How I made a library indispensable and saved it from outsourcing

Information Outlook, March, 2005 by Penny S. Sympson

When I interviewed for a job at an engineering firm, the management was seeking a librarian to maintain its collection, although it was also considering outsourcing library services. The possibility of unemployment frightened me, but the challenge was irresistible. I vowed to myself that if I got the job, I would make the library indispensable. After all, I hadn't switched careers and pursued the MLIS degree for nothing.

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In December 2001, I got the job and began my corporate librarian career at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE). WJE is a 50-year-old firm of structural engineers, architects, and materials scientists headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. The firm specializes in failure analysis and forensic engineering, and has 18 branches nationwide.

As the solo librarian, I reported to the executive vice president and served the entire staff of 225 professionals and 125 support personnel. The branch units had small collections of materials, but the main library was in Northbrook. The main collection consisted of approximately 7,000 books and long runs of core journal titles. An online catalog was available to the librarian but not yet to the staff.

At the beginning, I received very few requests and could understand why outsourcing was under consideration. I used this downtime to learn the job, learn the collection, and understand exactly what WJE did.

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I began rearranging the library to improve continuity and enhance efficiency in locating items. Integrating a smaller, separate collection into the main collection meant that I touched a lot of books, but it also meant that I saw the titles the library contained. It became clear to me that older editions were as important as current editions. Reorganizing the journals and books to flow more logically was a time-intensive task, but in the long run, it enabled me to find items more quickly and decreased the amount of time it took to fulfill requests.

I reviewed historical requests, purchase orders, and vendor files, identifying frequent users, types of items requested, and sources for materials. The types of requests also indicated what information was highly valuable to busy engineers. I began thinking about online databases to fulfill these needs.

WJE's library collection was extraordinarily pertinent and extensive, but under-used. Engineers with chargeable time goals were reluctant to browse through books or find journals. What staff needed from the library (and, more importantly, from the librarian) were services that came to them. Established services needed to be enhanced and other services needed to be initiated.

Personal Delivery

The first service I enhanced was item delivery. Instead of waiting for the regularly scheduled interoffice mail pickup, I hand-delivered books and journal articles to staff. As I met these staff members, I introduced myself, informed them of additional resources on their topic, and encouraged them to call me if they needed more information. Many of them appreciated my fast response to their request and the offer of additional resources.

A relatively small effort on my part spoke volumes for my willingness and enthusiasm. It also demonstrated that I could perform research and provide more than just copies of journal articles. I was saving them time--a valuable commodity. After five months, I held a library open house to introduce the online catalog. Not all of the books were catalogued, but I thought it was more important to get the product out to the patrons. Over the next several months, I obtained network licenses for databases so that staff could immediately retrieve frequently used industry standards and building codes.

To educate them about the enhanced library services, I made presentations to the local engineers and architects. During their scheduled lunch hour (with the unit manager providing lunch), I accessed the intranet and showed staff exactly what was immediately accessible to them at their desktops.

For staff at branch locations, I gave "virtual presentations." Using Microsoft Netmeeting from my computer and a speakerphone, I demonstrated the products to which users had access and performed live searches. Remote staff viewed the presentation using a computer with an LCD projector. In addition to discussing the catalog and other online resources, I used the opportunity to talk about copyright and asked staff for their input on the library.

I stressed that these products were not made available as a means of pushing my responsibilities off on them; I was more than happy to provide them with the information. The online products were meant to enable them to access information in the evenings, on weekends, or when I was unavailable. I ended each presentation with the same question: "What service can the library provide to help you perform your job more efficiently?"

With more than half of my patrons located at branches, another goal was to provide service as if they were right next door. I began ordering books for the branch units. Before ordering most items for the main library, I contacted the unit managers and inquired whether I should also purchase a copy for their units. I stressed that the main collection should be their primary source for materials, but I was able to help them increase their local holdings. I also purchased work-related books for employees, with the costs directly deducted from their paychecks.