Achieving Transformational Change In Academic Libraries

Academic libraries undergo episodes of strategic change. Transformational change may be seen as fundamentally different from other kinds of change. A part of this process is often deep level cultural change. At the individual level this may be traumatic, but at the strategic level, such change can prove essential. Achieving Transformational Change in Academic Libraries explores the purpose and nature of ‘Transformational Change’ and its exponents, and discusses the benefits and limitations of its place in an academic library setting. The title is divided into five chapters, covering: a definition of transformational change; drivers of transformational change and its place in a strategic change agenda; selling the vision of cultural change; human resource issues and cultural change; and the nature of change as a constant. Provides innovative interdisciplinary research Offers context-free, practical examples of the role of transformational leadership in achieving cultural change and strategic organisational development Explores the sometimes ambiguous relationship between transformational and transactional leadership

Massive technological change has been impacting universities and university libraries in recent years. Such change has manifested in technological developments impacting all areas of academic library activity, including systems, services, collections, the physical library environment, marketing, and support for university teaching, learning, research, and administration. Many books and papers have examined these changes from a technical perspective. However, there is little substantive reflection on what technological change means, and how best to get out in front of it, for the academic library. Technology, Change and the Academic Library systematically reflects on technological innovation, the successes, failures and lessons learned, the nature, process and culture of change, and key aspects including impacts on library staff and users, roles and responsibilities, and skills and capabilities. The book takes an international perspective on the massive change currently affecting academic libraries. The title gives an overview and literature review, considers technological innovation and change management, future technologies and future change, and provides information on further reading. Case studies describe the rationale, aims, and objectives for particular technological innovations, and consider methods, outcomes, and recommendations for the future. Finally, the book reflects back on how technological change can best be wrought in academic libraries. Gives library managers and librarians insight into how best to identify, plan, and implement technological innovation Provides a wide-ranging overview, literature review, and a series of reflective case studies on technological innovation in libraries Emphasises current trends, lessons, and critical issues for putting technological innovation into place Offers an international perspective on technological innovation in the academic library Uses a critical methodology to reflect on what works, what does not, and how managers can apply lessons from real cases worldwide

Emerging Human Resource Trends in Academic Libraries presents the collective wisdom of human resource librarians and administrators who have been in the forefront of practicing and applying the human resource principles in academic libraries. The book is divided into five Parts: Part I focuses on the present academic library environment and the unique human resource challenges that can be found there. Part II looks at the role of LIS education in preparing Masters level librarians to work within academic libraries and beyond. Part III examines how human resource departments in organizations can continue education beyond the degree for professionals and other staff. Part IV is concerned with how academic libraries show their value to the parent institution. Part V focuses on the library staff roles, how they have changed, and how they are valued in relation to faculty and professional positions. These chapters within each Part represent the emerging trends within academic libraries that impact how librarians are educated, mentored and given the ability to obtain professional development training as incumbent librarians as changes occur in the field. Each chapter is written by a practitioner in HR who has experienced related problems and sought solutions.

In this study, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) teamed up to investigate how transformational change (transformational change) is understood in the scientific literature. The study, the first of its kind to review academic studies on transformational change, focuses on two main questions: (i) What does ‘transformational change’ mean? and (ii) What drives it?

The term 'customer service' is not new to the academic library community. Academic libraries exist to serve the needs of their community, and hence customer service is essential. However, the term can be applied in a variety of ways, from a thin veneer of politeness, to an all-encompassing ethic focussing organisational and individual attention on understanding and meeting the needs of the customer. For customers, the library’s Front Line team is the ‘human face’ of the library. How well they do their job can have a massive impact on the quality of the learning experience for many students, and can directly impact upon their success. The importance of their role, and the quality of the services they offer, should not be underestimated – but in an increasingly digital world, and with potentially several thousand individuals visiting every day (whether in person or online), each with their own agendas and requirements, how can the library’s Front Line team deliver the personal service that each of these individuals need? Customer Service in Academic Libraries contributes to what academic libraries, as a community, do really well - the sharing of best practice. It brings together, in one place, examples of how Front Line teams from libraries across a wide geographical area - Hong Kong, Australia, Turkey and the United Kingdom – work to ‘get it right for their customers’. Between them, they cover a range of institutions including research-intensive, mixed HE/FE, private establishments and shared campuses. All have their own tales to tell, their own emphases, their own ways of doing things – and all bring their own examples of best practice, which it is hoped readers will find useful in their own context. Discusses ‘customer service’ in a library setting Translates ‘management theory’ into useful practice information Examines building relationships, meeting customer needs, and marketing and communication Provides examples of practical experience grounded in recent, transferable experience

Discover how your library—and its patrons—can benefit from internal partnerships, collaborations, and interactions Libraries Within Their Institutions: Creative Collaborations examines the ways librarians work within their own universities, municipalities, or government units to form partnerships that ensure the best possible service to their patrons. An excellent companion and complement to Libraries Beyond Their Institutions: Partnerships That Work (Haworth) from the same editors, this unique professional resource looks at the associations between libraries and faculty members, city governments, information technology departments, and research institutes. The book provides first-hand perspectives, assessments, and case studies from information professionals at several major universities, including Kent State, the University of Washington, Virginia Tech, and Purdue University. Libraries Within Their Institutions: Creative Collaborations demonstrates the need for interaction and cooperation between libraries and non-library organizations—on campus and off. This unique book examines the elements of effective collaborations for libraries, including partnerships with campus teaching centers; helping faculty design their courses to enhance instruction; long-term perspectives in library-faculty cooperation; the creation of “collaboratories,” collaborative facilities based in libraries; and the development of campus-wide fluency in all areas of information technology and literacy. Libraries Within Their Institutions: Creative Collaborations provides practical information on: campus-wide committees that promote a general education information literacy requirement integrating ACRL core competencies for information literacy into course content using an Assessment Cycle to document the library’s contributions toward students’ success and institutional outcomes partnerships that have shaped the ARL Statistics and Measurement Program using information commons, and teaching and learning centers to develop collaborative services digital preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) team-taught courses in scientific writing joint-use libraries collaboration in collection management drawing teaching faculty into collaborative relationships collaborating with teaching faculty to help students learn lifelong research skills Libraries Within Their Institutions: Creative Collaborations is an invaluable resource for librarians working in academic, school, special, and public settings, and for library science faculty and students.

This book examines how academic librarians think about or approach instruction as a part of their work. Through explicating this metacognitive process, this book helps both academic librarians and librarians-to-be to more intentionally consider their teaching practices and professional identities.

The advent of globally networked information is a historic change. Educational, commercial and industrial institutions depend on its effective exploitation for their success, but cultural and human factors are the biggest obstacles. This book looks at the roots of these problems and how they may be overcome, through understanding recent developments in technical services, the difference between service and technical orientation, organizational culture, the role of subject expertise and the cultural heritage of the information profession. The book provides guidance and outlines best practice in: managing converging technologies; supporting change with organizational models; using cultural audits; the role of focus groups in implementing change; characterizing a learning organization; succeeding as a change agent, and managing change through technical services. Several chapters discuss the Electronic Libraries programme and the TAPin (Training and Awareness Programme in networks) model as examples of how cultural change takes place, particularly in the academic environment; one chapter concentrates exclusively on the characteristics of special libraries. This illuminating insight into the evolution of information cultures and how they do or don’t adapt to networked services will help information and library managers to achieve change with deeper understanding, and will provide useful advice for senior managers restructuring IT and information departments. The book is core reading for students of Information Studies.