Analyzing a Library's
Organization: A Two-Year
Perspective on Flexibility and
Change
Brian Bunnett
Laurie Thompson
UT Southwestern Medical Center at
Dallas
October 24, 2005
Outline
• Background
• Transition to new organization
• Annual assessment
• Lessons learned
• What’s in the future
Library before reorganizing
• Too focused on print
• Too many teams
• Little team accountability
Organizational Chart Prior to Reorganization
Spring 2003
Director
&
Associate Director
Administrative
Services
(5 FTE)
Catalog, Binding,
& Serials
(5.75 FTE)
Campus Outreach
Reference &
Education
(7 FTE)
Office of the Director
(2 FTE)
Consultation
Team
Collection &
Information
Development
(3 FTE)
Information
Systems
(5 FTE)
Document
Services
(9 FTE)
Information Desk
(10.75 FTE)
Web Services
(4 FTE)
“Permanent” organization was
divided along functional lines.
Client Contact
Database
Team
Archives
Team
Disaster, Emergency
&
Contingency Team
Information
Resources
Development
Team
LinkBase
Improvement
Team
Remote Reference
Team
Staff Development
Team
Technical Liaison
Team
Virtual Library
Team
“Parallel”
Collection Access
Team
Facilities
Design
Team
Marketing
Team
Teams
Team
Wellness
Team
organization consisted of
cross-functional planning and decisionmaking teams.
Library reorganization
• Clarified the Library’s vision
• Reallocated staff to the digital library
• Reduced and refined teams and task
forces
• Formalized team and task force
accountability
• Created Organizational Efficacy
Council
College & Research Libraries
2005;66(1):41-58
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Library
Director
Associate Director
Organizational Efficacy Council
Director
Associate Director
Special Projects
Librarian
Regional
Facilitators1
Collections Region
Contact Region
Digital Infrastructure
Research &
Development2 (3 FTE)
Information
Desk (9.5 FTE)
Digital
Access3 (7 FTE)
Special Projects
Librarian
1 professional
1 paraprofessional
Support Region
Library Administration
(5 FTE)
Teams &
Task Forces
Information Resources
Development Team
Product Management
Team
Campus Outreach
Reference &
Education (6 FTE)
Library Acquisitions
& Licensing (2 FTE)
Resource Management
& Optimization4 (6 FTE)
Information Systems
(4.5 FTE)
Corporate
Communications Team
Technical Liaison
Team
Interlibrary
Loan (6 FTE)
1Each
region selects a Regional Facilitator to encourage regional communication and
cooperation among unit managers and to serve on the OEC
2Develops, tests, evaluates and implements strategies for a quality electronic infrastructure
3Manages and provides optimal access to and support for Library’s digital collections and
services
4Manages and provides optimal access to and support for Library’s print and audiovisual
collections
Task Forces
8/21/03
Organizational Efficacy
Council
• Members
– Director, Associate Director, Special
Projects Librarian
– 3 Regional Facilitators
• Elected annually by each region
– 2 Members-at-large
• 1 paraprofessional, 1 professional
• Elected annually by outgoing OEC
Organizational Efficacy
Council
• Charge
– The Council will promote organizational
efficacy by continually looking for areas
of operational improvement.
– The focus will be on organizational issues
that have Library-wide implications.
Organizational Efficacy
Council
• Approve new teams and task forces
• Conduct annual assessment and
recommend changes
– Units
– Teams
– Global concerns
• Added benefits
Organizational Efficacy
Council
• Group dynamics
– Confidentiality
– Varied perspectives
– Equal participation encouraged
Why an annual assessment?
• Assess the efficiency and effectiveness of
the Library
• For your individual, unit and team
responsibilities:
– What’s going well? What’s working?
– What’s not going well? What’s not working?
– What would you like to be different and how
would you change it?
– Does your unit have the right number of people
doing the right tasks to accomplish the charge of
the unit? (Rate 1 to 4)
Year 1 Assessment Results
• General and widespread satisfaction with
reorganization
• Issues identified
–
–
–
–
Cataloging
Staffing imbalances
Unit cooperation
Regional facilitators
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Library
Director
Associate Director
Organizational Efficacy Council
Director
Associate Director
Archivist/Special
Projects
Librarian
Contact Region
Information
Desk (10 FTE)
Campus Outreach
Reference &
Education (6 FTE)
Regional
Facilitators
Collections Region
Special Projects
Librarian
1 professional
1 paraprofessional
Support Region
Teams &
Task Forces
Digital Infrastructure
Research &
Development (3 FTE)
Digital
Access (6 FTE)
Library Administration
(5 FTE)
Information Resources
Development Team
Collection
Development
(2 FTE)
Resource
Management &
Optimization (7 FTE)
Information
Systems
(5 FTE)
Corporate
Communications Team
Technical Liaison
Team
Interlibrary
Loan (5 FTE)
Task Forces
1 intentional vacant line
Rev. 9/1/04
Global Concerns
• Intra-library communications
• Cross-Training
• Documentation
• Branch campus library
• Open office environment
• Staff development
Year 2 Assessment
• Online using IdeaScope
• Same questions
–
–
–
–
What’s working
What’s not working
What would you change
Does your unit have the right number of
staff to accomplish its charge? (Rate 0100)
Year 2 Assessment Results
• MUCH more data to assess
• Continued satisfaction with
organization
• Numerous positive comments
• New ideas suggested
• Staffing imbalances
– Collection Development understaffed
– ILL needed emergency backup
• Global concerns
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Library
Director
Associate Director
Organizational Efficacy Council
Director
Associate Director
Archivist/Special
Projects
Librarian
Contact Region
Regional
Facilitators
Collections Region
Special Projects
Librarian
1 professional
1 paraprofessional
Support Region
Information
Desk (10 FTE)
Digital Infrastructure
Research &
Development (3 FTE)
Digital
Access (6 FTE)
Library Administration
(5 FTE)
Campus Outreach
Reference &
Education (7 FTE)
Collection
Development
(3 FTE)
Print Resource
Management
& Optimization (7 FTE)
Information Systems
(5 FTE)
Interlibrary
Loan (5 FTE)
Teams &
Task Forces
Information Resources
Development Team
Corporate
Communications Team
Data Acquisition,
Translation
& Analysis Team
Task Forces
Rev. 9/1/05
What Have We Learned
• Are we well-aligned to achieve our mission?
– Staff perceptions
– Client data
• New culture of assessment and change
– Routine forum for staff involvement
– Less resistance to change
• Team accountability
• Global concerns remain
What’s In the Future?
• Continue with OEC
– Remain flexible to address changing
environment
– Global concerns
• Report card for Library services
Laurie Thompson
[email protected]
Brian Bunnett
[email protected]