LLN General Management & Planning Articles

January 2008 Peer Panel

The topic this month is (what else?) New Year’s Resolutions. We asked the Peer Panel to share their resolutions with us—not the more intimate personal ones, but the ones that deal with the success of their libraries, their contributions to this success, and the general well-being of all libraries. I think you will find their responses both thoughtful and relevant.

Holt Perspectives

December 3, 2007: Library Economic Issues in the New M edia Era
As the old media becomes the new media (and a few other changes occur), libraries are not immune from the challenges, and possibly the ravages, brought about by all of this. In this very thoughtful article, Glen Holt makes these challenges abundantly clear and invites library leaders to take action.

November 6, 2007: Hiring the Right Associates
As a prequel to the November Peer Panel, I asked Glen Holt to set the stage with a few of his thoughts on hiring. I think you will enjoy his comments, as we look forward to the further thinking of the panel.

October, 2007 LLN Peer Panel

The theme this month is “Trading Places.” We have been covering some fairly serious topics of late, so we thought it would be good to have a little fun. We thus asked our intrepid panel to Imagine that you have just been recruited to run a library of a different type (e.g., you are moving from an academic to a public library or vice versa). Please share your thoughts on what you will do differently, as well as what will remain the same. In other words, what do you think works in any venue, and what needs to change as venue changes? In answering these questions, think in terms of areas such as:

Planning
Staffing and organization
Marketing and communication
Development
All other areas of leadership and management

April, 2007 LLN Peer Panel

The topic for April is Reengineering. As you know, the concept of reengineering has been with us for ages, and it appears to be having a renaissance of late, especially in library circles. Not unlike a lot of terminology that emanates from the McKinseys and Booz-Allens of the world, reengineering is often used to identify a very broad spectrum of activities, so for Peer Panel purposes, we used this definition:

“Reengineering involves changing an organization’s structure and job responsibilities to improve service levels and/or increase an organization’s efficiency.”

Armed with this definition, we asked the panel to:
Share your experiences (direct or indirect) with library reengineering projects
Offer your advice on reengineering to those who are considering it in their libraries:

How do you “sell” it to staff
How do you measure results?
What causes reengineering to succeed? Fail?

Strategic Planning Series:

Over the next two months, Library Leadership Network will publish a series of articles that are concerned with library strategic planning. Strategic planning has become increasingly important as we navigate through today's challenging waters. We hope this series will be helpful to those who are or will be involved with their organization's planning efforts.

Strategic Planning Series - Introduction
August 4, 2006: Strategic Planning: Why Bother? Part 1
August 16, 2006: Strategic Planning: Planning for Planning Part 2
August 31, 2006: Strategic Planning: Analyzing the Environment Part 3
September 26, 2006: Strategic Planning: Establishing Strategic Goals Part 4
Febrary 14, 2006: Strategic Planning Part 5: Action Planning and Management

October, 2006 LLN Peer Panel

The question asked out fearless panel this month is this:
"What are the two or three biggest wastes of money and/or time in running a library? "
We hope you enjoy, and benefit from, their responses.

Frankly Speaking: Managing Number One

Holt Perspectives:

November 7, 2006: Gannett, Libraries And Frogs: Getting And Keeping Core Users While Moving To The Web

In this very interesting article, Glen Holt reminds us that as library leaders seek ways to effect much-needed change, there are some excellent models--outside of the library landscape--from which they can benefit.

March 9, 2006: We're Number One! We're Number One! We're Number One!
In this Perspective, Glen Holt takes some issue with the various rankings that make waves in the library community. He thoroughly dissects the methods behind them and reminds us of what truly matters as we look at the role our libraries play--both now and in the future:

February 23, 2006: In the News: Hogs and Libraries
Retired, but far from shy, Glen Holt has own view of recent announcements from our nation's capital.

February 6, 2006: Comments from ALA
Armed with pen and notepad, our roving reporter had some interesting and provocative conversations at ALA Midwinter. Here is the recounting of these conversations, and some “back home” reflection.

January 13, 2006: How Libraries Save Time
Part II of the series started with "The Value of Time" listed below.

January 5, 2006: The Value of Time
In this, the first of a two part series, Glen Holt discusses how people value the time they spend seeking information. Part II will deal with how libraries can be time savers rather than merely a "last resort".

December 12, 2005: New OCLC Report: A Big Dog with the Bark off
Glen Holt comments on the OCLC Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, a followup to The OCLC Environmental SCAN published in 2003.
December 8, 2005: Library Reference and Automobiles free

Evolving cooperative is a continuing theme in library development

April, 2006 LLN Peer Panel

This month's questions:

In the last five years, what cooperative efforts have you been involved in (or observed) and what have the specific benefits been to the libraries involved in such efforts?
Where has cooperation failed? Why?
What cooperative efforts are most needed now, and why?

What Makes a Library Great?

In the June Preview issue of The LLN Commons, Glen Holt got our attention with “Asking the Right, But Hard Questions.” In “What Makes a Library Great?” he responds to those questions by outlining the criteria that define successful libraries and the importance of measurement in objectively assessing their “greatness.” In his introduction, Glen notes that: “Our times call for great libraries,” ones that “innovate in their use of new tools” and do not “repeat ceaselessly our old ways of thinking and doing.” Although written from the point of view of the public library (Glen is the recently-retired Executive Director of the one in St. Louis), Glen’s message applies to libraries of all types and sizes. (Sepetmber 8, 2005)

The End of My Summer Vacation

Disaster Planning: Better Late than Never

In the wake of the tragic events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, there has been heightened focus on how our institutions plan for such disasters. As guardians of much of the physical evidence of our culture and our heritage, libraries are particularly sensitive to the need to plan for a variety of potential calamities, balancing issues of preservation and safety. This month we present two articles that deal with Disaster Planning, one a real-life episode and one a guide that can be used in reviewing and formulating plans. In both, you will see that disaster planning can never be thorough enough. We hope you benefit from these contributions by Tom McNally and Mary Wilkins Jordan. (September 15, 2005)

Frankly Speaking: Take a SWOT at it! free

To many, the mere mention of a SWOT analysis causes one’s eyes to glaze over. Normally done as part of a more exhaustive (and exhausting!) strategic planning exercise, SWOT (a look at the organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) can be a brain-numbing waste of time, especially if its primary purpose is to fill up a document whose destiny is to support a planter in the corner of your office. On the other hand, when done for the right reasons, taking a look at the library’s SWOT can be a valuable exercise, especially in today’s world of rapid change and continuous challenge. Indeed, if you haven’t done it lately, it might well be high time to do it: today, more than ever, libraries need to understand their position in the world of information exchange and, most importantly, what unique values they can bring to this world. In this article, I will offer some pointers on the who, what, why, and how of SWOT analysis (cont’d) (July 15, 2005)

Libraries and Organization Development

Regardless of the size and type of their libraries, today’s leaders understand the need for continual change to make their organizations more dynamic, flexible, relevant, and customer-focused. Such transformation typically requires significant changes in the structure, systems, culture and staff. The discipline of Organization Development can be very instrumental in bringing about these changes, whether applied through informal programs or as part of more formal strategic planning. In this first of a series, Maureen Sullivan introduces the concepts of Organization Development, laying the groundwork for subsequent articles dealing with specific OD applications in libraries. (June 2005)