Managing Change in Libraries and Information Services

Citation

Line, M.B. (2000), "Managing Change in Libraries and Information Services", The Electronic Library, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 448-469. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2000.18.6.448.23

This booklet covers the main essentials of change management in just over 100 pages. All the expected aspects are dealt with: the need to understand change, strategic approaches to change, flexible structures and cultures, selecting change strategies, planning and implementing change projects, and the knowledge and so on that change managers need to possess.

There is a great deal of sound advice and, as a brief introduction to change management, the work can be recommended – with reservations, because it misses several important points. The need to understand change is stressed, but the question of who should take the initiative is not addressed: should the boss just tell staff, or what? In my experience it is best to get staff themselves – at all levels – to identify the various factors rather than be persuaded that their superiors are right. Not only do they do this quickly and thoroughly; more important, they own the results, and are therefore much more ready to do something about it. The same approach of getting staff to discover things for themselves should apply throughout the processes of change. In fact, the value of staff at lower levels is underestimated: not only does involvement motivate them, but they often see desirable changes that other staff miss, especially those whose work brings them close to customers (they are more like customers in various ways than more senior staff are).

The role of the boss is hardly mentioned; everything seems to be left to senior and middle managers. But the boss’s role is crucial in demonstrating total involvement throughout, in inspiring staff, in insisting that change happens (but leaving the necessary actions to staff), and in encouraging staff to persist through difficult periods. He/she must be fearless and excited, and the excitement must communicate itself to staff. “Forceful but laid‐back leadership” is the paradoxical ideal.

Relationships with the parent body are discussed, but not the important question of whether the pressure for change comes from it or the library. If the former, the parent body may also set firm parameters, and constrain the whole exercise, with the result that the library may find it impossible to own its change. If the latter, parent bodies are often more conservative than libraries, and may take some persuading that radical solutions are desirable; indeed, they may question whether the process is needed at all.

There are also problems with visioning. It is impossible to foresee where libraries will be in three years’ time. Prophecies made three years ago (by myself among others) have been overtaken by technological developments. The implication is that the greatest need is to prepare and develop staff for flexibility, so that they are constantly ready for any change. Gallacher does effectively say this, but the message tends to get lost in the somewhat mechanical details of processes.

As for goals, it is desirable to mix long‐term with short‐term goals: the former because they are the big ones, which usually require a lot of effort (and, just because they are long‐term, need to be started early); the latter because their attainment can demonstrate success in a short time and so maintain motivation.

Brief though the books in this series are, this one at least would benefit from an index. The short reading list is good as far as it goes, but I would add Curzon’s Managing Change (1989), which in spite of its relative age has not been superseded; indeed, I would recommend it ahead of the present volume. A final crack at the publisher: on the back cover, the noun “practice” is mispelled “practise’, as if it were the verb.