4th Shanghai International Library Forum 08

113 Pages·2008·2.263 MB·English

by  Stephen O'Connor

lm cover (i).qxd 09/12/2008 08:37 Page 1
ISSN 0143-5124
Volume 30Number 1/2 2009
Library
Management
The Fourth Shanghai International
Library Forum October 2008
www.emeraldinsight.com
Library Management ISSN 0143-5124
Volume 30
Number 1/2
2009
The Fourth Shanghai International
Library Forum October 2008
Editor
Stephen O’Connor
Access this journal online__________________________ 3
CONTENTS
Editorial advisory board ___________________________ 4
Editorial ___________________________________________________ 5
Refocusing for the future: meeting user expectations
in a digital age
PeterEdward SidorkoandTinaTao Yang __________________________ 6
Local touch and global reach: the next generation of
network-level information discovery and delivery
services in a digital landscape
Jian WangandAdriene Lim______________________________________ 25
ERM system implementation in a consortium
environment
GuoyingLiu____________________________________________________ 35
Learning Library 2.0: 23 Things @SCPL
Hui-LanH. Titangos andGailL. Mason ____________________________ 44
Library managers and information in World 2.0
SuzieAllard____________________________________________________ 57
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Libraries’ role in equalizing access to information
CONTENTS
Susan E.Russell andJie Huang____________________________________ 69
continued
Performance evaluation: a case study of Lee Kong
Chian Reference Library, National Library of
Singapore
Lin MuiLaw,Vicky Xiaohang GaoandHui LingNg __________________ 77
Internationalization in higher education and global
access in a digital age
Ellen H.Hammond______________________________________________ 88
Information and digital literacy: a stumbling block to
development? A Pakistan perspective
Kanwal AmeenandG.E. Gorman__________________________________ 99
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LM EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
30,1/2
SvanhildAabø DrWuJianzhong
AssociateProfessor,OsloUniversityCollege, Director,ShanghaiLibrary,Shanghai,China
Norway
ProfessorJaneE.Klobas
ProfessorA.A.Alemna ProfessorialFellow,UniversityofWestern
DepartmentofLibraryandArchivalStudies, AustraliaandAlbertoDondenaResearchFellow,
4 UniversityofGhana BocconiUniversity,Milan,Italy
AlexByrne ProfessorPeterLor
UniversityLibrarian,UniversityofTechnology, DepartmentofInformationScience,Universityof
Sydney,Australia Pretoria,SouthAfrica
ProfessorChuanfuChen ProfessorTamikoMatsumura
DeanofSchoolofManagement,WuhanUniversity, EmeritusProfessor,UniversityofLibraryand
Wuhan,China InformationScience,Tokyo,Japan
ProfessorHsueh-huaChen NickMoore
DepartmentofLibraryandInformationScience, Acumen,Somerset,UK
UniversityLibrarian,NationalTaiwanUniversity,
ProfessorDennisN.Ocholla
Taiwan
Head,DepartmentofLibraryandInformation
ProfessorHuanwenCheng Science,UniversityofZululand,SouthAfrica
DirectorofSunYat-senUniversityLibrariesand
ProfessorNielsOlePors
ProfessorattheDepartmentofLibraryand
RoyalSchoolofLibraryandInformationScience,
InformationScience,SunYat-senUniversity, Copenhagen,Denmark
Guangzhou,China
BernardF.Reilly
ProfessorChunWeiChoo President,TheCenterforResearchLibraries,
FacultyofInformationStudies,Universityof Chicago,IL,USA
Toronto,Toronto,Canada
ProfessorGuchaoShen
DrG.EdwardEvans ProfessorofDepartmentofInformation
EmeritusAssociateAcademicVice-Presidentfor
Management,NanjingUniversity,Nanjing,China
LibrariesandInformationResources,Charlesvon
derAheLibrary,LoyolaMarymountUniversity, DrColinStorey
LosAngeles,USA UniversityLibrarian,ChineseUniversityofHong
Kong
DrPaulGenoni
SeniorLecturerinInformationStudies,Curtin ProfessorAmosThapisa
UniversityofTechnology,Perth,Australia Director,CentreforAcademicDevelopment,
UniversityofBotswana,Gaborone,Botswana
DrG.E.Gorman
ProfessorofLibrary&InformationManagement, ProfessorRobertUsherwood
