getting things to change in your library

After reading and watching screencasts for week 5 I really got to thinking about what it means to be a new librarian who is trying to implement change. I am in my first professional position and luckily I work in a library that is open to new technologies and wants to remain as current as possible, but I hear from friends who are new in their libraries who find a very different type of climate. They work in libraries where change is looked at with suspicion and new ideas, especially from a new librarian, are not taken seriously. Reading Karen Coombs article (which I forwarded to said friends) really helped me (even in my friendly-to-change library) clarify what makes a new technology embraced. First of course, make sure the social software if fool-proof and easy - all the technologies we have learned about in this class fall into this category, which will be much to our advantage in the coming years as things like Blogger, wikis, bloglines and del.icio.us become even more prevalent. Of course proper training goes without saying. Promoting the benefits of change and how it will help make the library more useful and how it will make the lives of the librarians who work there easier is of utmost importance too. But another tactic which I mentioned in our web chat on Thursday last week was the importance of gaining allies in your move for change - as a new librarian it can be highly beneficial to get one of the more experienced librarians on your side. With someone who is more established in the library culture you can go much further, plus you can both learn from each other!