PLA Blog

Blogging in real time this morning, since the Internet connection service ends at the same time that the workshop ends…

Introduction

As usual, Sandra Nelson began with a recap of the rest of the week’s information, and answering questions. She provided us with the URL of Gwinnett County Public Library (outside of Atlanta) which has been doing a lot of the planning process online:

www.sandranelson.com/gcpl/overview.htm

To skip directly to the planning process, click on “Phase 1″

Monitoring Progress

June Garcia took over with this part of the training and walked us through an exercise from the online course. Participants broke into groups to examine the situation presented in a case study (in which staff were reluctant to let go of certain responsibilities even though they had identified them as ineffective). A variety of solutions were discussed, but Nelson chimed in to emphasize that the goals should determine the activities, and compromising to keep the staff happy may squander away your resources that should be devoted to the plan.

Sandra Nelson jumped in again before the break to share some citations for articles she discussed earlier in the week:

“In Search of a World-Class Mission Statement” http://66.23.131.98/archive/1997/mar/assess.txt
or
Google
Governing Magazine
Search
Advanced Search (full editorial content)
Mission Statement

“Customer Service and the Rule of 1965″ by Karen Hyman, American Libraries October 1999, vol. 30, iss. 9, p. 54

After a break, Nelson clarified that libraries should be sure that the activities are proceeding as designed, and that the activities are accomplishing the goals that they were designed to address. Reports to the board (or staff) should center around progress on the plan.

Every objective has a measure. Libraries will need to determine where they will get the data to track the progress (this can even be stated explicity in the plan). Workshops 9.4 and 9.5 are designed to help us do the following:

1. Identify the data needed to monitor progress toward reaching objectives
2. Develop a plan to collect and record the data needed
3. Review the data monthly and report to the staff and board on progress at least quarterly
4. Revise activities as needed to accomplish objectives

www.sandranelson.com “Planning Links” - provide examples of libraries who have posted their progress online

How often do we review progress?

monthly - individual activities

annually - Cluster of activities, some measures

year 2 - review and adjust objectives, if necessary

(No need to revisit goals except in extraordinary circumstances)

Recommended survey data analysis services include:

www.surveymonkey.com
www.perseus.com
www.boomerang.com

At the end of three years (or in the case of extraordinary circumstances), review the plan, determine whether changes need to be made. Some libraries invite planning committees back to touch base even if they think everything looks good.

At the end of six years (or whenever it’s determined that things have changed in the community), most libraries will need to repeat the process to insure that the community analysis is still accurate. This may be done either with the same committee planning group or by using new people.

Common Sense Guidelines for Collecting Library Data (handout 9.6)

Why do we need to collect data?

• State requires it
• Track progress on strategic plan
• Report to town/city
• grants require it

Definitions of library data are available at

www.niso.org (look for ANSI/NISO standards)

DON’T FORGET! - more information is available in the Planning for Results book

Examples of libraries that have been successful with the Planning for Results process:

Fort Worth - http://www.fortworthlibrary.org/

Las Vegas - http://www.lvccld.org/

The remainder of today’s session was spent with each participant beginning to develop a plan for their library, and workshop evaluations.

I would like to strongly encourage other participants in this program to post their own impressions/questions/success stories to this blog to provide a more comprehensive view of the experience.

Thanks to PLA for offering us this wonderful opportunity!

I have a confession to make. I fear that I have become the devil’s advocate of the group. There are portions of the planning process that seem illogical to me, and I have also been concerned about the amount of time it would seem like it would take to accomplish the Planning for Results process. That said, for every question that I raise, several participants who have been through the process chime in with testimonies on how well the system works, and how fast and easy it is to implement. The presenters (obviously) claim this too, and I admit that there is something to be said for the fact that this system has been tested widely and revised extensively to address any problems.

I am beginning to think that it may be necessary to “trust the process” in the same way that one would trust a 12-step program, and question/evaluate only after the entire process has been implemented. My library would have nothing to lose, and everything to gain with this strategy. There is no other well-tested and widely accepted system for library planning in existence right now. So it certainly makes sense to give it a whirl before trying out other ideas.