SchoolofInformationManagement,Victoria DepartmentofInformationStudies,Universityof
UniversityofWellington,NewZealand Sheffield,Sheffield,UK
DrDineshK.Gupta PenttiVattulainen
AssociateProfessor,DepartmentofLibrary& Director,NationalRepositoryLibrary,Finland
InformationScience,VMOpenUniversity,India VickiWilliamson
DeanandUniversityLibrarian,Universityof
DrKenHaycock
ProfessorandDirector,SchoolofLibraryand SaskatchewanLibrary,Saskatoon,Canada
InformationScience,SanJoseStateUniversity,CA, DrXiaolinZhang
USA ExecutiveDirectorofNationalScienceLibraryof
SueHenczel theChineseAcademyofSciences,Beijing,China
Manager,FacultyServices,DeakinUniversity, ProfessorQiangZhu
Australia DirectorofthePekingUniversityLibrary,Beijing,
China
Mag.LuisHerrera
Director,BibliotecaCentral,UniversidadNacional
delSur,Bah´ıaBlanca,Argentina
LibraryManagement
Vol.30No.1/2,2009
p.4
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0143-5124
Editorial Editorial
The articles which are encased in this double issue were specially selected from the
many papers selected for the 4th Shanghai International Library Forum. The papers 5
are all recommended to you, thereader.
LibraryManagementhasbeenveryfortunatetohavebeenabletoworkcloselywith
theShanghaiLibraryandtobeamemberoftheForum’sProgramCommittee.Itisa
verypositiverelationship.IwouldespeciallyliketothankDrWuJianzhongwhoisthe
DirectoroftheShanghaiLibrary.Onaday-to-daybasisIhavehadthestrongsupport
of Ms Ren Xiapei, who is the Associate Director in the International Cooperation
Division,ensuring asmooth translationinto the professional literature.
Conferences such as this are building a strong reputation in the region building
bridgesbetweenthestronglibraryprofessioninChinaandthatoftheWesternlibrary
literatures. The SILF is to be strongly commended for their vision and energy in
creating andnourishing this opportunity for professionalexchange.
Stephen O’Connor
LibraryManagement
Vol.30No.1/2,2009
p.5
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Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableat
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
LM Refocusing for the future: meeting
30,1/2
user expectations in a digital age
Peter Edward Sidorko and Tina Tao Yang
6 The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, PRC
Received29July2008
Abstract
Revised25August2008
Accepted4September2008 Purpose–ThepurposeofthispaperistodescribethechangesadoptedinamajorAsianacademic
library aimedatmakingthelibrary more responsive toevolving andgrowing clientneeds, andto
positioningthelibraryasakeyplayeroncampusintermsofteachingandlearningsupport.
Design/methodology/approach–Followingaperiodoforganizationalrestructuring,thelibrary
embarkedonaseriesofclientfocusedservicesspecificallyaimedatenhancingitsroleinteachingand
learningsupport.
Findings–Thearticledrawsonanumberofpreviouslyexistingandnewservicesintroducedbythe
library,anddemonstratesgrowthintheirusage.Furtherevidenceofsuccessishighlightedthrough
three consecutivebiannual user survey results which demonstrate anincreasing responsiveness to
userexpectations.
Researchlimitations/implications–Whilemanyofthenewserviceshavebeenwellreceived,the
findings require further examination to ensure that the services continue to create value for the
organizationandthatthelibrarysustainsitsrole.
Practicalimplications–Thispaperreinforcestheperspectivethat,inordertosucceedandremain
relevant, academic libraries must continue to evolve and to position themselves within their
organizationssothattheyarerecognizedasimportantplayersinteachingandlearningprocesses.
Originality/value–This article provides one possible model for other libraries to follow in
attemptingtorepositionthemselveswithintheirorganizations.
KeywordsAcademiclibraries,Changemanagement,Informationservices,
Organizationalrestructuring,China
PapertypeCasestudy
Background
The University of Hong Kong Libraries enjoys a long and distinguished history.
