Introduction.

ONE OF THE GROWING TRENDS IN LIBRARIES, especially academic research libraries, is an increase in the number of institutions that are using organizational development (OD) philosophy, processes, and tools on a regular basis. Consequently, we have developed this issue of Library Trends to provide an overview of organizational development as it is practiced in libraries, and to explore leadership development within the OD context. This issue covers a wide range of topics and draws on the literature of many disciplines. It is meant to serve as a resource for every person who believes that libraries can be improved in many ways, including how they acquire, organize, manage, and provide access to information; assess the needs of customers and provide appropriate services; manage human and financial resources; plan for the future; fulfill their mission; develop leadership skills in the staff; and initiate and manage change.

Organizational development is

 
   a long-term effort, led and supported by top management, to improve 
   an organization's visioning, empowerment, learning, and 
   problem-solving processes, through an ongoing, collaborative 
   management of organization culture--with special emphasis on the 
   culture of intact work teams and other team configurations--using 
   the consultant-facilitator role and the theory and technology of 
   applied behavioral science, including action research. 
   (French & Bell, 1999, pp. 25-26) 

Much of the theory and practice of organizational development evolved during the last half of the twentieth…