Product Owners at Hesburgh Libraries: Increasing Stakeholder Engagement and Accountability through Continuous Organizational Enhancement

The hierarchical decision making structure of academic libraries and consequently established cultural norms can affect the implementation of project management, hindering effective stakeholder engagement and ongoing ownership of and accountability for library products and services. The Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame offers a strategy for navigating structural issues which emphasizes making incremental organizational changes that empower agile decision making responsive to stakeholder demands at appropriate levels. This study, a discussion of the Libraries’ experience, focuses on the implementation of one specific role designed to improve the development and maintenance of library products and services, the product owner.