The library receives the pre-publication list of books to be reviewed in the New York Times Book Review and orders them promptly. When we (with co-author Denise Shockley) began writing The Library's Continuous Improvement Fieldbook: 29 Ready-to-Use Tools in 2003, we referred to it as. This book provides a methodology that empowers staff to identify and improve mission-critical processes in the library.
The Continuous Improvement Approach
ChALLengeS To LIBRARIeS
They cannot provide documentation of overall customer satisfaction with the service or of the results the library has produced. How else can they become aware of the expertise and other resources the library offers. Data on customer preferences and library performance can help the library identify services to offer and key processes to improve.
PRInCIPLeS of ConTInuouS IMPRoveMenT
If the binding is obviously bad when the book comes out of the shipping box, the library must. It is a word picture that helps the library and others in the community imagine what is possible. Each of these situations can strain the library's processes and offer opportunities for improvement.
PICTuRe The LIBRARy SySTeM
Inputs are the raw materials from which the library creates its products and services. Completing this part of the system map makes you think about what it is that customers really want and get from the library. As the team shares its system map with others in the library, more and more details about the library's system are added.
ConCLuSIon
Identify Library Processes and Assess Their Importance and Condition
In the system map you created in Chapter 1, the center box is labeled "processes." This is where the work of the library takes place, as it converts the inputs it receives from suppliers into the outputs it delivers to its customers.
Standardize the Process
Others play supporting roles, testing drafts of the main process and providing feedback and suggestions. The supervisor of the area in which the process takes place is a likely candidate for team leader. Mastering each process takes six to ten hours, depending on the experience of the team and the complexity of the process.
Purpose Create a master process (flow diagram, screens, key tasks and actions) that documents the process. Try to think of big general tasks in the process and write sticky notes for those tasks first. The team continues to add all the unique tasks in the process and put them in the order they appear.
The team set norms and created a flowchart of the process and screens for external and internal customers and suppliers. How will the team handle deviations from the process master that may be observed. Now that the process master is done, what does the team and the library do with it.
In the next chapter, we discuss the choice of a measure that will give the team information about the performance of the process.
Measure Process Performance
The team wants to know quickly if the process is working well so they can make changes if it isn't. In our example from the Lawrenceburg Public Library in Figure 4-12, notice that the process is Record the XAV on the worksheet in Figure 4-11 and add the median line to the graph in Figure 4-10. Don't worry about the bottom of the worksheet, the process behavior chart section.
Display the run-up chart near where the process is being done so it's easy to plot new data points as they occur. It also enables staff members working in the process to see the run-up card and discuss it. They will be able to see if the process is stable and running smoothly or if it is changing.
Once a library process improvement team has completed a process master, it is ready to study the process and determine if it needs improvement. Process Performance Measurement 83 Next, the team decides how, when, where, and who will collect the data and adds those decisions to the process master. Everyone is sensitized and observant about how they are performing the tasks in the process.
This is the time to let the process speak to you through the data being collected.
Rapidly Improve the Process
Fill in the top of the process behavior chart with the name of your process. The process behavior diagram is now complete and ready to be used to analyze what the process is doing. For Lawrenceburg, the process behavior diagram showed that the process remained roughly the same.
The process behavior map data and the people doing the process may reveal room for improvement. When a process behavior chart shows any of the following patterns, there is evidence that the process has changed (Wheeler. Until that time, the team cannot assume that the change has made a real difference to the process.
Eight or more points in a row that fall above or below the average on the process behavior graph is a clear indication that the process has changed. Study: To see if the idea pays off, they study the process behavior graph. Condition A: The data on the process behavior graph shows that the change in the process is an improvement by showing one of the patterns described under step 5.3.
Condition C: If the data on the process behavior graph shows that the process change has not led to improvement, the team returns to the beginning of the PDSA.
Manage Process Improvement throughout the Library System
Initiating a process improvement effort in a library—or a library department, branch, or initiative—is not a trivial matter. Typically, library management initiates such an effort either because the library is already doing well and wants to be significantly better, or because it is in crisis and needs to do something to turn itself around. Department, branch, or group managers can lead process improvements in the areas they manage, but without the support of administrators, their efforts may not achieve lasting results.
Even the most mundane work can take on meaning and value for those who perform it if they understand how, even in the simplest way, it benefits the lives of others. In the process-oriented world, the dignity of work is restored, the dignity lost to workers who only performed repetitive tasks. Leaders provide support (and a little push) for process improvement by empowering teams to make real change.
In a library dedicated to process improvement, multiple process improvement teams are simultaneously moving around the PDSA cycle, improving their processes and steadily advancing toward the library's goal. It is the duty of library leadership to select and manage the ramps that lead to the goal. Manage process improvement throughout the library system 107 In previous chapters we focused on standardizing, collecting data, and improving a single process.
As more and more teams engage in process control and improvement, library management may decide to formalize their own processes for selecting processes for improvement and managing improvement efforts.
LIBRARy-wIde STeeRIng gRouP
The people involved (shown at the top) are the process master administrator, the steering group/sponsor, the team leader/process owner and the teams. Here the team reports to the steering group that it has completed the process master and agreed. Before adding the process master, the process master administrator ensures that the document is complete and in the standard format approved by the library.
The process master administrator prepares (or oversees the preparation of) the process master for distribution to others in the library. For many libraries, the best way to distribute the process master to all staff is to make it available on the library's intranet. Ideas for improving processes can come from the process improvement team, which sends the recommended change to the process owner.
If the decision is to proceed with the change, the process owner goes to step 6.3.8. The process owner provides feedback to the team or individuals who proposed the change to explain why the change cannot be made. If the decision is to go ahead with the change, the process owner seeks approval to make the change from the steering group.
We recommend that only the primary administrator or process owner can modify documents.
CLoSIng woRdS
After returning to the library, members of the lending team, Redden, and the head of the youth services department met. Using the process techniques they learned, they developed a package that showed students and parents how to use all of the library's resources and services.
List of Library Processes
Deliver mail to library offices and facilities Deliver materials between library facilities Deliver materials to other libraries 10. and services Evaluate programs Evaluate services. Interview candidates for positions Negotiate union contracts Orient new hires Post job openings Receive applications Schedule employee meetings Schedule employees. Teach computer classes Teach adult programs Teach children's programs Teach young adult programs Place signs in the meeting room Plan programs.
Assist patrons with Internet searches Assist patrons with library databases Assist patrons with microfilm Assist patrons with OPAC Assist patrons in finding items. Provide outreach Behavioral programs at day care centers Conduct programs at senior centers Prepare and deliver deposit collections Provide services to homebound clients 35.
Library Process Measures
Percentage of on-time shipments Number of rejected shipments Value of rejected shipments Defects per order, per month. Number of training hours Training cost per employee Time to obtain replacement Orientation cost per employee. Percentage of new hires completing orientation within ___ days of hire Percentage of correct answers on library training tests.
Number of grievances Number of accidents Percentage of late employees Average number of minutes late Time between accidents Percentage of absent employees Instruction. New products/services developed Value of products/services developed Number of process improvements Dollar value of process improvements Estimated contribution of R&D costs Number of projects more than ___ days old. Number of customer surveys sent, by type Percentage of customer surveys returned Number of competitor's customers interviewed Time to return calls.
Percentage of children in the community reading at grade level after third grade Invitations to participate in community or school initiatives. Dollars collected from all sources for the library Number of sources of dollars for the library Number of contributors. Percentage of overtime attributed to scheduling. Minutes wasted at the beginning and end of the shift. Overtime.
Number of rings before phone is answered Percentage of downtime, by machine Time spent processing insurance claims.
