Organization and staff renewal using assessment.

ABSTRACT

A library that recognizes the need for and benefits of assessment of performance and service presents rewarding opportunities for staff to become more engaged in their work and to identify more strongly with the library's mission and goals. The process and results of both quantitative and qualitative assessment efforts offer possibilities for employees to develop new skills, take on new tasks, and embark on new jobs. Integrating organizational assessment activities into the library's routine helps the library to understand and more fully satisfy customer needs. It also encourages the library to anticipate future needs while remaining flexible enough to manage the organization's response to change easily and effectively.

INTRODUCTION

Libraries have used a number of tools and methods to assess organizational development, performance, and service quality. The Association of Research Libraries' annual statistics survey, LibQUAL+[TM], and other customer surveys, formal measures of organizational performance such as the Balanced Scorecard, and focus groups have been useful assessment tools. Most of the methods are formal and empirically based. There are also more qualitative and informal ways to assess the organization and make changes that improve the library. The University of Virginia Library has used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess organizational change and performance. This article discusses in particular the revitalization of staff members who seek out or are encouraged to take on new responsibilities and reengineered jobs. An important outcome of any ongoing assessment is for the staff to become more deeply involved in organizational change and performance, to feel free to be innovative and creative in their approach to their work, and to feel more fulfilled and satisfied in their jobs.

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT?

Organizational assessment is a process whereby a consultant, an outside group, or an internal, appointed person or task force examines the organizational structure and workings of the library. The focus may include performance of the organization as well as of the staff. The purpose may be to identify important issues by developing an understanding of the mission and goals of the organization. It should include an effort to become aware of the organizational culture and values; should determine how goals are set, communicated, and achieved; and should discover the barriers to success. The purpose of the assessment is to develop a plan that addresses issues and problems so that the organization will become more efficient, streamlined, productive, and service oriented. Another important result is that employees, through participation, will develop new skills and become more involved, self-motivated, and satisfied with their assigned work. They will learn to think more creatively about their work, take risks by initiating change, and be more receptive to new ideas. The plan might consist of changes or adjustments to the current organizational structure or could result in a major reorganization of the library.

Library employees should be given the opportunity to participate in the assessment of the library as well as the formulation of plans to change the culture and the structure. Employees who participate in some way are more likely to engage successfully in new ways of doing things. They will be less likely to be alienated by change. They will be less likely to feel that change has been imposed on them without considering their informed opinions and suggestions about the work that they take pride in doing.

Some questions to think about when considering the inclusion of staff are

* Should all staff be involved? In what ways?

* How should the process be structured: bottom-up, top-down, some combination?

* How should input that is not useful or helpful be handled?

* Who is responsible? Who will guide the process and follow up?

* Who will communicate throughout the process?

* Who will report and make recommendations?

* Who is responsible for implementing approved recommendations?

* Why do assessment?

Libraries must be responsive to the constantly changing technological, political, economic, and social environments. Advances in technology have made it necessary for libraries to look seriously at how they perform traditional functions. Technology has also dramatically changed the way libraries provide service. Libraries have had to respond to these changes with new initiatives that meet the users' changing expectations for access to more online services and electronic media. Users are more computer literate, yet libraries must provide instruction in the use of the new technology to most users.

 
   Technologies ... continue to change and evolve at an 
   ever-intensifying pace. On the one hand, these technology changes 
   enable new services and resources that allow libraries to better 
   meet the service and resource needs of their customers. On the 
   other hand, this continual cycle of adoption, change, and new 
   and/or enhanced services and resources creates a number of 
   challenges--including assessment challenges--for libraries." 
   (Bertot and McClure, 2003, pp. 592-593) 

The current political and economic environments require libraries to be able to justify their activities and funding to their larger constituencies--the university, or state government, for example. The rising costs of library materials and salaries for recruiting staff, along with the shortage of public funding and the difficulty of raising private funds, make it even more important for libraries to be able to demonstrate their contributions to their users. Issues involving copyright, licensing, freedom of information, privacy issues, and federal regulations regarding affirmative action, for example, all require vigilance and accurate enforcement and reporting. Bertot and McClure make a strong case for libraries to assess performance in order to respond to requests for justifications. They also discuss a number of reasons for reporting widely the results of these assessments. Among the reasons is the need for libraries to "articulate the importance of and need for their services and resources; identify the use and uses of their services and resources; and establish the value, impacts, and benefits that the community receives from the library services and resources" (Bertot and McClure, 2003, p. 592).

A number of social factors have influenced how libraries are changing to provide better service. A more diverse user population and globalization stimulate libraries to examine if and how they develop collections that represent many countries, cultures, and languages, as well as how they provide services to address the needs of diverse…