Improving Efficiency With ILLiad 8.0

The Document Delivery department of Tisch Library at Tufts University recently upgraded from ILLiad 7.4 to 8.0. This upgrade incorporated a major design change in the staff interface, requiring staff to relearn various processing functions. This article discusses the ILLiad 8.0 interface changes that have helped streamline staff workflows. It exemplifies a successful implementation of ILLiad 8.0 that improved current functions and increased efficiency.     

Early Literacy and the Public Library: An Opportunity of a Lifetime (of Reading)

In this article, author Bill Ptacek says that the future is now, and, at least from the 1970s through today, in the field of early childhood work, the future has come so fast that it is constantly upon us. That reality means that those concerned about young children in libraries have been about adaptation on a continuing basis. In this world of rapid change, innovation is constant: City firefighters come to the libraries in uniform to read stories to children, library outreach specialists take programs to daycare centers in their communities, and staff members create a space in a library devoted to early childhood reading. This tradition of rapid change means that the early childhood staff of most large public libraries in North America is changing for the future on a regular basis. The work unit should be considered seriously as one model for 21st century public library reform.     

Phased Migration to Koha: Our Library's Experience

Landman Library is two-thirds of the way through a three-stage process of migrating to the Koha open-source integrated library system (http://koha-community.org). We are an academic library with roughly 143,000 volumes, six professional librarians, and three support staff. The migration to open source was driven by the desire to access our own data as well the need for more flexibility in our public search interface. After evaluating two open-source solutions, we selected Koha because it included modules for all major functions of the library. The phased migration process allowed us to spread costs out over multiple fiscal years and to make the most urgent changes sooner than would have otherwise been possible. The two phases that we have completed so far have taught us various lessons about project management, problem solving, and communication between the library and IT. We learned to involve stakeholders very early, provide specific examples when reporting problems, and have a designated liaison between library staff and developers. We successfully migrated to the Koha staff client on June 1, 2009, and are working on changes to our Web site to incorporate the Koha public catalog.     

How Web 2.0 is Changing the Nature of Museum Work

Abstract George Brown Goode, a former Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian in the late 1880s, said that the nature of museum work is not only knowledge creation, but also knowledge dissemination, and, ultimately, learning: “The museum likewise must, in order to perform its proper functions, contribute to the advancement of learning through the increase as well as through the diffusion of knowledge” (1991, 337). Elaine Heumann Gurian noted that: “The use of the Internet will inevitably change museums. How museums respond to multiple sources of information found on the Web and who on staff will be responsible for orchestrating this change is not yet clear. The change, when it comes, will not be merely technological but at its core philosophical” (2010, 95). The catalyst for this change—and for accelerating the pace of change—is Web 2.0.     

"Panic Is Setting In" :

The reference desk is a busy place at the best of times. To keep things running smoothly, effective means of staff communication are essential. One of the simplest ways for staff members to keep each other informed about departmental affairs is through the use off a reference desk log. Entries from the logs of two contrasting academic libraries reveal that while each library has its own unique character, they also have much in common.     

Old Problem for New Reasons

Summary

Evening staff members of the Research and Information Services Department (RISD) at the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries have recently noticed an apparent increase in the use of the library by people perceived to be mentally ill. RISD staff members have found themselves in some ways unpreparedtorespond comfortably to this change. This paper, a case study, proposes reasons for this increased visibility of mentally ill people, and describes the challenges the staff members faced and how they overcame them. The RISD staff members acquired the knowledge and confidence they need to work with mentally ill people through communication among colleagues, review of the literature, and staff training.     

Mandate for change: merging acquisitions and cataloging functions into a single workflow

In 2001, The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Libraries cataloging and acquisition units merged to become a larger totally integrated department, renamed Bibliographic Services. Historically, acquisitions and cataloging functions were managed separately, although initial pre-order cataloging procedures were in place since late 1993. Prior to the merger in 2001, cataloging staff selected and exported MARC records in advance of the ordering functions performed exclusively by acquisitions staff. Library administrative personnel, concerned with the persistent lag time from receipt of the order card to actual receipt of the item, mandated change. After implementing new procedures and streamlining workflow, a sample analysis of productivity and fill rates for two fiscal years, before change and after, demonstrated significantly that cataloging at point of order is desirable in providing faster delivery of new materials.     

