Note: the first five segments of this meeting will be to outline the reasons we need to undertake this project, while the last five will illuminate some specific actions and activities that will be taking place.
Over a period of three months, beginning on September 22, 1997 and ending on December 22, 1997, an unobtrusive study was undertaken of our reference department to ascertain how well we were doing answering a variety of government document inquiries. There were a series of ten questions asked by each of the fifty proxies used in the study, with special care taken that the same person would not be asking the same reference librarian all of the questions, nor would one reference librarian get asked the same question repeatedly. Great caution was given to have an equitable circulation of the questions by reconciling the work schedules of the proxies and our reference librarians. The results are quite telling, with an overall success rate of only 37% for the questions asked over the three-month period. What that means of course is that we must make some changes to our approach to government document reference questions if we expect to service our public as well as we would like to in the future. Knowledge of the study was limited to me, in my role as Chief Information Officer, and Ms. Richardson, the C.E.O. The following discussion will be presented in a very forthcoming and honest manner so that there can be no chance of misunderstanding the direction we are all heading toward in the foreseeable future.
One of the main goals of this meeting is to make it clear that no one person or persons will be blamed for the failure rate in this reference department, and for this reason, there was never any data collected specifically on the performance of individual librarians and information officers in this library. This is not a hunt to place blame on anyone, but rather a request that each of us take responsibility for the decisions we make when on duty behind the government documents reference desk, and a realization that our success rate can and will increase if we work together to reach that goal. Therefore, feelings of inadequacy and blame should be left at the front door when you report to work your reference shifts, and instead, a knowledge that "you own this job, [and] you can be held accountable for it" (Thompson 1990,47).
One of the thrusts of this meeting will be redefining and clarification of the assigning of responsibility within this department to ensure that the objectives put forth will be accomplished in a timely manner (Thompson 1990,46). Both Mr. Lovensky and Mr. Jackman will be assigning one of you to act as supervisor on the days you are working, thus enabling you to have the authority to make sure that the problems we are presently experiencing are being tackled and minimized by following a series of steps that will be laid out later (Bentley 1996,156). However, the responsibility for the day-to-day aspects of this project to increase our success rate will lie solely with the head of reference and the head of government documents so that there is less stress on those of you on the front lines (Bentley 1990,156). Underlying this delegation procedure must be a group commitment to be positive and keep up the morale, "and breathe life and fun into the organization" (K-Burr 1994,29). In addition, a building of the level of commitment that is found in each one of the staff here, which will be sustained and cause "superior performances" (Kinlaw 1989,1).
The next two sections of this meeting will be an attempt to refresh our memories about the direction government documents is taking, the problems that the trend of mainstreaming can cause, and the importance of the reference interview. Following these overviews, there will be a presentation on the steps we will use in our project to increase our success rate, and raise the level of service we are presently giving.
As we know, the government is under extreme pressure to decrease the costs of running this country and have been following a model based on big business to reach their goal of reducing our national debt. One of the ways that they have been doing this is to reduce the number of paper publications they produce, and rather, have opted to use the technology of the Internet to offer access to the information. What this means is that we may no longer receive some valuable print indexes and cannot afford some of those offered commercially, and therefore, must be prepared to go online to access the indexes and other items such as Hansard, which will be continually requested. Some questions included in our study were designed to find out if the staff were taking advantage of the government websites to find out information, and it was the conclusion of the researchers that we are lacking in our use of the tools that are available to us.
Before the details of the project are discussed, it is my responsibility to remind all of you of the dangers of not working together to resolve some of the inherent problems of this department. Since budget cuts are the mainstay of every university presently operating in today's economic climate, there has been a move to transform library departments by mainstreaming collections into the main stacks. Typically, these departments are costly ones like ours, which have specialized staff working on a separate collection of items. If it is believed that the presence of a unique and independent department is not necessary because information requests are not being properly handled and resources are squandered, then the university will appeal to the powers that be to put the government collection into the main stacks and reduce drastically their commitment to being a federal depository library for the government. This could mean our jobs.
