Streamlining Library Services

Librarianship is a service profession and not a bottom-line oriented business. As such, librarians don't normally assign a high priority to efficiency of operations; however, opportunities to improve daily jobs and enhance services are being overlooked every day. Advances in technology drive change at a rapid pace and keeping up is both expensive and time consuming. Tight budgets have made keeping up with technology especially difficult. And while some activities in libraries, such as in-person ready reference and circulation of books and journals have declined, many libraries continue to report increases in the demand for services and resources. The rapid transformation from paper to digital documents is also driving changes in libraries. Today the incentive for examining and streamlining library workflows and the processes and procedures that comprise them should be compelling, but that doesn't seem to be the case for many librarians. Streamlining Library Services presents library managers and staff with the tools necessary to analyze and streamline their library's services. It presents a variety of tools and techniques that can be applied to improve library operations and assist library staff in their efforts to identify what work is done, how much time it takes, and what it costs. These efforts can be used to streamline library processes and, where appropriate, help to free dollar resources to initiate or enhance services that merit higher priority.

Is it possible to both cut costs and improve public library programming for all ages? Yes, it is; this book demonstrates how. In their roles as community centers, public libraries offer many innovative and appealing programs; but under current budget cuts, library resources are stretched thin. With slashed budgets and limited staff hours, what can libraries do to best serve their publics? This how-to guide provides strategies for streamlining library programming in public libraries while simultaneously maintaining—or even improving—quality delivery. The wide variety of principles and techniques described can be applied on a selective basis to libraries of all sizes. Based upon the author's own extensive experience as well as that of colleagues in other library systems, this book provides readers with a practical, step-by-step approach to maximizing resources and minimizing costs of programming without sacrificing quality, as well as insider tips and examples from the field that will help them to avoid known pitfalls.

Is it possible to both cut costs and improve public library programming for all ages? Yes, it is; this book demonstrates how. In their roles as community centers, public libraries offer many innovative and appealing programs; but under current budget cuts, library resources are stretched thin. With slashed budgets and limited staff hours, what can libraries do to best serve their publics? This how-to guide provides strategies for streamlining library programming in public libraries while simultaneously maintaining—or even improving—quality delivery. The wide variety of principles and techniques described can be applied on a selective basis to libraries of all sizes. Based upon the author's own extensive experience as well as that of colleagues in other library systems, this book provides readers with a practical, step-by-step approach to maximizing resources and minimizing costs of programming without sacrificing quality, as well as insider tips and examples from the field that will help them to avoid known pitfalls.

Prologue : the power of a lean transformation -- Strategy one. Recognize that service performance is the key to customer retention -- Strategy two. Transform your change-resistant culture -- Strategy three. Understand how delivery service chains drive your library's performance -- Strategy four. Align your performance metrics with your delivery service chains -- Strategy five. Transform your new book delivery service chain -- Strategy six. Transform your customer holds/reserves delivery chain of service -- Strategy seven. Transform your cost control philosophy to a lean service improvement philosophy -- Strategy eight. Transform your overall library service performance metrics -- Strategy nine. Transform your digital research delivery service chain -- Strategy ten. Transform your delivery service chain from a "push" to a "pull" philosophy -- Strategy eleven. Think lean before the concrete is poured -- Afterword : lean continuous improvement -- Appendix : more lean tools.

This guide helps librarians improve service with easy-to-follow strategies and techniques to make physical changes in library space and streamline procedures. This librarian's guide provides recommendations for quick and easy implementation of space-improving, time-saving practices. It also discusses the fundamentals of business and engineering management, public health, and other disciplines as they directly relate to the improvement of library service and management. Detailing free and affordable adjustments to the library environment as well as information for those who will participate in a renovation or new construction project, the book features tips for creating functional, efficient, and productive spaces; procedures for streamlining routine tasks; methods for arranging materials in high demand; and ways of reconfiguring or planning spaces. It will provide librarians with a working knowledge of process management that will help them to strengthen their competence and build confidence to address and troubleshoot problems, freeing them to engage in more meaningful interactions and activities that benefit the community.

Using database-driven web pages or web content management (WCM) systems to manage increasingly diverse web content and to streamline workflows is a commonly practiced solution recognized in libraries to-day. However, limited library web content management models and funding constraints prevent many libraries from purchasing commercially available WCM systems. And, the lack of much needed technical expertise in building in-house WCM systems presents a great challenge for libraries of all types. Content and Workflow Management for Library Websites: Case Studies provides practical and applicable web content management solutions through case studies. It contains successful database-to-web applications as employed in a variety of academic libraries. The applications vary in scope and cover a range of practical how-to-do-it examples from database-driven web development, locally created web content management systems, systems for distributing content management responsibilities, dynamic content delivery, to open source tools, such as MySQL and PHP to manage the content. Issues and challenges associated with the development process are discussed. Authors will also discuss detours, sand traps, and missteps necessary to a real learning process.

Aimed at academic library practitioners, this book describes how e-reserve services can evolve and adapt to the changing virtual learning environment of higher education. New approaches discussed include: the integration of subscribed, free, and copyrighted resources within course management systems; innovative employment of open URL link resolvers to connect e-reserve with library e-resources and services; video streaming within course documents; and the creative use of bibliographic software to produce customized reading lists. New Approaches to E-Reserve includes detailed descriptions and extensive step-by-step illustrations in order to provide readers with the tools needed to implement the techniques covered within. These combine to offer practical insight into common issues faced by academic institutions worldwide. In addition to an overview of practices and an update on new developments in e-reserve, a discussion of strategy, policy and organizational change extends this book’s relevance to a much broader theme: the strategic management of current and future technological changes in tertiary education. Provides practical “how to advice, with appropriate illustrations Offers realistic suggestions for strategic moves to integrate services, respond to user needs, and collaborate with potential stakeholders within and outside the institution The authors possess wide-ranging skills in audio, visual and information services in academic libraries, administrative experience with organization change and up-to-date knowledge of technologies relevant to the academic library

In the years since John Huber’s trailblazing Lean Library Management was published, budget pressures on libraries have only increased. Yet libraries who have adopted his strategies have turned conventional management thinking—that if budgets are reduced, customer service suffers—on its head. These libraries have proven that by streamlining and improving customer services, they can eliminate wasteful activities and bring down costs. In The Purpose-Based Library, Huber and seasoned public library administrator Potter build on insight gleaned from decades of experience to demonstrate how libraries can create real growth opportunities through concentrating on their true mission and purpose, and without spending a lot more money. With a focus on putting ideas into action, they point the way towards New ways to think about metricsReexamining customer self-driven servicesEffectively leveraging the considerable footprint of librariesIdentifying and assessing community needs and realigning library services accordinglyActively encouraging community fundraisingOffering cutting-edge services and programsPacked with boots-on-the-ground commentary, this book presents strategies to help libraries survive and succeed.