Mandate for change: merging acquisitions and cataloging functions into a single workflow

In 2001, The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Libraries cataloging and acquisition units merged to become a larger totally integrated department, renamed Bibliographic Services. Historically, acquisitions and cataloging functions were managed separately, although initial pre-order cataloging procedures were in place since late 1993. Prior to the merger in 2001, cataloging staff selected and exported MARC records in advance of the ordering functions performed exclusively by acquisitions staff. Library administrative personnel, concerned with the persistent lag time from receipt of the order card to actual receipt of the item, mandated change. After implementing new procedures and streamlining workflow, a sample analysis of productivity and fill rates for two fiscal years, before change and after, demonstrated significantly that cataloging at point of order is desirable in providing faster delivery of new materials.     

A Study of the Variables Influencing Academic Library Staff's Attitudes Toward Marketing

This article aims to present an insight into some of the factors influencing the attitudes of academic library staff in three UK university libraries toward marketing and how these factors could be incorporated into an existing model. An online questionnaire about attitudes to marketing and personality was completed by 54 academic library staff from three UK universities. Four academic library management staff were also selected for in-depth interviews. The results indicated that academic library staff have a positive attitude toward marketing and feel that it is vital in the current environment. The research found that personality factors such as extroversion and openness to change, experience and training influenced marketing attitudes. It also revealed that academic library staff were unclear of the definition of marketing, leading to a possible misunderstanding and mistrust of the terminology. The research discovered a gap in marketing knowledge and understanding that must be addressed for marketing success to be achieved. The findings supported the definition of marketing for individual academic libraries as a prerequisite to strategic marketing planning and the importance of considering the attitudes of staff when implementing marketing strategy.     

网络环境下高校图书馆人才建设刍议

信息网络化对传统高校图书馆和馆员带来的冲击，要求网络环境下高校馆的社会角色，职能，馆员角色发生转变，本文结合我国高校馆目前队伍状况，阐述了人才建设的迫切性和人才建设的途径，方法及措施。     

Getting Staff Involved in Providing Community Information

Staff involvemcnt with community information starts at the administrative level with planning and commitment. Part of the planning process is assessing what other agencies in the community are doing to provide community information, and determining the library's role in this process. It should be clear to staff that providing information about community resources is a legitimate part of the total information service offered by the library, not a nonEssential extra-work addition. Staff training is an ongoing process, and an essential part of becoming comfortable in using this community resource file. The skills which administrators bring to the implementation of a new service say a great deal about how they manage any change. If initial planning has been well thought out, adequate training offered, and communication good between public service staff and those responsible for coordinating the service, staff acceptance and use of the new service should be high.     

Awareness of,and Attitudes Towards the Paradigm Shifts Among Library and Information Science (LIS) Faculty Staff in Zimbabwe

The study is informed by the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. The integrative theoretical approach allowed for methodological pluralism and enabled the researcher to discuss two distinct types of change, namely evolutionary change and revolutionary change. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed. The qualitative methodology was dominant, while the quantitative methodology was supplementary. The study integrated case study and survey research methods within a single research design. Respondents in the case study were surveyed using survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The population of the study comprises all LIS faculty staff, Deans/Heads of Departments (HODs) in higher education institutions (HEIs) offering LIS education in Zimbabwe. The study found that LIS faculty members have high awareness levels and optimism about paradigm shifts in the fields of library and information science. Despite this awareness, knowledge and optimism, LIS faculty staff are victims of paradigm effects and paradigm paralysis. This suggests that for any change initiatives to succeed, LIS faculty members need to break the chains of paradigm effects and paralysis. Until the chains are broken no meaningful evolutionary or revolutionary change can happen in LIS education and training in Zimbabwe. The findings provide fundamental information for decision makers at national and institutional levels. The information can be used for the purpose of analysis, advocacy and strategic planning for educational reforms.     

Public Library Futures—Reality—Recognition—Reimagination

The author of this article recognizes that massive and rapid change is a continuing feature in big libraries, and many of the changes are new: A social worker is a full-time staff member who helps other staff to sort out and deliver the best possible services to vulnerable populations, health care specialists who help plan health programs and provide direction to staff referrals to needed medical services, and librarians specially trained to help early childhood users prepare to be good learners in school. Working on this change agenda, library staff have learned that the library’s future work is not bound up by the limits of its “stuff” (i.e., owned or rented materials) or buildings but rather to the many communities of Philadelphia people whose economic, social, and cultural needs needed to be met.     

