Streamlining Library Services: What We Do, How Much Time It Takes, What It Costs, and How We Can Do It Better
Richard M. Dougherty
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
Librarianship is a service profession and not a bottom-line oriented business. As such, librarians don't normally assign a high priority to efficiency of operations; however, opportunities to improve daily jobs and enhance services are being overlooked every day. Advances in technology drive change at a rapid pace and keeping up is both expensive and time consuming. Tight budgets have made keeping up with technology especially difficult. And while some activities in libraries, such as in-person ready reference and circulation of books and journals have declined, many libraries continue to report increases in the demand for services and resources. The rapid transformation from paper to digital documents is also driving changes in libraries. Today the incentive for examining and streamlining library workflows and the processes and procedures that comprise them should be compelling, but that doesn't seem to be the case for many librarians. Streamlining Library Services presents library managers and staff with the tools necessary to analyze and streamline their library's services. It presents a variety of tools and techniques that can be applied to improve library operations and assist library staff in their efforts to identify what work is done, how much time it takes, and what it costs. These efforts can be used to streamline library processes and, where appropriate, help to free dollar resources to initiate or enhance services that merit higher priority.
Product Details
Price
$110.40
Publisher
Rlpg/Galleys
Publish Date
February 15, 2008
Pages
288
Dimensions
7.08 X 9.84 X 0.72 inches | 1.32 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780810851986
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About the Author
Richard M. Dougherty is the founding publisher and editor of the Journal of Academic Librarianship, was the Director of Libraries at the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley, was on the faculty at Syracuse University and the University of Michigan, and served as President of ALA. He has served as a consultant to numerous libraries striving to introduce organizational change and conducted many workshops on change management.
Reviews
For library management courses, this textbook offers a great deal. It delivers a large amount of valuable information and ideas in a very readable and useful format. Dougherty is to be commended for his writing. ...This book effortlessly blends theory and practice...and should do a fine job of making management theory have real application in the classroom.
Dougherty offers tools and procedures for collecting data for workflow evaluations.
The problem-solving techniques explained and the real-life examples cited in this practical book provide the necessary tools for any library interested in doing just that. Recommended for all library collections.
Retitled for the 21st century, this new edition...presents a variety of approaches to engaging in rigorous inquiry into workplace activities, processes, and workflows.....The goal of the text is not simply to introduce the reader to these approaches for assessing the work environment, however, but to 'rescue' these tools of analysis from what the author perceives as a general sentiment that they are outdated....very effective introduction to scientific management tools.
Dougherty...provides a well-organized and most useful analysis....A welcome addition to the collection of any library.
This is a solid introduction to scientific management concepts, not often addressed in recent library management literature....Dougherty shows how to assess internal processes and make evidence-based decisions about them, ensuring that workflows and procedures are as efficient as possible, both improving service to users and freeing up resources. Recommended for professional collections.
Most of the book is a catalog of well-established measurement techniques with roots in industrial engineering. Dougherty is doubtlessly correct that many library procedures could be improved with some thoughtful investigation.... His book is best consulted on an as-needed basis.... Dougherty excels at describing how to streamline current activities and manage the resultant organizational change.
Academic, public and special libraries are always trying to improve services and reduce costs, and this book by Richard Dougherty gives librarians the practical tools to accomplish organisational change and to improve library services....Dougherty is an expert on organisational change and has many years' experience in senior roles in university libraries....This book is well laid-out, with attractive typesetting, and it includes a generous number of figures and charts to enhance the text. Overall this is a useful guide that delivers what it promises.
Dougherty's expertise and experience shine bright....Streamlining Library Services is a powerful aid to successful change management and is required reading these days.
All of the factors that might make it seem impossible to take the time to step back and analyze current practices for future improvements make it even more important to do so, and Dougherty has provided a well-organized and well-written guide to assist us in this work.
Useful for any library wanting to streamline their services, or even just to self-analyze their own processes and tasks, this work is written for the novice. It has been greatly updated since its last edition.
