oct04b2.indd CONFERENCE CIRCUIT Living the Future 5 Strategically Striving and Surviving by Raynna Bowlby The more than tenyear process of organizational change at the University of Arizona (UA) Library to a usercentered, teambased, learning organization has been widely reported. True to their philosophy as a learning organization, the UA staff have consistently shared the knowledge gained on their journey with colleagues in other libraries. This sharing is encapsulated in the biennial “Living the Future” (LTF) confer ences, the most recent of which was held in April. Again this year, the conference was enthusiastically cosponsored by UA, ACRL, and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and was generously supported by a number of vendors. Strategically striving and surviving “Living the Future 5: Strategically Striving and Surviving” brought together more than 167 colleagues (a record LTF attendance) in sunny Tucson. Judy Sorum Brown, educa tor, speaker, consultant, writer, and poet, presented the initial keynote, weaving re search on leadership with poetry and per formance. Using a video segment of The Original Three Tenors Concert, Brown asked us to consider the behavior of Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and conductor Zubin Mehta. Prior to this 1990 concert, these tenors were renowned for their solo performances; here they perform together. Brown posed the question, “When placed in a different work structure, what is the impact of that structure on individual and group behavior?” This video provides a fas cinating and moving example of leadership, partnership and teams, and of fl exibility and learning in action. Rick Luce, research library director at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), also inspired us to action with the question, “Is what you’re doing today going to be relevant 20 to 30 years from now?” In his presentation entitled “Thriving in Chaos: A Strategic Approach to Enable Organizational Innovation,” Luce stressed customer focus, product innovation, and op erational excellence, impressing us with the briefest of glimpses into LANL’s systematic, dataintensive, and consistent processori ented approaches. All this and speed, too. Luce imparted a sense of urgency to the continual adaptations and transformations that we need to lead. He coached us in preparing our “eleva About the author Raynna Bowlby is organizational and staff development offi cer at Brown University, e-mail: raynna_bowlby@brown.edu © 2004 Raynna Bowlby C&RL News October 2004 / 521 mailto:raynna_bowlby@brown.edu tor message”: Who are your key customers? What are their top three needs? How do your products and services meet their needs? Get your story down and be able to deliver it in 30 seconds, under pressure, when you meet a key stakeholder in the elevator. Through systematic surveys, analysis, and customer focus, LANL has so delighted its users that these loyal customers insist on adequate financial support for the library. University of Arizona Dean Carla Stoffl e welcomed and challenged us in her keynote entitled “Transforming Collaborations: Part of programs and services, such as strategic planning, electronic document delivery, in formation access budget allocation, and in formation literacy. One of the highlights of the conference was a tour of library work spaces, where staff invited conference par ticipants to see how UA has implemented streamlined usercentered processes in all areas. UA staff further extended themselves by presenting a room full of poster sessions and informative handouts. LTF conferences also provide an oppor tunity to learn from the organizational de nerships that Will Change the Work of the Academ ic Library.” Stoffle un d e r s c o r e d the distinc tion between cooperation and true col laboration. In collabora tion we are velopment e f f o r t s o f many other c o l l e a g u e institutions. Staff from 1 2 o r g a n i z a t i o n s generously and openly shared in sights and lessons from their own truly inter dependent, we relinquish full ownership and control, and we make a longterm commit ment to depend on collaborative partners. Such transformations need to take place in our philosophy about and approach to library programs, such as interlibrary loan, development of open access systems and national repositories, shared storage, and virtual reference. Stoffle urged us to ask “What can we (the library) do to help the campus achieve its goals?” rather than “What can the cam pus do to help us achieve the library’s goals?” Sharing through small groups Complementing these inspirational keynotes were an abundance of dynamic small group sessions for colleagues to exchange informa tion. UA staff presented 18 separate topics, revealing their processes for a broad range j o u r n e y s . Three preconference workshops presented by ARL and by Maureen Sullivan Associates also complemented the formal learning. LTF in 2006 Possibly one of the most effective parts of any LTF conference is the informal network ing and sharing, much of which takes place under the stars on warm spring evenings. Join us for LTF6 in 2006. You’ll come away reenergized and recommitted to transform ing your organization. Thanks again to the UA, ACRL, and ARL for preparing and sup porting this important conference, which helps us all envision a successful future for our libraries. 1 Note 1. Much of the content of all fi ve LTF conferences is available via the Web at www. library.arizona.edu/conference/. 522 / C&RL News October 2004