April 1, 2010
One of the projects I have been working on over the pas several months is the move of the Migel Library from the AFB to the American Printing House for the Blind. What an incredible challenge this has been.
The amazing thing is that this collection is well-known throughout the world of Blindness Education. I began the project with an inventory and we have progressively moved forward towards digitization planning and access methods.
I don’t think it would have been easier to start completely from scratch but reassessing an old collection in a new environment presents it own unique set of opportunities. Not everything is inventoried and thus some cataloging needs to occur. The cuttering on the call numbers in certain sections in minimal to say the least so we have the opportunity to cutter 15 books that have the call number 1596 S. And those are just a few examples of the molding that is taking place.
The great thing about this project is the passion and respect the organization and the wider community has for it as a whole. The wealth of information contained in the Migel is nearly unfathomable. It contains cultural, social, and educational information. Fiction and non-fiction.
Developing the processes that will allow this library to be used by the greater public, minimize the staff time necessary to maintain it and grow the collection allows me to think broadly from a variety of perspectives.
One thing has been very clear in this work, fitting the processes and policies to the APH and the Migel Library missions is critical step number one. Without that basic guidance making the collection accessible would be more difficult. Understanding the mission and goals for this collection and the future plans for it, guides the work we do and the policies we set. If you are working on a project that has limited future resources it is appropriate and necessary to plan that project according to those future constraints.
by Constance Ard April 1, 2010
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Information Management | Tagged: Library Digitization, Library Management | 
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Posted by answermaven
March 25, 2009
This Information Week article by Mary Hayes Weier gets to the heart of library business.
Budget cuts and increased usage at the NYPL make the newly implemented BI (Business Intelligence) system a timely innovation. Applying the principles of business with accurate metrics will assist in having the ultimate cuts be well-informed business decisions rather than relying on gut instincts.
Ms. Weier does a great job of discussing how the system tracks time of visits and circulations numbers. Go to her article for the details. It may help you think about your own tough decisions in a new light.
Considering that budgets everywhere are being cut, I find it inspiring that NYPL is employing solid BI principles to run the library. This is truly, a business model.
I am a huge proponent in applying business practices to libraries. (I’m even presenting a workshop on Business Plans for Libraries next week.) Seeing business methods applied at one of the largest public libraries in the U.S. is incredibly encouraging.
If you are facing budget cuts and the ultimate necessity of staff and/or service cuts, employing careful metrics is a great starting point. My own local public library began the new calendar year with no Sunday hours. It’s inconvenient for me but better than cutting the evening hours that I use more often.
I appreciate the confidence that business analytics can bring to tough service decisions in today’s library. Probably not every library can or needs to deploy a BI system such as that used by NYPL. However, if you are a library, you are collecting statistics. Are you collecting the right ones? Now might be a good time to reexamine which metrics you are and should collect. And the best tip of all: measure services to justify and quantify based upon your supporting organization’s mission.
Using those metrics will allow you to run with the big dogs, aka the CFO, CEO and CIO
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Posted by answermaven
February 22, 2009
Recently there have been a lot of staff lay-offs in the world of law firms. I know several people personally who have been downsized or restructured out of long-time positions that probably felt pretty secure, even during these trying economic times.
When I was approached last week by a friend and colleague to serve on a panel at the upcoming SEALL Conference, I had to think long and hard about whether or not I was really the best person for the job, in my own opinion.
I’ve been out of the law firm world for nearly a year now. Working as an independent consultant with a strong legal background is my gig. However, after discussing this opportunity with friends and trusted advisors I felt that I could offer some useful advise on the topic at hand. As I learn more details about the other panelists and their message, I hope to add to the wisdom being offered with some out-of-the box observations.
One thing that always amazes me about ecomic crunches is that people are willing to sacrifice some of the golden rule incentives in order to have the assurance of a job. This post really hits home the idea that managers have a responsibility to be sensitive to the economic issues and the challenges surfacing in this new era of work. Making work less miserable despite the challenge of doing more with less is the manager’s responsibility.
Managing well goes a long way in retention of talented workers. This very well may be one of the observations and/or discussion points in my SEALL panel presentation. The above referenced post certainly gave me strong food for thought.
I must say that work teams are affected in both directions bottom-up and top-down. Working through that phenomenon is a challenge indeed.
Constance Ard February 22, 2009
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Posted by answermaven
