ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 494 / C&RL News ■ July/August 1998 Living the Future II Organizational changes for success by BethAnn Zambella W hen the University o f Arizona (UA) Library started reorganizing in 1992, peer institutions were curious. So UA spon­ sored a conferen ce in May 1996 called “Liv­ ing the Future: P rocess Im provem ent and O rganizational Change at the University o f A rizona.” Now that almost every a ca ­ dem ic library is navigating the w hitew ater o f institutional change, librarians at UA re­ sponded to dem ands for m ore with “Liv­ ing the Future II (LTF II): O rganizational Changes for S u cce ss,” in Tucson, Arizona, April 2 1 -2 4 , 1998. W hile the first co n fe ren ce focu sed al­ most exclusively on changes at UA, LTF II solicited presentations from librarians at institutions worldwide. The official them es included “p artn ership s,” “inform ation lit­ e ra cy ,” “new services and their im pact on organizations,” “human resou rces issu es,” and “organizational c h a n g e s .” However, the keynote sp eakers, and the speakers who introduced them, brought more g lo ­ bal and compelling themes to the forefront. The first idea we w ere asked to p o n ­ der was that o f librarians as reluctant cen- ter-stage players. Peter Likins, president o f UA, heard more than murmurs o f assent w hen he suggested that many o f the 150 or so attendees had probably planned on a “life of quiet decline among good books” when they signed on with the profession. In the current inform ation age, such a life on the sidelines is no longer an o p ­ tion. But, Likins em phasized, life center stage d o esn ’t m ean w e ’re alone. We just have to give up the idea that organiza­ tio n s c a n b e m a n a g e d a c c o r d i n g to New tonian m echanics, w here everything is “clean , pure, beautiful, orderly, deter­ ministic, and com forting.” Instead, we have to look to the m odel o f the ch aos theory and find com fort in the drama o f stars, sup­ porting cast m em bers, and the au d ience being “all in it tog eth er.” Change th e w a y you change K ey n o ter Meg W h eatley e c h o e d L ikins’ sentim ents and elaborated on som e s cie n ­ tific m odels o f her own. W heatley, an or­ g a n iz a tio n a l c o n s u lta n t , p r o f e s s o r at Brigham Y oung University, and president o f the B erkana Institute (a research fou n ­ dation w orking on the design o f new or­ ganizations) has authored L e a d e r s h ip a n d th e New S c ie n c e: L e a r n in g A b o u t O rg a n i­ z a tio n s fr o m a n O rderly Universe and, with Myron Kellner-Rogers, A S im p ler Way. The image o f librarians poised at cen ter stage was ju xtap osed with our ultimate humility in the face o f life as an organizing prin­ ciple. W h eatley suggested that we have to “ch ange the way we ch a n g e .” From the sin gle-celled organism to what scientists now believe are about 100 m illion sp e ­ cies, we are the only sp ecies to consider change, creativity, and learning to be prob- A b o u t th e a u th o r BethAnn Zambella is reference librarian, Lam ont Library, a t Harvard University; e-mail: bzambell@fas.harvard.edu mailto:bzambell@fas.harvard.edu C&RL News ■ July/A ugust 1998 / 495 We ju st have to give up th e idea th a t org an izatio n s can be m an ­ aged according to N e w to n ia n mechanics, w h e re ev e ry th in g is "clean, pure, b e a u tifu l, orderly, d eterm in istic, and c o m fo rtin g ." lem s. Or p erh ap s, W h eatley qu ip p ed , the oth er s p e c ie s have just b e e n to training sessio n s. Her central im age hangs on the o b s e r­ vation that in d e p e n d e n ce is not a b io lo g i­ cal co n stru ct, but a p o litical on e. T h e lo n e visionary lead er w ho pulls the reluctant organization into its future by sh e e r fo rce is a flaw ed co n ce p t. W h e a tle y ’s recurring