Morning Session

Every morning of the training has started with a brief review of what was covered the previous day, and a chance to address any questions that participants may have. Today was no exception. In addition, Sandra Nelson provided us with the bonus information of how the planning process fits in with other administrative tasks in case your library (like mine) needs a complete makeover in terms of planning, policies, job descriptions, etc. Here’s how it should look:

1. Strategic Plan
2. Program of Service (if required by the state)
3. Job Descriptions
4. Performance Evaluations
5. Policies

Nelson completed this entire series of events with one library in approximately one year.

Allocating Materials Resources

The approach to allocating materials resources parallels that of allocating staff and facilities resources, so the system was becoming familiar to us by today. Individually, we completed a numeric analysis of materials resources based on a case study (which mostly proved that many of us were not very good at math). Then we completed an activity that encouraged us to consider the current situation and what it would take to reach a particular goal in terms of collection development.

As with the other resource areas we examined, workforms are available in the Managing forResults book to address issues related to collection development.

We then practiced working with a gap analysis to address a particular activity related to collection development and reviewed the steps for…

Implementing Your Plan: Materials

1. Review materials budget allocations and revise as needed
2. Review selection guidelines and revise as needed
3. Review standing orders and revise as needed (Nelson recommended against standing orders in general - particularly for reference materials - and suggested a review of standing orders of popular materials by author at least once a year)
4. Review collection and weed as needed (Nelson recommended weeding at least 5-10% of the collection on an annual basis with some areas - such as medicine - done more frequently [or maintaining electronic information on this topic only])
5. Identify collection development training needs and develop a training plan

As with staffing and facilities, we examined the data needed, issues to be resolved, benefits and risks involved with each of the above questions.

Creating Policies For Results

June Garcia began this part of the training with a couple of hypothetical scenarios to get participants thinking about the importance of library policies.

For the purpose of this workshop, library policies were defined as follows:

The generic term used for the policy statement, regulations, procedures and
guidelines (if any) that apply to a specific issue

A policy manual was defined as:

A collection of library policy statements. Policy manuals may include
regulations, procedures, and guidelines. Policy manuals are normally available
in print format and may be available electronically as well.

Detailed definitions were also provided for the following terms (significantly abbreviated definitions are included below):

practice - the way things are actually done in your library

policy statement - WHAT must be done to support the policy (often measures how many, when, where, how long, and who)

procedure - HOW the staff will carry out the policy and regulations

guideline - BEST PRACTICES that provide suggestions on how to implement policy statements, regulations, and procedures

Each library policy that appears in the policy manual will contain a policy statement, regulations, procedures, and (sometimes) guidelines. While all of these items will eventually be grouped together in the manual, the policy statements and regulations will be created and approved by the library board before the procedures and guidelines are put into place to avoid wasting time developing procedures and guidelines for policy statements and regulations that may not be approved or may be modified. A sample list of public service policy categories and subjects is included in our workbooks.

A list of tasks and steps was also provided for:

A. Policy Audit Inventory

B. Policy Audit Assesssment

C. Policy Development

D. Policy Implementation

A list of suggested evaluation criteria was also provided for policy statements, regulations and procedures. In addition to the recommended criteria, the presenters also gave examples of additional criteria that could be created by an individual library to meet their community’s particular needs (a resounding theme throughout all of these processes).

Garcia suggested that each policy should include an implementation date as well as an approval date/by whom. One participant added that each of her library’s policies also includes a date for review/update. “See also” references may also be used to refer the reader to related policies.

Examples of library policies and procedures are available at www.webjunction.org. However, Garcia emphasized that while looking at other library policies can be useful in deciding on what type of language to use, the policies themselves should be unique to each library since they will be driven by the particular service responses selected by that library.

