Engineering Change in Libraries: A Pathway for Meaningful Action
The aim of Engineering Change in Libraries is to understand the Other and mobilize our libraries to provide more effective and equitable services and programs to underserved communities. Inspired by Dr. Agnes Kaposi, a catalyst for change and 31st Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture, Engineering Change is organized into two components: (1) the lecture (setting the context) and (2) a two-session workshop for library staff and stakeholders to engineer change in libraries in a process of understanding the Other and planning globally to create change locally.
Engineering Change in Libraries is a project and resource of the Libraries for Peace (L4P) initiative.
THE LECTURE (The Inspiration)
An engineer of change, Dr. Agnes Kaposi (Engineer, Educator, Holocaust survivor, Author of “Yellow Star-Red Star”, recipient of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) presented the 31st Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture (November 8, 2021) on “Engineering Change and the Power of Information: Otherness, Exclusion, Propaganda, Dislocation“. With nearly a century of perspective she told her life story and the role of information as a source of power/control resulting in otherness, exclusion, propaganda, dislocation, as well as transformation in engineering change. A conversation, moderated by Dr. Valerie J. Matsumoto (George and Sakaye Aratani Endowed Chair on the Japanese American Incarceration, Redress, and Community, UCLA), connected Dr. Kaposi’s experiences with those of other marginalized and dislocated groups worldwide, such as Japanese Americans, to identify similarities and differences across time and locations, in order to understand the Other and rethink some of the most pressing issues that libraries face in promoting equitable communities in our information-intensive and networked society.
Is your library wanting to build community?
Join colleagues from around the world in learning and planning globally to create change locally.
THE WORKSHOP
Engineering Change in Libraries in an international workshop to learn and plan globally to create change locally. Library staff and stakeholders are invited to attend a two-session workshop to understand the Other by learning from each other’s experiences and challenges, connect as a community of practice, engineer meaningful action, and implement the solution while supporting each other in their journeys to engineer real change in their libraries and communities.
Each interactive workshop, a pathway/process to engineer change in libraries, focuses on a specific area of action. It is presented in two 1.5-hour sessions, with the second session occurring two months following the first one, and virtual open consultation hours midway. The first session begins with a speaker introducing the topic; followed by group discussion of local experiences, brainstorming, and prioritizing an issue to be addressed; then collectively, participants develop an action plan that they will apply at their library. During a two-month period participants implement their action plan locally and have an opportunity to ask questions and obtain input midway through the process. After two months, the participants reconvene in the second session as a community of practice to reflect and improve on their action plan, as needed.
To understand the need to engineer change from one story of the Other/persecuted, participants are encouraged to listen to the recording of the Lecture.
WHO should attend?
- Library personnel, particularly those with responsibilities for public libraries, community libraries, school or academic libraries
- Educators, researchers and students in university departments of librarianship and cognate disciplines
- Library trustees, friends and volunteers
- Government officials, policy makers, and others responsible for libraries
- Library stakeholders
HOW LONG are the workshops?
- 1.5 hours per virtual workshop session
- Each workshop is made up of 2 sessions, two months apart, with optional virtual open consultation midway
HOW to attend?
- See below to attend future workshops OR contact mortenson@illinois.edu if you are interested in a workshop to be delivered to your group/organization and adapted to your needs.
- The INTERACTIVE, action-focused workshops, usually has a focus area, and is offered in person, online or hybrid.
Future workshops and focus of action
- Engineering Change in Libraries: From Dislocation to Direction and Hope Workshop, Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, Oct 7-11, 2026; Spokane, WA
October 7, 2026; 1-4pm <in person workshop – REGISTRATION> | January 12, 2027, 1:00-2:30pm CT online open consultation; March 30, 2027, 1:00-2:30pm CT online session 2- Description – This workshop session is based on the Engineering Change in Libraries: A Pathway for Meaningful Action series of workshops. In the session, we focus on the theme of dislocation and what it means for us, as libraries, practitioners, and for our communities, in order to develop solutions (i.e., engineer in libraries) to provide direction by the library as a pathway to hope for our communities. According to the Collins Dictionary, dislocation is “a situation in which something such as a system, a process, or the way of life is greatly disturbed or prevented from continuing as normal”. Through a process of dialogue and exchange, dislocation experienced by libraries, practitioners, and their communities are shared, target areas to address are identified, and through interactive learning, working groups create an action plan that they propose to carry out or use as a model for their own local context. The workshop is the first/design phase of a 3-month engineering change process, followed by the implementation phase, which includes a mid-way online consultation process, and concludes with an online “update, reflection, and improvement” meeting.
- Facilitators:
- Clara M. Chu, Director and Mortenson Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Christina Tatum, Public Services Librarian, Georgia Institute of Technology
Past workshops
- Inaugural Workshop on Dislocation
Feb 15, 2022; 8:00-9:30 am CT session 1 <RECORDING> | March 15, 8:00-9:30 am CT open consultation | April 19, 8:00-9:30 am CT session 2 - Workshop on Propaganda
March 1, 2022; 4:00-5:30 pm CT session 1 <RECORDING>| April 5, 4:00-5:30 pm CT open consultation | May 3, 4:00-5:30 pm CT session 2 - Facilitators:
- Clara M. Chu, Director and Mortenson Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA)
- Ajit K. Pyati, Associate Professor, Western University (Canada)