Management and the 21st Century Library

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Management and the 21st Century Library

• Ústav informacních studií a knihovnictví
• Univerzita Karlova v Praze

Barbara B. Moran University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill School of Information and Library
Science With Support from the Fulbright Scholar
Program 13.3.06
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The Library

• Is one of the oldest types of institutions
• Is in the midst of rapid change
• The changes mirror those going on in other
  institutions and in society as a whole

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Three Waves of Social Change
The Age of Agriculture
The Age of Industrialization
The Age of Information
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Most modern libraries arehybrid libraries

• They must move beyond their traditional role
  as custodians of books and integrate new methods
  of storage and transmission of information into
  an already existing structure.

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Modern Libraries
Link users
Information
Todays users expect more from libraries than
ever before
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Trends in Library Management
Todays Presentation will focus on

• Strategic Planning
• Organizational Structures
• Staffing
• Budgets
• Change Management

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The Importance of Planning

• Planning Bridges the Gap Between Where We Are Now
  and Where We Want to Be

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Futuristic Aspects of Planning Are Troublesome

• Because we live in a turbulent environment it
  is hard to make long-term plans

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Strategic Thinking

• provides a plan of action for resource
  allocation
• affects performance and financial success

Strategic thinking is an outgrowth of the open
systems approach to organizations. It is now
felt that you cannot successful manage an
organization without paying attention to the
environment.  
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The Strategic Management Process
Set Mission, Objectives, and Strategies
Analyze the Environment
Identify Opportunities and Threats

Analyze Resources
Identify Strengths and Weaknesses
Reassess Mission and Objectives
Formulate Strategies
Implement Strategies
Evaluate Results
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Environmental Scanning
Analyzing the Environment
Competitive Intelligence
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Strengths
Weaknesses
Threats
SWOT Analysis
Opportunities
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SWOT Analysis

• Strengths
• What are your advantages?
• What do you do well?
• Weaknesses
• What could be improved?
• What is done badly?
• What should be avoided?

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Opportunities Where are the good
opportunities available to you? Are there
trends that look promising? Threats
What obstacles do you face? What is
your competition doing? Is changing technology
threatening your position?
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Identifying Opportunities
Opportunities in the Environment
Organizations Resources
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Libraries have competitors so

• They are becoming more user oriented
• Are borrowing ideas from other organizations
  such as bookstores
• Are looking for value added opportunities
• Are finding ways to market their services
• Trying to improve services by measures such as
  benchmarking and LibQUAL

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Tools for Putting Strategy into Action
Environment
Organization
Leadership ? Persuasion
? Motivation ?
Culture/values
Performance
Structural Design
? Organization Chart
? Teams
? Centralization/decentralizat
ion ? Facilities, task design
Human Resources ?
Recruitment/selection ?
Transfers/promotions/training ?
Layoffs/recalls
Strategy
Information and Control Systems ? Pay,
reward system ?
Budget allocations
? Information systems
?
Rules/procedures
Source Adapted from Jay R. Galbraith and Robert
K. Kazanjian, strategy Implementation
Structure, Systems and Process, 2d ed. (St. Paul,
Minn. West, 1986), 115, Used with permission.
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Implementation
Evaluation
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Contingency Planning
Attempts to plan for the unexpected
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Trends in Organizational Structure

• Most libraries still hierarchies but with more
  communication between sections
• New departments to fill new responsibilities
• Some libraries using teams of workers
• New structures to reflect user orientation

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New Organizational Forms
New
OLD

• Collaboration
• Adaptable Duties
• Fewer Rules
• Informal Communication
• Decentralized Decisions
• Flatter Structures

• Rigid Hierarchy
• Fixed Duties
• Many Rules
• Formal Communication
• Centralized Decisions
• Taller Structures

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Team Approach
Most Popular New Way to Organize
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Team Organization

• Disadvantages of teams
• Dual loyalties and conflict
• Time and resources spent on meetings
• Fewer opportunities for traditional career
  advancement

• Advantages of Teams
• Reduced barriers among departments
• Quicker response time
• Better morale
• Reduced administrative overhead

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Staffing Issues

• Libraries are more automated than ever before but
  still are labor intensive organizations
• The staff is the librarys most important
  resource
• What characteristics do new hybrid librarians
  need?

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The New Hybrid Librarians Need to

• Have traditional library skills including a
  commitment to service
• Be technologically savvy
• Be flexible and able to cope with changes
• Be able to work cooperatively
• Be life long learners

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New trends in staffing libraries

• More flexible jobs and work patterns
• Coping with a diverse workforce
• Need for staff development

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New Ways to Structure Positions

• Job sharing
• Flexible hours
• Job rotation
• Telecommuting
• Outsourcing

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The Challenges of a Diverse Workforce

• Need new skills in managing workers from
  different cultural, linguistic, and national
  backgrounds

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Need for Staff Development

• Recruitment and retention (and salaries to match
  skills)
• All Librarians need to be life-long learners
• Where can they get additional training?
• Career ladders and means for progression within
  an organization

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Budgets and Finance

• Budgets are almost always too small
• We all seek ways to provide better services more
  economically
• Because most libraries are publicly funded we are
  accountable to the taxpayers

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Cost of all types of library material continues
to rise
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Libraries are coping with budget shortfalls by

• Entering cooperative partnerships to cut costs
• Looking for innovative ways to provide access to
  periodical literature
• Giving up some services to implement others
• Looking for champions and allies in the budgeting
  process and in fund raising

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Cooperative agreements and consortia

• TRLN
• NCLIVE

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New approaches to scholarly publications such as

• JSTOR
• SPARC
• Open Access

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It is sometimes necessary to cut services to
remain effective

• What are you doing that doesnt have to be done?

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Cultivate Champions for Libraries

• Politics of Management
• Create strategic alliances
• Cultivate sponsors and donors

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Librarians as Change Managers

• The cycle of change is never-ending so librarians
  need to accustom themselves to it
• Librarians need to handle change effectively to
  survive and thrive in todays environment
• The future for libraries can be an exciting and
  challenging one for those libraries that are both
  able and open to change.

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