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![Challenge for change
“It [successful change] is pursuing an
opportunity rather than running from a threat,
but you could see both.”
Phil Davis](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/alapresentation2016-160626164015/85/Library-I-T-Information-Technologists-or-Information-Thought-leaders-18-320.jpg)
Uploaded byWhitni Watkins
Library I.T.: Information Technologists or Information Thought-leaders
Library IT professionals are often underutilized and spend most of their time on help desk tickets and support rather than strategic thinking. Their skills are not fully recognized or used. There is also a lack of collaboration between library departments that wastes resources. To address this, library IT needs to challenge the status quo and foster a culture where all staff can lead change. Individuals should look for opportunities to connect with others and grow new communities that can drive innovation.
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Library I.T.: Information Technologists or Information Thought-leaders
- 1. Library I.T. Information Technologistsor Information Thought-leaders?: A conversation
- 2. Introduction Who is Craig?Who is Whitni? @craigboman Librarian (of the systems breed), musician, 2016 ALA Emerging Leader. @_whitni Pianist. Colored jeans enthusiast. Lefty. Drives a MINI named Sebastian.
- 3. ● Library IT:Underutilized ● We’re trying ● Leading Change: individually and collectively Scope (n.)The range of one’s perceptions, thoughts, or actions.
- 4. The Problem(s) -Underutilized
- 5. Library IT onlyas fixers…not as thinkers Spend 90% of our jobs answering help desk tickets & providing support.
- 7. Library IT skillsnot being utilized... Job requirements request for experience on more than just support skills. BUT
- 8. Not everyone islooking through the same scope.
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- 11. Recap Library IT isunderutilized, this is a PROBLEM Job responsibilities are OVERSIGHT of employee skills We benefit from more PERSPECTIVES
- 12. Hurdles to LibraryCollaboration
- 13. “A collaborative culturedoesn’t mean that everything needs to happen in a collaborative way. It means that individuals with ideas and initiatives have the space and possibilities to connect and find internal and hybrid communities in which they can grow.” J-P De Clerck Lack of cross-dept collaboration
- 14. Why it sucks…foreveryone
- 15. Things that happenedthat made it suck, more.
- 16. Recap NO COLLABORATION SUCKSfor everyone Underutilization leads to WASTED RESOURCES We don’t know what we don’t know.
- 17.
- 18. Challenge for change “It[successful change] is pursuing an opportunity rather than running from a threat, but you could see both.” Phil Davis
- 19. Disruptive Innovation "The reasonis that good management itself was the root cause. Managers played the game the way it was supposed to be played. The very decision-making and resource- allocation processes that are key to the success of established companies are the very processes that reject disruptive technologies." Clay Christensen
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- 24. Why it ishard. Really hard. “No matter how sound the change may be...there will always be a large part of the organization which does not perceive these values in the same way and, therefore, considers the change unwarranted and a reflection on the leadership's ability to make ‘reasonable’ decisions.” Bruce Henderson
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- 26. Ways to challengefor change…
- 27. “Patience is notsimply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting.” Joyce Meyer Change
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- 29. Recap Build a culturefor change Strategic Partners in Library Visioning We all have a responsibility to lead change
- 30. “Henry Ford didn’tbuild cars, he built factories.”
- 31. References: Crook, L., &Lowe-Wincentsen, D. (2011). Mid-career library and information professionals: A leadership primer. (Chandos Publishing Online.) Slide 5 Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/First_flight2.jpg Slide 7 GIF: https://media.giphy.com/media/F7yLXA5fJ5sLC/giphy.gif Slide 10 Image: World Class Traffic Jam https://flic.kr/p/cmJa3q Slide 11 Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Classic_shot_of_the_ENIAC.jpg Slide 13 image: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/- dijM0IFm1Z4/U2kG6FgngUI/AAAAAAAAC8A/ky57QW1PUXU/s1600/Me+You+Us+Collaboration+F inal+Picture.png
- 32. References: Slide 14 Image:https://unsplash.com/photos/2aWEwBGSqR8 Slide 19 Image: Dilbert comic. http://www.quoteslike.com/images/1898/change-is-hard-online- comics-funny-dilbert-102912-comics-strips-comic-DNSsJ4-quote.jpg Slide 21 Image: Change https://flic.kr/p/shmPZ8 Slide 30 Quote: https://medium.com/the-modern-team/lazy-leadership-8ba19e34f959#.wg776z1jl Slide 30 Image: http://priceworldplymouth.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/5/2/13522823/823144_orig.jpg
Editor's Notes
- #2 Intro
- #3 Craig Intro- Whitni and I would like to share a conversation we have been having for last few months. The purpose of this presentation is to share our conversation. A conversation around the increasing role library IT staff play in shaping the services of our libraries. Rather than have a presentation where we talk at you about this conversation, we want to bring you into the conversation. Which is why we want to open the floor up during our presentation for you to comment and participate. So that we can also present the material we’ve prepared and incorporate this discussion aspect, we’ve included recap slides throughout our slides as break points to recap material as well as opportunities for discussion.
