Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / Panelists will respond to the following questions. *What are the 3 critical opportunities for libraries that we must pay attention to in the next 5 years? *What are the characteristics of strategies that we need to learn in order to be successful? *What are the risks we need to be ready to take?

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / In this presentation I will review the theories of business strategy developed by Clayton Christensen and his colleagues in his three books - the Innovator’s Dilemma, Innovator’s Solution, and Seeing What’s Next. I will apply this work to academic libraries and scholarly communication and will show that academic libraries are likely to be disrupted by new technologies and their application by competing organizations. I will then show that libraries also have the potential to drive, and benefit from, disruptive change especially in the scholarly communication value chain. The result should provide guidance to academic librarians in establishing strategies, organizational structures, and values that will position academic libraries in the scholarly information and learning value chains in ways that will assure their relevance to our various clienteles. The result should provide attendees with a basic understanding of the most important of Christensen’s theories and how they can provide insights into the current state of academic libraries and help to chart the future. This work will build on my article, (Lewis, David W. "The Innovator’s Dilemma: Disruptive Change and Academic Libraries." Library Administration and Management 18(2):68-74 April 2004. Available at: http://idea.iupui.edu/dspace/handle/1805/173), but will advance and develop it in significant ways.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / Contemporary 21st Century libraries face unprecedented challenges. Anticipating appropriate responses depends on activating and extending what organizational members know and how they leverage it. To develop a more 'knowledge-able' workplace, library faculty and staff at California Polytechnic State University employ evidence-driven systems thinking (Checkland/United Kingdom) fortified by workplace information literacy (Bruce/Australia). This knowledge creating approach to evidence-based information practice informs repurposing the library, re-inventing systems, and refocusing personnel. Boundary crossing information exchange and reflective dialogue promote appreciative inquiry and enable collective sense-making. Shared commitment to collaborative participatory design activities ensure consideration of diverse stakeholders’ viewpoints and intensify interactions with student and faculty user communities. In transforming data into evidence through dialogue, relationships, roles, and responsibilities continuously evolve. Intersubjective capacity building promotes ongoing learning among library colleagues and with campus stakeholders. Interactive evaluation and assessment outcomes ensure heightened levels of engagement with the learner and alignment with the institution.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / The University of Chicago's Joseph Regenstein Library Bookstacks Department has used a number of management techniques to successfully improve its overall operations. Process mapping was undertaken and resulted in significant changes to major processes and jobs, while continuous process improvement allows us to resolve issues as they arise. A multiple method approach works best because the Regenstein Library is a large organization with many processes, systems and structures. While these processes have led to major improvements - making materials available more quickly and accurately to users and by reducing time and staff needed to perform daily operations - the Department continues to search for ways to improve its overall operations. In examining other businesses for best practices, we have begun to focus on lean manufacturing, an initiative centered on eliminating all waste in manufacturing processes. These principles also apply to service organizations. Lean manufacturing promises dramatic changes in a short period of time and the speaker will report on how this method is being used to improve overall operations.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / Assessing the impact of new grant initiatives is tricky, especially when the goals of the project are far-reaching and significant organizational change is called for. We will describe how we approached the assessment of an IMLS-funded grant initiative to build a national corps of diverse new professionals ready for work in metropolitan public libraries across a variety of American neighborhoods. Starting with the impacts on Scholars, researchers and program leaders further uncovered multiple levels of impact in organizations, the profession, and the public library industry. Their "hot off the press" evaluation provides insights on effective new paths for building recruitment and retention strategies in organizations and for building bridges between academic and practical experiences, and, consequently, significantly shaping a preferred future for the "business" of public libraries in cities.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / In 1992, the Association for Research Libraries Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Literacy Project introduced libraries to GIS technology in response to the distribution of electronic geospatial data by the US Census Bureau and the availability of relative inexpensive GIS software. Since that time, there have been many technological and other changes that have affected the range of GIS services libraries provide, such as increased availability of online geospatial data, online interactive mapping, and integration of GIS into non-geography classes. What’s on the horizon? How will changes in libraries, technology, and GIS affect GIS services in libraries? The University of Arizona Library’s Arizona Electronic Atlas project, in consultation with other units on campus, is exploring how we can design a web-based “decision-support” geospatial tool that will help students and faculty analyze various scenarios or models to help make better decisions on various issues such as groundwater management, land use planning, housing development and wildfire prevention.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / In the pursuit of creating a culture of assessment, Purdue University has been developing organizational structures to encourage teams and units to integrate assessment and evaluation throughout their work projects. We created an Evaluation and Assessment Consultative Team (EACT) five years ago to assist units with their assessments, and for the past few years, the Libraries have explicitly required teams to include measurable outcomes in their annual planning documents. This presentation will describe the planning process that our teams and units go through to integrate assessment into their work, including staff development activities sponsored by EACT that prepare teams for this process. Examples of team-engendered assessments will be shared as well. The brief presentation of the assessment situation at Purdue will be a springboard into a discussion of the challenges teams face when asked to include outcomes in their planning. The audience will be divided into small groups to construct a list of challenges and will report them out. Then, as a group, we'll brainstorm staff development, administrative, or other techniques to address those challenges.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / The Association of Research Libraries sponsored program "Making Library Assessment Work" is a two year effort to evaluate assessment efforts in ARL Libraries. Led by Visiting Program Officers Steve Hiller (University of Washington Libraries) and Jim Self (University of Virginia Library) and under the aegis of the Director of the ARL Statistics and Measurement Program, Martha Kyrillidou, twenty-five ARL libraries are participating. Each library does a "self study" of their assessment efforts and needs which is followed by a 2 day site visit and a report containing recommendations and suggestions for an effective, sustainable and practical assessment program. One of the more interesting findings from the 12 libraries visited in 2005 was the relationship of organizational culture(s) and structure to effective library assessment. Each library had a distinctive culture (or cultures) that exerted a powerful influence on the success of assessment efforts. It became clear that sustainable and effective assessment must take into account existing local cultures to be successful. What works in one library won't necessarily work in others. This presentation reviews the range of organizational cultures encountered and discusses the different approaches recommended to make library assessment work in each library.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / Traditionally, technical services staff have possessed skills associated with acquisitions, cataloging, collection development, preservation and stacks management responsibilities. However in today’s rapidly changing library, technical services roles and responsibilities have changed. Technical services departments now require advanced technology, academic training, public services, and teaching skills that support innovative, independent, creative, and forward-thinking approaches to the provision of collections and services. How can libraries acquire and cultivate needed skills? What effect can new skill sets have on designing workflow, setting priorities, accomplishing goals, and meeting user expectations? This presentation will focus on the University of Connecticut Libraries process for identifying new and essential skills, recruiting new staff, and the impact new skill sets and experiences have had on changing the dynamics and directions of Technical Services.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / The Gelman Library System of George Washington University has made a transition to an organizational model that emphasizes the needs of students and working in groups. We are preparing for future changes in user needs and redefinition of services, including participation in LibQUAL+ in spring of 2006 and small "town meetings" with library staff to develop an understanding of the changing student population. In these meetings, we hope to include focus groups from a local science and technology magnet school to learn more about what future students will expect and need from academic libraries. One of the key services we hope to look at is reference and information services and how this should fit with overall services. We will also need to become "leaner" but more efficient. Some staff positions may disappear, and others may require higher or different skill levels. As we plan for the future, we will need to face the challenges of our own collaborative nature and whether this supports or inhibits change. Some areas of focus include: communication, team structures and breaking down barriers between functions, and challenges working with staff from different generations (are Gen X's ready to be the "older" generation?)