https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5825-202X
ABSTRACT
An essential component of the academic knowledge infrastructure is the services provided by the library to its community of students, staff, and stakeholders. The University of Queensland library recently transitioned from a service model of individual discipline focused librarians to one where Outreach Librarians and Learning & Research Librarians deliver services with an explicit team approach, enabling the future vision of the Library to be seen as an essential component of the academic knowledge infrastructure of UQ. The transition took place over an extended 18-month period, with ten project groups formed from the librarian group to focus on service review and to reconsider the operational processes to implement the required changes. This paper is about the whole approach of transition to change, and the intention of sharing so others will find practical help, as methodical management of the transition was a key factor to enable the change.
Introduction
At the end of 2020, the University of Queensland (UQ) Library embarked upon a restructure of the Library designed to maximise the Library's value to UQ students, staff and senior stakeholders. This resulted in the disestablishment of many positions across the Library, along with the creation of many new roles to commence following the restructure announcement. The librarian group were given an 18-month transition period to commence the transformation to a new model. This transition aimed to transform the long-established Liaison Librarian service model of individual discipline focused librarians to one team made up of both Outreach Librarians and Learning and Research Services (LARS) Librarians delivering all services with an explicit team approach. This future UQ Library vision required a complete review of existing library services with an eye towards a new, sustainable future.
Amidst an environment that was both unsettling and uncertain due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the university sector, a voluntary separation scheme was offered across many universities including UQ, coinciding with the announcement of the UQ Library restructure. While there was no change to the ongoing manager roles, the entire librarian group were affected with all 30 Liaison Librarian positions being disestablished. The new model created positions for 13 Outreach Librarians and 11 LARS Librarians resulting in exciting growth opportunities for some, alongside uncertainty for others. The restructure articulated an extended 18-month transition period where a small Transition Team of four were appointed from within the Librarian group, to work with the University Librarian, and lead peers in positions that were disestablished, to build the new future and vision where the Library is seen as an essential component of the academic knowledge infrastructure of UQ.
This paper is about the whole approach and the intention of sharing so others will find practical help in the process of implementing change with an intentional and planned transition. The psychological impact of change is not the focus; however, it is acknowledged as having a significant role in the journey and was a priority for the leadership team during the transition. The focus of the paper is on service review and reconsidering the operational processes to implement change. This was found to be a key factor that enabled the transition to be methodically managed.
Literature Search
In recent years libraries have seen progressive change with their service and staffing models. The range of services offered by libraries is ever-expanding from client services, training, access to resources, academic program support, research support, and promotion and engagement in growth areas such as systematic reviews, digital skills and capabilities, data visualisation and text mining. The academic librarian role is evolving and requiring an expanded skills set to be more boundary spanning and more focussed on relationship building to become an equal partner (Raju et al., Citation2018). Academic libraries are moving towards models where expertise sits across the team rather than with individuals, building digital capability and increasing capacity to ensure scalable services when demand increases (Phillips, Citation2016; Vassilakaki & Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, Citation2015).
Academic librarians have traditionally liaised with clients in their area of responsibility however these have been individual relationships and do not support a team approach for delivering library services. Many libraries have moved to new service models where self-service resources are utilised and queries are triaged to appropriate library staff, providing a seamless service to clients. This supports a more scalable and sustainable service that frees up librarians to be embedded across schools and faculties to partner and be actively involved in teaching, learning and research (Vassilakaki & Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, Citation2015). This scalable service model enables a whole team approach, ensures consistency when responding to queries, provides more value as users can access self-service resources at point of need, and enables librarians to work strategically (Phillips, Citation2016).
The delivery of information and digital literacy (IDL) has also evolved with many academic libraries moving away from intensive in-person teaching towards the creation of online resources such as videos and library guides. This also supports a team approach and enables libraries to deliver IDL at scale, where and when students need it, and provides opportunities for librarians to partner with academics to delivery proactive IDL (Hardy & McKenzie, Citation2020).
Partnering and collaborating with academics is essential for librarians to strategically align with the university. In the area of academic program support there are very few examples of identified systematic process to provide course-level support in universities. Most libraries provide support to requests to support courses however it is noted there is increased demand towards Open Educational Resources (OERs) and to have access to learning analytics (Pelletier et al., Citation2021). Academic engagement is an important focus for academic libraries with many moving towards a broader and more sustainable approach for strategically focussed engagement. This reflects the move for libraries to partner with the university as a whole team rather than relying on the individual librarian, and so supporting a more strategic, wider collaboration and partnership vision for the Library (Bowles-Terry & Sobel, Citation2022).
