Embervision

Grow Your Team

A successful library is built on an effective team. Listen as Fiona reviews recruitment, induction training techniques and the importance of empowerment.

Saving 2km of shelf space! - UK 1911 Census online from today

Just thought I would let you know the latest news on Breakfast TV here in the uk - with the announcement this morning of the availability of the 1911 Census online.

Apparently 2 km of printed censuses have now been digitised - have to rush to work in 5 mins but it looks like pay-per-view and £3 per download - so you'd need to be keen.

However- the media coverage may cause a rush of interest in your genealogical resources - so perhaps a bit of key product knowledge training wouldnt go amiss in your library this week.

Must dash

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7816516.stm

Fi

Latest report on RFID from BIC

Launched at last week's RFID conference - the best conference to date;

http://www.bic.org.uk/e4librariesfiles/pdfs/081124%20library%20guide%20final%20rev.pdf.

 

 

We will be providing a round-up of the conference highlights - watch this space!

 

Fi

Rethinking spaces, rethinking staffing

Blackpool and The Fylde College: Rethinking spaces, rethinking staffing - new staff structure and roles for a technology-rich learning resource centre

An Excellence Gateway case study Published: 13 November 2008 This case study was produced by JISC RSC (Regional Support Centres) Northwest on behalf of the Excellence Gateway Sector relevance: Further education colleges Keywords: Improving institutional effectiveness, improving responsiveness to learners, libraries and learning centres, Beacon Award winner, management of resources, staff development Summary This case study focuses on how the staffing structure and roles have been redefined to meet the needs and challenges of ‘The Loop', a new technology-rich library and learning resource centre at Blackpool and The Fylde College. About Blackpool and The Fylde College Blackpool and The Fylde College is one of the largest general further education colleges in the north west of England providing further and higher education learning opportunities for local, regional and, in some cases, national client groups, stating a commitment to “providing high quality, flexible and easily accessible learning opportunities for individuals, organisations and the local community”. It operates from four major campuses and three learning centres located along a 17-mile stretch of the Fylde coastline. The College is an Associate College of Lancaster University and was designated a national Beacon of Excellence and FEFC Accredited College in 1999. It gained national Beacon Awards in 2003, 2005 and 2006, and has Charter Mark and Investor In People status. The College has three CoVEs in Customer Service Quality for Resort Tourism; Building Services and Automotive Manufacturing Engineering. The challenge When Chris McAllister at Blackpool and The Fylde College, led development of ‘The Loop', a new library and learning resource centre at their Bispham campus, she recognised that the existing staff structure and roles did not fit with the new technology-rich, learner-friendly development, and so began the difficult task of defining and introducing significant changes., Head of Learning Resources The activity By the time Chris McAllister was leading development of The Loop, she had already been working with two consultants on areas which would have a significant impact on the new development; with culture change and leadership development specialist, Fiona Emberton, on how self-service could make a significant difference to working practices, and with organisational development specialist, Alastair Mitchell-Baker from Tricordant, on the issue of staff structures. Chris had been considering the issue of staff structures and roles for some time. Having seen examples from elsewhere, where workers were demotivated through roles which involved repetitive tasks, she was particularly interested in a team structure where everyone is more or less on a par in terms of the duties and responsibilities they have, but therefore also have some enjoyable and meaningful tasks to undertake. The role of Learning Resources Adviser was introduced. Each member of the team performed this same role, which involved a diverse range of duties (including some routine tasks), and one member of the team was also designated as Team Leader. Responsibilities which all members of the team have range from subject liaison, which includes dealing with book stock for the subject areas they look after, through to direct contact with student enquiries on the floor, where the team are encouraged to ‘roam' in their contact with students and not simply remain at an information point. The new team has no term-time only posts, as was the case previously; this has had a big impact on ensuring that all the advisers feel they are a real part of the team, and means that no-one is likely to miss out on staff development and development time for new projects. This proved to be important, as Chris realised that development of the new centre inevitably meant introducing new systems and technology to meet the changing needs of learners, and to help the centre function effectively. Laptop loans, for example, have been introduced, requiring the development of a system to enable the advisers to administer the loans; also, the introduction of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, to enable students to loan library stock on a self-service basis, generated an enormous amount of work in tagging the stock, and it took a long time to get stock organised in subject areas on the shelving. Staff development has been (and still is) an important aspect of The Loop development, where not only has overall team development been necessary to introduce new systems and technology, but where individual staff development has been necessary to address that fact that the advisers come from different backgrounds, and therefore have not all worked with a full spread of library and learning resource duties before. To this end, Chris has accepted that the full programme of staff