The library community has redescribed its roles in the information lifecycle by building on the extensive knowledge base we have developed through buying published research and organizing and archiving information. With a growing sense of urgency, libraries have defined publishing and archiving services as critical to 21st century research institutions, but dysfunctional in the current environment. Our research and IT colleagues trust Libraries to address these needs that cannot be readily met through existing publication channels or through the existing research infrastructure. But how do libraries effectively operate these services when both short- and long-term costs are not well understood?
This presentation provides a research update on Business Cases for New Service Development in Research Libraries, a CLIR/DLF-funded research project to recommend methods for effective service planning in research libraries, adapting processes from the business as well as the not-for-profit sectors. Our research will examine how business planning methods can be applied in our not-for-profit contexts, and we will recommend some best practices that may be adopted. We will also research and write up to six case studies based on the development of campus-based publishing programs and research data management services. Our presentation at DLF will recap the goals of this project, present our planning model and outline our plans for case studies. We wish to solicit feedback on how our project can best meet the community’s needs.
This presentation was made by Mike Furlough & Elizabeth Kirk on November 1, 2011 at the DLF Forum in Baltimore, MD. The slides served as the basis for a similar presentation by Carol Hunter & Judy Luther on November 4, 2011 at the Charleston Conference in South Carolina.
Business Case Planning for Research Support Services
1. Business Case Planning for Research
Support Services
A Progress Report to the DLF Forum
Mike Furlough & Elizabeth Kirk, November 1, 2011
2. Responsibility and Credits
Ted Fons, OCLC
Mike Furlough, Penn State
Elizabeth Kirk, Dartmouth College
Carol Hunter, University of North Carolina
Judy Luther, Informed Strategies
Michele Reid, North Dakota State University
CLIR/DLF sponsors this work
MediaCommons will host results of our work
Beverly Lynch, Director, Senior Fellows
Program, UCLA introduced us
4. Our goal is to provide the Library/Higher Education
community with processes, tools, best practices, and
examples to enable successful planning for library
services to support new scholarly communications
practices.
5. Transformation: Drivers
Consumer technology and user expectations
The marketplace for academic publishing
The open access/copyleft movement
The emergence of digital scholarship in humanities &
social sciences
The emergence of computationally-driven data-
intensive science
Mass digitization
…
6.
7. If you can’t persuade me that the work you’re doing is going to make us more famous, we’re
not going to be interested in investing in you…. Is that wise and profound and good? No. It’s
stupid. But that’s the way it is….
--John V. Lombardi, President of Louisiana State University at the October 2011 ARL
Meeting.
9. Recommendations for Success
We need a toolkit for making informed decisions
about creating new services
Diagnose organizational and institutional readiness
Develop a business case
“A culture of discipline is not a principle of business;
it is a principle of greatness.” (Jim Collins on non-
profits)
10. Organizational readiness
In your DNA, or a radical shift?
Are the climate and capacity ready for very different
kinds of services?
Four steps:
Understand if you are mission-ready
Know your risk tolerance
Determine outcomes that promote impact and
sustainability
Make sure that you can put resources in the right places
11. Mission and risk
Do proposed new services “fit”?
Create a balance between allowing change and
maintaining identity
Are the library and the institution comfortable with
new service development?
Is risk-taking rewarded or is maintaining the status
quo essential?
Is there an understanding of the importance of
revenue and a willingness to keep services
financially feasible?
12. Outcomes and resource allocation
Social enterprises balance social and economic
values
Outcomes must promote high mission impact and
high viability
Is the moment right?
Environmental scan: are all of the essential pieces in
place?
13. Developing a business case
What happens if… ?
Multiple steps
Create a basic outcome statement
Identify options and analyze them
Pinpoint and test
Write your implementation plan
14. Outcomes and options
Define what a service will accomplish
Tie desired outcomes to library and institutional
strategic goals
Brainstorm every possible option for action, then
narrow the list
Gather data and analyze the options
Benefits, viability, costs
Should you really do this alone, or as part of a distributed
effort?
Timeframes
Talk to key stakeholders early and often (marketing)
15. Pinpoint, test, implement
Find the sweet spot
Identify and plan for risk
Be realistic: avoid best-case scenarios
Rewrite the outcome
Write an implementation plan
Action items and timelines
Value proposition and marketing
16. Further considerations: Test. Build. Assess.
Rebuild.
To pilot or not to pilot?
Project management skills required
Creativity and freedom to fail
Execution and assessment
And more assessment
The cycle of change and assessment
17. Go/No
Go
3. Launch
Decision
2
2.2 Pilot
4. Periodic
2.1 Business Reassessmen
Case t
Development
Go/No Decision
Go 3
Decision
1
5.1 Service 5.2
1. Modification Exit
Organizational
Assessment
Time
Business Planning
Lifecycle
19. Why Case Studies
Explore planning processes employed by libraries
"on the ground"
Can we identify best practices?
Refine and extend initial work
Publish examples from practitioners to provide
models
20. Recruiting 6 Participants
The commitment:
Initial questionnaire on baseline data
1.5 day on-site interviews about planning & managing the
services
Follow ups & write ups
http://is.gd/casestudies
Respond by November 15
This is NOT A CONSULTING SERVICE
21. Timeline
By end of 2011:
Publish our initial report via Media Commons for public
comment
Identify pool of case study sites
First half of 2012:
Conduct case study research
September 2012:
Publish final results
22. Questions
Email address of today’s speakers
Mike Furlough: mfurlough@psu.edu
Elizabeth Kirk: elizabeth.e.kirk@dartmouth.edu
Suggest a case study subject
http://is.gd/casestudies
Editor's Notes
The marks and logos on the screen here represent just SOME of the ways we have responded to those in Libraries and Higher Ed. They are better known because they have been successful in various ways. And they have inspired a host of us to adopt their tools o methods to provide similar services on our campuses.Institutional repositories Digital scholarship support services Library or campus-based publishing servicesExploration of e-research support & data-curation servicesInitiation of large-scale & multi-institutional collaborations to preserve digital data & establish shared print repositories. There are many others, including re-thinking the definitions of “library collections” as well as the nature and purpose of library spaces.All of these responses have taken place against the backdrop of a soaring economic market that then tanked spectacularly.
Perhaps the Broader Context for our work is most starkly embodied by this quote from John Lombardi....one that he may have tossed off for laughs but which rings uncomfortably true. Our community has put renewed emphasis on assessment and on demonstrating our value to the University. (ACRL REPORT) If we are going to DEMONSTRATE VALUE, how do we plan to do so? How do we invest in new services that respond to changes in how research is conducted, how can we plan for them adequately so that they will thrive. In the ITHAKA report on the right, there's an important quote: Much attention is given to making material available and very little attention is given to doing the work to make sure that people will become aware of it, that they can find it, andif they do find it that they will actually use it. We find that few digital resource projects have devoted substantial financial or intellectual resources to understanding user needs, preferences and behaviors.[TRANSITION TO NEXT SLIDE]
This quote from Ithaka is based on a report about “online academic resources,” and seems to focus primarily on researcher-led projects. But, this rings true for many of us in libraries too.Libraries good at identifying space to innovate and try things out. But taking the step from innovation and experimentation to long-term sustainability is not something most of us figured out. The old missions aren't going away and the budget isn't growing. Perception: libraries can't make hard decisions When in doubt, we must return to what is best for our users. Our work is intended to help us clarify what that may be.
