Implementing organizational change in the regional public library in Prishtina, Kosovo

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to show how organizational change could be applied to local public libraries in a post-war country, in this case Kosovo. After decades under the communist system and a decade of conflict and political instability, Kosovo gained its independence in February 2008. Local libraries in Kosovo, fully developed under the previous communist system, almost collapsed in the post-communist period, which was characterized by conflicts that finally ended with the NATO bombing in 1999. They are now trying to catch up to western styles of work and development, trying to function within a region still governed by the UN, secured by NATO forces, and dealing with library users who have increased significantly their expectations of library services.