Rather than sample policies, Garcia has provided templates for many common library policies in the book Creating Policies for Results. While not recommending any particular approach, these templates insure that most of the important issues will be considered when creating library policies (which I believe will be extremely useful). A policy element review summary is also included in our workshop packets. The ALA web page (www.ala.org) also provides that association’s decisions on a variety of controversial topics that may be addressed in a library’s policy manual.

While much of a library’s policy manual will be considered to be an internal document, libraries may want to prepare the policy statement and regulations related to issues such as a library’s code of conduct, unattended children, Internet or meeting room use, in a format that will be readily available to present to the public.

Other useful handouts included in the workbooks to help in the creation of policies are a list of “Points to Remember” when writing policies, a list of “Policy Development Challenges” and a “Policy and Regulations Worksheet.”

Library policies should be reviewed at least once a year (one library schedules one board meeting per year to review library policies, but others do sections at each board meeting throughout the year) or any time that an issue that hasn’t previously been considered arises (preferably in another library).

Implementing Your Plan

After answering questions, Sandra Nelson picked up this segment of the training with an overview of where participants can find information related to the following resources:

staff - Staffing for Results, Managing for Results, and
(the forthcoming) HR for Results

facilities - Managing for Results and the forthcoming Facilities
for Results

collection - Managing for Results (a Collection for Results
book is planned, but not currently in the works)

technology - the new Technology for Results

Then (in part to assuage my concerns about how long it looked like this process could drag out) Nelson outlined the entire process in terms of how long each segment would take to accomplish. It broke down roughly as follows:

Week 1-3 or 4

Planning Committee

Community Analysis

Identified Community Needs

Identified Library Priorities (with staff and board)

Mission statement can be developed at this point, if desired

Week 4 or 5

Goals (outcomes)

Objectives (how to measure progress)

Basic goals and objectives can be shared with the public at this point, if desired

Week 5 or 6

Brainstorming Possible Activities

Effectiveness Evaluation of Activities

Identify Preliminary Activities

a luncheon/party can be provided for the planning committee at this stage, if desired

Week 6 or 7 to Week 8 or 10

Resource Allocation / Data Collection (gap analysis)

Week 9 -11

Final Activities determined

Goals and objectives with sample activities can be shared with the public at this point if not done earlier

(The final step in this process is monitoring, which we will address in tomorrow’s session.)

Nelson, who isn’t a fan of mission statements, related a study in which a researcher examined mission statements for various occupations. Those for fire and police departments tended to be the most effective, whereas those for libraries were generally at the bottom of the barrel because all libraries essentially claimed to do all things for all people.

Nelson suggested that catchy slogans might be more effective for libraries than mission statements. The following ideas were shared (some of which come from actual libraries);

“Connecting People and Information”

“First Destination for Fact and Fiction”

“Mulch for the Mind”

Strategic Initiatives

This last major segment of the day was addressed by June Garcia. While this part of the planning process is still under construction, Garcia provided the following working definition:

Strategic initiatives describe a desired state of organizational efficiency
or capacity necessary to support/enable the library to achieve its service
goals

A handout on strategic initiatives further defined areas in which they could be developed (such as collections, technology, facilities, staff development, organizational structure, finance, measurement and evaluation, operational efficiencies, policies, external partnerships, marketing and public relations, etc.)

While goals are stated in relationship to the benefits to the audience, strategic initiatives are written from the library’s perspective (”the library will…”). Strategic initiatives are designed to address broad issues rather than specific tasks, and they are always subordinate to a library’s goals.

It was strongly emphasized that NOT EVERY LIBRARY NEEDS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES. They were generally seen to be more useful for libraries with multiple units (except where they are useful for political purposes). Garcia appears to be a stronger proponent of strategic initiatives than Nelson, and how they will ultimately fit into the Implementing Results framework has yet to be determined.

