Encountering Change

For the past few years, “change” has been the buzzword in librarianship. I often hear the platitude, “change is inevitable.” My response to that is yes, and no. To an extent, change is inevitable, but not every change is. We as a community have the ability to shape changes.

I remember in undergrad, in my political science class, we talked about three basic approaches to change. The first one is the radical approach, which sees change as a good word and tradition as a negative. Adherents to this approach may see the ideal future as something from Star Trek or the Jetsons. The other extreme is the reactionary approach which sees Tradition as the ultimate good and sees any change as a threat. They may look back nostalgically on a past time. They may see the ideal past as an episode of Little House on the Prairie, or some other period drama. The final approach is the balanced approach which embraces and celebrates tradition while also reaching out to positive changes. This is where we need to be.

Not all tradition is good tradition, and not all change is good change. There are some changes which will help us to grow and become more efficient. There are also changes which can be a mere distraction and a waste of resources. Navigating the future will take an insightful analysis of possible changes on a case-by-case basis. The future is not something that happens to us, it is something that we create.