Don’t Get Married to the Results: Managing Library Change in the Age of Metrics

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges facing directors at libraries of all levels is measuring success of new or existing programs or services. This is especially challenging to new directors who are conflicted between the culture of assessment and the need to demonstrate the value of the changes or programs at one’s library. The more entrepreneurial a director is, the more difficult it might be to measure the results. As a library director for nearly nine years, I have built a personal leadership toolkit based on a variety of resources. We have gone through a tremendous change in the nine years that I have been director at Kresge, including losing both collections and student space during the past year. Moving the library from a traditional entity into an ethereal one (as I like to call it) requires an approach that is entrepreneurial and unconventional. To that end, the direction that we have pursued in this (and other) changes implemented at our library has been crafted with an open mind to metrics and assessment. Rather than start a process with preconceived measure of success, instead it is something that we review and assess as we go. Us the phrase “don’t get married to the results,” I will share how I have used this to frame success in the library, especially in light of great change and upheaval.