Activity Plans

Nelson concluded today’s session with a brief presentation of worksheets for activity plans:

• The “Basic Activity Plan” worksheet is designed for activities that are currently in place or will be easy to implement
• The “Complex/Expensive Activity Plan” worksheet is to be used for activities that require more detailed planning. This worksheet also contains a simple line-item budget form to plan specific activities. These worksheets would then be gathered together and added up (with other expenses) to determine the library’s overall line-item budget.

The question of technology was raised, and it was emphasized that technological advances should only be implemented if/when they fall into the service responses that have been identified in the library’s strategic plan. New technologies in and of themselves should not drive the direction of library services.

Summary

Today’s workshops brought together the pieces of the planning process into a unified whole.

Tomorrow, we will move on to what to do once everything comes together

Stay tuned…

Morning Session

Yesterday, Sandra Nelson told us that the second day of a week-long workshop is always the hardest. The novelty of the new environment has worn off, and you’re not even halfway through the week yet. By Wednesday, you have renewed energy because you’re starting to get accustomed to sleeping in a new environment, and the end of the week is already in site.

Whether it was those factors or the waning of my cold, I did find myself more engaged in today’s activities than yesterdays. The morning started out with another session led by Nelson, who clarified that the general plan of service, or strategic plan that we discussed on Monday is what drives a library’s facilities plan, staff development plan, technology plan, job descriptions etc.

Allocating Staff Resources: Part 2

The bulk of this morning’s session focused on a continuation of Allocating Staff Resources. Nelson explained that the book Managing for Results by Ellen Altman, includes 18 workforms about gathering data to make staffing decisions. These workforms (and all of the Results workforms) are also available online at www.elearnlibraries.com. She used the example of a workform designed to analyze staff time productivity which stunned most participants with the realization that if we assume that all staff spend all of their actual work hours working, when we factor in breaks, vacations, sick leave, etc. they only wind up working about 78% of the total hours that are assigned to their position.

This realization spiraled into a discussion of how much staff time is lost at the water cooler, in meetings, at trainings, and getting settled in and ready to leave the workplace. The result of this discussion was that it is important for managers to be aware of the actual amount of work time that staff has to accomplish tasks in order to avoid assigning more work than can reasonably be accomplished.

It was also recommended that performance appraisal documents identify clearly defined personal goals (unique to each position) in order to measure work progress.

Ways to Collect Data About Staff Activities

We then moved on to a discussion about how to collect data about staff activities. Methods include staff or supervisor estimates, existing records (such as the amount of reference questions answered per staff during a certain period on the desk etc.), self-reports or time logs, in which staff members write down what they are doing every 15 minutes throughout the day to get a picture of how they are allocating their work time, and obtrusive (announced) and unobtrusive (secret-shopper) observation. Pros and cons of each method were discussed. In general staff and supervisor estimates and existing records are easier and faster to accomplish and might be a good first approach unless the situation dictates the need for more specific information.

While no system of gathering data is 100% accurate, as long as you’re measuring the same data in the same way over time, you create useful trend data (in Nelson’s words, “consistent inaccuracy results in accurate trend data.”)

Data collection occurs at the point of gathering resources to select final activities and is essential to make informed decisions. It is important to be careful how we use staff data if we want people to continue to buy into the planning process however. If we use the planning data to justify disciplinary measures, staff may be reluctant to participate in the data-gathering process in the future.

There was a strong emphasis on providing the skills needed for staff to take on new or additional responsibilities.

Types of Workload Analysis

Two types of workload analysis were introduced:

Numeric analysis helps you determine how much you are getting done with the staff you have, and process analysis determines what steps within a task are required to create a measurable output. In short, numeric analysis asks “what” and process analysis asks “how” or “why.”

Participants worked individually and in pairs to complete worksheets that allowed us to use each type of analysis in a library context.

Sacred Cows

One of the morning’s more entertaining discussions was about “sacred cows” – the activities that have been done in the same way and at the same time for so long that no one even wonders if they are effective anymore. Nelson recommended that we involve library staff in identifying sacred cows, and in proposing better alternatives.