The literature identifies an increased demand for metrics support and systematic review support. The response by libraries has been to provide more supporting documentation to move away from intensive one-on-one support and to provide frameworks and charters to define service boundaries (Deng & Hu, Citation2014; Luca & Ulyannikova, Citation2020; Si et al., Citation2019; Spencer & Eldredge, Citation2018). Further to this, new services around microcredentials, analytics, open access (OA), data management services, Indigenous knowledge support and looking beyond the library to engage and collaborate across the university (Canuel & Crichton, Citation2021; Pelletier et al., Citation2021) have emerged as growth areas of support for academic librarians.
Some academic libraries have service agreements with hospital partners that are impacted by changes in service delivery. Core library services including collections, literature searching, research support, systematic searching assistance and training are delivered to hospital staff however there are opportunities to expand delivery including the provision of clinical librarian services, evidence-based practice to deliver high high-quality healthcare, service models for supporting research, health library spaces and the digital health environment (Murphy, Citation2021).
It is vital to support librarians in developing new skills and knowledge for them to be successful in their roles as they evolve and change. ‘Change challenges a profession's definition as well as the professional identities of its members' (Fraser-Arnott, Citation2019) so librarians need to be aligned with key tasks and activities of new roles. Professional development for librarians is extending beyond traditional library skills to topics such as leadership, digital dexterity and higher education teaching skills (Norlander & Barchas-Lichtenstein, Citation2021). Librarians need to be equipped for new roles with training in adaptive performance and change management, and client relationship training and strategic engagement.
Change Approach
The transformation of the librarian team enabled the introduction of a new model that supports a flexible and scalable approach. This model moves away from an individual discipline focussed librarian to a whole team approach to service delivery ( and ).
Figure 1. UQ liaison librarian teams structure.
Figure 2. UQ faculty services librarian team structure.
To deliver this program of work, the University Librarian adopted the Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) methodology (ALEXOS, Citation2020). MSP provided the foundation to deliver the change with a focus on aligning activities to organisational strategy, delivering goals and objectives, and actively engaging stakeholders. The framework ensured processes were put in place, timelines were managed, and active communication utilised. The approach identified 10 groups of work focussing on services delivered by librarians and enablers to deliver those services.
To foster a culture of knowledge sharing, inclusion and collaboration on the transition work across the wider Library, a series of meetings were established with key stakeholders. Throughout this process the Transition Team worked closely and alongside the Senior Manager of the liaison team, working to introduce new concepts and ways of working whilst continuing to provide business as usual. The Senior Manager of the Library Strategic Planning Team also provided guidance and direction to align our work with strategic outcomes.
Communication with the wider librarian team was established with a standing agenda item at monthly Librarian meetings to report back on the work. Representatives from the project groups also regularly communicated with their own Library faculty groups, along with members of the Transition Team attending weekly librarian faculty group meetings. The Transition Team maintained a MS SharePoint page where all documentation was openly available to the Librarian team to maintain transparency and accountability. A PowerPoint presentation communicating information on the work was updated fortnightly throughout the transition period.
Change Enablers – Transition Team
To deliver the 18-month program of transition to change, formation of a Transition Team that reported directly to the University Librarian was a unique opportunity. The establishment of this small team, within the larger Librarian team was crucial to bringing the whole Library team along the journey to change. The team consisted of three librarians who had been successful in their application for a position on the Transition Team, and they were led by a Senior Manager working with the University Librarian. From the outset, it was important to note that they did not work in isolation from the Liaison Librarian group, working to ensure business as usual and collaboration throughout the transition.
The newly formed team of four had not worked as a collective prior to this and were eager to form a supportive working relationship as a group. Processes were put in place to enable agile communications, such as a daily stand-up meeting to build our small team connection. This meeting developed from an information exchange to a platform for robust internal debate. The small group matured into an environment where alternative perspectives were respected, assumptions were recognised and challenged, and problem solving at all levels became a shared endeavour. The investment in the development of the Transition Team as peer leaders and project managers was immediate with the provision of rapid upskilling through external training and internal collaboration. Members of the Transition Team attended MSP Foundation, Facilitation and Change Management training with the support of the University Librarian. This enabled the rapid growth of the group to become a supportive team, and the ability to immediately put into practice our newly acquired skills, tools and knowledge.
