An audit of change management process in library system migration at Africa Nazarene University Library

Abstract

Colossal empirical literature suggests that change management is amongst the leading factors that determine the success or failure of a system migration. In 2006 Africa Nazarene University Library began automating its services, however implementation of the system experienced some challenges, the library was still relapsing back and forth from manual and partial automated library system, implying that it had not fully realised the benefits of an automated system. By the time of carrying out this study a number of its functions were yet to be automated and the causes of this limited performance of the library system had not been established. The aim of this study was, therefore, to audit the change management process at Africa Nazarene University library systems migration with the intention of proposing measures that can optimize the change management efforts. To achieve this, the study sought to: establish the reasons/drivers for migration from the manual to the automated system at the library; examine the phases of the migration process, assess the support system in place for the library system migration; determine staff and users perception and response to the migration process; seek out the change management challenges experienced by the library during the migration; and propose a strategy for successful system implementation. Jick’s Todd 10 step model of change management was used as the theoretical framework. A post-positivist philosophical stance embedded in a data transformation mixed method approach was adopted. Purposive and non- proportionate sampling methods were used to draw a sample size of 298 constituting of library staff, ICT staff, faculty members and students from a population of 1060. The study used descriptive and thematic analysis to analyze the data and tables, figures, narratives, and excerpts to present the data. Resounding previous findings, the study established that chief reason for the migration was the desire to enhance the operations and delivery of services, notwithstanding that the new system was a donation. The migration process was, however, unstructured and unplanned. The study concludes that the library’s change management maturity level is considerably low and because of the library’s contextual uniqueness, an off the shelf change management approach cannot wholesomely be adopted. Consequently, the study recommends that the library adopts a strategic change management plan that addresses both continuous and discontinuous change and that outlines both strategic and functional capabilities requirements has been developed and proposed for the library. A framework of the suggested strategic change management plan that takes cognisance of the ANUL context has been developed and proposed for adoption.