Implementing Your Plan: Staff

Nelson wrapped up the morning’s activities with a quick summary of the data needed, issues surrounding, benefits and risks of the following planning issues:

1. Review staff allocations and reallocate as needed
2. Review staff duties and assignments and adjust as needed
3. Review job descriptions and revise as needed to reflect current duties and requirements
4. Review performance appraisal documents and revise as needed to reflect current staff responsibilities
5. Identify training required to ensure that staff can perform new/revised responsibilities and develop a training plan

These issues would most likely be addressed after the final activities related to the strategic plan have been developed.

Afternoon Session

June Garcia took over the training responsibilities for the afternoon session. She recapped our discussion on staffing by suggesting that when making staffing decisions, we consider the following:

- What would it look like on the front page of the paper?
- Would my mother be proud of me?

She also shared the comment of one participant who suggested that our group of workshop participants may be holding onto the sacred cow assumption that all staff are resistant to change, when in fact many staff members may be amenable to it. (This was borne out by my own experience - when I e-mailed my library staff to inform them about this blog, one staff member responded by saying, “I can’t wait to start the planning process. I love the buzz of change!”)

Allocating Facilities Resources

The group seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief as we moved away from staff issues onto facilities, for the simple reason that facilities planning is so much more linear and uncomplicated than dealing with relationships between human beings.

Nine tasks were identified from the forthcoming book on Managing Facilities for Results by Ruth O’ Donnell and Cheryl Bryan:

1. Define space analysis and reallocate project
2. Select project team
3. Pre-planning
4. Identify use and status of existing space
5. Determine the requirements for the activities included in the space and reallocation project
6. Identify and evaluate options
7. Present opinions and seek necessary approvals
8. Make final report and recommendation and get approvals
9. Implement approved changes

As Garcia pointed out, the first eight steps lead up to getting approval for the project, while only in the ninth step do we move forward with implementation.

Garcia suggested that it is wise to combine facilities changes/renovations as much as possible to avoid repeated disruptions of service. She also recommended the free online resource librisdesign for library space planning needs.

Participants then broke into small groups to examine the floor plan of a fictitious library and evaluate what priorities the space allocation suggested. This was an interesting exercise since it implied that you can tell where a library is focusing its energy based exclusively on the amount of space that it has allocated to certain services. For example, the library in question had 16 shelves of adult non-fiction, as compared to two paperback spinners of YA materials. We then used the same floor plan to answer a series of questions on reallocating space.

This was followed by another group case study which asked us to assess the amount of equipment, furniture and storage required to increase a library’s DVD collection. For the purpose of the results books, these terms are defined as follows:

Equipment – computers, AV (CDs/DVDs), sound systems, vehicles to transport, video projectors etc.
Furniture – tables, chairs, workstations, study desks, carrels, etc.
Storage – linear feet of shelving or display, specialized shelving for CDs, paperbacks, media, or the capacity to store program materials etc.

Implementing Your Plan: Facilities

Our final group activity addressed how to implement the facilities plan by considering the same factors (data, issues, benefits and risks) that we considered above for staff issues. Topics to address included:

1. Review current space allocation and reallocate as needed
2. Evaluate current allocation of shelf space and change as needed
3. Review current equipment and replace/add as needed
4.Review current furnishings and replace/add as needed
5. Identify facility-related training needs and develop a training plan

Garcia wrapped up the afternoon’s session with a strong recommendation to keep floor plans up to date and to know how to read them (or hire someone who does) when making planning decisions about space and facilities.

Participants’ Opinions of the Workshop

While all of the information presented today was useful, I felt that the information on staffing presented in the morning’s session was more engaging, in part because of the difficulty of the issues involved with staffing decisions, but also because there was a lot more direct instruction on this topic than there was on the facilities portion of the training (which mostly consisted of group activities).

