40 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 295 — 2018 Figure 4 Figure 5 One reason the percentage of female ARL directors might go much higher is the numerical advantage that women held in 2015 in terms of associate and assistant dean (AD) positions, typically a springboard for director-level positions. (See Figure 6.) It must be said, however, that numerical superiority at the AD level did not seem to help women become directors in 1986. In any case, by 2015 the portion of male ADs had fallen to 37%, the lowest number in the data series, and a level that approximates the overall ARL professional population.