Continuous Organizational Development—Teamwork, Learning Leadership, and Measurement

Abstract

Early in my career, a colleague for whom I have great respect said to me, "The great libraries of the future will be those with great staffs." There was a rhetorical flourish in this statement intended to make a vital point. We could not simply rely on massive collections to provide information for the academy—it was necessary to pay attention to our human resources and, by extension, our organizations. By that time in the mid-1970s, the so-called "golden age of library collecting" was ending, and the "age of access" was beginning. This age of access has left us with diminished power to define our future—without significant support from allies outside our organizations. Libraries must be resilient organizations that have the strength to sustain themselves as partners in the learning and scholarly enterprises.