Organisation of library management and financial resources

Copeter project

June 2003

J. Gilbert & P. Niesten

Universiteit Maastricht

Contents

Universiteit Maastricht and its Library

Financing and budget Library service contracts Strategy Organization Human resource management

Universiteit Maastricht

Youngest Dutch University Start in 1973 as Medical Faculty;

officially opened in 1976 Rapid expansion in 1980’s with

Law, Economics, etc. Problem based learning (PBL) as ‘

trade mark’ Now 12 000 students and 2 500

staff, divided over 7 faculties Internationalization: programmes,

and students Innovation: ‘university college’,

regional health centre, etc.

University Library

Supports PBL, UL incorporates “learning resource centres”

Concentration on two sites, as with university itself

Recent rebuilding programmes on both sites

More/better study facilities, more PCs, integration of learning resource centres and computer facilities, server based computing

Close national and regional cooperation with other libraries (UKB consortium)

Library facts and figures

Library staff: 90 fte, > 100 people (many part-time)

Opening hours: > 80 hours a week, including weekends

30 000 visitors per week 600 000 volumes 150 000 loans per year 40 000 ILL (in/out) per year 4 000 print journal subscriptions,

even more e-journals Growing use of digital services

Library Goals

GoalTo support Education and Research (and

Health Care) in the area of Scholarly Information

Target groups– Students

– Staff (researchers/lecturers)

– Doctors

Hence: accent on consumer-driven services

Financing system

User-driven: let faculties decide if they want more or less library

Faculties get money to “buy in” services (not only UL)

UL offers its services in ‘Product catalogue’ (spec’s, prices)

Product catalogue renewed yearly Services grouped into product

categories:– Media– Facilities, – Training, user support– ILL

Budget

UM: integral costing UL budget: ~ € 10 million p.a.

– Media ~ € 2,5 m– Personnel ~ € 4,5 m– Buildings ~ € 2,0 m– Furniture, Apparatus ~ € 1,0 m

Costs charged nearly all to faculties (and hospital)

Library service contracts Library automation and innovation

centrally financed

Library service contracts

Start in 2001, for 2-year contract period

Contracts subject to yearly revision, extra services ‘on demand’

Revision in 2003: faculties want more choice, library wants to refine catalogue

Some services in ‘central’ contract: also contracts with “third parties”

System still under debate, but is basis for 2004 - 2006

Library strategy

Publication of library strategy document in 1998

Balanced development of library (four-in hand) as:– Traditional library– Digital library– Teaching library– Businesslike library

Commented by faculty (and students!) and approved as part of university policy

New strategy document

2003: Need for new strategy Why?

– New university strategy – Growing role of UL in learning environment – Substitution of print by e-journals; need for

new type of “catalogue”– Intellectual property issue– Need to redefine regional role of library

Involvement of faculties Extension of scope to ‘scholarly

information’

Organization

2 Libraries, 1 organization Matrix organization:

hierarchical departments (5) and faculty librarians (7) as library representatives

Management team: general director and 2 library directors

Faculty library committees 2 Interfaculty library com.’s Library as independent service

centre

Organization

What and how• Products

• Services

Faculty librarians

answering ‘what’

vis á vis

Departments

knowing ‘how’

Job of the faculty Librarian

Information analysis on basis of wishes and complaints; filtering

Can something be solved with or without money?

Discussion with and in departments: what changes for the library are involved by solving the problem?

Minimum quality standards!

Matrix organisationwhat how

Faculty librarians

One faculty librarian for every faculty

100 % library employee!

Departments

Acquisition, cataloguing

Information, study facilities and document delivery

Academic librarians

ICT Support

HRM

Optimal balance between personal and organisational interests

Change from ‘control and care’ to ‘commitment and education’

Shift from library definition of quality to user definition of quality

More major influences

Need to be aware of any costs involved in rendering services

Shift from paper to electronic

Internationalization: bilinguality

Distant users

Profile of the library employee

Client-oriented

Aware of any costs involved

Able to negotiate to get financial means

An expert in library content matters, including rendering services to the distant user

 

Conclusion

UM library is a customer- oriented organisation

This is reflected in the services, financing, and organisation of the library

Human resource management is a key success factor