One of the major problems uncovered in the study was that in general, no attempt was made to conduct a reference interview, which is the basis of how librarians interact, communicate with, and ascertain what it is that patrons are actually looking for. To be honest and up front, six of the ten questions were designed to permit their being answered without the necessity of a reference interview being used, but the remaining ones really did need some background material to be given by the proxy for a proper understanding to be realized by you. This leads us into the plan of action that will take up the remainder of our time this morning.
The only way we can tell that we are doing a good job is to know, if in fact, we have answered the question accurately for our patrons seeking information. In part, you will be expected to ask your patron follow-up questions to make sure they have found what they were looking for, and in addition, this will be monitored through the delegation of authority, in connection with your managers, but also by using support techniques to help each other out when asked a question you are not sure of, without the worry of criticism (K-Burr 1994,35). There must be an attempt to be aware of both the strengths and weaknesses of those you work with, the building of each other's skills, and the development of common goals, which can be merged with those of upper-management (K-Burr 1994,5,29). In view of our attempt for honesty this morning, it will be admitted that a part of this plan will be the continued use of the proxies asking the survey questions, in order to keep track of our progress.
The foundation of this project is the development of small support teams to help staff feel as if they have a niche in this organization and a say in some of the decisions that get made around here (Bentley 1996,22). Part of the power of teamwork is that it makes you realize that your level of performance can and will affect how well the team does and therefore, raises the level at which individuals strive, by increasing their commitment to supporting each other reach personal goals (Bentley 1996,79). These small teams of librarians will conduct role-playing exercises and encourage the solving of problems as they undergo training sessions together (Graham 1994,113).
Training sessions will be undertaken to refresh employees' memories of where the resources are located in the library and how they can easily be found when needed. In addition, there is a great need to have further training with the new governmental websites so that everyone is familiarized with the electronic sources that are exploding onto the horizon, along with "the provision of effective meaningful learning opportunities" (Bentley 1996,38). Overall, these training sessions will help the employees feel better about themselves and be more confident and successful in answering reference questions (K-Burr 1994,29).
Part of the training that you will undergo will be carried out by communication consultants who will be paid out of a special fund. The reason for this seemingly extravagant expenditure is because it was pointed out that most of the librarians working here have never been provided any basic communications training sessions to enhance those skills they learned in library school. Suffice to say, that is problematic for everyone concerned, and so, these professionals will help to teach good communication skills, such as the techniques used in asking open-ended questions in the reference interview. One of the tools that will be used to carry out this training regime and keep all aspects of the project flowing in a timely fashion is a Gantt chart, which is simply a horizontal bar chart that graphically displays the time relationships that exist between the different tasks in a project. The consultants and your supervisors will provide you with a number of tasks or responsibilities which you will be expected to fulfill in a given amount of time. They are logged on a chart for convenience and to provide a visual picture of the experience. In addition, these charts plot tasks that are done simultaneously, as well as those started when others are finished, and are useful planning tools (Thompson 1990,131). A sample one is provided for you here.
Before any aspects of this project can be put into play, there must be some display of group consensus or "inclination to support the team" (Graham 1994,43), so that we have a collaborative place from which to start. Without this commitment for success we will have no way of developing new organizational goals in this department, nor increase our level of service. If we all work together, everyone wins.
Bentley, Trevor J. 1996. Bridging the Performance Gap. England: Gower Publishing Limited.
Graham, Morris A., and Melvin J. LeBaron. 1994. The Horizontal Revolution. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
K-Burr, Betska. 1994. Creating Champions. Toronto: Macmillan Canada.
Kinlaw, Dennis C. 1989. Coaching for Commitment: Managerial Strategies for Obtaining Superior Performance. San Diego: University Associates, Inc.
Thompson, Brad Lee. 1990. Concise Handbook for New Managers. Illinois: Scott, Foresman, and Company.