1. TECHNICAL SERVICES: CHANGING
WORKFLOWS, CHANGING PROCESSES,
PERSONNEL RESTRUCTURING…OH MY
Christine Fischer, Head of Acquisitions, UNCG
NCLA Biennial Conference
10/6/2011
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2. OUR ENVIRONMENT
 University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Established 1891
• Doctoral-granting, research-intensive institution
• Enrollment: 18,425
• Over 100 undergraduate, 61 masters and 26
doctoral programs
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3. THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
 Include main library (Jackson Library) and a
separate Music Library
 Affiliates: Multicultural Resource Center, Interior
Architecture Library
 Current holdings 3.3 million items
 Access to 44,000 journals electronically
 60 support staff and 34 librarians
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4. UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES:
PLANNING FOR CHANGING NEEDS
 Respond to user needs and suggestions (various
focus groups; LibQUAL 2008, spring 2012)
 Respond to the external environment in higher
education, academic libraries, publishing, and the
economy
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5. The Review
Process
throughout the
libraries
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6. Trends and
Emerging
Concepts Departmental
[12/2010] job/task
analysis
[1/2011]
Skills
Development Performance
[starting 8/2011]
Management
Plans
[new work plans
9/2011]
ClimateQUAL
[10/2011]
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7. SUPERVISOR:
RELAY WHAT YOU KNOW
 Be up front about
what is coming or
what you think might
be coming
 Encourage staff to
ask you or the
administration about
rumors
 Listen to staff
concerns and ideas
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8. LIBRARY-WIDE REPURPOSING
 Two staff positions  Two staff positions
moved to ERIT moved to SCUA
1. Digital projects 3. Special Collections
2. Support team 4. University Archives
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9. EFFECT ON ACQUISITIONS DEPARTMENT
(WHICH INCLUDES SERIALS)
FY2011 FY2012
9 staff 7 staff
1 librarian 1 librarian
2 positions reallocated to other departments
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10. STAFFING CHANGES
 Repurposed positions
 Binding/Serials to University Archives
 Gifts/Acquisitions to ERIT (Electronic
Resources and Information Technology)
Support Team
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11. THE PROCESS
 Staff reallocation
- Stress on employee and colleagues
- Sense of loss of control
- Grief over loss of former role
- Tension during transition
+ Opportunity to learn new skills
+ Sense of contributing to library goals
+ Chance to work with a variety of
colleagues
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12. MANAGING THE CHANGES
 Provide support
• Open communication & listening
• Involving staff in the process
• Setting clear goals
• Training
• Recognizing staff by showing that their
work contribution is valued
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13. THE DEPARTMENT’S NEW STRUCTURE
 Reassigned key responsibilities and essential
tasks (Career Banding)
 Provided training
 Informed all library employees of changes
 Updated departmental web pages
 Reevaluated procedures
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14. CONTRIBUTING FACTOR
Budget in FY2012
Collections budget reduced by $1MM
Current collections budget $2.8MM
Less material to purchase
and receive
(More reports to generate)
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15. …ANOTHER FACTOR
 Building renovation project
• One staff member’s office won’t move until new
SCUA space is available for use
• All related moves on hold
• Binding space
• Receptionist’s office
• Gift room
• Book sale
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16. CHANGE IS ONGOING
 Help staff manage in
an environment of
constant change
 Volunteer or
volunteered
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17. HOW TO DO MORE WITH THE SAME (OR
FEWER) NUMBER OF PEOPLE
 Faith and confidence in your staff
 Willingness to troubleshoot and tweak
workflows and procedures
 Lots of chances to have feedback
 Know when to move on with not much
looking back
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18. CONTRIBUTING OUR SKILLS
 Ebooks / print serials to e-resources
 Patron driven acquisitions
 ILL purchase on demand
 DVDs (instructional and entertainment)
 Copy cataloging
 Lease plans – popular titles / audiobooks*
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19. NEW ROLES: GETTING IT JUST RIGHT
 Keep the level of detail manageable so
as not to overwhelm
 Provide enough information or direction
to offer context and allow for success
 Getting it just right will vary from person
to person – enough to have pride and
ownership but not so much as to feel it
can’t be accomplished
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20. WHAT SHOULD WE STOP DOING?
 Each department prepared list of activities to consider
discontinuing
 Some activities were stopped immediately
 Selected activities up for further discussion
• Gifts processing
• Institutional repository tasks
• Applying purchases to pooled fund codes rather
than departmental (PDA, instructional films)
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21. MAKING IT A SUCCESS
 Training
 Developing integrated
workflows
 Resolving issues &
troubleshooting
 Improving efficiency
 Ownership
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22. RESOURCES
Chimato, Mary Carmen. “How an Economic Crisis May
Improve Your Management Skills: Strategies for
Making It Through Uncertain Times.” College &
Research Libraries News 70.6 (2009): 342-344.
Morrissett, Linda A. “Library Staff Reallocation: A
Humanistic Management Approach.” The Southeastern
Librarian 44.1 (1994): 12-15.
Taber, Anne Marie, and Mary Jane Conger. “Relevance
Recognized: Value-added Cataloging for Departmental
and Digital Collections.” Cataloging & Classification
Quarterly 48.6/7 (2010): 585-601.
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23. THANK YOU
Christine Fischer
cmfische@uncg.edu
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