A Learning Framework to Inspire Change: The Kotter Model and the Continuum of Change in Academic Libraries

Invited presentation at the ACRL 2025 Conference in Minneapolis, MN. In 2018, we distributed a call for proposals to academic librarians at public and private community colleges and universities to seek potential ideas for chapters to include in our upcoming publication, Leading Change in Academic Libraries. We solicited proposals from potential authors to describe and reflect on “a recent change in their academic library in which they worked with others in the organization to reorganize, reengineer, innovate, or initiate a service, program, function or structure in [their] library.” In total, we received 115 proposals on various issues, which coalesced around these predominant themes: strategic planning, reorganization, culture change, new roles, and technological change. The selected authors, 20 in total, analyzed the change in their libraries through Kotter’s 8-step model for their chapters. Fast forward a couple of years to 2020, a time when ACRL published our book but, more importantly, a time of momentous challenge. A pandemic, along with societal and political forces, continues to make a mark on how we live, work, and think about personal and professional lives. In this session, we will review Kotter’s model and demonstrate how it can drive a current initiative, jumpstart a stalled project, or provide an opportunity to reflect on a past strategic direction and make future improvements. Though we will present Kotter’s model and its multifaceted, flexible applications, we will create opportunities for interaction and exploration with the audience. We will consider topics that audience members would choose to explore in 2025. If you had an opportunity to reflect on a change in your library, what would it be?