Susan Goodwin, Nancy Burford, Martha Bedard, Esther Carrigan and Gale C. Hannigan
Five web sites, five libraries, numerous departmental pages and thousands of pages of content explained, in part, why users found library resources difficult to navigate. Web…
Abstract
Purpose
Five web sites, five libraries, numerous departmental pages and thousands of pages of content explained, in part, why users found library resources difficult to navigate. Web redesign became a strategic initiative in 2001 and state funding enabled the purchase of a content management system (CMS). The purpose of this paper is to describe the systematic implementation of a CMS at Texas A&M Libraries
Design/methodology/approach
The web implementation team (WIT) was formed to include a diverse group of people from all areas of the library and charged with responsibility for the overall management of the University Libraries' web site.
Practical implications
Using a CMS to create the library's web presence is an important and expensive undertaking that requires coordinated management oversight. It also presents opportunities to reconsider the library's organizational structure and culture.
Originality/value
This paper describes a management strategy that involves all areas of the organization, encourages teamwork, promotes innovation, and stays focused on organizational priorities. It discusses expected and unexpected consequences of implementing a CMS, and makes recommendations about CMS management in general.
Details
Keywords
Taryn Resnick, Ana Ugaz, Nancy Burford and Esther Carrigan
Libraries spend increasingly large amounts on electronic resources (ERs), but may not have adjusted staffing to support these resources. Assisting users with ER access problems is…
Abstract
Purpose
Libraries spend increasingly large amounts on electronic resources (ERs), but may not have adjusted staffing to support these resources. Assisting users with ER access problems is complex due to the many reasons a resource may be unavailable at a particular time. The objective of this paper is to describe the evolution of a library ER problem‐reporting help desk.
Design/methodology/approach
A pilot project was undertaken by librarians at the Texas A&M University Libraries to redesign workflows and staffing to provide an efficient, effective help desk service for solving ER access problems.
Findings
Including librarians with experience in licensing and managing ERs in providing help desk services improved response time, problem resolution, systematic information capture, and service expectations and policies, and also led to the development of an ER HelpDesk database with enhanced functionality.
Practical implications
Delegating ER problems solely to information technology (IT) staff may seem reasonable but assumes technology is the source of most problems; it is just as likely that the user, the resource, or a non‐computer‐related issue is the source. Librarians whose traditional responsibilities include supporting user access were effective in providing expert assistance with access problems. Cooperative efforts of librarians and IT staff are necessary to ensure reliable ER access.
Originality/value
This paper offers practical, experience‐derived advice on establishing and staffing an ER HelpDesk service, including the importance of involving technical services librarians in providing support.
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Taryn Resnick, Ana Ugaz and Nancy Burford
The purpose of this paper is to determine core competencies, for use as a foundation for staffing and training, and necessary to provide effective electronic resource (ER) access…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine core competencies, for use as a foundation for staffing and training, and necessary to provide effective electronic resource (ER) access support.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed 580 ER access problem reports in a large academic library system to measure the specific skill(s) required for effective problem resolution. Problem reports were drawn equally from two different reporting systems: one using web forms and e‐mail and the other featuring real‐time user interaction.
Findings
Abilities fostered in reference work related to communication with users, staff, and vendors were by far the most crucial and highly used in successful problem solving, followed by the knowledge to make appropriate referrals within the organization.
Research limitations/implications
Results reported are from one institution, albeit one which serves a very large user population with diverse information needs which provided a broad range of users and problem types.
Practical implications
Staffing for an access support service should draw upon employees whose skill set includes assisting users with more traditional information access, such as reference, as well as employees with expertise in areas such as licensing.
Originality/value
Resolving user‐reported online access issues is a mission‐critical library service function. The paper offers an objective demonstration that the skills leading to success in access support are the same communication skills valued in reference services and that the mechanism used for providing a virtual reference service can also be used for handling user‐access problems. Identifying and ranking these skills provides structure and best practice standards for continuous training and staff assessment.
