Americans hold very favorable opinions of libraries and librarians. A Pew Research Center study in 2013 reported that 94 percent of those responding said that having a public library improves the quality of life in a community. Almost everyone—more than 90 percent in that same study—has visited a library at some time and has developed a perception of what libraries are about. This perception rarely envisions librarians as change agents even though librarians of the 19th century created the worldÊs first true public library system. Librarians in the 20th century continued to build the public library system by innovating and making more services available. Their successors in the late 20th and early 21st centuries have used technology to revolutionize library services. Still, librarians are typically not recognized for fostering change, and libraries are not seen as institutions that have changed to keep pace with modern society.
In this book, the authors present the historical and contemporary case illustrating how librarians are indeed effective change agents, both within their libraries and within their communities. Within the change agent spirit, they explain the concept of intrapreneurship, provide examples of how intrapreneurship is taking place in libraries, and explain how all librarians can become intrapreneurs so that their actions may benefit libraries and communities.
The authors examine this topic from their experience in the field of librarianship and from their efforts as change agents and entrepreneurs. Sharon is an experienced instructor, having taught a wide range of library and information science topics to both graduates and undergraduates. She embraced distance learning models when they first became available and she has taught students across the country and in many lands using new technologies and new methods of instruction. She has studied entrepreneurship and managed a Media Library and established a multimedia lab that provided learning and experience for this research.
Arne has demonstrated intrapreneurship in his own library. As dean of the library at Northern Kentucky University, he has overseen a successful long-term effort to improve collections and services in the library. He has pioneered a new bachelor of science degree in library informatics to prepare students in Kentucky and other states for work in 21st-century libraries and other information-related fields. The partnership that he formed obtained two grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for training librarians and library staff members in Kentucky and West Virginia. This work has helped add professional librarians in rural and poor communities while educating many library staff members so that public libraries offer improved service—often using intrapreneurial ideas.
As State Librarian of Kentucky for the past nine years, I have seen firsthand the need for continued change using intrapreneurial concepts as described by the authors. The country's economic downturn in 2008 has resulted in many challenges for libraries. Like libraries in many states, Kentucky library budgets remain stagnant while the need for services continues to increase. Resources to support services for the public have become scarcer so decisions on where to make investments in service have become vital.
Kentucky's public libraries have proven to be good laboratories and learning spaces for the concepts suggested in this work. With new technologies available, library materials abundant, and staff who are open to new ideas, opportunities for positive change abound. I am gratified that the authors have chosen to highlight intrapreneurial libraries and librarians and hope that the examples will encourage libraries everywhere to embrace practices that foster effective and sustainable change.
Even though the public may not view librarians as change agents, librarians have made many changes through the years in order to survive—and particularly to thrive. Using the framework described here by the authors provides a route for continued change in order to improve services and meet the changing needs of communities. Twenty-first-century librarians would be well advised to study this book and incorporate its principles into action steps for their libraries.
Wayne Onkst,
State Librarian, Kentucky
Wayne Onkst served as state librarian and commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives from 2006 until his retirement in 2015.