Learn foundational principles of agile leadership to enhance organizational flexibility, collaboration, and innovation. 

Course Description 

In today's rapidly changing world, libraries cannot spend years working on strategic planning, only to have priorities shift overnight. Learn how to embrace uncertainty and thrive in ambiguous times by adopting an agile mindset. Through real-world case studies, hands-on exercises, and practical tools, participants will learn to focus on delivering value to users in iterative cycles, empower strong cross-functional teams, streamline current workflows and procedures through Lean process mapping, and foster a culture of adaptability and resilience within their staff. 

Participants will gain experience with Agile techniques like huddles, retrospectives, and kaizen, and learn how to embrace an experimental mindset that encourages continuous improvement. This course will equip attendees with techniques from agile methodologies in a library perspective, empowering them to respond effectively to evolving challenges and opportunities, prioritize tasks, foster creativity, embrace change, and empower team members to take ownership of their work.

This course includes one half-day (4 hours) of live, online presentations from an expert speaker, as well as three weeks of a guided asynchronous workshop with facilitated peer cohorts and assignments. In this workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to practice what you’ve learned through prompted activities, share and crowdsource issues with peers, and get feedback from peers and your facilitator. 

The live sessions run on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 from 12:00 to 4:00 pm (recorded for on demand viewing) with an asynchronous workshop over 3 weeks. Don’t miss this opportunity!

Who should take this course?

This course is geared toward library leaders, administrators, and experienced managers.

Learning Outcomes

After you leave this course, you should have the ability to:

• Build and maintain teams with psychological safety and shared ownership

• Create effective team rituals to foster a culture of continual improvement

• Use process mapping to streamline library procedures and improve job satisfaction and staff culture

• Evaluate library services through regular microsurveys and by in-depth community partner interviews

• Employ Artificial Intelligence to help you wrangle qualitative data into usable action items for your library

Course Features 

This will be a 3-week online course and will include:

• Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.) 

• Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.

• Interactive working sessions: Optional breakout groups during live sessions to practice skills with peers.

• Asynchronous workshop: Project-based weekly assignments to connect what you’re learning to your professional life. Includes written feedback from an expert in the field who functions as the workshop facilitator, as well as peer conversation via discussion forums.

• Early access on-demand resources: Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace. 

• Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends. 

Course Advisor

Expected time commitment

If you attend or watch the recordings of all live sessions and participate fully in the asynchronous workshop, you'll spend approximately 4 hours per week on this course. You'll earn 12 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion. 

On-demand access

All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on-demand for six months following the initial broadcast as a part of your purchase.

Certificate of completion 

Complete the course and earn 12 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you. 

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature live captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email libraryjournal@edmaker.co upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Support

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Group Rates

We offer discounts for groups of 3 or more. Groups have the option to collaborate in the same workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

For larger groups of 15 or more, we offer the option to apply group rates across multiple courses to receive significant discounts. For more information, select “Bulk Course Credits Packages” in the form below. 

Request a group discount!

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

Half-Day Online Course | Thursday, September 26

Course Instructor 

Session 1 | 12:00-1:15 pm ET 

Increased Morale: Agile Foundations for Strong Teams

Your highly successful library starts with a cohesive, high-performing team. You will discover what the research says about building and maintaining teams with psychological safety and shared ownership. You will learn practical strategies and team rituals, including retrospectives, morale surveys, and kaizen, to foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Break | 1:15-1:20 pm ET

Session 2 | 1:20-2:20 pm ET 

Increased Effectiveness: Using Lean to Improve Library Workflows

What if your staff could save precious hours doing routine work? Using Lean principles and tools, you will learn how to empower staff to identify waste and focus on activities that bring value to users. Glean wisdom from real-life examples of using process mapping to streamline library procedures and improve job satisfaction and staff culture.

Live Working Session | 2:20-2:50 pm ET

This live, moderated working session will give you an immediate opportunity to process and apply the skills you’ve learned. You will be divided into smaller working groups and presented with an activity related to content shared. You are encouraged to join on camera and audio to discuss ideas, ask questions, and hear from other participants in class. If you can't join live, all discussion prompts will be shared in the online classroom.

Break | 2:50-3:00 pm ET

Session 3 | 3:00-3:50 pm ET 

Increased Engagement: Discovering the Voices of Your Customers

How might we delight and inspire our patrons? Agile libraries place high value on what they hear from their customers. Learn how to evaluate services for patrons by developing “worst day” personas. Gain insights from regular microsurveys and by in-depth community partner interviews. Employ Artificial Intelligence to help you wrangle all this qualitative data into usable action items for your library.

Workshop Q&A | 3:50-4:00 pm ET

An introduction to the weekly assignments and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course.

Online Course Preview

A preview of how we build your library skills and bring inspiration to your projects with our online learning experience.

Course Format

One-Week Timeline (Course Runs 3+ Weeks)

DAYS 1-2 On-Demand	DAY 3 4 hours	DAYS 4-7 1-2 hours (optional)
PRE-LIVE SESSION - Resources - Discussions - Bonus Content	LIVE SESSIONS - Guest speakers via webcast -  Facilitated discussions - Recordings available for 6 months	ASYNCHRONOUS WORKSHOP - Project-based weekly assignments - Written feedback from a facilitator - Peer conversation via discussion forums

Course Features

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Sessions Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field.  Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers. Optional interactive working sessions with breakout groups during live sessions to practice skills with peers.

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available On Demand Sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.

Asynchronous workshop

Online Classroom + Asynchronous Workshop The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends.  Live session recordings. Project-based weekly assignments.  Written feedback from an expert in the field who functions as the workshop facilitator. Peer conversation via discussion forums.

Early Access On-Demand Resources

Early Access On-Demand Resources Bonus: Register early and get access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace.  Some courses include supporting resources in the online classroom.