Leading Change in Libraries: A case study

Catherine B Soehner

doi:10.5860/llm.v29i2.7095

Abstract

Libraries are experiencing unprecedented change. Some of our more traditional services are used less and others must be rearranged so that the library remains a vital component of the campus. Reorganization of personnel often takes place to accommodate these changes. Therefore, excellent skills in change management are imperative for our current leadership in libraries. A process pulled from established literature on change management was used in a reorganization of IT personnel at a university library.

Highlights

In order to provide this sense of urgency, we focused on the following weaknesses and threats: difficulty working across organizational lines, lack of transparency regarding current IT projects, lack of prioritization of IT projects leading to some projects making progress as the result of the passion of one programmer, and a duplication of efforts between the two IT units
The third, and most surprising, observation was that some IT employees did not believe Library Administration listened to them during the change process leading to the merger
While we adjusted the stages based on cultural norms of academia in general, the stages were a helpful way to organize the process and move forward

Summary

Background

Considering the number of group meetings that took place and the careful collection of feedback from those meetings, this statement seemed incongruent We invited another expert in change management, this time a library employee, to meet with this department without anyone from Library Administration present to obtain clarification regarding this inconsistency. This task force consisted of an equal number of managers from both the Library IT and CMS departments We called this new group “IT Managers” and they became the powerful guiding coalition, accomplishing Kotter’s second stage in a way that was more inclusive of the people directly involved in the change. The process used to merge the two departments resulted in four observations

First Observation

Second Observation

Third Observation

Fourth Observation

Conclusion