Organisational Development

Organisational Development Strategy Group

This group leads for the community on matters relating to the library workforce, including recruiting and developing the skills necessary to deliver the breadth of support that institutions are seeking and improving equality, diversity and inclusion in the library sector.

Over the next few years, the group will explore:

  • Developing our current workforce to support institutions’ drive towards digital transformation.

  • Generating the radical shift needed to deliver a diverse workforce that is truly representative of our society.

  • New approaches to recruitment, retention and professional development to meet the HE recruitment challenge by coming together through networking, mentoring and peer support to enabling sharing practice and experience.

Conversations about many of these issues took place as part of our Libraries after Lockdown programme which looked at the recruitment lifecycle and the development of an agile and flexible workforce and which facilitated conversations with library leaders in the US, Europe and Australia to share views and experiences.  Further information can be found here [insert link].

For those interested in exploring leading libraries, further resources can be found on our Knowledge Hub.  For information on the support that SCONUL provides for those keen to develop their career in libraries, please see our CPD Hub.

University of Dundee

Current Projects

Higher level apprentices:

A Level 6/7 Library and Knowledge Management professional standard is due in 2024 and this project will support the community in the introduction of higher apprenticeships for libraries and explore their scope to provide for new routes into the profession. The project will focus on sharing experience and practice.

How to get ahead in libraries:

This project will provide positive support for staff who want to progress their careers though practical advice and guidance, for example on how to read and respond to job descriptions, providing examples of leadership journeys, and how to manage your own career.

Organisational development knowledge base:

Members often share organisational development resources including job descriptions, team and organisational structures and this project will provide a formal structure for sharing this information through the development of an organisational development knowledge base, including JDs, internal staff structures; and functional / service maps. It will also identify and survey emerging or good practice including with an EDI focus. The project will be consulting members shortly on practical considerations around the development of the knowledge base.

 

University of Cambridge. Photo by Alice the Camera.

 

Group membership 

  • Emma Walton, Loughborough University (Co-chair)
  • Gary Elliott-Cirigottis, Open University (Co-chair)
  • Antony Brewerton, University of Oxford
  • Christopher Cipkin, Royal Holloway University of London
  • Helen Curtis, Oxford Brookes University
  • Neil Donohue, Canterbury Christ Church University
  • Regina Everitt, University of East London
  • Alice Harvey, University of the Arts London
  • Jenny Jones, Cardiff Metropolitan University
  • Sarah Jones, University of Wales Trinity Saint David
  • Lisa McLaren, SCONUL
  • Davina Omar, University of West London
  • Ann Rossiter, SCONUL
  • Emma Wisher, University of St Andrews