On the last day of 2012, I am looking out on a snowy day, thinking about the year.


After 3 years of work redefining and restructuring we took the plunge in November of 2011 and unveiled our new structure. So 2012 has been a year of changes in many ways, with the accompanying satisfactions and frustrations, with the satisfactions outweighing the frustrations.

We were a department with three streams: library, records, and knowledge management. In a time of restraint, and with the expectation of less paper and more digital information we knew in 2009 that we had to take a big step into the future.

We first looked at the skills and competencies in our three areas. Clearly there were overlaps and redundancies. Although the vocabulary varied, depending on whether we were in the records world or the library world, we all collected organized, stored and retrieved information. We all assessed client needs, although we didn’t all call it a reference interview. Some of us focussed on internally produced information, some of us focussed on externally produced information, and those of us in knowledge management focussed on policy regarding our information and how people used and transferred the information. Operating as three distinct units didn’t seem to be efficient.

Since our organization was not the only one dealing with these challenges, we spent some time tracking our relevant peers to see what they were up to. With the help of external consultants we did visioning workshops with our staff and with our clients across the organization to produce an environmental scan and to develop our direction. We reviewed our job profile structures to define accountabilities, competencies and skills that we would in our new world. We worked with our internal in HR team, and with another external consultant to develop roles and an organization structure that would suit the needs that we had defined in the visioning process.

Those two preceding short paragraphs cover 3 years of work to get us to November of 2011. It took time to be sure that the leadership team was all on the same path. We needed to identify and explore the assumptions we were making and to find a common vocabulary to voice our vision. We needed to sell our vision to management and to staff, some of whom were understandably sceptical. And sometimes we needed to let things sit for a bit to mature. There were differences of opinion, there was frustration, and there was at times trepidation. It’s not an easy process or a quick one to step out of the ruts we have travelled in for many years and set off in another direction, no matter how similar.

So in November 2011 we jumped. And now we are wrapping up the first year in our new world.

We said goodbye to several people, some because their jobs were redundant and some because they did not see a place for themselves in our new world. We are now down 10 positions. We are still organized into three streams, but now they are Client Relations; Service Centre; and Service Development and Innovation.

The library collection has substantially moved to off-site storage, as has the inactive records collection. Since the library collection was visible to our clients we have needed to do some active communication to explain that while the collection was in storage the service is alive and well.

We have done a lot of work on process mapping, which has been invaluable. There was some initial resistance to doing mapping, but one of the biggest challenges we have had is identifying who does what in the new structure. The work done on mapping has helped us resolve those issues, clarified our vision, and helped to get us all on the same page.

We have created three new senior positions of Client Portfolio Lead, each responsible for a portfolio of specific departments. Each lead has a specific subject matter expertise (one in records, one in library reference services and one in knowledge management) but they will be working with the client groups with a focus on strategic information management. This new role is being very well received.

One surprise in the past year was a delay in the implementation of new enterprise content management tool, which means that we continue to deal with more paper than anticipated.

More to come on what we expect for 2013.

Still printing

Today we launched an electronic routing system to route electronic journals. From the client's point of view, the change-over is seamless. From the staff point of view, the change-over was anything but. The new process brought up many questions about how things are done, who does those things and why we do the things we do. All good questions, all fodder for next year's project on service review. We also discovered little piles of things "awaiting decision". Mostly the decisions were about what (and how much) do we keep; who needs this material; do we need to continue receiving it. Again, all good questions, but the kind of thing that gets put aside when there are more pressing issues to deal with and then get forgotten. And mixed in with all of that were a few cases where we still receive electronic copy, print it, and then shelve it. So the book trucks aren't totally empty. We are now working our way through the decisions that need to be made. The first one is, again, that we don't print and shelve the result. So a big step forward about routing today, and a small one about printing. Two steps of progress is a good number for a Thursday.

No, no, we're not gone

Today I looked for the short corporate communication that would say that while a quarter of our shelving and a well-used conference room are both disappearing, library services continue as usual. Instead, we got a corporate message that the conference room will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. So I am off to find another avenue of communication to spread the word that even if our footprint has shrunk we are still able to fill the very large shoes that we have always filled. Library Services Continue as Usual!

Going, going, almost gone

Friday was a noisy day, as the movers were in to dismantle shelving and put the pieces in boxes for storage. This has been on the radar for a long time, and on the plan since June, but Friday was the day. Half of the open stacks area is being replaced by offices. It is the right thing, because we are strapped for space, and stacks were not the right use for it, but it is a big change. When the building was built (30 years ago) there were two floors set aside for the library. And when we go in on Monday, we will be down to half a floor of staff space and a quarter of a floor of open stack. Major change.

People have worked hard over the past year to get us to this place. We've been reviewing the collection to be sure that it matches the business needs; we've been making choices to leverage the open web where we can; and we've started to eliminate paper duplication of electronic resources that we subscribe to. It's all part of the strategic plan to enhance the electronic delivery of our services and products. It's a good thing. But we're also looking at the related challenges, and those are not small...

Getting out there

Today is the day! I'm going to start a blog. I have a title, I have a topic, I have a plan...I sit down, log in and find out -- I have no computer access of any kind to anything.

The Luddite in me pops to the surface. This time it's only me. What if it was the whole team? What if it was the whole organization? What if it was the whole world? I have no Internet access; no access to my calendar; no e-mail; no agenda for my next meeting; no idea where the next meeting is.... Approaching panic mode.

Our book trucks are empty, because we are going electronic. What are we doing? What happens when we have no oil, when the grid fails, when the electronic world collapses and the barbarians are at the door?

Right now I take a deep breath, and call IT. I still have a paper and pencil and the IT guy is working behind the scenes to get me back on track.

And in the end, I am reminded of two things:

• Change is hard, and rather scary
• Agility takes a lot of concentration

So here we go.