Denise Pan, University of Colorado Denver Auraria Library
Rick Lugg, R2 Consulting
R2 Consulting made recommendations to the Auraria Library for reorganizing. This session was devoted to technical services and began with a focus on how E-resources have changed have changed the the work and what skills and tools are needed. Knowing that 75-80% of the libraries acquisitions budget is spent on e-resources, the question becomes, "Why is only 20-25% of the technical service staff working with e-resources?"
E-resources are the mainstream, but since they can't be seen on desks and take up no physical space many don't see the work involved. Yet they take the highest priority in getting into the catalog and keeping them working. What in the print world was covered by 3 vendors, now is spread over all the publishers, the simple purchase is now a negotiated deal with a license and the check-in has changed to access issues.
Changing work in TS include:
- Quantity - size and variety of "batches" of materials
- Erosion of consolidated workflows
- Profession and industry won't stop changing
- Complexity of deals, resources, packages
- Cross-departmental tasks
- Invisible workloads and workflows
- Timing and task tracking: can be months between steps
Overall the skills needed are more involved and the tools are still new or being developed.
The Pain Points include the complexity of the processes, the need for new skills and new systems, new vendors/providers, and multiple access paths to maintain.
Auraria Library dealt with the changes through 3 phases. In the first one they identified the expert - who knows the work and the issues involved. Phase two was the "Wailing and gnashing of teeth" as staff were re-purposed to the new tasks, learned the new systems and the new tools involved. Phase three is the dispersion of tasks or a de-centralization of the work.
But how does this happen? Denise Pan provided some insight to re-framing the work and creating a collaborative workplace, based on Maureen Sullivan's writings on appreciative inquiry. Pan met with each of her staff to talk about their current roles, their strengths, their work desires and how she could help them combine those desires into what tasks were needed. She talked about collaborative work, training each other and having meaningful communication. She also spoke on Shared Leadership or creating staff who are able to flexibly move in and out of leadership roles.
While they are still in the process of training people for the e-resource work, the way Pan is approaching it was creating a harmonious learning organization structure that respects each persons individuality while letting them collaborate with others to learn new skills.
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