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Wyoma vanDuinkerken, Nancy Burford, Joanne Romano, Richard Wayne and John Weed
The use of high-density remote storage facilities helps alleviate competing space needs in academic medical libraries while they continue to support core services and supply…
Abstract
Purpose
The use of high-density remote storage facilities helps alleviate competing space needs in academic medical libraries while they continue to support core services and supply service copies of resources.
Methodology/approach
Four academic medical libraries in the Texas A&M University System and the University of Texas System will highlight their participation in a regional collaborative storage facility using the Resource in Common (RIC) model.
Findings
Results will show how library services and facilities changed since moving some or all of print collections to JLF.
Originality/value
The RIC model has proven to be a success in recovering user space without losing access to resources.
Details
Keywords
To introduce the special theme issue on “Content management systems”.
Abstract
Purpose
To introduce the special theme issue on “Content management systems”.
Design/methodology/approach
Each of the articles in the theme are described in brief.
Findings
The articles cover a range of topics from implementation to interoperability, object‐oriented database management systems, and research about meeting user needs.
Originality/value
Libraries have only just begun to realize that their web presence is potentially as rich and complex as their online catalogs, and that it needs an equal amount of management to keep it under control.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to propose a new research agenda for the theories of “organizational learning” and the “learning organization” in relation to the public sector. The research…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a new research agenda for the theories of “organizational learning” and the “learning organization” in relation to the public sector. The research agenda can be used by researchers to make explicit accounts of how and where the results from their studies advance the current state-of-the-art in the intersection between public sector and organizational learning and/or the learning organization.
Design/methodology/approach
A combined systematic and bibliometric review methodology is applied based on the research that has been published in the past three decades.
Findings
Through an analysis of 238 journal publications obtained from the Scopus database, the authors determine the leading authors, countries, highly cited papers and take the stock of current literature. Similarly, by analyzing papers published between 2010 and 2020, the authors identify current tendencies and emerging themes of organizational learning and learning organization in the public sector and offer avenues for future research.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is potentially the first, fully refereed study published reporting on a bibliometric and a systematic review of organizational learning and learning organization in the public sector.
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Nancy S. Bolous, Dylan E. Graetz, Hutan Ashrafian, James Barlow, Nickhill Bhakta, Viknesh Sounderajah and Barrie Dowdeswell
Healthcare tribalism refers to the phenomenon through which different groups in a healthcare setting strictly adhere to their profession-based silo, within which they exhibit…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare tribalism refers to the phenomenon through which different groups in a healthcare setting strictly adhere to their profession-based silo, within which they exhibit stereotypical behaviours. In turn, this can lead to deleterious downstream effects upon productivity and care delivered to patients. This study highlights a clinician-led governance model, implemented at a National Health Service (NHS) trust, to investigate whether it successfully overcame tribalism and helped drive innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a convergent mixed-methods study including qualitative and quantitative data collected in parallel. Qualitative data included 27 semi-structured interviews with representatives from four professional groups. Quantitative data were collected through a verbally administered survey and scored on a 10-point scale.
Findings
The trust arranged its services under five autonomous business units, with a clinician and a manager sharing the leadership role at each unit. According to interviewees replies, this equivalent authority was cascaded down and enabled breaking down professional siloes, which in turn aided in the adoption of an innovative clinical model restructure.
Practical implications
This study contributes to the literature by characterizing a real-world example in which healthcare tribalism was mitigated while reflecting on the advantages yielded as a result.
Originality/value
Previous studies from all over the world identified major differences in the perspectives of different healthcare professional groups. In the United Kingdom, clinicians largely felt cut off from decision-making and dissatisfied with their managerial role. The study findings explain a governance model that allowed harmony and inclusion of different professions. Given the long-standing strains on healthcare systems worldwide, stakeholders can leverage the study findings for guidance in developing and implementing innovative managerial approaches.