The professional development was invaluable as this transition work was taking place in an increasingly uncertain and immensely challenging environment. Colleagues in positions identified to be disestablished sought opportunities in other areas of the Library and employment elsewhere, creating challenges for service continuity during the transition. The introduction of new team members on fixed-term contracts added to the complex demands of online working environments, along with the stressors imposed by the worldwide impacts of COVID-19, all while striving to maintain service delivery in a business-as-usual manner. The challenge was also extended across the wider Library, as many areas had completed their move to the new structure smoothly and had rapidly established their teams. The disestablishment of the Librarian Liaison service model was a complex change, and the differing timeline of completion added another level of operational complexity across the Library. The understanding of where the service was moving to, and the impact for the other areas of the Library would emerge as the work progressed.
Change Focus – Project Groups
Following the release of the Final Proposal in relation to Major Organisational Change, three workshops were held to gather input into the way forward from the Liaison Librarian group. The areas of work requiring transformation varied in scale and complexity, some encompassing other teams across the Library, and others focused on the academic services delivered by the Liaison Librarian group. A poster workshop promoting each of the areas of work was held to give the Librarians the opportunity to draw on their wealth of experience and expertise and nominate which of the groups they wanted to participate in, to enable investment in the process. Members of the Transition Team each managed several of these areas of work with guidance from a nominated champion from the Library leadership team.
The Project Groups
Environmental Scan
To further our search for current information around practice, the Transition Team embarked on an environmental scan. Knowledge sharing across the library profession is a core value and is increasingly evident with collaborative library groups and organisations, webinars, blogs, social and academic networking sites, conferences, and the support for open access to information. The environmental scan that we undertook was an exemplar of this professional culture. Twenty academic libraries across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom were invited to an individual meeting in a virtual format to enable our team to gain a better understanding on how their libraries were organised, responding to challenges, and how they deliver services to clients. We were delighted that 18 institutions expressed their willingness to participate. Time zones, timetables and technology hurdles were overcome to enable the Transition Team of four to meet online with the individuals or groups that accepted our invitation to virtually meet. The environmental scan consisted of a set of questions posed to each institution to learn of the key practices, processes and tools employed around library service delivery in their institution. The questions were provided in advance of the meeting and were based upon the 10 theme areas. There were many questions we would have liked to ask, however, time and availability ensured we focussed on our task, with a maximum of three questions per theme and active timekeeping within the discussion enabling a concise and timely meeting.
The questions posed for each theme were explicit. In teaching, for example, we enquired of what IDL teaching was offered by the library, how it was delivered, and was it embedded or generic? Sharing of our own professional practice as the questions were posed enabled the meetings to be overwhelmingly successful. The formality of the initial meeting soon giving way to a space where genuine professional connections developed as we overcame the technological challenges and discussed (over ZOOM, to people in lockdown, working remotely, in different time zones, experiencing varying COVID-19 restriction enforcements) the experiences of mega disruption, and the challenges forcing academic libraries to be agile and rapid in their operational and organisational responses. The opportunity to connect with professional peers and speak candidly was welcomed by all as our shared experiences were articulated. There was evident interest in the Library Transition Team and project, as the extended timespan, team arrangement and inclusive design was noted as somewhat unique. The explicit real-time information of current practice gathered from the environmental scan complimented and enhanced the findings from the literature review, with both information sources informing the transition work.
Change Process
The 10 project groups commenced at different times throughout the transition period. The length of time for each of the project groups varied with some running for a few months and others running for the duration of the transition. These groups met regularly to progress the work of each group and communicated regularly to the wider librarian team to report actions and to seek feedback on the development of the work.
As each project group ended, a report was written by the group along with an action plan articulating outcomes and future activities. These documents were submitted to the University Librarian and our senior leaders for discussion and feedback. Once the outcomes of these discussions were incorporated into the reports, they were shared with the wider librarian team. The team sought feedback from the liaison librarians via a Padlet asking for the following: What is not clear or understood in the report? Is there anything preventing work from commencing? Any other questions? This process gave the librarians an opportunity to input directly into operationalising the proposed action plans. From a program management perspective, this approach gave the Transition Team valuable feedback from the librarians possibly preventing future obstacles with them embracing new ways of working (AXELOS, Citation2020).
As the project groups were wrapped up, the Transition Team worked with the Senior Manager of the librarian team to start implementing actions in readiness for the change to the new structure. This was successfully actioned while maintaining business as usual for our clients. The collaborative process of the librarians being involved in all the project groups and providing feedback into the outcomes aligned with our change management learnings. It has given the team the tools to enable the UQ Library vision as they were engaged in the process and had the opportunity to express concerns and issues, resulting in the team being able to move forward with common understanding (Smith et al., Citation2014).
