What are project management and change management and why are they important to libraries? Why should the concepts and disciplines of project management and change management be examined together? These are the questions that this chapter will answer using a combination of research literature and examples from practice. The idea of linking change management and project management is not new in other bodies of research literature in business or industrial contexts. Articles that combine these concepts in the library context are, however, rare. This chapter contributes to the development of change management and project management competencies for librarians by providing explanations of project management and change management which include advice and evidence from the literature and combining it with examples of how these techniques and processes were applied in a library and information management project. This chapter should therefore serve as an educational tool for library and information management practitioners seeking either to develop their project management and change management skills or to apply these techniques to their own projects.

Defining Project Management

Project management provides a systematic approach to dealing with projects in an organization (Wamsley, 2009; Winston & Hoffman, 2005). A project is defined as a discrete activity with defined time lines and objectives which will result in either the development or modification of a product or service and which is performed outside of the course of day-to-day activities (Wamsley, 2009). What does this look like in the library context? In the cataloging department, the daily activity of cataloging individual items would not be considered a project
each item cataloged would constitute a task. If the cataloging department chose to adapt a new cataloging system, for example switching from AACR2 to RDA, introducing a new custom taxonomy, or switching to a new cataloging tool, these could be projects. In the reference department, the completion of individual reference requests or the delivery of training or information literacy sessions are not generally considered projects. The development of a new training or information literacy program, however, would meet the definition, as it would require reference staff to undertake various project management stages to be successful. Examples of library projects often consist of the introduction of new information systems, such as integrated library systems, websites or portals, the development of new facilities, the relocation of materials and staff from one facility to another, or the development of new strategic plans for the library (Dukic´, ۲۰۱۵; Dulock & Long, 2015; Du Plessis & Mabunda, 2016; Kinkus, 2007; Olney, Backus, & Klein, 2010; StewartMailhiot, 2015). Project management is generally described in terms of both phases or processes and knowledge areas which have been defined by bodies such as the Project Management Institute through their PMBOK Guide and the Association of Project Management with their APMBOK (Greene, 2010; Kinkus, 2007; Wamsley, 2009).