How do public library administrators generate and evaluate ideas for new services? A proposed model based on evidence from Cuyahoga County Public Library

Abstract

A library's ability to innovate remains crucial to its sustained success, yet our understanding of innovation at the library level is still underdeveloped. While we know that libraries (like most service providers) typically innovate through the adoption of technological and organizational innovations, few attempts have been made to conceptualize this process. After reviewing briefly the literature on innovation at the library level, this short paper reports on an exploratory case study of the generation and evaluation of new service ideas (i.e., service innovation's 'front end') by administrators at Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) in Ohio, a public library renowned for its innovativeness. From this case study a working model is proposed and supported with examples.