Librariesacrosstheglobeareofcoursefacingseismicchangethatdoesnotappearto
beabating,butratherapproachingadramaticcrescendo.Aswebecomeembeddedin
the era of the “digital native” (Prensky, 2001) there is a tendency to believe that
librariesarenolongerrelevantoratleastlessrelevantthantheypreviouslywere.This,
wewouldargue,istrueoflibrariesthathavefailedtocapitalizeonsuchchangesand
realignthemselvestomeettherapidlychangingneedsoftoday’susers.Inthispaper
wewilloutlinehowTheUniversityofHongKongLibrariesstrovetomakeitselfmore
relevant within an environment that viewed it as complacent, traditional,
non-responsive,inwardly focused and bureaucratic.
We sought to turn this perception around for a number of reasons: we wanted to
reconnectwithouruserstomorefullyunderstandandmeettheirneeds;wewantedto
LibraryManagement beabletodemonstratetoourstakeholdersthatwewereasrelevanttodayasweever
Vol.30No.1/2,2009 were;and,wewantedtoensurethatasanorganizationwewerenotonlyresponsiveto
pp.6-24
qEmeraldGroupPublishingLimited currentneedsbutthatwewerereadilyadaptableforthefuture.Wewantedtobe,and
0143-5124
to be seen to be, innovative, friendly and highly relevant.
DOI10.1108/01435120910927484
Restructuringand reengineeringof library services: putting servicefirst Meeting user
In 2001 a new university librarian was appointed followed by a new deputy. Upon expectations in a
arrival of the new librarian a number of changes happened in quick succession:
digital age
technical services that had been highly decentralized to branches and departments
were largely centralized; meeting structures were radically altered with a view to
high levels of participation; open discussion groups for specific library functions
were created; reassignments of responsibilities to the deputies; a new and ambitious 7
strategic plan was developed. While successes had been achieved through these
changes, it was felt that more was needed. In 2003 we enlisted the services of a
library consultant expert who reviewed our organizational structure and delivered a
report with numerous recommendations. We already knew that we had to adopt a
more flexible approach in terms of both our structure and indeed attitudes. Such
flexibility was seen as important due to the anticipated “increased rate of change
and the high levels of uncertainty” for the future and because a flexible approach
can help to minimise any negative affect caused by these two factors (Walton, 2007,
p. 166).
The consultant commented that, despite all the changes that had already been
introducedintherelativelyshortperiodofjust17months,theLibrariesremainedas“a
stablehierarchywithastrongverticalorientation”andwith“averystrongpulltoward
the traditional, functionally based organization”. With an overall aim of making the
Librariesa“moreagileandresponsiveorganization”weweretold,amongotherthings,
that:
. Our structure should be focused on and organized around the customers and
their needs rather than focusedon internal functions.
. The Libraries should move away from rank- andposition-based assignments.
. Equitablestaffingdistributionshouldbebasedondataratherthanperceptions
and history, particularly data about the effect of staffingon customers.
. Barriers to effective horizontal communicationwill have to be taken down.
. Supervisors and those who charge project groups hold themselves somewhat
aloof from those who are actually doing the work and “bosses” should roll up
their sleeves.
Followingthisreportaseriesofforumsandworkshopswereheldthatculminatedina
special “organizational retreat” to address these issues and derive a new structure.
Following on from these efforts we:
. integrated Serials with the Acquisitions Department (to be the newly renamed
Acquisition Services Department);
. integrated Interlibrary Loans/Photocopying with Circulation Department (to be
renamed Access Services Department; and
. fully integrated the functions performed by our East Asian Library, the Fung
Ping Shan Library, into those of the main library.
Wewanted tobuildanorganizationalstructure thatwouldbelessrigid,functionally
based and more flexible. We created a team structure that was largely built around
four key areas:
LM (1) amain library services team;
30,1/2 (2) atechnical support services team;
(3) abranch librariesservices team;and
(4) acollectiondevelopment team.
8 In addition to these we established several other supporting teams including: the
administration services team; the IT in learning support team; the libraries fund
raisingandpublicrelationsteam;thelibrarieseffectivenessassessmentteam;andthe
recordsmanagement team.
Severaloftheseteams,e.g.theITinLearningSupportTeam,drewuponindividuals
fromthefourmajorteamsandsoughttodrawlessonhierarchyandmoreonexpertise
and interest. Inasemi-formalsense, this team is reflective of amatrix type structure
that the Library’smanagementwas keento adopt.
