Coping with Change, Managing Uncertainty
Introduction
'Thirty years ago most people thought that change would mean more of the same, only better. That was incremental change and to be welcomed. Today we know that in many areas of life we cannot guarantee more of the same...[we] cannot even predict with confidence what will be happening in our own lives.' (Handy, 1991)
He differentiates between incremental and 'discontinuous' change, suggesting that the combination of economics and technology form a potent blend in this. We can see that Higher Education (HE) Library and Information Services (LIS), are part of an environment which is subject to both incremental and discontinuous change:
Political - increased control from central government
Sociological - the information age
Educational - the mass HE system
Technological - networking, computing and telecommunications
Organisational - new structures
Economic - increased demand for value for money
Cultural - changed norms and values
In LIS the move from holdings of information sources in-house to electronic access to remote sources, along with the pressure to provide more services with fewer human and financial resources brings its own kind of change:
New structures such as team-working
Collaboration with a range of different groups and individuals
Additional skills for staff and users
Increased management and decision-making
Heavier workloads
LIS managers and their staff need to adopt positive strategies to cope with these changes:
'Library administrators must become facilitators. They must understand how the world is changing and how the library must change. And they must also learn to be masters at persuasion, since wherever there is change there will be resistance.' (Moore, 1995)
Coping with change rests on two struts: understanding change and managing change.
Coping with change: understanding
Practical steps can be taken to increase knowledge and understanding:
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis
TQM (Total Quality Management) exercises
Group planning exercises
Programmes of visiting speakers
Training needs analysis
Environmental scanning
Electronic discussion lists
User surveys
Internal staff surveys
Away days
External seminars, conferences and workshops
Shared experience sessions
Understanding uncertainty
'Information technology is ve...
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Moore, M. (1995) Impact of the changing environment on academic library administration: conflicts, incongruities, contradictions and dichotomies. Journal of Library Administration, 22 (1), 13-36.
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The King County Library System is the fifth largest library system in circulation in the United States. The current director of the KCLS, Bill Ptacek, started with the organization three years ago and is in the process of working towards a new strategic plan titled "The Year 2000 Plan, which has a long-term goal of integrating all the resources of the library system equally and to coordinate all the efforts to ensure it was providing the best possible service to the community. In the three years, Ptacek worked to expand the mission to cover services for the community to include children, life-long learning, career development, and literacy (Chell, 1996, pg.2). The reworking of the mission and services of KCLS was in full swing, but there were
Sheih, C. S. (2012). An Exploratory Study on Coping Strategies of Confronting Difficult Patrons: The Case of University Circulation Librarians. Journal of Libray and Information Science Research, 7(1), 120-127.
This library system is utilizing all the technologies and materials available to them to serve the community in the best way. Despite certain social indicators and demographic statistics indicating that the library should not be overly utilized, it is thriving and is heavily in use. There are areas that the library can look to improve based on statistical evidence, such as reaching out to the low income population and the over 55 years age group. This library seems to be meeting numerous needs for a wide range of patrons, and doing it well.
The book contains some of what you would expect in a book by revolting librarians. There are the requisite essays on the suppression of civil liberties through the Patriot Act along with essays detailing the problem of cultural representation in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. And of course, there's something both by and about Sandy Berman, a living legend among progressive librarians. But there are also quite a few surprises. Ever curious about the astrological breakdown of librarians? You'll find an extensive article complete with enough statistics to make you break out your notes from IRLS 506. [Leos dominate the field, with Aquarians an astrological minority.] Another notable essay concerns what services librarians can offer to day laborers.
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Sternberg, R. J. (2013). Perspectives: Leadership Styles for Academic Administrators: What Works When?. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 45(5), 24-27.
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The lectures by Jessica Gillis and Lisa Nowlain showed how a youth services librarian does not fit under one definition and may have very different roles depending on the position. While both obtained their degrees from San Jose State University, their vision and geographical preferences have led them in very different directions.
The emphasis is primary on how individuals and organizations can deal with change successfully and develop appropriate strategies and structures for the effective management of change. Management of change must provide guidelines for institutional and structural change as well as for individual. (Scott and Jaffe, 1995)
Staidos, Konstahtinow. “The Great Libraries: From Antiquity to the Renaissance. Delaware. Oak Knoll Press. 2000. Print.
A library or information unit must have a dedicated plan on having an organized Collection Development Policy, represents the guideposts of all types of library institutions. Collection development is the process of planning, selecting, acquiring and evaluating the library collections’ convenience to print and electronic collection developments. Thus, it is essential to have a written collection development policy, a statement of general collection building principles with desalinating the purpose and content of a collection in terms of relevance and internal audiences (Clayton and Gorman 2007). Broadly, the international and local libraries have sketched written collection development policies which they are aware of its uses. Recently, the written policies consistently renewed with the rise of digital collections. However, the value of the written collection development plan shakes with the complexity of managing electronic resources, funding and time considerations, criticism on how it written and also its inflexibility. This essay will examine the arguments for having the advantages of the written collection development policy (CDP) and the issues evolve which against the latter.
The study of public administration only continued to grow over the course of the next two decades. As the study of public administration expanded, so did the development of s...
Libraries are essential to a community especially in difficult times. Due to rising costs and job losses, patrons may have had to cut their own expenses such as buying books or cancelling their internet service. In order to continue to have access to these materials, patrons turn to their libraries. However, libraries are often the first to get cut in budget reforms. A library can survive a budget crisis by making cuts, fundraising, developing trust, and media exposure.
... to the Library and that have generally been underused resources. B. Greater use of the Library's Capitol Hill facilities by scholars for the kind of interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, multimedia, multilingual, and synthetic writing that is important to Congressional deliberation and national policy-making, but inadequately encouraged both by special interest groups and by advocacy-oriented think tanks; and C. Greater use by the general public through programs that stimulate interest, increase knowledge, and encourage more citizens to use the collections on-site and electronically.”The Library employees will add their position as information guides by “helping more people find appropriate materials in a swelling sea of unsorted information” and directing them to services and resources exclusive to the Library of Congress. This requires not only more growth of employees that the Library has formerly had, but also making it easier in new ways more wide-ranging and “systematic use by researchers of the distinctive materials that only the Library of Congress has.” Courses for the common public, such as displays or publications, must display the importance and value of the collections.
Pierce, Jon L. & Newstrom, John W. (1996). The manager’s bookshelf: A mosaic of contemporary views, (4th Edition). New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.