Slowly but surely: Leading the workforce at the University of Adelaide into the library of the future

In 2015, a broadly representative committee from across the University of Adelaide considered the next 20 years of the University’s Library: how to respond to changes in the academic and information management landscape while preserving and enhancing what is valued in the Library today. The Library of the Future Committee, as it was called, found that library services were struggling to be all things to all people; students, staff, alumni and the wider community. As in many academic libraries there was a large legacy print collection that was little used, and that use was continuing to decline; correspondingly the staff structure and skills base was still aligned with managing a print information world. Library buildings had not been updated for many years, were generally run-down and not best designed to provide the kind of spaces and facilities expected in a contemporary research-intensive university library. In 2016 the review committee published their findings in a report entitled Library of the Future: recommendations for a bold and agile University library. The recommendations made were grouped together under four themes: Library Services, Library Collections, Library Organisation and Library Facilities and Systems. This paper will focus on a selection of major change initiatives that have taken place in response to the report’s recommendations. Various internal drivers required that changes were made incrementally and staying true to the overall vision of the Library of the Future report while maintaining enthusiasm, trust and commitment from Library staff and the University community presented a number of challenges. The iterative nature of the process, however, has allowed Library leaders to build capability and confidence among staff and to, slowly but surely, shift cultural norms and expectations to reposition the Library in the wider University context