Streamlining Library Services is a useful and affordable answer for those librarians that cannot afford a consultant, as well as for libraries that have implemented recommendations by a consultant. All libraries will benefit from reading and making use of this book . . . Dougherty makes it clear in his writing that any activity may be the subject of analysis, and that makes this book even more valuable than an outside consultant service that only may focus primarily on traditional technical services activities.
In an era when librarians are pressed to justify the cost and value of their services, this book is a precious gift to all of us.
Dougherty provides both administrators and staff with the tools needed to examine, analyze, streamline, and ultimately improve library services. . . . In this well written book, Dougherty draws on his long and varied experience in the library field for examples throughout the text. . . . Dougherty has provided a well-organized and well-written guide
This is an excellent primer on the methods that librarians can use to identify areas for improvement, analyze their processes, assess the results of their study, and make improvements....It would be a valuable addition to any library's professional collection.
This book is crammed full of practical tools and techniques for improving the cost-efficiency of library services....It has a thorough index. This book is very good value for money and I recommend it to all librarians.
Dougherty offers tools and procedures for collecting data for workflow evaluations.
The problem-solving techniques explained and the real-life examples cited in this practical book provide the necessary tools for any library interested in doing just that. Recommended for all library collections.
Retitled for the 21st century, this new edition...presents a variety of approaches to engaging in rigorous inquiry into workplace activities, processes, and workflows.....The goal of the text is not simply to introduce the reader to these approaches for assessing the work environment, however, but to 'rescue' these tools of analysis from what the author perceives as a general sentiment that they are outdated....very effective introduction to scientific management tools.
Dougherty...provides a well-organized and most useful analysis....A welcome addition to the collection of any library.
This is a solid introduction to scientific management concepts, not often addressed in recent library management literature....Dougherty shows how to assess internal processes and make evidence-based decisions about them, ensuring that workflows and procedures are as efficient as possible, both improving service to users and freeing up resources. Recommended for professional collections.
Most of the book is a catalog of well-established measurement techniques with roots in industrial engineering. Dougherty is doubtlessly correct that many library procedures could be improved with some thoughtful investigation.... His book is best consulted on an as-needed basis.... Dougherty excels at describing how to streamline current activities and manage the resultant organizational change.
Academic, public and special libraries are always trying to improve services and reduce costs, and this book by Richard Dougherty gives librarians the practical tools to accomplish organisational change and to improve library services....Dougherty is an expert on organisational change and has many years' experience in senior roles in university libraries....This book is well laid-out, with attractive typesetting, and it includes a generous number of figures and charts to enhance the text. Overall this is a useful guide that delivers what it promises.
Dougherty's expertise and experience shine bright....Streamlining Library Services is a powerful aid to successful change management and is required reading these days.
All of the factors that might make it seem impossible to take the time to step back and analyze current practices for future improvements make it even more important to do so, and Dougherty has provided a well-organized and well-written guide to assist us in this work.
Useful for any library wanting to streamline their services, or even just to self-analyze their own processes and tasks, this work is written for the novice. It has been greatly updated since its last edition.
Streamlining Library Services is a useful and affordable answer for those librarians that cannot afford a consultant, as well as for libraries that have implemented recommendations by a consultant. All libraries will benefit from reading and making use of this book . . . Dougherty makes it clear in his writing that any activity may be the subject of analysis, and that makes this book even more valuable than an outside consultant service that only may focus primarily on traditional technical services activities.
In an era when librarians are pressed to justify the cost and value of their services, this book is a precious gift to all of us.
Dougherty provides both administrators and staff with the tools needed to examine, analyze, streamline, and ultimately improve library services. . . . In this well written book, Dougherty draws on his long and varied experience in the library field for examples throughout the text. . . . Dougherty has provided a well-organized and well-written guide
This is an excellent primer on the methods that librarians can use to identify areas for improvement, analyze their processes, assess the results of their study, and make improvements....It would be a valuable addition to any library's professional collection.
This book is crammed full of practical tools and techniques for improving the cost-efficiency of library services....It has a thorough index. This book is very good value for money and I recommend it to all librarians.
