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Demonstrating the Business Case for Libraries: Case studies from PACCAR and MnDOT

By Betsy Aldridge, Library Team Lead, PACCAR, Inc. & Sheila Hatchell, Library Director, MnDOT

Slide 2:  Transportation Roundtable 9/10/09

  • “Run Through the Jungle / Don’t Look Back” (title of a Creedence Clearwater Revival song)

  • Betsy Aldridge, Senior Research Specialist,
    Library Team Lead

  • PACCAR Inc –Technical Library/Technical Center
    –phone : (360)757-5234
    –Email :     betsy.aldridge@paccar.com

Slide 3. PACCAR Inc

  • Primarily truck manufacturing, winches, parts, truck
    leasing ; 22k employees worldwide / 800
    engineers/technical staff (core potential users)

  • Subsidiaries:
    – DAF Trucks NV (Netherlands)
    – Leyland Trucks (UK)
    – Kenworth Trucks (US)
    – Peterbilt Motors Co. (US)
    – Winch
    – Dynacraft (hoses, etc.)
    – PACCAR Parts
    – PACCAR Leasing

Slide 4. Running > constantly improving/changingprocesses, resources

  • What are our processes? Document for QMS & EMS
    (quality and environmental management systems / ISO
    9000 /ISO14000)

  • Physical refresh in 2006

  • Barcode project – speed up checkout, inventory, reduce
    errors >Lean Six Sigma project >upgraded ILS > better
    interface, time & steps less for users and staff

  • Internal monthly digest newsletter production too time consuming
    > Lean Six Sigma Project

Slide 5 : QMS/EMS processes

  • Initial writing – 36 task notes, work instructions, manuals –
    reviews, trainings, audits ( I’ve been an internal auditor)

  • Customer satisfaction important > evaluation form for
    requests
    • time saved
    • money saved
    • contribution to revenue-generating
    activities, comments)

  • Process change examples: Switch to online monthly
    digest newsletter meant “routing” QMS needed to change
    to “subscriber” ; Preferred Sources QMS changes ea.yr.

Slide 6: Picture

Slide 7: Picture

Slide 8:  Refresh of our Physical Library

  • Catch attention at entrance

  • More space for users – not so cramped

  • Comfortable seating area > periodicals reading

  • Neatness of 5S promoted > weeding, new desks
    facing customers; hide “mess” (we’re by entry)

Slide 9:  Refresh (continued)

  • Research workstation (database searching) > multiple
    uses +“learning center” & self checkout

  • New digital clocks w/ red labels to match red chairs!

  • Recent change to energy-efficient lighting

  • Only latest 20 years of books upstairs > currency
    – Retain older books –still jewels within – ex. metals
    photos better in books than online

Slide 10: Picture

Slide 11: Picture

Slide 12. Barcodes, Self-checkout station

  •  RFIDs too unreliable, so stayed with barcodes

  • Self checkout “station” like one we saw on tour of
    Microsoft Library– very basic form; no more
    handwriting!

  • Setting people up for self-checkout provides opportunity to welcome, train > show sources on intranet and in library – F2F conversation

Slide 13. What is Lean Six Sigma?

  • Lean Six Sigma Statistics by Alastair K. Muir, Ph.D. (2006, McGraw-Hill):

  • “Reduce the time it takes to deliver a defect-free product or service to the customer” (pg. 13)

  • I’ve also heard
    – “improve processes, improve results”

Slide 14. R-DMAIC-S cycle

  • Recognize change is needed

  • Define the problem

  • Measure the correct data correctly

  • Analyze > how best to translate into statistics

  • Improve with the best solution

  • Control appropriately to maintain the gain

  • Sustain by reporting, reviewing, integrating solutions into processes

Slide 15. Lean Six Sigma Project (continued) Time improvement

  • Problem Statement –

  • Reduce time required to checkin from ___ secs to
    ___ secs/ item and checkout from ___ secs to
    ___ secs/ item

  • Goal> average of 48% improvement for both

  • Actual results> at least 49.5%
    – will get better with time as staff adjusts

Slide 16. “Library Materials Checkin/out Process Improvement” - Lean Six Sigma project

  • Team >Library staff and Content Innovations Natalie Munn as consultant

  • Eliminated magazine checkout cards, duplicate entry of magazines in system

  • Implemented updated ILS interface

Slide 17: Picture

Slide 18. Lean Six Sigma Project (continued)

  • Saving staff & users time per year > cut in steps 46 to 22

  • Overdue notices down from whole day to about 5 minutes!

