About the Cohort
Join a cohort of institutional teams planning their change process!
Academic libraries and library workers often recognize the need to initiate a change in their organizations but may have no idea where to start. To that end: Welcome to ACRL’s second cohort of Fostering Change! ACRL’s Fostering Change Cohort is a 12-week program designed for teams from institutions planning any type of organizational change. The program runs from Monday, June 6, 2022 through Friday, August 26, 2022.
The Fostering Change Cohort aims to build a community of change agents in academic libraries. Participants will gain the tools to spark, lead, and sustain change no matter their organizational position. You will gain a network of peers to lean on as you embark on your change process. To get the most out of this cohort, we recommend that your team enters with a clear idea of an initiative that will have change implications for your organization. Each team can be made up of 2 to 5 library workers, who will work together to co-create the plan for how you will approach your change. Examples of possible changes could range from altering an existing service model to developing new organizational structures; creating a communication toolkit to implementing a new technology or platform.
Participating teams will each be assigned a facilitator to help them scope a specific change within their institution. They’ll aid in identifying and establishing team dynamics, providing strategies for working with people who are struggling with change, and trying out project management tools for organizing your work. The facilitators and your cohort will help you create a plan that can help take your organization from where you are today to your imagined future. Groups will also meet biweekly as a community to help you examine your cultural readiness for change, create inclusive practices, build outcomes-based goals, and learn best practices in project management.
“I found the cohort rewarding, inspiring, and affirmative while also guiding participants to be realistic and practical.” —2021 Fostering Change Cohort member
Why You Should Participate
The Fostering Change Cohort welcomes teams planning for any type of organizational change in their library. We encourage teams built from across the library and institution: library workers or library partners involved in the change, including information technology workers, learning commons staff, faculty, or administration.
Participating in the Fostering Change Cohort is a long-term investment in your professional development and community, providing you with both a grounding in change theory and practical strategies for change implementation and management, as well as a class of peers to encourage you and help troubleshoot as you work through your change process.
This program is for you if:
- You want to work closely with a group of co-learners and facilitators on understanding change, your institutional cultures and values, and creating an inclusive and equitable change process plan.
- You are willing to be a co-learner and co-teacher, helping to build a learning community through honest and difficult conversations.
- You want to create a change process using inclusive, antiracist, and anti-oppressive change strategies.
- You are committed to making a specific organizational change.
Learning Outcomes
Fostering Change Cohort teams will leave with a comprehensive plan for their upcoming change process and a certificate of completion. Participants are invited to read ACRL’s open access Fostering Change: A Team-Based Guide prior to beginning cohort work. The program will include some presentations, an online course space, Zoom meetings with groups of teams, a Slack channel for easy contact throughout, and individual team meetings with facilitators.
Schedule
ACRL’s Fostering Change Cohort is a 12-week program. It will run from Monday, June 6, 2022 through Friday, August 26, 2022.
Cohort work will be mostly asynchronous with some synchronous learning activities, with an anticipated 2 to 3 hours of work each week.
Facilitators
Dani Brecher Cook is the Associate University Librarian for Learning and User Experience at the UC San Diego Library. She’s also the co-founder of the Conference on Academic Library Management, and a co-author of the ALA book Learner-Centered Pedagogy: Principles and Practice with Kevin Michael Klipfel. This year, she will be the president of ALA’s New Members Round Table. Outside of libraries, Dani enjoys spending time with her husband and two small humans, training for long-distance runs, and exploring her adopted home of California. You can follow her on Twitter @danibcook.
Sojourna J. Cunningham is the Social Sciences and Assessment Librarian at the University of Richmond. She works as the liaison to her campus’ Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology and Education departments. Sojourna was an ALA Emerging Leader and is a graduate of the Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarianship. She has an MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MLA from the University of Richmond. Her research interests are in user services, assessment, DEI policy and mentorship. Her work focuses on the ways in which white supremacy culture influences librarianship and how to create meaningful change through policy. You can follow her on Twitter @TheNotoriousSJC.
Cinthya Ippoliti. As director of the Auraria Library, Cinthya provides direct administrative leadership for library services, spaces, partnerships, and programming on the tri-institutional Auraria Campus which includes the University of Colorado, Denver; Metropolitan State University of Denver, and Community College of Denver and serves approximately 35,000 highly diverse students in an urban setting. In collaboration with the Library’s administrative team, she sets a strategic vision to develop new services, foster creativity and collaboration, and provide professional development and mentorship opportunities for all library employees.
Brianna Marshall. Brianna Marshall is Senior Associate Dean for Operations, Assessment, and Communications at Northern Kentucky University's Steely Library. She is the editor of the book The Complete Guide to Personal Digital Archiving, published by ALA Press. You can follow her on Twitter at @notsosternlib.
Registration
Registration fee
ACRL organizational/institutional member: $1,200
Non ACRL organizational/institutional member: $1,500
Registration fee is per team. One member should register on behalf of the team, and you will receive a confirmation email with a brief survey where you can input team member names, contacts, and identify the team lead.
Registration deadline
May 27, 2022
Registration capacity
Registration is capped at 12 institutional teams.
Scholarship
A full scholarship will be awarded to one team from a minority-serving institution (examples include Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Community and Junior Colleges, and Tribal Academic Institutions). To apply, please send the names of your team members, institution, and desired change to Erin Nevius, ACRL Content Strategist, at enevius@ala.org, by May 20, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. The applications will be reviewed and a recipient identified by members of ACRL’s New Roles and Changing Landscapes Committee.
Questions?
Questions about the Fostering Change Cohort should be directed to Erin Nevius at enevius@ala.org.