Bill Mayer, the University Librarian at American University, has been implementing some fairly radical (for libraries) changes in how the library exists on campus and interacts with the university community:

Next Steps : Change at American University

I really don’t have much of an opinion on any particular changes, mainly because I think that any library needs to seek out the ways to best serve their community.  This means hanging on to traditional ways of service, while at the same time implementing out new tools and ways to connect people with what they seek.  The best results for this process will be different for different libraries and communities.

I was, however, impressed with his approach:

…one word kept coming up over and over again: trust. “Trust is the most important aspect of the work we do—without it, there can be no change, no movement, no growth,” he said. I asked him how one goes about building trust and his response was simple: listening. “You ask questions and then you listen to what others say and suggest, and then you build up together from there. That’s a key part. If an administrator doesn’t ask, or even worse, asks but doesn’t include aspects that staff suggest, then you lose trust.”

If he walks that talk, then I think he has a good chance of finding the right balance for American University.

Change is the one constant of the universe – unless you need it for the bus.  Seriously, though, thoughts of change can be very stressful for those in a workplace.  Libraries are no different.  In fact, we have avoided changing some aspects of how we do things in libraries for so long that I suspect we are about to enter a period of rapid change.

So how do we cope?  The usual suggestions are to embrace change, view it as an opportunity, a way to empower the way you do your job.  There may be a better approach, one that encourages people to look at the negative potential of a given change.

The idea behind this is to understand what can go wrong, and adjust your planning to either avoid the problems, or better yet incorporate them into your plans in a positive way.  Not only will this process allow you to better implement change, but it will help to understand those who will resist it.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter writes an excellent essay on this topic in her discussion of John Taysom’s ideas.  She argues that it is actually the optimist that is better able to appreciate the negatives, and then to harness their energy in a productive way.

found via Dysart & Jones

Buy None, Get One Free is an article that appeared in BBC News that does a good job explaining one of the business models for the changes sweeping information services (a broad topic covering anything from music to news to journal articles).

It certainly isn’t the only business model we will be seeing a great deal of:  consider ad-supported content on the web, or communal/consortial purchasing (like libraries and databases).  These have been around for years, but the important part is that the cost to supply the content is rapidly decreasing; the main cost is providing it in the first place.  This is forcing information providers to change.

The sooner we understand this, really understand this in our bones, the sooner we have the potential to see the benefits in our budgets and in our services.

found on Open Access News