Sheila Corrall is Chair and LIS Program Chair at the School of Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

1. Managing Innovation
Strategy, Structure, and Skills
Sheila Corrall
scorrall@pitt.edu
Leadership and Embedding
Innovation in the 21st Century
Research Library

2. Questions for Discussion
• How are research libraries approaching innovation?
– insights from related literature
• What can we learn from business management?
– concepts, tools, or techniques
iSchool

3. Defining Innovation
Management literature
The discipline of innovation
“the effort to create purposeful, focused change in an
enterprise’s economic or social potential”
(Drucker, 1985, p. 67)
Towards a multidisciplinary definition of innovation
“Innovation is the multi-stage process whereby
organizations transform ideas into new/improved
products, service or processes in order to advance,
compete and differentiate themselves successfully in
their marketplace”
(Baregheh, Rowley & Sambrook, 2009, p. 1334)
iSchool

4. Library Innovation in ContextiSchool
Books
Journals
Reports
Surveys

5. Innovation in ARL Libraries
“Innovation is defined here as the introduction into the organization of a new
product, a new service, a new technology, or a new administrative practice; or
a significant improvement to an existing product, service, technology, or
administrative practice.” (Jantz, 2012, p. 4)
• Jantz interviewed 6 directors (2 large, 2 medium, 2 small)
• Concluded flatter structures and more transformational styles
would create more innovative climate and increase new ideas
– greatest challenge for leaders is balancing exploratory efforts to create
new services with traditional activities to support existing services
– suggested future investigation of how academic libraries contribute to
institutional innovation
• Vaughan (2013) collected data from 24 directors on their
definitions and perceptions of technology-related innovation
– most frequently chosen words = creativity, agility, experimentation,
value-added + pioneering, anticipation, and thinking outside the box
iSchool
LISR, 34(1); Library Technology Reports, 49(7)

6. Innovation in ARL Libraries
• German & Namachchivaya
(2013) surveyed 47 of 125
• Most referenced innovation
or R&D in strategy docs.
• Varied situation on funding
– 27 recurring commitment and
5 separate budget line
– 9 specific endowment fund
and 7 earmarked gift fund
• Risk-taking moderated by
case-by-case decisions
• Important for the future
– critical to mission, central to
planning, and growing (digital)
• Ideas from a range of staff
– 24 library administration
– 23 department or unit head
– 15 librarians or frontline staff
• Inspiration from external and
internal/campus sources
– workshop or conference,
listservs, another library, or
another industry
– users/other campus contacts
– collaborations (campus units,
faculty, internal library)
• Most frequent skills needs
– project management, marketing
and publicity, web development
iSchool
SPEC Kit 339: Innovation and R&D

7. Insights into Innovation
Politics of innovation
• Customer readiness
• Effective communication
• Relationship management
Barriers to innovation
• Stability vs. disturbance
• Standards vs. unknown
consequences or patterns
• Expertise vs. play
– sensing vs. intuition
• Performance vs. practice
• Certainty vs. risk
The threefold challenge
• create value-added
innovative services on a
continuous basis
• utilize strategy to make
decisions about innovations
• deliver innovative services
to the customer
“strategy creation must tap
collective intuition, creativity,
and knowledge to develop the
“new” at precisely the right
moment” (Deiss, 2004, p. 26)
iSchool
Innovation and Strategy: Risk and Choice

8. Themes from LIS LiteratureiSchool
Case Studies, Commentaries, Critiques
“Innovation needs to happen out in the open.
It needs to be in everyone’s job description.”
(Mathews, 2012, p. 8)
Innovation Boot Camp
Reflection, mind stretch
Special Projects Library Action Team
State-wide innovation representatives
“Innovation is a team sport that has to be practiced regularly.”
(Mathews, 2012, p.3)
Staff development – Cultural change
Perfection
vs. Progress
Microscopes
vs. Telescopes
Simple Innovation Process Model
e.g., IDEO five stages
R&D work groups/Skunkworks
Open development/Open innovation
Cross-unit work experiences (CUEs)
Play

9. Structural Framework of the Innovative University Library
[Shanghai Jiao Tong University] (Jing & Jin, 2009, p. 299)
Culture
e.g.,
Technological
Information
Human
Material
Virtual
Library as Innovation Community
IC2@SJTUL User group as participator and organizer
of information environment design

10. Challenges and Responses
Contemporary innovation dilemmas are similar to before...
• Exploring new opportunities while delivering existing services
and deciding which ideas to promote and invest in
– balancing strategic development and operational delivery
• Establishing structures that work for the whole organization
– finding the right mix of specialization and integration
• Creating a climate conducive to experiment and risk-taking
– identifying workarounds for institutional bureaucracy
• Defining and acquiring knowledge, skills, and abilities
– developing existing staff and/or recruiting new people
iSchool

11. The Lessons of Innovation
Strategy lessons
• Not every innovation idea has to be a game changer
– sufficient numbers of small or incremental ideas can lead to success, so
widen your search and broaden your scope
Structure lessons
• Game-changing ideas often cut across established lines or
combine elements of existing capacity in new ways
– leaders need to loosen formal controls and focus on personal contacts,
and not isolate emergent and established services in separate silos, so
tighten the human connections between innovators and others
throughout your organization
Skills lessons
• Even technical innovations need relationship and
communication skills
– select innovation leaders with strong interpersonal skills
iSchool
(Kanter, 2006)

12. iSchool Innovation Pyramid
Big
Bets
Promising
Portfolio
Incremental
Innovations
A few mega projects
• representing clear future directions
• get largest share of investment
Selected midrange projects
• initiatives at the test stage
• being pursued by dedicated teams
Many early stage ideas
• continuous improvement
• small bits of tinkering
(Kanter, 2006, pp. 79, 80)
Ideas and influence can flow up or down the pyramid
Strategy

13. On an expedition
• more oriented to generating
or exploring ideas than
identifying problems
• collaborate with one person
rather than with a group
On autopilot
• receive little encouragement
from senior management
• more meetings and
discussions with groups than
individuals
• less collaborative work
On a mission
• can focus on one activity for a
significant part of the day
• believe work is important, feel
positively challenged/involved
• equally oriented to identifying
problems and generating or
exploring ideas
On a treadmill
• don’t get the sense that work
they are doing is important
• highly fragmented workday with
many different activities
• more meetings and discussions
with groups than individuals
• lots of last-minute changes
Time Pressure
Likelihood
of Creative
Thinking
high
low
Time-Pressure/Creativity Matrix
highlow
(Amabile, Hadley & Kramer, 2002, p. 56)
Creativity
Focus
Meaning
Stimulation


15. Library Fellows Projects
Cohort Home Assignment Strategic Initiative
2013
-2015
Information
Technology
Mobile-first search and discovery tools
(based in Digital Library Initiatives)
User Experience Curate born-digital resources (co-managed
by Special Collections Research Center and
Digital Library Initiatives)
User Experience Data-informed collection building (based in
Collection Management)
2012
-2014
Digital Library
Initiatives
Digital media platforms and audio/visual
services
Research and
Information Services
Create the visitor experience in the [new]
Hunt Library
User Experience Next-generation library management
systems and knowledgebase
iSchool

16. Questions?
Comments
Sheila Corrall
scorrall@pitt.edu