development for the team is a long-term process (two years). In the early weeks of The Loop being open, she spent time with staff on a regular basis discussing all aspects of making the centre and its systems as effective as possible. Regular communication in this way has enabled Chris and the team to be responsive to making changes and developments as the need arises. A typical example is the staff workroom, originally conceived as a ‘hot-desking' space, knowing that not all the team would be in there at any one time and some would always be on ‘frontline' duties in the centre. However, it became apparent that the team valued having their own workspace where they could leave new stock out without having to constantly move it around from desk to desk; it also became apparent that the team needed a room (haven) where they could feel comfortable after being on ‘frontline' duties dealing with students enquiries and issues. The outcomes Chris admits that the process of ‘decommissioning' the previous roles, and defining and introducing the new ones, has not been an easy process and was stressful for all those involved. Having overcome this difficult period and the opening term of The Loop she believes there have been overriding benefits including, for example, a higher grading for the team than any of them had in their previous roles, and the consistent Learning Resource Adviser role meaning that staff are capable of covering duties easily for leave and illness where necessary. The flat structure, where each member of the team has the same role, does not, however, prohibit individualism and creativity. Staff can undertake tasks in their individual ways where it suits, and Chris draws on the skills and experience of individual members of the team to address specific developments and challenges; for example, following a development day on social networking software, one of the team took the initiative in setting up a MySpace page through which students could recommend fiction for purchase, and music to be played in The Loop. The latter development also prompted a ‘Get it Loud in Libraries' live music project which has, amongst other things, attracted some students who would normally not have been likely to go into ‘the library'. In the new structure, ideas are encouraged and the team can play to their individual strengths. Importantly however, information and training for new systems and services are then cascaded where necessary to ensure that all the team are familiar with them and can deliver them. Encouraging ideas and creativity has meant that Chris and the team have had to take some risks, and Chris acknowledges that some developments have not worked and they have therefore had to make changes. But she doesn't think that such ‘failures' have had a detrimental effect on the team, firmly believing that in seeing her make, and learn from, mistakes along the way the team have been more open to suggesting and trying new ideas themselves. The impact So, how have students benefited from the new staff structure and roles? Chris says the students seem to have found it easy to use the self-service systems, such as RFID, and this has had the added benefit of releasing staff to help with student enquiries and issues which really need their input. The team highlight the sharing and cascading ethos as important, allowing “the students to benefit from a depth of knowledge from [staff from] diverse backgrounds”; also because they all have different areas of expertise “the team is very strong as a whole [and] there is usually a staff member here who can answer most questions asked of us”. But one of the biggest benefits for the students appears to be the enthusiasm and motivation of the team as generated through the new structure and roles. Typical comments from team members include the following: “My main enjoyment comes from answering student questions, being able to help them move on from that problem...” “[I am] excited about helping students to succeed with the best possible facilities.” “I enjoy working with an HE student one minute on a British Library loan request and then showing a student with learning difficulties how to use the free colour photocopier.” As advice for others who might be considering staff structure and role changes to suit new technology and technology-rich environments, Chris would recommend seeking the perspectives of others with wider and different experiences and expertise, such as the specialists she consulted, stating “don't expect them to make the decisions for you, but they can help you in making the right decisions”. Blackpool and The Fylde College is planning a new development on another campus. Typically, Chris sees The Loop not only as a development in its own right, but also as an important part of the learning process for the new campus development. Useful links Blackpool and The Fylde College website The Loop Learning Resource Centre webpage View rolling images of The Loop. TIP: Have you rated how useful this case study is? Use the star-rating facility, which features in the grey bar that runs across the top of every page of this site. (To rate a case study, or any page in the Excellence Gateway, you need to log in to the site first.) Disclaimer: The Regional Support Centres (RSC) and the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) support the development of educational e-learning. We may refer to specific products, processes or services. Such references are examples and are not endorsements or recommendations and should not be used for product endorsement purposes.

Friday night's all right - creating 'Place'

Reported in the UK papers this week is the reemergence of ‘infotainment’ in a more social setting than sitting in front of the TV. We have been following the development of social events such as Science Cafes and Book Bars where people meet in the evenings to join in sociable yet cerebral activity. In yesterday’s Observer newspaper (June 29) it was reported that cultural venues that stay open after ‘normal’ hours are seeing a ‘visitor boom…competing with traditional venues such as pubs’. Among the new venues were galleries, museums and libraries.