With these changes we were able to free up several librarian positions to take on
some new roles including:
. Threesubjectlibrarianswhosechargeitistocatertothebroadestofinformation
needs of their respective faculties including liaison, representation on faculty
committees,collectiondevelopment,specializedreference,researchassistance,in
depthconsultations andinstructioninhowtogetthemostoutoftheLibraries’
information, services, and collections.
. Information skills/literacy coordinator who not only coordinates information
literacy within all the libraries but also seeks out opportunities to collaborate
with other groups across campus to help teachers incorporate IT in their
teaching and research.
Managing change and buildinga serviceculture
The process of managing these changes has been well documented elsewhere
(Ferguson,2007), howeverunderpinning all ofthesechangeswasthe desire tocreate
an overarching environment of client focused service, or, a culture of service. Our
approachwaslooselybasedaroundtheconceptoftheserviceprofitchainwherethere
exists “relationships between profitability [and growth], customer loyalty, and
employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity” (Heskett et al., 1994, p. 164). We
undertook to develop and nurture this environment through a multi-level approach
that began with the strategic and was emphasized through the operational.
Strategically we did three important things:
(1) Developed astrategic plan that emphasised the user community and the need
for a service ethic.
(2) Developedasetof“servicestandards”thatdid,amongotherthingsactasour
articulated commitment to providing consistently high quality service as well
as providing a definition of the standards of service by which the Libraries
expectall staff to adhere.
(3) We undertook a branding exercise that resulted in the catchphrase “The
UniversityofHongKongLibraries.Yourpartnerinintellectualexcellence.Caring.
Collaborative.Creative.”ThisbrandwasattachedtotheUniversity’slogoand
nowappearsinallofthelibraryliterature,publications,stationeryandwebpages.
Operationally, we focused on three key areas: Meeting user
(1) Communication was seen as paramount as we firmly believed that better expectations in a
communication within the Libraries and between the Libraries and its user digital age
community should result in better customer service levels. We undertook
several surveys in order to assess how staff perceived communication both
internallyandexternally and how it might be improved.
9
(2) Skillsdevelopmentwasalsoseenascriticaltoenablingstafftofeelconfidentin
their ability to deal with a wide range of users in an increasingly demanding
environment. These skills were both task oriented, e.g. training in various IT
packages, but also skills based, e.g. stress management.
(3) Thirdly, we developed our own in-house customer service training package
covering three modules ranging from the theoretical (philosophy of customer
service and management’s expectations of staff) to the highly practical
(telephone skills, conflict resolution etc).
TheLibraryintheuniversitycommunity:afocusonteachingandlearning
In addition to functional and organizational changes we also knew that new roles
beyondthelibraryhadtobeadoptedbecause“librariansrequirethedynamic,ruthless
pursuitofnewrolesiftheywishtosurvive”(Fourie,2004,p.62)yetatthesametime
wewerealsocognisantofourneedtoretain“empathy,tirelessdedication,commitment
and aservice-for-free orientation”(Fourie, 2004) within our staff.
The Knowledge Team
With a renewed emphasis on the user community and a more visible presence in
campus activities, the Libraries, and in particular the University Librarian, became
more involved in areas of university business in which the Libraries had not
traditionally participated. Most significant of these was the appointment of the
Librarian as the Acting Director of IT in Learning and the Chair of the University’s
Knowledge Team. Broadly speaking, “The Knowledge Team is an action group
devotedtohelpingHKUmakebetterinformeddecisionsanddevelopbetterstrategies
forusingICTtoenhanceteachingandlearning”(TheUniversityofHongKong,2006a,
b, c). More specifically, the Knowledge Team brings together interested individuals
fromthemajorgroupsinvolvedinthecreation,access,disseminationandmanagement
of knowledge on campus to achieve our missionby engaging in twoareas of focus:
(1) Discuss,describeandmakerecommendationsabouttheextenttowhichandin
whatwaysICTcanbeintegratedintoourteachingandlearningandaboutnew
directions and opportunities for HKU to leverage ICT to support or extend
HKU’s educational mission, i.e. to function as a “think-tank” and facilitate
strategic planning for ICT in teachingand learning.
(2) Identifychallengesfacingourstudentsandteachers,andprovideadvicetothe
University’sSeniorManagementTeam,throughthePolicyGroup,withrespect
to appropriate responses, and in some cases, take necessary action.
Specifically, theKnowledge Team seeks to:
. become an “area of excellence” in the development and use of learning
technologies in HongKong, Asia, and the world;