m antra: “P e o p le only support w hat they c r e a te .” T h e N ew tonian view o f p e o p le as p red ictab le and co n tro lla b le is also p assé. “You can never direct a living system ,” says W heatley, referring to the w ork o f b io lo ­ gists H um berto M aturana and F ra n cisco Varela, “you can only disturb it” and h o p e to get its attention. W h eatley clo se d by sum m arizing her biological/ org an ization al take on life: Life is sy stem s-seek in g and attracted to order, but o ften p asses through m essy, co m p le x stages en rou te; and life is self-o rg a n iz ­ ing— we organ ize in re sp o n se to w h a t’s m eaningful to us, by a cce ssin g the in telli­ g e n c e fou nd ev ery w h ere in the system . W h e a tle y ’s v iew d e b u n k s th e m yth o f “co m m u n icatio n p ro b le m s.” We a re n ’t fail­ ing to co m m u n icate, but failing to “crea te a w orld w h o se sig n ifica n ce w e s h a re .” G a th e r ’ ro u n d th e f ir e Shared m eaning p erm eated Ernie In g le s ’ k e y n o t e a d d r e s s , “F ro m th e F a ra w a y N e a rb y .” U sing G e o rg ia O ’K e e f e ’s 1937 can vas as a departure point, Ingles, the a sso cia te v ice p resid en t o f Learning Sys­ tem s at the U niversity o f A lberta, asked us to co n sid er how the interplay b etw e e n the so cia l and natural w orlds should m ake us feel hu m ble, but o ften d o e s n ’t. In g le s ’ lyrical and p o e tic address used the ideals o f co n flu e n ce and harm ony to e x p lo re our p la ce in both real and virtual lan d scap es. From the oral tradition to the g lobal in fo r­ m atio n h ig h w ay, In g le s said , lib ra ria n s “m ake the unknow n know n , and the far­ aw ay seem n e a rb y .” In g le s ’ m ost enduring m etap h o r resu r­ fa ced again and again during the c o n fe r­ e n ce follow ing his elo q u en t introduction— the im age o f a Native A m erican story teller and h er com m unity gatherin g around the fire. Librarians latch ed on to the fire m eta­ phor, insisting that w e m ake room at the fire for ev ery o n e, that w e not only tell our stories around the fire, but that w e c e l­ eb ra te them , too. During the c o n fe re n c e w rap-up panel d iscu ssion , Carla Stoffle, dean o f the li­ braries at UA, em p h asized that our g ath ­ ering around the fire e m b o d ie s w hat li­ b ra ries as o rg a n iz atio n s are all a b o u t— bringing our values to in form ation and to the p e o p le with w hom w e share that in­ form ation . T h e oth er p resen ters at the co n fe re n c e told th eir stories in a variety o f w ays. C on ­ tributed pap ers and two sets o f p o ster s e s ­ sions, o n e focu sin g on the UA Library, co v ­ ered the spectru m o f official th em es listed earlier. For a snapshot o f the program, and, u lt i m a t e ly , o n l i n e p r o c e e d i n g s , v is it w w w .li b r a r y .a r iz o n a .e d u / c o n f e r e n c e / ltf2.htm . W hile the p resen tatio n s sparked ideas and d iscu ssion , with the e x c e p tio n o f two or th ree n o ta b le efforts, they s e l­ dom in clu d ed an active learning co m p o ­ nent. We h o p e that the re fe re e s for LTF III will k eep this ch a lle n g e in m ind w hen d e ­ v elo p in g the criteria for that program , te n ­ tatively sch ed u led for April 2000. In the interim , w e will all have tim e to further reflect on our co n co m ita n t c e le b ­ rity and hum ility in the fa ce o f org an iza­ tional and in form ation al ch a n g e. Call fo r "The Way I See It" essays Essays for “The Way I See It” column, which offer reasoned and informed specu­ lation or com m ent on relevant topics, are sought. Manuscripts should be 7 5 0 -1 ,0 0 0 words and may be submitted electronically to Mary Ellen Davis, editor-in-chief, at m edavis@ala.org. http://www.library.arizona.edu/conference/ mailto:medavis@ala.org