How do you manage in the 21st century?
| Date | 01 March 1993 |
| Pages | 163-164 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045226 |
| Published date | 01 March 1993 |
| Author | Marydee Ojala |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Guest
Editorial
How do you manage in the
21st century?
Marydee Ojala
Information
Consultant,
PO Box
770,
Park
City,
UT
84060,
USA
I saw a job ad the other day for a university librarian. The
university was seeking 'an innovative, service-oriented li-
brarian to assist with planning and developing service, infor-
mation, and staffing infrastructures for the library in
preparation for the 21st century.' Now, here's a library that
thinks ahead . . . except for the fact that the 21st century is
only eight years away. So maybe they're not thinking all that
far ahead.
Maybe,
just maybe, all information jobs should be
filled 'in preparation for the 21st century.'
What qualifications should
a
manager have to run
a
library
in the 21st century? And what should that manager concen-
trate on doing once he or she has snagged the job? Peter
Drucker, in his book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities,
Practices defines management via the tasks assigned to man-
agers.
He believes that management
is
responsible for
the
pur-
pose and mission of
the
organization, for productive workers
and for social
impacts.
In performing
tasks,
managers must be
both administrative and entrepreneurial. Drucker wrote this
only three-quarters into the 20th century, yet there's a dis-
tinctly 21st century ring to what he says. He's even got the
information situation pegged. To him, information is of su-
preme importance to the effective functioning of organiza-
tions,
as long as it is specific, tailored to the real needs of the
organization. Says Drucker, 'And an overload of information,
that is, anything much beyond what is truly needed, leads to
information blackout. It does not enrich, but impoverishes.'
The library of the 21st century will have
a
different mission
to the library of the 20th century. Yet, paradoxically, it will
also have the same mission. Providing information, teaching
information retrieval skills, helping people to evaluate re-
trieved information and guiding people to the best informa-
tion sources, whether or not they are physically part of a li-
brary, will still be critical. But 21st century libraries will not
be warehouses, they will be access points, and very likely
electronic access points. Library managers, then, will need to
evaluate technology and analyze the quality of
a
wide variety
of information media. Specialized generalists will be the or-
der of
the
day.
Dr Roger Selbert, a Santa Monica, California futurist and
the editor of the newsletter
Future
Scan, thinks librarians pos-
sess the most important skill for success in the 21st century.
'They have the ability to scan a wide range of information and
pick out what's important. That's what you need in a 500 (or
more) channel world.' Selbert is optimistic about information
work in the 21st century. He thinks librarians have the neces-
sary survival skills.
What will be different about managing in the 21st century?
First, I think hierarchies will be a thing of
the
past. The man-
agement model of the Boss issuing orders that are followed
implicitly by Underlings is being replaced by teamwork. Pro-
ject teams working cooperatively will be the norm in the 21st
century. This teamwork model is replete with management
challenges. How to form
a
team,
how
to
ensure teams function
effectively and efficiently, team reward structures, team moti-
vation, training team leaders — these will be the manage-
ment issues of the 21st
century.
Furthermore, teams will form
for a purpose, then be disbanded as different projects require
different team
skills.
This is another management challenge.
Second, intelligent use of available resources will dictate a
redesign of
the
basic philosophy of
librarianship.
The library
model of collecting and storing information will be replaced
by a model concentrating on getting information to people.
Yes,
hunting and gathering is out, as is farming. Only a few
librarians will be needed for locating, cataloging, classifying
and shelving information. Information entrepreneurs — or
infopreneurs, to use Skip Weitzen's terminology — will be
the ones growing new information. By growing information,
I mean taking what exists and re-structuring it — re-ordering
it so that it takes on new and different forms, maybe even new
meanings. Managers of 21st century libraries will be more
concerned with evaluating technologies and analyzing infor-
mation than with its simple acquisition.
Third, managers will be involved with any number of
dif-
ferent disciplines. Melding the thoughts of technicians, vi-
sionaries,
planners, financial analysts and those who make an
organization function to form a coherent information agenda
will be the primary challenge of the 21st century library man-
ager. A smattering of knowledge from multiple disciplines,
added to the fundamental understanding of the mission of the
organization in which the library
operates,
will define the role
of the 21st century library manager. Information adds value to
the operation of any organization, whether it be a company or
a city, but librarians are not today cast in the role of value-
added participants. I hope and trust that this will change in the
21st century.
But let's return momentarily to that job announcement for
the
21st century-oriented university librarian. Careful reading
of the full job ad led me to the conclusion that whoever took
the job was going to have quite a time convincing the univer-
The Electronic Library, Vol.
11,
No.3, June 1993 163
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