  • Quicker reserves process; automatically checks in, deletes reserves when checking out

  • Multiple checkouts at once

  • Transparency – user can see if something is checked out from within online catalog

  • Serials records added to catalog; eventually MyGenie?

Slide 19. More pluses

  • Database interfaces cut from 5 to 1

  • Reporting/metrics - one place for Orders, interlibrary loan, loan statistics –quickly by division…

  • Increase in checkouts > shopping cart feature –
    we did improve results!

Slide 20. Monthly digest production - shifted to online newsletter

  •  Problem statement – reduce labor costs; also decreas steps, work areas, paper/shipping costs

  • Time consuming > increased diligence about digital sharing permissions /CCC membership required + some emails to publishers, scanning, find/cut/paste tocs

  • Add of online journal service w/ automatic toc alert service also crucial ; initial set-up time-consuming

Slide 21: Picture

Slide 22:Picture

Slide 23:Picture

Slide 24:Picture

Slide 25:Picture

Slide 26:Picture

Slide 27: Best of all

  • Faster delivery of online content

  • Simultaneous routing to all subscribers

  • 100 % reduction in paper (supports EMS)

  • 100 % reduction in shipping

  • Now can count actual viewing via intranet statistics (leaves out uses when people print and share)

Slide 28. What Next?

  • Need to come up with another lean six sigma project for 2010!

  • One possibility:
    – improve users’ searching (increasing # of instances when they successfully find what they’re seeking in our databases)
    – How? Taxonomy/thesaurus improvement?

Slide 29.  Don’t Look Back > Embrace today’s reality, Envision future possibilities

  •  Economic downturn > Everyone was asked to keep costs as low as possible for 2009

  • Senn Delaney) / senndelaney.com
    – Stay inspired! Be a “high thriving” leader >
    • stable
    • secure
    • optimistic state of mind

Slide 30. Senn/Delaney

  • – Three critical psychological states of mind:
    • vitality
    • learning mindset
    • purpose and direction

Slide 31. Don’t Look Back

Larry E. Senn’s “Team at the Top” in Leadership Excellence, 6/1/05

6 Essential Values for effectiveness
for individuals, teams and organizations:

• * Performance> results focus, personal accountability
• * Collaboration >cross-organizational teamwork, mutual support
• * Change> innovation, new ideas, coach
• * Ethics, integrity > model behavior daily.
• * Health >openness, trust, respect, hope, optimism.
• * Customer > focused on serving customers

Slide 32:  Don’t Look Back (continued)

  • Library actions so far > helpful decrease in receivables

  • Require justification statement for library purchases

  • Resource cuts; platform shifts> new resource adds

  • Vendor relationships

Slide 33.:  Don’t Look Back

  • Library staffing flexibility

  • Behind the scenes work

  • Metrics > “Valuing Library Services Calculator”,
    capacity

Slide 34. Justification statements

  • Why need, how purchase will be used, value to
    PACCAR

  • Helps to see impact of purchases – outcomes

  • Examples: info. is used for
    – inspections in plants,
    – working with suppliers for high quality,
    – understanding phenomena, principles…for new products
    – how to improve material properties of metals

Slide 35. Staffing flexibility

  • Encourage each other – keep morale up– humor, bravos
  • Being back-up for each other > better communication, appreciation for what we all do
  • Staff helps with administrative back-up > learn more about bigger picture
  • Extra time off brings refreshes people –
    – strengthens social networks (family, friends)

Slide 36. Behind-the-scenes work

  • Plenty to do with catalog/collection management, thesaurus maintenance
  • Wish list for future improvements posted on Library’s SP site
  •  Reclamation project & inventory >
    – OCLC holdings accurate for TLCat
    – open possibility of engineers finding items via Google

Slide 37. Some resources cuts, shifting platforms

  •  Retained sets most used per vendor usage stats.
  • Dropped one experimental embedded linking service > why there’s a slight drop in usage of
    one set?
  • May shift platform for that one set to a lower- cost option > add more online journals, standards!

