Topic: Resilience engineering (RE) offers a powerful framework for designing processes that enable organizations to respond effectively to and learn from large-scale disruptions such as system outages, funding loss, natural disasters, and unexpected leadership transitions. While resilience is often viewed as a personal trait, resilience takes on new significance in RE’s systems approach, emphasizing the critical need for organizational-level resilience. This perspective is particularly relevant to libraries, whose operations and services are pivotal to institutional adaptability and sustainability.

This 90-minute interactive workshop will introduce participants to the principles of RE, exploring how its application can empower librarians to strengthen organizational resilience. Through real-world examples and participatory activities, attendees will gain practical strategies for integrating RE concepts into their daily work, highlighting how information work serves as a foundation for bolstering resilience at both the library and organizational levels.

Target Audience: mid-career or experienced librarians, particularly those in leadership or influential roles, who aim to enhance their library’s adaptability in the face of disruptions.

Summary of Workshop Objectives: Participants will leave this workshop with the knowledge to apply resilience engineering principles to enhance library services, develop strategies for building organizational resilience, and advocate for the evolving role of librarians in times of disruption.

Short Description of Interactivity: Participants will engage in hands-on, practical case studies designed to help them translate RE concepts into realistic scenarios, applying the concept to library services and broader organizational functions.