Adapting to change in academic libraries

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discover the main reasons for change, why change is necessary and how library professionals can adapt to change. Academic institutions are rapidly changing around the world where libraries are facing similar challenges and adapting change is a demand for growth and improvement. Library administrators need a clear vision and strategic plan to meet the upcoming challenges, they must have self-confidence, ability to work with diversity. Library professionals need to show flexibility and a willingness to develop new skills, they also need to adopt new ways of working and dealing with the academic community.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review is built on resources from offline and online full-text databases such as ProQuest, EBSCO, Emerald, Library Literature and Information Science databases. This paper is based on a systematic literature review method which includes 50 research articles and 5 print books. A total of 109 articles were collected at the beginning stage but after their analysis in detail, they were reduced to 50 articles as the rest of the articles did not exactly focus on adapting to change in academic libraries. Basic keyword and advanced searching options have been used to retrieve the relevant literature on the topic from peer-reviewed and scholarly resources.FindingsChanges are the result of organizational restructuring, user expectations and accessibility to a growing range of digital content, so library professionals are under pressure to adopt change in academic libraries and introduce new services and technology. Library professionals need to change traditional ways of working and boost their knowledge and skills, collaborative attitude, redesign and policies and procedures and create a willingness to adapt to the change. Challenges can be managed if an individual has a keen interest and eagerness to keep up to date with the current knowledge and emerging trends in academic libraries.Research limitations/implicationsAppropriate literature on the topic was reviewed systematically, not all publications were included. Literature on this topic is relatively limited so more research and publications are needed to deal with current and future scenarios of academic libraries.Practical implicationsThis paper offers a useful overview of the ways and approaches used to adopting change by library professionals and the approaches that can be used in the current and future settings of academic libraries. Suggestions and recommendations can be used in the field of LIS, as well as library professionals may apply in the academic and research libraries to effectively change.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on the concept of adapting to change in academic libraries, rather than responding to change. This piece of opinion contributes to library science in the area of how to manage and implement change, suggests ways and frameworks which can be used to adopting change by library professionals.