Projects, Programmes, Strategy and Leadership in the Research Library

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter describes and explores the relationship between formal and semi-formal systems of programme and project management and broader strategic programmes and leadership approaches in the academic and research library context.

Methodology/approach

The leadership perspective of this chapter allows assessment of the contribution of programme and project management techniques to the strategic development of the library. A case study approach is taken, and the methods used for programme and project management arise mainly from the UK’s Office of Government Commerce.

Findings

The chapter provides insight into how a variety of practical project management techniques can be bound together within strategic programmes, together with appropriate governance structures for monitoring and judging successful outcomes.

Practical limitations

The chapter describes the application of programme and project methods in two research libraries, but the techniques used have been used widely in many organizational settings and so should be transferable to other research library contexts.

Social implications

The cases in the chapter reveal the social world of the academic and research library, illuminating the real-life experience of project work within the library and its broader institutional context.

Originality/value

The chapter presents an original typology for differentiating projects in the research library. The chapter is unique both in describing 30 years of continuous application and development of programme and project methodologies and frameworks, and also in its leadership perspective.

Citation

Town, J.S. (2018), "Projects, Programmes, Strategy and Leadership in the Research Library", Project Management in the Library Workplace (Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Vol. 38), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 295-311. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0732-067120180000038008