- #4 Craig Intro We don’t have all the answers, nonetheless, we have some ideas we’d like to share. Supporting emotional issues around librarian coders rather than the technical problems of coding Library innovation as a process: or the metric for success is a moving target. Libraries must foster a culture of a learning to be truly innovative. Help people.... Look at their individual behavior and their org's behavior and decide what they aren't doing well. From an IT perspective.
- #5 Craig Point 1 and 1.a “That’s not gonna work.” “Why would you do that?” “You know that’s broken, right?” We know that library IT has traditionally had a role collaborating with various library departments to resolve problems as they arise. This is library IT as a reactive agent. Like the Wright Brothers moved from building bicycles to building planes, while staying in the transportation business, how do we in LIbrary IT move from being underutilized reactionaries to being a strategic partner in the development of library services?
- #6 Whitni Point 1.b.i From a job posting description: Provide support to staff and public workstations. Primary responsibility of this position is to support staff and public workstations by investigating and resolving computer hardware and software problems of end users. Much of this work is done remotely with occasional need for physical visits to another area of the facility. (80%) - Fayetteville Public Library, AR
- #7 Whitni Point 1.b https://media.giphy.com/media/F7yLXA5fJ5sLC/giphy.gif
- #8 Whitni Point 1.b.ii A Line directly from a job description on an application for a Library IT employee. [Develop and maintain effective working relationships with departments. Interpret needs and design/create appropriate working software solutions according to library needs - Euclid Public Library, OH.] Often required to be “on call” in case things go wrong. Not included in library conversations on projects with IT responsibilities
- #9 Whitni Point 1.c What does IT have to offer to the library? LIT bring a perspective to the table regarding technology and how it is embedded within the library from a technical aspect LIT may bring a perspective of working with all library departments. Or we already know intimately what other departments are working on. We can use this bird’s eye view perspective to improve library services.
- #10 Whitni
- #11 Whitni 2.b.i Discuss Perspective. --- LIT may have some really good ideas for improving library services, but often they may not have the support from the library
- #12 Whitni Recap of point 1
- #13 Craig 2.a Technical Hurdles We want to but can’t. (Twilio/legal, lack of money) Organizational Hurdles We can but we won’t. Inability to convince others how new service supports libraries’ mission and vision, even though you know it does Inability to show that your understanding of the problem is sufficient to move forward with a project. Inability to reach compromise between departments Not being included in beginning/planning stages of new library projects, that would require use of their skills/time later down the road. Types of Technicals hurdles Types of Organizational hurdles
- #14 Whitni 2.b.i Talk about how individuals can push to collaborate across departments but that the space needs to exist. That it’s important for managers to create that space that allows for the hybrid work on projects.
- #15 Whitni 2.c “Everyone” includes whom? What we know a Under-utilizing professional staff in IT, many of whom have an MLIS Not being included sends the message that you don’t matter In a professional context that is drastically shaped by technology, having a perspective IT in the Library is more than just beneficial, it’s necessary
- #16 Craig Watson/IBM/NCR-missing opportunities to monetize 2.c Strategic planning (w/out library IT) Understanding the amount of hours that could have been saved… May end up buying applications you could have built or re-purposed internally, primarily because they feel they’ll get better service than outsourcing support to library IT, non-IT staff may end up supporting software they don’t have the necessary technical skills to manage. Or buying a discovery system supported by reference libs, who don’t know how to properly support their new system. Lib IT knows the right technical questions to ask a vendor in a demo. “We can call their vendor BS” (W Watkins at Boston Tech Meetup)
- #17 Whitni - Recap of Point 2 *make a point on WE == being libraries don’t know what they don’t know.
- #18 Craig Point 3 Heifetz (not to be confused with the violinist Jascha Heifetz) and Balconies - From an individual standpoint, your lacking of empathy for others in your organization can greatly hinder your ability to predict the impact your changes may make on those staff. Book: Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald Heifetz
- #19 Craig- Potentially ask audience on why they would build authority prior to sharing my thoughts on building authority. Building authority - How would you build your library authority? You can get authority that people give you or you can have authority by simply showing that you know what you’re talking about and building that trust with others. Don’t let your job responsibilities limit your actions If you are passionate about something, do it. *Lack of tenure can be hinderance to your building organizational authority. This often relates to career envy (note by Doreen Sullivan in Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals Thinking outside the brain box. Increase Awareness What are other libraries doing that we need to be doing?