Apparently the Design Museum in London has seen an 800% rise in footfall when they opened in the evenings for the Creative Hong Kong event. This is not a new thing, just a reemergence of a once-common pastime. We often mention in out Innovation Seminars that sometimes we have to look back to the 1970s or even 18^th Century for great ways to improve the business. For example, on BBC radio last week, a segment describing the re-opening of the British Institute talked about the resurgence of a BI tradition of attending a high-calibre lecture on a Friday night dressed in formal evening attire with the attendees going on to dinner, the opera or other glittering occasion. The BI has been revamped to extend its capacity to educate and inform but the original lecture theatre still retains its gravitas and glamour and is intended for an updated Friday night event. I can just imagine young clubbers turning up  in their club gear for a grand lecture!

So what does this mean for your organization? Some of you have been installing wine bars ( we have just returned from designing a layout to incorporate a bar in the library which will help not only to attract new clients to the library but will significantly add to the life of the garden square onto which it spills out). Sydney City’s Customs House branch is open until very late with its very grand lobby holding key events and the Service negotiating deals for its members to make attendance at great events very accessible.[1].Some have been providing extended hours by only opening the lobby with basic services from 8am or after normal hours. This requires minimal staff and sometimes the back-up of some self service technology. Others have been turning their library into a ‘must visit’ venue with major artists and attractions on offer.

Whilst the home-spun activities are still of some value ( but not when you have to beg your aunties and friend to come to get an audience!) it’s good to see libraries aiming for the best they can offer for their clients in terms of events and attractions. The love of reading and desire to increase skills must go hand-in-hand with a great experience.

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[1] http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Library/LibraryNetworkAndMembership/MemberBenefits.asp

RFID - A means to your ends.

In this article, Fi underlines the importance of staff considerations for success in RFID implementation. 60% of your budget goes on staff costs. Attitude, behaviour and a new set of skills is as important as interoperability and IT issues. To secure maximum return on the investment, there are some important issues to take account of around devising strategic outcomes your project, your business case, staff learning and development and enhancing the customer experience.

The article is useful not only for those about to implement RFID but also those who are further down the track.

Pitching your project

OK - you have been seduced by the shiny mechanical toys that are RFID machines and you have decided that they can add to your Service. How to approach securing the funds necessary? Take great care not to over-promise, especially in ‘efficiencies’. Use it as an opportunity to enhance your organisation’s ability to delivery on its priorities. An example comes from one of our clients who based the strategy on providing privacy to those with health problems to borrow material they otherwise might not if faced with a staff member. This was in an area of high health problems. Another was a college with a high rate of overseas students and a smaller number of students with learning disabilities. Based on the RFID machines’ ability to offer a range of language options, simple operation and pictograms/video instructions – and to issue AV material – the college not only funded machines but a refurbishment of the Resource Centre.

In terms of efficiencies it is useful to acknowledge the work that your staff are currently unable to attend to because of being tied up in low level circulation work. This higher value work includes Web 2.0, community engagement projects, stock management and learning/development. Maximising that Human Resource makes economic sense. Try to put forward your funding bid in rational engineering language such as VFM (value for money) or ROI (return on investment). Be specific about what you can promise in return. And don’t forget the power of giving your execs and elected members chance to preen over your new look Service. Even in the simplest version of RFID implementation, the change is dramatic and signals a real change into a contemporary, customer focussed Service.

Another thing around efficiencies is the opportunity for you to refocus the Service and rid yourself of redundant or clunky processes around unnecessary stock movement/ handling, administration and rosters. Too often we see RFID being brought in to the exclusion of these issues resulting in staff remaining tied up in low level work. An holistic approach to the project whereby the team are provided with a new Vision and new set of roles will allow them to critique and revise old processes. When we worked with Cornwall Libraries the staff learned process review techniques that allowed the team to challenge current processes and release staff from low-value work.

An opportunity for staff development

The exciting thing about the information profession currently is the opportunity for a range of work. Only a few years ago, we were saying that the only alternative for a staff member was for front-line work as suppliers in the e-source and book industry took over cataloguing and processing. However, with the advent of Web 2.0, community engagement and customer involvement in decision-making around Services, there is an assured future for a good range of work in libraries and information centres. A leading London borough Service has not only made strong efficiencies for the Council but also has secured substantial funding for further projects that deliver on corporate priorities such as Web development (it’s great to see an information service wrestling back this key library function!) and community engagement.

