Outsourcing as a change management tool in libraries and documentation centers

Purpose – Outsourcing is a tool that has been used in companies for decades. However, it has taken much longer for this tool to be implemented in libraries and documentation centers, especially since they are eminently public entities at an international level. The use of such services has increased in recent years and has been especially heightened by the economic crisis in all areas of the aforementioned centers. However, it is important to understand the basis of this type of tool in order to look beyond the fiscal and economic benefits and attempt to see the possibilities provided by the use of these types of services for improving the dynamics of organizations and even creating new professional profiles within the organization itself This study aims to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The outsourcing of services need not always lead to a loss of know‐how, and when working from the heart of the organization it is a tool that can even be used to support a culture of change and the revitalization of organizations less likely to change. Findings – The technological, economic and sociological challenges of the information society are demanding the development of new ways to manage human resources in organizations, ways that allow for a greater degree of flexibility leading to innovation and the strengthening of competitiveness. Consequently, there is a need to adapt to the demands of society with services that in many cases are not performed by the entity itself due to a lack of specialized resources within the organization. Originality/value – Many organizations and especially public institutions do not renew their staff regularly, and thus it is possible to encounter organizations where the average age of the employees has increased as the entity has got older. Although such entities are acknowledged for their prestige and experience, there is a clear lack of new ways of thinking which would enable the organization to advance, above all in technological areas where innovation and change are extremely transient. Therefore, a mixed staff is needed, where the knowledge of the organization and processes held by employees who have been with the company since its foundation is combined with the new knowledge and ways of understanding processes held by new recruits. This leads directly to a change in the values of the organization, since the incorporation of new ideas in process management and the incorporation of technologies, allowing for a more cooperative environment, can end up creating an organizational culture with renewed values, always safeguarding the initial core values of the organization and including the new values generated from the incorporation of new ways of working.