Participants that I have spoken with seem to be enjoying the training on the whole. One librarian reflected the enthusiasm of the group about the simple fact that Sandra Nelson has given us permission to hold our staff accountable for the work that they are paid to accomplish. Yesterday (or was it Monday?) she stated that we need to keep in mind that our staff members are paid to work at the library. “That’s why they call it work,” she said. “If they called it play, we would have to focus on whether they’re happy. Since it’s called work, it’s much more important to focus on whether our patrons are happy and to hold our staff accountable to do whatever the community and the library have determined will make our patrons happy.”

The same participant also commented on the wealth of information to be gained just from spending time with the other library managers who are participating in this workshop. “Between us, we have thousands of hours of valuable experience,” he stated.

I overheard another participant expressing her enthusiasm over Sandra Nelson’s training style, “[She] is so inspiring,” she stated, “ She’s dropping gems and pearls all over the place!”

As with any workshop (particularly a week-long workshop) participants grew tired by the end of the day. Many still planned on attending a tour of the Salt Lake City Public Library this evening. I hope that one of them will add comments to this post to describe the outing (since I stayed in the hotel room to blog)!

While yesterday’s program was a rapid-fire review of the New Planning for Results process and previous library planning schemes, tried and tested by hundreds of libraries with whom Sandra Nelson and June Garcia have worked, today the pace slowed and the information became a little more dense and experimental.

Beginning with the topic of Allocating Resources, Nelson introduced material from her forthcoming book, Implementing Results. She began with an introduction of the historic model of planning, which made the following assumptions:

• Planning is about identifying new services and activities
• Our existing services are very good or excellent
• New services and activities require new resources
• If we don’t get any new resources, we can’t accomplish our plan

The New Planning for Results model, on the contrary, makes these assumptions:

• Planning is about defining organizational policies
• Our current services and activities must be regularly reviewed to ensure that they are effective and efficient in relation to current priorities
• Many new services and programs will have to be funded from reallocated resources
• We will accomplish the priorities in our plan with or without new resources

In a nutshell, the New Planning for Results approach asks libraries to identify key stakeholders in their communities, gather information about community needs from these stakeholders, identify how the library can help to meet these needs, and create goals and objectives based on these service responses.

Since the process does not involve examining the success or failure of current programs and services, except in the context of how they may (or may not) meet the newly identified service responses (designed to address community needs) it may require entirely reallocating staff and financial resources to create an entirely new type of library service than what has existed in the past.

Nelson emphasizes that this restructuring need not require more funds, but I think this must assume that the library has an adequate budget to accomplish a minimal level of service to begin with. In the case of my library, if we were to reallocate resources to address our primary goals and objectives in order of priority, we would likely run out of money before we had met the first goal - and that would effectively mean abandoning all of the other services the library is currently offering.

But moving back to the workshop, today’s focus moved away from the planning process itself and towards the implementation of the process. Tasks for Implementing for Results are as follows:

1. Identify current and new activities for each goal
2. Review and organize activities for each goal
3. Select preliminary activities for each goal
4. Determine resource requirements for activities for each goal
5. Select final activities to support the strategic plan
6. Plan for implementation of selected activities
7. Implement selected activities
8. Monitor implementation and make adjustments as needed

While we learned how to identify, organize, and select preliminary activities for each goal yesterday, today’s session focused on how to determine requirements for each goal (using a gap analysis model) and by examining the impact of each activity on library resources such as staff, collections, facility and technology.

June Garcia made her first appearance halfway through this morning’s session when she instructed participants in how to consider these resources in terms of capacity, utilization, access, age and condition in order to determine what kind of data to collect.

Several worksheets and case studies were used to help us translate these somewhat vague concepts into useful tools in data collection and resource allocation, but perhaps because of the long days, or perhaps because of the untested nature of this new material, it seemed a lot harder for most of us to follow than the planning information that was presented yesterday.

Nelson returned at the beginning of the afternoon session which moved us away from the Implementing for Results tasks to address the issue of how to manage change. This was a wise digression since many of us were beginning to feel a little overwhelmed with the amount of detail involved with planning activities after the heart of your planning document had been completed. It occurred to me that these type of planning models are often created (and sometimes facilitated) by consultants because it could easily take up all of the time of a library director or planner to complete all of the steps (which Nelson emphasized is important for the process to work the way it was intended to).

