{"id":8799,"date":"2026-03-04T10:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acohen.com\/blog\/?p=8799"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:42:04","slug":"reframe-the-situation-with-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acohen.com\/blog\/reframe-the-situation-with-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"Reframe the Situation with Courage"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a concept that runs through every successful library project I have been part of, though it rarely appears in the programming, technical specification documents, manuals or the space utilization spreadsheets. Ranjay Gulati, professor at Harvard Business School, calls it Courage<\/strong>. He describes five strategies for driving bold action amid uncertainty, and when I read them, I recognized each one as a principle I have watched succeed \u2014 and watched fail \u2014 in library planning engagements across four decades of practic.\u00a0 Reframing it today, I think Courage is a key concept.\u00a0 Courage to embrace technology \/ courage to protect the past and courage to plan for the future.\u00a0 It makes a difference when you reframe the situation with courage.<\/p>\n

The library that needs to change almost always knows it needs to change<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Bravery Is a Choice<\/h2>\n

Gulati’s first principle is direct: bravery is a choice. It is not a personality trait distributed unevenly among administrators. It is a decision, made or deferred, every time a provost looks at a library that has not been renovated in twenty years and decides whether to\u00a0reframe the situation with courage.<\/p>\n

In library space planning, that choice manifests in the willingness to conduct a genuine needs assessment \u2014 one that does not simply confirm what leadership already believes, but surfaces the actual conditions of the building, the collections, the seating capacity, and the service model. The three foundational variables in any library program are seating, collections, and staff operations. Each one can be measured. Each one can be compared against peer institutions. Each one tells a story that requires courage to hear and act on.<\/p>\n

The inadequate library \u2014 the one where students sit on floors during finals, where bookstacks crowd out study space, where staff work in conditions that predate the internet \u2014 is not a mystery. It is a documented condition. What it requires is not more data. It requires someone willing to say: this is not acceptable, and here is what we are going to do about it.<\/p>\n

\"challenges<\/a>
challenges of the status quo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Create a Positive Narrative<\/h2>\n

The second strategy is to create a positive narrative \u2014 for the library, for the community it serves, for the institution that funds it.<\/p>\n

This is not spin. It is programming. When I work with a school, college or university library, one of the first exercises is to articulate what the library does well and build the case for investment from that foundation.\u00a0 Some people call this a SWOT analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats). Appreciative inquiry \u2014 the methodology of starting with strengths rather than deficiencies \u2014 is not merely a design thinking technique. It is a strategic design thinking tool for building the coalition<\/strong> that any significant library project requires.<\/p>\n

The learning space, when it functions well, is one of the most compelling narratives in higher education. It is a stage for student success. It is the third place that Ray Oldenburg described \u2014 neither home nor classroom, but the social infrastructure where community forms. Passmore Edwards understood this in the nineteenth century when he built learning spaces for miners in Cornwall. The argument has not changed. What has changed is our ability to document the return on investment: studies consistently show that students who use the library frequently perform better academically and are more likely to graduate.<\/p>\n

Build the library plan with data, and then build it again with stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cultivate Confidence Through Best Practices<\/h2>\n

Confidence in any role, Gulati argues, comes from studying and applying best practices. In library space planning, this means knowing the standards \u2014 not as constraints, but as instruments of advocacy. Knowing the best practices and strategies for success.<\/p>\n