Agile in the Library: Principles and Tools for Managing Teams and Strengthening Change

$250.00

Credits: 1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs

Agile, a framework for project management, has been described as “easy to use, difficult to master.” This course is offered as an introduction or refresher for library teams and individuals who are interested in improving their work processes and communication. We will begin by exploring the history and foundational principles that inspired Lean and Agile, and then move beyond these core ideas to learn and apply the tools that support teamwork and continuous process improvement, including scrum, kanban, stand-ups, and retrospectives. This course is especially unique for its focus on Agile in library environments, and the examples examples that Crystal and Chelsea offer as to how Agile has been used to improve day-to-day operations, guide projects, and successfully navigate change and uncertainty in public libraries of varying sizes and structures. We will also apply Agile to our own day-to-day lives, for the ideal goal of delivering our best value to the people we serve, and conserving our efforts for the sake of a sustainable work-life balance. This is Agile!

We will deliver a thorough understanding of Agile and everything needed to implement Agile in any library workplace, without stress. We use a blend of videos made by us just for this class, an opportunity to connect live, November 28th at 12:00 ET, discussion forums and prompts, activity options, and plenty of reading materials, in order for participants to go as deep as they like with Agile and Lean in any library environment.

Agile, a framework for project management, has been described as “easy to use, difficult to master.” This course is offered as an introduction or refresher for library teams and individuals who are interested in improving their work processes and communication. We will begin by exploring the history and foundational principles that inspired Lean and Agile, and then move beyond these core ideas to learn and apply the tools that support teamwork and continuous process improvement, including scrum, kanban, stand-ups, and retrospectives. This course is especially unique for its focus on Agile in library environments, and the examples examples that Crystal and Chelsea offer as to how Agile has been used to improve day-to-day operations, guide projects, and successfully navigate change and uncertainty in public libraries of varying sizes and structures. We will also apply Agile to our own day-to-day lives, for the ideal goal of delivering our best value to the people we serve, and conserving our efforts for the sake of a sustainable work-life balance. This is Agile!

We will deliver a thorough understanding of Agile and everything needed to implement Agile in any library workplace, without stress. We use a blend of videos made by us just for this class, an opportunity to connect live, November 28th at 12:00 ET, discussion forums and prompts, activity options, and plenty of reading materials, in order for participants to go as deep as they like with Agile and Lean in any library environment.

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Course Information

Session

Credits

1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs

Registration dates

We accept registrations through the first week of classes, unless enrollment is full, and unless the class was canceled before it started due to low enrollment.

Course Description

Agile, a framework for project management, has been described as “easy to use, difficult to master.” This course is offered as an introduction or refresher for library teams and individuals who are interested in improving their work processes and communication. We will begin by exploring the history and foundational principles that inspired Lean and Agile, and then move beyond these core ideas to learn and apply the tools that support teamwork and continuous process improvement, including scrum, kanban, stand-ups, and retrospectives. This course is especially unique for its focus on Agile in library environments, and the examples examples that Crystal and Chelsea offer as to how Agile has been used to improve day-to-day operations, guide projects, and successfully navigate change and uncertainty in public libraries of varying sizes and structures. We will also apply Agile to our own day-to-day lives, for the ideal goal of delivering our best value to the people we serve, and conserving our efforts for the sake of a sustainable work-life balance. This is Agile!

We will deliver a thorough understanding of Agile and everything needed to implement Agile in any library workplace, without stress. We use a blend of videos made by us just for this class, an opportunity to connect live, November 28th at 12:00 ET, discussion forums and prompts, activity options, and plenty of reading materials, in order for participants to go as deep as they like with Agile and Lean in any library environment.

Chelsea Jordan-Makely

Chelsea Jordan-MakelyChelsea Jordan-Makely is a library director in a small, rural community in western Massachusetts, and a vocal practitioner of critical librarianship. She has worked in public, academic, state, and special libraries in four countries, and has served on the PLA's Digital Literacy Committee since 2016. She is also a Co-Lead for the American Library Association’s Library Services to the Justice Involved (LSJI) interest group. Chelsea's study of libraries as bureaucracies challenges dominant notions about bureaucracy, as well as the status quo of libraries as impersonal, undertheorized workspaces. Chelsea balances librarianship with leisure reading, riding bikes, gardening, and quality time with friends and family.

Crystal Trice

Crystal Trice has over 20 years experience working in libraries. At Scissors & Glue, LLC, she currently consults and trains library staff and educators on topics ranging from makerspaces to working with difficult people, because she is passionate about helping people work more effectively together. Her agile team wins include: implementing a new catalog 50% faster than planned, quickly supporting two special libraries’ unexpected permanent closures, and writing a policy in 20 minutes with 7 people. Crystal is a Certified Scrum Master and Certified in Scrum at Scale for Government. Crystal enjoys fine-tip Sharpies, multi-colored Flair pens, blue painters tape, and as many sticky notes as she can get her hands on.

How to Register

To enroll yourself or other participants in a class, use the “Register” button that follows the description of each course. If the “Register” button does not show up, try loading the page in a different web browser. Contact us if you have technical difficulties using our shopping cart system or would like to pay for an enrollment using another method. On the payment page in the shopping cart system, there is a place to add notes, such as the names and email addresses of participants you wish to enroll. We will contact you to request this information in response to your processed payment if you do not include it in the “notes” field. Prior to the start of the workshop, we will send participants their login instructions.

Payment Info

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Alternatively, if it is an institutional payment, we can arrange to invoice you. Contact us by email, and we can make arrangements to suit your institution's business processes.

Special Session

Please contact us to arrange a special session of this class for a group of seven or more, with a negotiable discount, or to be notified when it is next scheduled.

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