Lessons Learned
Many lessons were learnt throughout the transition period for the librarian team. The broader library restructure rolled out straight away however the process was extended for the librarian team resulting in an 18-month transition period. This length of time was challenging for staff who were grappling both with the change in team structure and procedural changes, uncertainty regarding continuing employment, and the outcome of the future roles. These challenges impacted the team and needed to be met with the understanding that staff were at different stages of acceptance at different times. A shorter transition period may have assisted by providing more certainty and reassurance for staff. While valuable to have the time to engage and reflect on librarian work, the sense of urgency was lost due to the length of the transition period. On the other hand, it was inevitable there would be delays and setbacks during the transition, so it was valuable to have the extended time.
Communication is critical during change. It is important to be proactive with communication to maintain stakeholder engagement and to be responsive to staff concerns. From the outset, a communication plan that considers all stakeholders, delivers key messaging in multiple delivery pathways and formats, and is both timely and engaging is crucial to maintaining connections, engagement and understanding of the work. It was found that there was always a request for more communication from the Transition Team to our stakeholders, no matter how extensive our plan was thought to be.
Establishing the role of the Transition Team was somewhat challenging for both librarians and leaders as the relationships were new, the boundaries were ‘fuzzy’, and the exploratory, inquiring nature of the work was uncertain to some. The good faith and positive intent that the Transition Team had rapidly developed within itself, had to be clearly articulated and took much longer to emerge with our colleagues. Bridges and Bridges (Citation2019) identifies the three stages of transition: endings, neutral zone and new beginnings. Staff may find themselves in any stage of the transition at any time which can result in differences in understanding.
The Transition Team, though being drawn from their peers in the librarian group, were initially met with some uncertainty, and time was needed to establish their identity and role in the work. The understanding of what we represented was unclear, and in some cases, trust was not immediately granted. Decisions to cooperate, and the perceived trustworthiness and integrity of the team had to be earned (de Biasi, Citation2018). As the project group work began, it was soon evident that this was also the space where difficulties experienced around the change were aired, and a sense of shared empathy and grief for the perceived losses were acknowledged and given respect and space to be worked through as the groups became established and trust developed. The transition work played a role in supporting librarians with the change and the process with Bridges theory of ‘letting go' of the old ways and supporting the new (Smith et al., Citation2014) This was essential to enable the Transition Team to raise challenging issues that needed question, debate and further understanding, in a cooperative space of known positive intent and trust that is vital to enable change (de Biasi, Citation2018).
Midway through the transition, recruitment commenced for the new roles with librarians ready to move to either a LARS Librarian position or an Outreach Librarian position. The decision of the individual to either apply for one of these new positions or choose to take a redundancy had to be made, and this was again, an uncertain time. The implementation of a Leadership Program of work guided by the library leaders and participated in by members of the Transition Team and senior leaders in the librarian team, addressed some of the challenges that arose. This program was delivered by an external provider, and it ran over several months. The program provided key leadership tools such as strategic thinking, decision making and establishing trust to enable the leaders to collaborate with a shared focus.
The transition was launched in February 2021 and was successfully completed in September 2022 with a move to the new structure of one Faculty Services Librarian team, incorporating two librarian roles, and three faculty groupings. The Transition Team spent much of the transition period balancing the driving forces for change and the restraining forces. It was difficult to strike this balance at times throughout the 18-month period along with the challenges presented by COVID-19, the disestablishment of Library staff, the introduction of many new members to the librarian team, the recruitment process for the new roles, while providing excellent Librarian services in a business-as-usual manner that the university is accustomed to. There was evident growth and development within both the individual librarians and the Librarian team, as the work became engaging, the process of change evolved and shared understandings were achieved.
Change is Only the Beginning
The transition of librarians at The University of Queensland Library has been an evolution from the traditional Liaison Librarian model to one of partnership and collaboration with the academic community as a Librarian team. This requires the team to further develop their relationships to ‘inextricably link themselves to the research and teaching enterprise in a systematic way' (Johnson Citation2019).
The future of the Faculty Services Librarian team is one of agile change and continual review and improvement. Librarians are embracing their new roles with enthusiasm which is growing as trust continues to build. Members of the team are in new roles and are reaching out to other teams across the Library to find new ways of working to deliver impact, as well as connecting with new and established clients across the university to partner and collaborate. These experiences will lead our librarians to adjust and adapt their professional identities as our profession continues to transform to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing environment (Fraser-Arnott, Citation2019). The intention is this new Librarian model of working as a team will continually evolve and respond to challenges as standard operating practice, ensuring the library is taking strategic initiatives, building partnerships and working collaboratively to ensure we are known as an essential component of the academic knowledge infrastructure of UQ.