Participants were encouraged to view change as a process that would take library staff (administrators included) through a period of discomfort before an adjustment to the new way of doing things occurs. Since 1995 (with the advent of the Internet), change in libraries has been taking place more frequently and at a more rapid pace, which may contribute to low morale and burnout in library staff.

In order to help us identify the factors that contribute towards change in the library workplace, the presenters had us work with a modified “pro” and “con” list, identifying forces pushing towards change and forces pushing against it. Each force was weighted to account for its strength or importance. Awareness of these forces can presumably make it easier to introduce change and address staff concerns.

Nelson suggested that library managers consider facts, goals, methods and values when preparing to negotiate with staff about changes that will need to take place based on the planning process. Since little can be done to change facts or values, the emphasis was on emphasizing goals and identifying methods to reach them that will eventually be acceptable to all parties involved.

The following strategies were suggested to help make change easier for staff to accept:

• Involve staff at every step of the process
• Don’t get so involved in the process of change that you lose track of the reasons for the changes.
• Acknowledge the emotional reactions that we all have when faced with change.
• Acknowledge the contributions made by the services and programs that are being phased out.
• Don’t expect change to be quick.
• Stay focused on the end result.
• Don’t automatically assume that all changes will be equally effective.
• Don’t expect to control the change process.

While giving a nod to the legitimate fears and concerns of staff members involved in radical change, Sandra Nelson is the “tough-love” type. On several occasions, during the past few days, she has reminded us that if staff ultimately refuse to participate in the process of change that results directly from the plan that was driven by community needs, “the discussion should turn from a conversation to disciplinary action.”

During the last hour of our session this afternoon, June Garcia introduced the section we’ll be working with tomorrow on Allocating Staff Resources. She used a case study to identify activities that would follow from a given goal and its corresponding objectives (which closely resembled what we were doing when we left off yesterday).

In order to implement the activities that are chosen as final activities to support the strategic plan (task 5 in the Implementing for Results list), libraries are encouraged to do the following:

1. Review staff allocations
2. Review staff duties and assignments and adjust as needed
3. Review job descriptions and revise as needed to reflect current duties and requirements
4. Review performance appraisal documents and revise as needed to reflect current staff responsibilities
5. Identify training required to ensure that staff can perform new/revised responsibilities and develop a training plan

Questions to ask about each implementation activity include the following:

• What data will we need to accomplish this activity?
• What issues will need to be resolved before we accomplish this activity?
• What are the benefits to the organization if we accomplish this activity?
• What are the risks associated with this activity?

If you consider that this process must be applied to any number of activities that accompany particular goals, and that 1-2 goals are provided for each service response, and that a library is not limited to any particular number of service responses (but typically may identify as many as four or five), we are talking about applying the five steps listed above to 30+ activities. When you consider that this process comes at the end of an equally detailed process to identify the service responses, goals, objectives and activities in the first place, I fear that most libraries will not be able to implement these strategies as suggested.

Tomorrow we’ll talk more about allocating staff resources… I’ll keep you posted.

PLA’s first-ever “Results” Boot Camp kicked off yesterday in Salt Lake City, Utah, with 52 participants from across the country (24 states, plus Canada) in attendance. The Boot Camp is led by instructors Sandra Nelson and June Garcia.

After introductions, Sandra Nelson took the lead on Monday morning with a discussion on how libraries can continue to operate successfully in an ever-changing environment. Noting that libraries that excel have focused their resources based on what their communities want or need, regardless of funding, Nelson stressed that libraries need to implement community-based planning processes. She then gave a brief history of public library standards noting that in the 1960s and 70s standards became increasingly difficult to implement as they were developed in the absence of hard data and they were based on larger library experiences. Because of these problems, the library community developed the Public Library Planning Process in 1980, which encouraged libraries to collect mounds of data about their community but didn’t clearly show what to do with the data and eventually libraries rejected the process. Next came 1984’s Planning and Role-Setting for Public Libraries and then 1998’s original Planning for Results, followed closely by the New Planning for Results which was less complicated.

