Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Singing the Tune Management Wants to Hear

Matthew Barrett, Library AdministratorDorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library & ArchiveGTRIC - SLA Seattle 2008

The Strategic Plan – Are you in it?

• How is your Library supporting the mission of your organization and is it obvious to your executives?

• What library products support that mission and are they widely distributed with the Library’s name on them? Be consistently branded.

• Are you at the table for critical issues? Show up anyway – half the people invited don’t even want to be there – offer solutions not problems.

• What is your library doing to inspire excellence in others? If they don’t give you credit, take credit.

• Who are your key partners and who is the go-to person on the staff of your key partners?

The Strategic Plan Roll Up

• Your Agency’s Strategic Plan• Your Library’s Role in that plan• Your individual annual performance plan• Your employee’s individual performance plans

– All have to be a foundation that supports the ultimate mission of the organization

– The documents need to specifically state HOW your library, your employees and you are achieving the agency’s strategic goals

– How to tell you’ve been accepted into the club? One or more of your library’s SMART goal performance measurements will make it into the CEO’s annual review

Key Partners – Your Key Patrons

• Your Governing Board and your CEO• Government Relations, Community Relations,

Public Affairs, Press Relations, and contracted Lobbyists

• Marketing, Communications, Design• Planning - GIS, Long Range Planners • Finance – The Chief Financial Officer• Legal Counsel – The General Counsel• Inter-departmental Task Forces, Ad-Hoc

Committees, Tiger-Teams, Advisory Groups• Policy and Procedures writers• Community Advocates & Activists• UTCs, Colleges, & Universities – never say no

Stand out with…

• Websites that generate traffic & buzz

• Early adoption of new technology

• Annotated Hot-Topic Bibliographies made available to working teams ASAP

• Historical Research on key subjects

• Current information sent to key stakeholders that is distributed regularly and dependably

• SMART Goals, Key Performance Indicators, regular reporting on your libraries accomplishments, traffic, and value – count everything, report against goals. Do ROI.

• State your library’s role in meeting your agency’s mission – Don’t hold anything back, be bold.

• Engage others in your collection development

Leverage Historical Resources

• Arcadia Publishing http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/

• Earned over $4,000 in royalties so far

• Sold on Amazon and local book stores

Contribute items or your time to Your State’s Digital Archive, the Digital Archives of Historical Societies, Colleges and Universities. Sign licensing agreements.

Build a digital social media empire

Bust myths, write history, predict the future

• Environmental scanning of the past, present and future – cultivate your clairvoyance

– Roger Rabbit was Wrong – GM did not conspire to dismantle the Red Cars

– LA’s first African American Streetcar operator was a woman, Mrs. Arcola Philpott

– We can improve meeting our customers digital information expectations

– Most of the future transit capital in the next Re-Authorization is likely to go to Chicago during the Obamanation, the CTA system needs to be rebuilt in time for the 2016 Olympics

Leverage your Budget

• Know the exact sources of funds and the color of money that is funding your library - Respect it if its solid ground, work towards changing it if its not.

• Spend every last dime allocated to you, don’t leave a single penny on the table by year end.

• Use other people’s money – it’s like overdraft protection, only better, it proves you need additional resources for the following year.

Leverage your FTEs

• Your value is tied your classification and to that of your employees, just as your bosses value is tied to you.

• Use the SLA Salary Survey

• Compare what your librarians do to the work of Senior and Chief Analysts, Sr. Systems Analysts, Senior Planners, Programmers, Senior Auditors – none of them require a Master’s degree

• Know your HR Department’s process for reclassification and use it to get the maximum title classification and pay grade you possibly can.

What’s being taught in MLIS Schools?

• UCLA School of Information Studies uses Reframing Organizations: The Leadership Kaleidoscope by Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal

• Examines four frameworks for looking at organizations: – Structural – Human Resources – Political– Symbolic – and ways one might integrate them.http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/bolman.html

Get comfortable with politics

• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

• Largely ignored by its business school audience• Embraced by Rap/Hip-Hop artist community

looking for guidance in relating to unfamiliar corporate power structures

• Summary online:http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cg/Courses/cgt411/covey/48_laws_of_power.htm

Why cultivate political power?

You can add enduring value in a competitive, volatile, ever changing environment; preserve and expand your resources; and serve your organization and customers more effectively.