Book 17: Working Together

TITLE: Working Together: Collaborative Information Practices for Organizational Learning
AUTHOR: Mary M. Somerville
STARTED: June 15, 2016
FINISHED: June 15, 2016
PAGES: 89
GENRE: Library Science

FIRST SENTENCE: Librarians at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo were experiencing  rapid technological change, aggravating financial uncertainties, and escalating community expectations.

SUMMARY: [From ALA] Around the globe, library leaders are asking: How do we create ‘forward thinking’ outcomes in the Digital Age? In response, the profession is increasingly recognizing that we must start by transitioning current employees into new roles and responsibilities within redesigned workplace environments. Given the magnitude of external economic, technological, and social changes, merely tinkering with traditional organizational models is inadequate. Rather, the forces at play require pro-actively moving from the old, comfortable model - designed for a world that no longer exists – to fundamentally re-invent professional assumptions, organizational structures, and workplace processes. Working Together presents a framework for comprehensive redesign of library organizations. In addition to a review of core literature, the author presents workplace examples illustrating the efficacy of collaborative information practices orchestrated by inclusive leadership principles.

THOUGHTS: I grabbed this book to see if it would be useful for an article I'm working on. Parts of it were, but the majority is a sort of case study look at the changes in one library. That information was valuable, just not for my purposes. The best part of the book was the chapter that summed up the essentials of working together. Not a bad book, just not what I was expecting it to be.

RATING: 5/10 [meh]

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