- #20 Craig Limits of traditional management Looking at traditional management through the lens of disruptive innovation leads to stagnation can lead to stagnation in creativity; stagnation in innovation. This is being used at a time when we need the most creative and innovative library services and library systems to lead us through these increasingly
- #21 Craig Individual Leadership not as visioning, but rather as collaborative process of fostering collective creativity and “creative genius” (Hill, 2014) Creating a learning culture (Senge, 1990) “...organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.” As you can see from the slide, creativity is messy and sometimes wasteful.
- #22 Craig 3.b Intro to Org Change To understand change in organizations, we must understand how organizations change and why organizations change. How organizations change is obviously slow, but why orgs change is based on a variety of factors, both internal and external. What we know about traditional organization and traditional management structures” We know... libraries are constantly changing Traditional management styles are evolving (Weber, Fayol, Taylor, Hawthorne, Flat management, Agile ?) Are libraries changing their traditional management structures quickly enough to keep up with the changes in technology? Or are we (libraries) impeding the progress of librarians by clinging to traditional management structures?
- #23 Craig 3.b Insert Kowalski Communication Feedback loop from his book Be sure to mention how all libraries need to participate in a communication feedback loop which includes not only our students and patrons who visit our libraries but also in communication with the communities in which we exist, even if they aren’t stakeholders. Aspects of organizational change communication/lack of (Kowalski, 2007) -Need for feedback cycle with our stakeholders individuals resistant to change organizational cultures resistant to change preference for status quo org structures resistant to change Bureaucratic structures
- #24 Handoff slide Include slide about org structures or talking about change
- #25 Craig 3.b Building from the Kowalski communication feedback loop Pushing for change in an organization that has not recognized its need for many years, makes the pushing not only scary but necessary and difficult. What makes it hard? -Staff view your involvement as an invasion and not as a benefit -Librarians view your input as not “expert” level and thus not important
- #26 Whitni Ways to challenge change and why it matters. (find new home for the following Library IT must fully engage IT staff if they want to retain top talent IT needs to be at the front of the strategic planning and decision making because the role libraries are playing in our users lives is digital and access to information. This is being leveraged through technology, the is supported and put into place by IT. Having IT at involved in the front runner will be able to bring from the start whether a certain workflow, interested piece of technology to implement, etc will actually be an option. IT will be able to bring to the table the technical sides of the concerns that librarians may have -- and their knowledge and perspective on things like security and encryption and cloud vs in house and support will be different and different is what we need. We have to approach technology from the technical as well as the user’s aspect. The user is both patrons and librarians who teach it and use it to serve our patrons. We are very integral to the success of the digital (virtual) movement and evolving of the library and together IT and Librarians will be able to provide a much fuller picture to the challenges we face.
- #27 Whitni Ask to be on a library committee Teach while you support Share ideas while troubleshooting -- if you think something could be done better, say something Meet with department staff-- call your OWN meetings when projects overlap
- #28 Whitni Transition slide into takeaways and what we can do to push for change and collaboration across departments (next slide is examples)
- #29 Whitni Bring theoretical back to practical. Make sure to include more than one example for one of both. Do we have any (personal or not) examples of challenging the traditional bureaucratic org structures that lead to change? Collaboration Working to build better workflows with public services (Circulation and ILL) Work with cataloging to understand how libraries would like records to link together (or not) or maybe automate authority records workflows. Designing the OPAC (input from public services & reference librarians & IT to provide perspective on both what the users usually ask for AND best practices for web design) Deaccessioning/weeding projects -- Can IT provide scripts to automate some manual tasks that librarians may have to do otherwise? LIT working with reference librarians to provide a coding workshop around Ada Lovelace day and wikipedia-edit-a-thon Selection of hardware (scanners, printers, etc) that are used at Circulation and Tech Services work with Librarians, working with the librarians Documentation -- best practices from both viewpoints, in saving/storing and creating. Frontend website changes, usability testing Content creation & documentation efforts Strategic Planning Discuss the benefits of IT inclusion to Library stuff.
- #30 Craig Don’t let your lack of authority limit your libraries’ potential. Although we have discussed the need for libraries to change to provide better services, its important to emphasize the importance of listening to our patrons and our communities. t Photo rec: https://unsplash.com/photos/E0Spm6XXn2Y 5 characteristics of a learning organization (Senge) Systems Thinking Personal Mastery Mental Models Shared vision Team learning
- #31 Craig Yes libraries are responsible for providing information services, but more importantly we are responsible for building the best computer systems and human systems which produce the best library services.