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LLN
Commons March/April 2007 Articles
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?
Holt's
Perspectives:
April 11, 2007: How Newspaper Readers Read The News – In Print And Online
There is a lot to learn from a recent
study of newspaper readers. It’s not only what they read, but how
they read it, and what they see as attractive and interesting. In this
very informative article, Glen Holt discusses the study and its implications
for library leaders as they seek to provide print and online resources that
appeal to their customers.
Leaders Digest:
April 24, 2007
April 17, 2007
April 9, 2007
March 27, 2007
March 13, 2007
March 6, 2007
The $16 Billion Library
Quantitative data on library usage have
proven somewhat helpful in the past but, as this article from Bob Molyneux
suggests, understanding what causes the numbers is more useful than the
numbers themselves. The fact that we are not doing a very good job of
understanding and measuring these “whats” should be cause for
some alarm bells to ring. Maybe we can learn from Google and Yahoo?
Jamie LaRue Speaks:
March 27, 2007: Librarians should be like Diogenes
March 16, 2007: Steal from the Best
From time to time, LLN likes to pass on what are best described as "useful quick tips." One such "UQT" is this one concerning how to make the most of library governance, from new LLN contributor Ellen Miller.
We have yet to read an employment advertisement for a library
director’s job that says anything akin to “sales experience
essential.” And yet, selling is an important part of the
job for virtually every library leader, especially at budget time or
when we are asked to explain our existence in the world of the
web. Thus in March, we have asked the LLN Peer Panel to “share
with our readers the three or four (more, if you have them) selling
points you use as you seek funding and respond to the many questions
about the importance and relevance of the library in the Web Era.
And if you are not currently running a library, tell us what you would
say if you were.”
Holt's
Perspectives
March 1, 2007: Learning from Others
Education
and experience provide good building blocks for successful library
leadership. But, as Glen Holt points out in this enjoyable article,
there is nothing quite like using ones eyes and ears in finding ways to
improve (and perhaps even transform) the library and its value to your
community.
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