Slide 38. Continue to improve relationships with vendors - it pays off

  • Keep % increases low
  • Provide more content, seats for little extra cost (ex. – one call inquiring increased seats)
  • Free trials, web trainings keep us fresh, knowledgeable (less funding for travel)
  • Express thanks & remember in future years

Slide 39: Picture

Slide 40. Permission granted for including previous slide from

 Barbara Jones, MLS

Missouri/Library Advocacy Liaison

 J Otto Lottes Health Science Library

 University of Missouri

 Columbia, MO 65212

 573-884-5042

 jonesbarb@health.missouri.edu
(If you use calculator, Barb would like to hear how it goes…)

Slide 41. Valuing Library Services Calculator http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/calculator.html

  •  Adapting from health librarians’ figures who adapted from Mass. Library Association
    – Our actual book costs not as high
    – Set extra categories (tech papers, abstract views, etc.)
  •  Referred to Hanford Technical, Linda Hall Libraries
  •  Managers like – speeds up “cost per use” calculations

Slide 42. Future – Staffing/workload Capacity charts

  • How do we allocate our time on various activities (research, collection management, records management, internal report publishing..)?
  • What is being put off because we only have so many hours, staff available?
  • Predict expected workload, staff needs, time it will take staff to complete workload, etc.
  • Do any of you keep this type of metric?

Slide 43. Future (continued)

  •  More premium content at the desktop
  •  More effective training of and marketing to users integration into work processes is second nature
  •  Improve usability of intranet pages

Slide 44. Future (continued)

  •  Better thesaurus, catalog management
  •  Backlog decrease
  •  More on OCLC transparent via Google
  •  Continued cooperation, networking

Slide 45. Success is

  • • “…peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction on knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
  •  -John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach who won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, named Coach of the Century by ESPN

Slide 46:Picture

Slide 47. Mn/DOT Library’s Business Plan

Transportation Librarians Roundtable September 10, 2009

Slide  48. Background

  • Change, Change, Change

    • Loss of 2 positions (July 2007)

    • Lack of resources to purchase library materials

    • Bridge collapse (Aug. 1, 2007)

    • 35-year library director retired (Dec. 14, 2007)

    • New library director begins (Dec. 17, 2007)

  • 3 Months later – New:

    • Transportation Commissioner – Tom Sorel

    • Division - Policy, Safety & Strategic Initiatives

    • Office – Policy Analysis, Research & Innovation

Slide 49. New Office Director

  • Nick Thompson accepts invitation to tour the library. He spends a morning at the library learning about

    • Staff

    • Collections

    • Current state of affairs

    • MTKN

    • Pooled Fund

    • NTL

    • Transportation Knowledge Networks

Slide 50. What is the future of the Mn/DOT Library?

  • A business plan was needed to identify needs, goals, required resources

Slide 51 . Business Plan Method

  • Hired 2 consultants – retired Mn/DOT Research engineers who “understood” the library when in their former positions

  • Developed a list of Questions

  • Interviewed current and past staff, and a former Research engineer

Slide 52. Questions included

  • Primary job responsibilities

  • Who depends on these responsibilities

  • What are your skills

  • What skills need improving

  • What tools do you need

  • What are the major barriers to carrying out
    your responsibilities

  • How do you know when your work is going well/poorly

Slide 53.  Questions (cont.)

  • What changes within the library might help you in your job

  • How are things going with the library

  • What is the major roadblock in the library achieving its objectives

  • What are the strengths of the library, what is going well

  • Are tasks not getting done

  • Services that could be eliminated

  • Any staffing needs for the library

Slide 54. 7 Goals Identified

  • Appropriate staffing levels

  • Identify and prioritize customer needs

  • Library staff and management will work collaboratively using positive and effective communications

  • Collaborate with other libraries

  • Engage Mn/DOT management to set direction for and provide support for the library

  • Library and Research works collaboratively to serve transportation community’s needs and meet innovation goals

  • Acquire effective technology tools

Slide 55. 22 Recommendations were identified to accomplish the Library mission and achieve its goals

Slide 56. Customer Service Recommendations

1. Meet and interact with Mn/DOT managers and employees in formal settings

2. Focus on customer needs; conduct focus groups

3. Make library more inviting (redesign physical space)

4. Value-added literature searches

5. Assess the benefits and costs of resurrecting IRIS service

Slide 57. Customer Service Recommendations (cont.)

