About the Conference 

Much is being planned for the exciting Living the Future II Conference and Pre-Conference in sunny Tucson, Arizona, April 21-24, 1998.  Presenters from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and all types of libraries will speak to the major conference themes of organizational change and continuous learning.  Both keynote speakers, Meg Wheatley and Ernest B. Ingles, are well renowned for their expertise in designing and planning organizations or systems that will meet the challenges of the information age.  If you are concerned about the changes the library profession is experiencing as we approach the new millennium, then come join us! 

Program Information

• Pre-Conferences, Tuesday, April 21, 1998
• Wednesday, April 22, 1998
• Thursday, April 23, 1998
• Friday, April 24, 1998

Areas of focus for Living the Future II include: 

• Partnerships: Within the organization; Outside the organization. 
• Information Literacy: Organizational changes and challenges; Structuring for new learning and teaching strategies; Developing learning communities. 
• New Services and Their Impact on Organizations: Customer focus; Performance measures; Needs assessment; Strategies and planning. 
• Human Resources Issues: Balancing health and work; Diversity; Team and staff patterns. 
• Organizational Changes:Leadership/management; Becoming a learning organization; Leading change; Physical Space; Organizational structure; Process improvement; Team concepts.

The goals of Living the Future II are:

• Learn, share experiences and ideas with others on how library professionalscan support higher education to be best be prepared to meet the challengesof the next millennium. 
• Initiate a dialogue on continuous learning and organizational change inacademic libraries by inviting juried, invited and keynote speakers andby holding many small group discussions. 

Provide a format for local and national library staff to create and exchange ideas on how to provide future and specific services to library customers.

In 1996 The University of Arizona Library held a conference entitled Living the Future: Process Improvement and Organizational Change at The University of Arizona Library. The conference was an attempt to accommodate the many inquiries The University of Arizona Library received after its initial reorganization in 1992. We wanted to share with colleagues our own successes and challenges as we transformed from an academic library of the 20th century into one that is preparing for the next millennium . 

The conference was well attended and appreciated: 

• There were 138 participants from the United States, Canada and Australia.
• With five being the highest score on a five point scale, the conference was given an overall rating of 4.3 by the attendees. 
• 87% of the individuals completing a conference survey said they would return to another conference at The University of Arizona.

Acknowledgements 

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