jepson colleagues for including me on the journey.