Acknowledgements
The authors of this paper would like to acknowledge the contribution of our colleagues in the Transition Team – Jackie Devenish, Jane Moore and Michael Whiteway. We would also like to acknowledge colleagues from the Library – Caroline Williams, Amberyn Thomas, Julie Oates, Lucy Behm, Felicity Berends, Rachael Harrison, Thomas Palmer and Tracey Powell, and many thanks to the entire Librarian team who all contributed and provided feedback to the work.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Maria Larkin
Maria Larkin has worked at the University of Queensland Library since 2015 in various roles, including as Liaison Librarian for the Agriculture and Food Science and Veterinary Science schools. Maria worked on the transition project, and is now a Faculty Service Team member, engaging as an Outreach Librarian with the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law at UQ.
Loretta Atkinson
Loretta Atkinson joined the University of Queensland Library in 2004 and since that time has worked in a range of roles across the Library. Most recently Loretta worked on a project focussing on client-facing activities and services to transition the liaison librarian model to a team-based approach for collaborating and partnering with stakeholders. Loretta is currently the Senior Manager, Faculty Services Librarian team outreaching with the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine.
References
- AXELOS. (2020). Managing successful programmes (MSP) (5th ed.). Stationery Office Books.
- Bowles-Terry, M., & Sobel, K. (2022). Librarians as faculty developers: Competencies and recommendations. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(1), 102474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102474
- Bridges, W., & Bridges, S. (2019). Transitions: Making sense of life’s changes. Hachette UK.
- Canuel, R., & Crichton, C. (eds.) (2021). Approaches to liaison librarianship: Innovations in organization and engagement. Association of College & Research Libraries.
- de Biasi, K. (2018). Solving the Change Paradox by Means of Trust (1st ed.). Springer Vieweg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-23912-1
- Deng, S., & Hu, X. (2014). Creating a Knowledge Map for the research lifecycle. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 1311, 40–46.
- Fraser-Arnott, M. A. (2019). Evolving practices and professional identity: How the new ways we work can reshape us as professionals and a profession. IFLA Journal, 45(2), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035218810960
- Hardy, A., & McKenzie, C. (2020). Meeting students where they are: Just in time embedded delivery of information and digital literacy skills. International Information and Library Review, 52(1), 64–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572317.2019.1710672
- Johnson, A. (2019). Connections, conversations, and visibility: How the work of academic reference and liaison librarians is evolving. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 58(2), 91–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/rusq.58.2.6929
- Luca, E. J., & Ulyannikova, Y. (2020). Towards a user-centred systematic review service: The transformative power of service design thinking. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 69(3), 357–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2020.1760506
- Murphy, J. (2021). Global trends health science libraries: Part 1. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 38(4), 319–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12408
- Norlander, R. J., & Barchas-Lichtenstein, J. (2021). Skills for 21st-Century Librarians: Learning Objectives for Library Programming. American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/tools/programming/21stcenturyskills.
- Pelletier, K., Brown, M., Brooks, D.C., McCormack, M., Reeves, J., Arbino, N., Bozkurt, A., Crawford, S., Czerniewicz, L., Gibson, R., Linder, K., Mason, J., & Mondelli, V. (2021). 2021 EDUCAUSE horizon report teaching and learning edition. EDU.
- Phillips, A. (2016). Educating at scale: Sustainable library learning at the University of Melbourne. Library Management, 37(3), 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-04-2016-0020
- Raju, R., Claassen, J., Adam, A., DAngelo, A., Keraan, S., Mostert, N., & Vonk, S. (2018). Restructuring for relevance: A paradigm shift for academic libraries. Library Management, 39(6-7), 418–429. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-06-2017-0062
- Si, L., Zeng, Y., Guo, S., & Zhuang, X. (2019). Investigation and analysis of research support services in academic libraries. Electronic Library, 37(2), 281–301. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-06-2018-0125
- Smith, R., King, D., Sidhu, R., & Skelsey, D. (eds.). (2014). The effective change manager’s handbook: Essential guidance to the change management body of knowledge. Kogan Page Publishers.
- Spencer, A. J., & Eldredge, J. D. (2018). Roles for librarians in systematic reviews: A scoping review. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 106(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.82
- Vassilakaki, E., & Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, V. (2015). A systematic literature review informing library and information professionals’ emerging roles. New Library World, 116(1/2), 37–66. https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-05-2014-0060