Write Now! Managing Change and Increasing Research in an Academic Library

Abstract

New and innovative technologies have expanded librarian roles and expertise to include virtual learning, chat reference, online research guides, maker spaces, virtual reality, and more. Change is a consistent part of working in any library, and effectively managing change often has a learning curve for library administrators. Change Management theory is popular amongst business leaders, but could these theories work in libraries as well? In 2017, Library Administration at Marriott Library designed a Change Management program based on the theories of Todd Jick, a nationally-recognized expert in organizational change management. Their goal was to increase the overall amount of scholarly research publications and creative products librarian faculty completed each year. The authors conducted a multi-year research project, hypothesizing that by implementing Jick’s framework, librarian faculty would create more scholarly work. Data was collected from faculty’s self-reported research profiles, survey feedback from research retreats and workshops, and web traffic from staff intranet pages. An analysis of the results indicated a steady increase in research and scholarly output, and an overall positive response to the research change program.