The Planning for Results series has been developed with three underlying assumptions:

*Excellence has to be defined locally - meeting local needs.
*Excellence is possible for both large/small public libraries.
*Excellence is a moving target.

Nelson then went on to describe how planning is not an event, it’s a process and how important it is for libraries to get help in priority setting from their communities. She also noted that you can’t start the planning process with the assumption that you will get more money, rather you have to show that the dollars you do have are being well-spent.

Rather than gathering community focus groups, an attendee inquired whether a survey would work just as well. Nelson detailed how focus groups are better at getting community feed back and that decisions are usually reinforced, not made with survey data. For the library’s focus group, librarians should select committee members from people who represent constituencies (for example the president of the PTA can speak for a broad array of people). Look for people who have spent time thinking about your community. Be sure to include representatives from all the constituencies the library serves and from all of the demographics the library serves. She also recommended that libraries include an elected official in the group and use an external formal facilitator. Nelson noted that many of the committee members would likely not be regular library users. However, libraries are not asking them about their library experience - we are asking them about the community’s needs.

*What is the role of the library director? Library director should be ex-officio. Library director should not be facilitator.
*How to select staff liaison. Include a librarian who is knowledgeable enough about libraries to answer questions from committee.
*How to represent homeless/homebound? Ask the providers of service to these communities to be a part of the group.

Nelson recommended appointing specific people to meet demographics of community. What if persons are hesitant to join the group? Explain that they get a place at the table to talk about what the library can do for their constituencies. If they participate, the needs of the people they represent will be included in the library planning process. In her experience, there is a 70-80% acceptance rate.

This weeklong workshop includes individual and group activities and focuses on current library issues and concerns. Instructors also will present case studies describing real library situations and encourage attendees to apply what they learn to real-life problems and issues in their libraries. Until now, the PLA Results courses have been offered individually. During Boot Camp, attendees will learn about all of the publications in the Results series and see first-hand how they interconnect.

By the end of the week attendees should have the knowledge to:
+ Develop a strategic plan
+ Write goals and objectives that enable them to measure progress in achieving their library’s strategic plan
+ Identify and select the most effective activities to support the priorities in their strategic plan
+ Identify current staff workload and skills and determine the staffing requirements to accomplish selected activities
+ Describe current technology infrastructure and determine what technology will be required to accomplish your selected activities
+ Understand the issues that affect the allocation of collection and facilities resources in a Results environment
+ Produce useable policies tailored to their library and designed to support the priorities in their strategic plan

Topics that will be explored in detail include:

+ Strategic Planning for Public Libraries
+ Data-Based Decision-Making
+ Implementing Your Plan
+ Creating Effective Library Policies
+ How to Put It All Together

Books in the Results series include:

+ Nelson, Sandra. The New Planning for Results: A Streamlined Approach. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001.
+ Nelson, Sandra, Diane Mayo, and Ellen Altman. Managing for Results: Effective Resource Allocation for Public Libraries. Chicago: American Library Association, 2000.
+ Mayo, Diane, and Jeanne Goodrich. Staffing for Results: A Guide to Working Smarter. Chicago: American Library Association, 2002
+ Nelson, Sandra and June Garcia. Creating Policies for Results: From Chaos to Clarity. Chicago: American Library Association, 2003.
+ Mayo, Diane. Technology for Results: Developing Service-Based Plans. Chicago: American Library Association, 2005.

Copies of these publications can be ordered from ALA Editions, online at www.alastore.ala.org or by calling 1-866/746-7252.

Another Boot Camp is tentatively planned for Fall of 2006 - visit the PLA site for updates and more information.

June Garcia (L) and Sandra Nelson (R) address Boot Camp attendees.

- written by Kathleen Hughes