Managing Change: A How‐to‐Do‐it Manual for Librarians (rev. ed.)

Citation

Collier, M. (2007), "Managing Change: A How‐to‐Do‐it Manual for Librarians (rev. ed.)", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 41 No. 2, pp. 186-187. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330710742971

The aim and target audience of this book is self‐evident from the title. Its 10 main chapters consist of: conceptualising the change; preparing the organization; the planning group; planning the change; deciding what to change; managing people; managing resistance; implementation; and a summary of 15 key points. This revised edition has a new additional section of 15 change scenarios that can be used for training or workshop purposes, for instance: adjusting to the budget cut; cleaning up the catalogue backlog; and removing the homeless from the doorway. The author's experience is in both university and public libraries and the guidance it contains would be applicable to librarians in both sectors and others as well.

The approach to the book is exactly what it says on the cover: it is a manual or handbook. The chapters are broken down into steps, each chapter ending with a summary and a checklist. The writing is clear and straightforward, organised in short, punchy paragraphs. It can be read and referred back to very quickly. The format serves readily as a primer for managers coming to grips with change management for the first time, for managers with some experience to review their own practice, and for managers in the throes of change management quickly to check that they have not overlooked aspects of good practice.

It is mentioned in the foreword, and is commonplace to observe that change is inherent in management. It always has been actually, but it is generally agreed that in the modern workplace, change is more frequent, even continuous, and often more radical than ever before. Libraries are no exception; indeed it can be argued that librarians have embraced change more readily than some other professions, certainly within universities. Think, for instance, of library automation and of concepts such as quality management, then of radical changes such as convergence of libraries with IT and other services and the relentless progression towards the digital library. It is inevitable therefore that this book is to a large extent about good practice in management itself, the section about managing people, for example. This could lead readers to think that much of the advice is rather self‐evident, but then again it is always easy to say that when someone else has taken the trouble to set it out on paper. Some of the scenarios seem oddly chosen to this reviewer: are “controlling unruly students” or “competing for a staff increase” really serious change management issues? Are they not day‐to‐day management issues? I suppose it is a matter of scale.

The format of the book is wholly appropriate for the aim: a step by step manual, but to the experienced manager it might seem rather simplistic. The recurrent excellent advice in the book is: take your time, plan well, don't overstretch yourself, and make sure you have adequate resources for the project. As a general rule this cannot be argued with, but it rather avoids the fact that over recent decades many library managers have been in the position of having to introduce radical change or wholesale reorganisation within dauntingly short timescales and with no extra, or even fewer resources. The book does not seem to recognise this sort of challenge. Indeed the implication seems to be that such a project should not be undertaken, but in reality that is not an option. Another issue is that although the advice is generally sensible, the context and flavour of the book is predominantly American. In the experience of this reviewer organisational culture can differ between the American and the British and even more from the continental European. Differences of organisational culture and different socio‐legal structures should not be under‐estimated. For a revision published in Europe it would have been good to see this issue recognised.

Nonetheless this is a valuable book for any library manager (as we are all engaged in change), because it sets out sound generic advice in a well organised and structured way. The format lends itself not only to a useful reference function for the manager, but also as a tool for development and training of his or her staff. At the price it is cheap, if it helps even a small project reach a successful conclusion.