I've spent much of my unplanned time today working on polishing both the presentation slide and the handout for a team poster presentation at the ALA Annual Meeting in New Orleans this weekend. Our topic is "Exploring Appreciative Inquiry: Support for culture shift in an academic library during top level leadership transition," or "Using Appreciative Inquiry to Support a Culture Shift in Transition." I've got such a great partner to present with--she's done a lot of the heavy lifting due to my exceptional spring. I'm catching up, but she's the expert in the field now when it comes down to it.

Our discussion of the poster will explore the appreciative inquiry (AI) framework and its potential value for supporting staff and faculty during the transition after the year period following the hire of a new University Librarian. The authors will:

1. define the AI framework;
2. provide a context for the current cultural environment and discuss major recommendations made at all employee levels during a baseline strategic planning process that pointed to the need for major culture shift in the Libraries;
3. apply the AI framework to explore how the needed changes identified can be supported during the period of leadership transition;
4. invite feedback from colleagues at other organizations who have tried or are considering AI to support change initiatives. The authors plan to propose a program at a future conference to discuss progress and outcomes that resulted in the AI experience at the Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame.

Today we're well on the way with our poster design, and the handout is in its near final draft stages. If you're at the convention center on Sunday between 3:00 and 4:30, stop by and see us. We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.