Change management in extremis: A case study

After 40 years under one manager, the Circulation Department at the Richard J. Daley Library was long past due for a change. The challenge of reorganizing included interesting and interrelated aspects: changes to workflows and assignments, moving staff and functions inside the department and across departments, and a deep dive into the culture to which staff had become habituated. Managers eliminated redundancies and increased services, effectiveness, productivity, and joy. This case study is a testament to how successful change happens with patience, respect, and a willingness to be flexible.     

Automating the nexus of book selection,acquisitions and rapid copy cataloging

The authors describe their experience at the University of Washington Libraries automating monographic selection, acquisitions and rapid copy cataloging workflows through the use of a book vendor’s online selection and ordering database and OCLC’s PromptCat service. Benefits to selectors, acquisitions staff and copy cataloging staff are listed, and a checklist of issues to examine before beginning such a change is provided.     

Are we “out of the box” yet? A case study and critique of managerial metaphors of change

A cultural‐critical approach is used to explore dominant and alternative ideologies of change reflected in the metaphors of a retail‐based management staff. The case study reveals the managers as change agents were well versed in the corporate call to “get out of the box, “yet reflected a less transformational vision of change in their own discourse. Traveling metaphors used by the store‐level managers indicated a process orientation to change, but one that severely limited discussion about other possible routes toward the desired end. Suppressed alternative metaphors speaking to the personal losses and frustrations associated with change are exposed and validated in this analysis. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Intentional Civility

The meaning of civility is culturally dependent—as are the rules associated with the term. If museums and their staff want to welcome all peoples, then the rules of civil behavior have to change to reflect that intention. Yet museums have mostly lived with the traditional, class‐dependent notion of etiquette. The area that the concept of civility should be concerned with covers our interactions in spheres generally considered separable: public behavior; staff behavior; content behavior; community relations. Museums would do well to examine those behavioral elements that have been assumed to be self‐evident: like not talking in the library (whereas there are now talking‐based rooms). Normative behavior is always changing, but interestingly, as it changes, it generally remains mostly in the service of peaceful outcomes. I am suggesting that direct interrogation of our unexamined rules about interactions with each other in every context—and adjusting them to reflect a changed society—might be more significant than previously assumed.     

Collection management at heythrop College: The contribution of the academic staff through the medium of individual library interviews

The library of Heythrop College, University of London, has a number of unusual features which influence the management of the collection. To date, however, it has operated without a formal collection management policy. As a contribution to the process of producing such a policy, the study described asked key questions about the role of the Library and the resources available to through interviews with the most influential stakeholders, the academic staff.

On the basis of interviews with the twenty‐nine permanent staff and seven other key stakeholders, expectations about the role of the Library were considered and the fitness of the collection for the purposes required of it are assessed. Some specific issues raised by the interviews, affecting the Library's collection management, are considered. In particular the provision of multiple copies, electronic resources and the ‘explosion’ of publishing are discussed. The usefulness of the staff interview as a collection management tool is also examined.     

The adoption of self-check technology in UK academic libraries

Self-check technology in libraries enables users to issue and return library material thus potentially allowing libraries to change the way in which they operate, particularly with respect to the roles of their staff. This paper summarises the conclusions of a project that set out to determine why libraries are investing in self-check equipment and what is being achieved through the application of the technology. An extensive questionnaire was sent out to 127 UK university libraries, of which 59% responded. Case studies of six libraries that had invested in self-check were also undertaken. The study shows that libraries investing in the equipment justify the expense for service or staff related reasons. Of respondents, 76% stated that self-check had resulted in a significant positive change to the operation of their library. Libraries must set clear goals when adopting self-check, and must continually work towards their objectives. Although the implementation of self-check can be problematic, libraries that have invested heavily in the technology, particularly with respect to its promotion and increasing compatibility with stock, have produced successful results.     

Every Step You Change: A Process of Change and Ongoing Management

ABSTRACT

Established services have the benefit of experienced and knowledgeable staff, confirmed money streams, designated space and resources, and recognized links to users and stakeholders. So when change needs to happen, it requires a great deal of patience, skill, and an unwavering belief in a better future. After more than 30 years operating in a large academic institution, a distance education (DE) library service needed change. Services needed to be added, resources needed to be improved, and overall processes needed to be streamlined and upgraded. This article will reveal the dramatic changes that occurred over the span of 6 months to change this service from an office literally drowning in paper with a “this-is-the-way-we've-always-done-things” orientation to a new paperless service with a Web-based request, monitoring, and statistical tracking system. Screen shots demonstrate how staff track requests and keep separate records for library and distance education departmental reporting purposes.