The John L. Alford Case Library is an internationally recognised library of public sector cases and a unique resource centre for the advancement of interactive teaching. It recognises the outstanding contribution of Professor John Alford to the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. Not only has Professor Alford researched and published widely in public management, he has also been instrumental in establishing and building the case library, promoting interactive teaching methods, and developing and leading foundation teaching programs. Professor Shaun Goldfinch is the Director of the John L. Alford Case Library at ANZSOG.
5am, Wednesday 23 February 2011: Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) Chief Executive David Meates is standing in the car park outside Christchurch Hospital, a temporary triage site for the hundreds of people injured in the powerful earthquake that hit the city at 12.51 pm the day before. The death toll is steadily rising as recovery efforts continue. The hospital is a scene of purpose and activity in a setting of devastation. All buildings are still standing but all have sustained some degree of damage; 360 patients have been evacuated. Water and power have been cut off and the main service tunnel cannot function. Every aftershock (and there are many) heightens the sense of urgency and uncertainty and renews the need to assess the safety of services and buildings; every minute brings reports of new problems. ‘How can you be so calm?’ a colleague asks David Meates. He doesn’t hesitate: ‘We’ve been talking about this for years’. In 50 seconds, the earthquake has fast-forwarded Canterbury’s health system into its year 2020 scenario of constrained resources.
From Fast forward to a sustainable future for the Canterbury Health System 2015-164.1
Was the Chief Executive’s confidence assuring leadership, or audacity in crisis?How did he respond to the systemic problems he found at the hospital when he first arrived in 2009?In what ways, big and small, did innovation transform the hospital, and make it ready for the emergency?What was it about his leadership style that encouraged experimentation and collaboration?What did the Chief Executive do next?
This is one example of how ANZSOG cases put you in the room with decision-makers facing real public sector dilemmas.
The John L. Alford Case Library brings together carefully constructed ‘stories’ about public sector challenges, dilemmas, successes and failures.
All the cases are real, and every one of them enables you to ‘stand in the shoes’ of the decision-makers at their centre.
When used in executive and graduate classrooms to stimulate discussion and sharpen analysis, ANZSOG cases inspire students to apply their own experience and to give practical shape to key conceptual frameworks, and policy and management tools.
Created in 2004 to remedy the lack of public sector teaching cases relevant to Australia and New Zealand, the library is now the third-largest collection of public policy and management cases in the world, with nearly 200 cases covering a wide range of topics from all levels of government.
It offers users a regularly updated collection of catalogued cases, and is designed as a resource for both instructors using interactive teaching approaches, and for practitioners and researchers seeking authoritative accounts and analyses of important public policy and management issues. Each peer-reviewed case is expertly researched, and written lucidly in ANZSOG’s signature style. Many are accompanied by dedicated teaching notes and exhibits.
Unique among the great online case libraries of the world, the John L. Alford Case Library is an open access collection permitting case downloads free of charge. With the exception of our Teaching Notes, all material in the Case Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information on how you can use our cases please see ‘How to use the case library’.
Our library catalogue and collection is open to everyone, so why not start browsing now?
The ANZSOG Case Program researches and produces public sector teaching cases for, and curates, the John L. Alford Case Library, and contributes to the development of resources to support interactive teaching and learning in public policy and management. Professor Shaun Goldfinch is the Director of the John L. Alford Case Library at ANZSOG.
Contact us
For information on the Case Library, and to discuss new or potential cases, please contact Shaun Goldfinch, Director of the John L. Alford Case Library at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
For all other enquiries, including accessing Teaching Notes, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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