The IVY Plus Access Services Conference at Harvard this year featured a Keynote speech by John Palfrey (not pictured), Vice Dean for the Harvard Law Library. His speech focused on the Law Library’s recent radical organizational re-design. These changes were deemed necessary because departments were not communicating well between each other, staff were afraid or discouraged to offer opinions, information did not flow well from the top down, people were unsure of who was responsible for what areas and duties, and patrons were often shuffled from one place to another.
Vice Dean Palfrey was committed to transparency in the re-organization process, and he commissioned a group that included librarians, administrators, and union staff to re-imagine the organizational chart of the library personnel. He asked that the re-organization be based on functionality of jobs, not merely titles and descriptions, and that the new jobs become more permeable.
This diverse group:
· Created an organizational chart in which everyone was responsible to everyone else, not just managers.
· Devised a plan (based on the Google method) by which staff would spend 80% of their week on their jobs, and 20% on a personal or pet project within the library. They did not want to presume that staff could do, or were interested in doing, just one job.
· Determined that the library needed a Project Manager position, rather than forcing the various Department Managers to be the default project planners and developers. They believed that a library-wide Project Manager allowed for multiple departments and personnel to be involved in the projects that directly affect them.
· Concluded that patrons should be able to stop at just one location, and have any question or problem resolved behind the scenes, without the patron being shuttled about the library.
Once this committee had determined its re-organization plan, it was brought back to the entire library staff for feedback; and they adjusted it based on their suggestions.
The re-organization began by asking people what jobs they wanted, and to write their own job descriptions. Vice Dean Palfrey concludes that about 90% of the personnel were able to get the jobs they asked for. There was a month and half transition period where people worked their old job, while learning their new one. After six months, they had a review period where they fixed any problems with their original re-organization and job descriptions.
The cultural change of this re-organization has demonstrated itself in that people are now more engaged in their jobs, their ideas are not stifled, and they communicate better as a group to resolve patron and library issues. Vice Dean Palfrey admits that this is still a Work in Progress, and not everyone is comfortable with the changes, but he is committed to finding progressive solutions that will satisfy patrons and personnel equally.
Vice Dean Palfrey was committed to transparency in the re-organization process, and he commissioned a group that included librarians, administrators, and union staff to re-imagine the organizational chart of the library personnel. He asked that the re-organization be based on functionality of jobs, not merely titles and descriptions, and that the new jobs become more permeable.
This diverse group:
· Created an organizational chart in which everyone was responsible to everyone else, not just managers.
· Devised a plan (based on the Google method) by which staff would spend 80% of their week on their jobs, and 20% on a personal or pet project within the library. They did not want to presume that staff could do, or were interested in doing, just one job.
· Determined that the library needed a Project Manager position, rather than forcing the various Department Managers to be the default project planners and developers. They believed that a library-wide Project Manager allowed for multiple departments and personnel to be involved in the projects that directly affect them.
· Concluded that patrons should be able to stop at just one location, and have any question or problem resolved behind the scenes, without the patron being shuttled about the library.
Once this committee had determined its re-organization plan, it was brought back to the entire library staff for feedback; and they adjusted it based on their suggestions.
The re-organization began by asking people what jobs they wanted, and to write their own job descriptions. Vice Dean Palfrey concludes that about 90% of the personnel were able to get the jobs they asked for. There was a month and half transition period where people worked their old job, while learning their new one. After six months, they had a review period where they fixed any problems with their original re-organization and job descriptions.
The cultural change of this re-organization has demonstrated itself in that people are now more engaged in their jobs, their ideas are not stifled, and they communicate better as a group to resolve patron and library issues. Vice Dean Palfrey admits that this is still a Work in Progress, and not everyone is comfortable with the changes, but he is committed to finding progressive solutions that will satisfy patrons and personnel equally.
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