6. Investigate library services statistical tracking systems (such as RefTracker)

7. Do targeted marketing of newly received materials; Create more Alerts Services

8. Explore electronic opportunities (storage, Web site, delivery methods, ILL)

9.Explore the need of a Mn/DOT Archives

10. Deal with large backlog of overdue materials. Craft a new policy so it doesn’t reoccur

Slide 58. Customer Service Recommendations (cont.)

11. Ensure policy decisions are based on facts (research). Work more closely with Research Office to identify new research needs (literature searches with no or few results) and prevent duplicative research. Emphasize a learning organization.

12.Library staff get cross-trained. Document all processes and procedures.

13. Link library business planning to agency long-term planning

Slide 59. Outreach Recommendations

14. Customer expectations have become increasingly higher for ease of access and timely delivery of the “right” information. Develop a formal marketing and communications plan for the Mn/DOT Library to meet customer expectations …

Slide 60. Resource Recommendations

  • Five major problems have resulted from the position cuts:

    • Professional librarians are performing work below their classification

    • Work load and backlogs are at an unacceptable level

    • Library services would be severely affected if any remaining (and highly experienced) would leave permanently or on a long term basis

    • There is no time to innovate – to find new ways to do things more efficiently and effectively.

    • The library director is doing more operational duties and has no time for managerial tasks

Slide 61. Resource Recommendations

15. Hire an additional professional librarian

16. Hire an additional library technician position

17. Detain experienced professional librarians (explore if they should be reclassified)

18 Find innovative ways to further develop library staff

19. Collaborate with other libraries (MTL, MTKN, NTL, Pooled Fund)

20. Outsource some library tasks

Slide 62. Resource Recommendations (cont.)

21. Place additional focus on material budget and control for the library. Need librarian time and budget to acquire new materials

22. Take better advantage of new technology. New technology may offer some opportunities for better serving Mn/DOT. Stay informed about technology issues and opportunities.

Slide 63. Business Plan presented to Upper Managers in December 2008

  • Determined plan to be an internal business plan due to no customer input

  • Requested focus groups be conducted to gain their input in the business plan

Slide 64. Realizations to Date

  • Electronic Resources librarian promoted to Senior

  • Librarian level

  • Karen Neinstadt hired as Reference and Outreach Librarian

  • Budget to update the collection immediately (updated standard engineering texts, management, risk management, project management, engineering exam books, computers, and more). Circulation is up 33% and it’s still early!

  • $2K per month book budget for this FY

  • 4 focus groups held April – June 2009. 32 people interviewed

Slide 65. 7 Priorities Identified Through Focus Groups

  • Marketing and Communications

  • Technology and Innovation

  • Library Floor Plan Changes

  • Redesign Intranet

  • Provide Value-Added Services

  • Provide Training on Tools and Techniques

  • Continue to Update the Collection

  • Create an Archive policy

Slide 66. Priorities of the focus groups informed “Phase 2” of the Business Plan.

  • Develop a Marketing/Communications Plan

  • Create a Library Advisory Group

  • Develop a Technology Plan

  • Redesign Library space

  • Host a “Technology Fair” for Mn/DOT staff to demonstrate new technologies and demonstrate Web 2.0 tools and how other DOTs are using them effectively

Slide 67. Technology Plan and Re-design of space morphed into Development of a Transportation Knowledge Network

  • Commissioner Sorel visited our Library Open House in April 2009. He was very interested in our Transportation Knowledge Networks display.

  • We are working with Amanda and Mn/DOT staff to develop a Transportation Knowledge Network for Risk Management (TKN-RM).

Slide 68. Ongoing

  • Working to secure funding for the Marketing/Communication Plan, the Technology Plan, the Library Advisory Board, and the Library Space Redesign

Slide 69. In closing

  • We are fortunate to have a Commissioner who believes in life-long learning and is an avid reader. He understands the value of the library and our importance to the organization, and wants us to become the Knowledge Center for the Department.

  • We are further fortunate to have the support of our Division Director, Bernie Arseneau, our Office Director, Nick Thompson, and our Research Director, Linda Taylor.

Slide  70. Thank you.

For additional information contact Sheila Hatchell Sheila.hatchell@state.mn.us