In terms of the new skills, yes there will be some suspicion ‘on behalf of’ customers by staff that the technology doesn’t suit customers. There may be nervousness around de-skilling. A clear programme of staff re-skilling is required and a pragmatic look at what staff competencies really are. It is not good business sense to place staff with personality problems and lack of social skills into the front-line. Moreover it is a waste of valuable resources not to maximise your most sociable and well-informed staff for front-line duties. Use staff where they will thrive best. Paint a strong picture of the skills and attitudes they will need for the range of new roles ahead. In our staff programmes we expose staff to the new models devised by high-end retailers and service industries using a short walking tour or work experience.

The customer journey

Those of you with Charter Mark will be sharply aware of the refocus towards improving the customer experience through the physical and electronic libraries.  RFID allows choice for the customer; to be given in depth help from a staff member of to be left alone. In the ideal RFID scenario, the entrance to any library visit should be clearly promoting your business in large graphics, uncluttered by multiple messages, well lit and be intuitively simple to navigate. Staff presence is key; available but not obtrusive.  Simple changes to layout and zoning can simplify the customer journey at very little cost. However, it is staff training that will ensure these changes are properly communicated and more importantly maintained.

In conclusion

RFID allows you a more efficient Service but it is crucial that your clients see it as a better Service in order to maintain the reputation of your organisation. Staff are essential to this.

In focussing on their new roles, ironing out clunky processes and defining new possibilities for Service excellence you will deliver a successful project that will enhance your reputation and that of your executives and will strengthen your position within the organisation.

Taking the stress out of library visits

You may have heard of Library Elf - a little program your customers can use to remind you when books/items are due. Hamilton Library has customised it for their own use using their brand image - go and look @ http://www.hamiltonlibraries.co.nz/page/pageid/2145836298/Library_ELF_Alert_Service

When we said you need a 'Welcome'sign!.....

.... we didn't expect this!

Hamilton Library in New Zealand took our advice on improving their first impressions at the front door of Chartwell Library! We advise libraries to brighten up their entrance area, removing all clutter, notices (people don't read them) and book sale/ charity box material.

We have always been impressed with this Library Service and it's willingness to improve continually - so every visit ther is something new to see.

Healthier Options for Vending Machines

Trying to promote healthier eating is in most organisation's priorities now so selling fizzy drinks and chockies isn't going to win you any Brownie Points with your strategy advisors.

Spotted in Hamilton Library, North Island New Zealand on our last tour - a vending machine with apples, cheese and biscuits, tinned fruit and other healthy-ish snacks. Also available is water.

Has anyone else experience of this sort of thing? Here is the website of the NZ one.

http://www.healthychoice.co.nz/about.htm

Fi

Growing your influence

A strategy we suggest is the following;

1.     Identify your key stakeholders (your manager? Your Councillor?)  and what they may think of you. Tune into your audience’s priorities and understand their hot buttons.

2.     Talk in their language. If they come from a pragmatic, engineering-type background, talk in UoutcomesU, Value For Money (VFM) and Return on Investment (ROI).

3.     Ensure you have solid evidence to back up your assertions

4.     Describe your current situation

5.     Describe the desired situation

6.     Create three strategies to close this gap.

7.     Cost the options

8.     Explain the risk they leave themselves open to if no action taken

9.     Explain the benefit to them, not you, if they proceed with your option

10.    Recommend one option and reiterate the benefits - how it will bring them closer to their goal.

Your culture will not only depend on the quality of your team as a whole but also on the quality of the leadership.  Leadership happens at every level.

Thanks to Karen Mercer, Australia for the strategy model

Sound bites

What are your five 15 second sound bites? What is the benefit to the customer? Example from changing to RFID

Our library is providing better service now that the team can spend more time with our customers.

We aren’t tied up with checkout or check in.

We have been trained in more book and database knowledge.

We are doing important work we didn’t have time for before.

We can also maintain the stock better so that the customers can browse more easily.

Our new layout means you will be able to find things more easily.

The recently returned books have been hidden away for hours and now they are out on trolleys for you immediately. This means more books to choose from.

We are trying to reduce strain injuries – check in and checkout processes involve over 1500 motions per hour.[1]

There are no worries about privacy with the new system. Your data is safely housed in our library system and not in that tag. We do not archive borrowing information for any customer.

We will be able to track the books more easily and stock-taking will be faster.

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[1] Making Sense of RFID; Smart, Laura. Libraryjournal.com

Oct 15 2004

– quoting the San Francisco Library research.