Closing Keynote: Becoming an Effective Change Agent

Jean Hower Taber Student Center, Ballroom

Experiencing and leading change is challenging, and libraries have internal and external pressures that drive change on a regular basis. Many changes are most appropriately implemented as a project, yet there are several reasons why traditional project management methods aren’t ideal for libraries, especially technical services departments, which only increases frustration. This process can be eased by understanding the fundamentals of leadership, components of change management, and basics of project management. With suitable techniques, it is possible not only to decrease resistance to change and increase the impact of the change but even to convert people typically change averse into effective change agents.