Today we were talking about rockets.... as you do. Mr15 is pretty interested in space flights, rockets and related subjects so these things come up in our family conversations.
Anyway, I mentioned the Challenger disaster in passing and my husband found this video on the topic to show Mr15.
I remember this happening of course. We were in Germany at the time and a bit insulated from international news, but we had a little bit to do with some Americans who worked on the US bases there. Dad came home from work (Max Planck Institute für Physiologie) and said “The Americans have lost one of their rockets.”
The investigation into the disasters of Challenger and then Columbia exposed a number of problems, but one thing the video points out is the issue of the organisational culture at NASA and the effect this had on decision making and risk management. Librarianship has always been a risk adverse profession and one that likes to have rules around how we do things. (See also: fines, noise, reference only works). Many librarians work in complex organisations and in turn are influenced by the culture there. It is worth reflecting on the way organisational culture can hijack our thinking. Are our rules, policies, practices actually improving our services?
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