www.le.ac.uk
Save the Cheerleader! Save the
Library..?LIS Resource & efficiency savings ideas
Gaz J Johnson
Document Supply & Repository Manager
David Wilson Library
University of Leicester
7th April 2011
The Challenge• Source ideas from the cloud
– On LIS service efficiency savings and cost
– Aimed for ideas not obstacles
• Gathered through a range of sources
– Social media (twitter, Facebook etc)
– Online survey
– Email exchanges and discussions
• Concepts presented as is, and may not represent
personal or organisationally held POVs!
– Tabula rasa approach
Academic (HE)45%
Academic (FE)31%
Public Libraries14%
Governmental5%
NHS6%
Survey Respondants by Sector
N = 64
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
2011 (in progress)
2011 (anticipated)
By Dec 2012By Dec 2016
Unlikely
Time Frame of Anticipated Savings
Most effective resource saving
measures you have encountered?
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Resource Saving Experiences
• Staff redundancies/Voluntary severance/Staff
cuts/Non replacement of vacant posts
• Flexibility of staff in the roles and tasks they can
partake in/Change in staff attitude
• Cancelling expensive (and poor cost per download)
resource subscriptions/Spend less on printed
materials/standing orders
• Outsourcing aspects of acquisitions/automating &
reducing in-house book processing
• More energy efficiency to save on running costs
The most effective staff time saving
measures you have encountered?
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Time Saving Experiences
• Outsourcing, changing processes (ie shelving workflow)
/Making procedures more straightforward
• Removing the cataloguer post(s) and buying in shelf-ready
books/simplify cataloguing procedure
• Team work, flexibility, multi-tasking/Reducing professional
demarcations/Concerns over stress from change
• Minimising static service points so that time isn't spent sitting
waiting for work to do/Self-service issue, return etc.
• Moving as many systems and processes as possible online
The single most effective & least
disruptive cost-saving improvement
that you would make?
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Effective but Least Disruptive?• Staff talent is overlooked and under-used/New ways of working-more
working from home/More efficient use of librarians time
• Reducing the senior management team/Cut down on in house
bureaucracy
• Review staffing (evenings/weekends) by senior staff/substitute non-
professional staff or student volunteers
• Reviewing the processes of all services and areas of the library/Close
smaller branch libraries/Cut non-core services that have little
impact/value/
• Monitoring with a view to cutting what is not used enough to justify
costs/Cut e-resources budget/Cancelling high journal subs.
• Stop providing staplers, pens, paper etc etc to students when they never
bring their own
• Use the technology that we have to its full potential
Impact of “Traditional” Approaches
• Reduce non professional staffing levels
(front of house)
• Reduce non professional staffing levels
(back office)
• Reduce professional staffing levels
• Reduce opening hours
• Decrease new stock acquisitions
• Decrease reliance on physical collections
• Outsource acquisition related activities
• Outsource technical support
Extremely disruptive (52.5%)
Approach Modal Perception
Moderately disruptive (30.0%)
Moderately disruptive (41.7%)
Extremely disruptive (57.4%)
Moderately disruptive (47.5%)
Slightly disruptive (33.33%)
Negligible disruption(28.3%)
Negligible disruption (25.0%)
General Comments & Thoughts
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Comments: Final Quotes
• Evaluating services and thinking about which are absolutely
essential, and which are only desirable (don't hold onto
anything that can be done by others)
• Trying to resist any further large scale savings, as they
would have a negative impact on students' success rates.
• Need to take a more commercial approach to generating
income without endangering access to services. (sell
stationery, withdrawn stock etc)
• Reducing both staff and resources will cut costs but means
you end up doing less with less…
• Gareth J Johnson
– Document Supply & Repository Manager
– [email protected] 0116-252-2039
– Twitter: llordllama
Slides: www.slideshare.net/GazJJohnson
Blog: llordllama.wordpress.com
Contacts
