LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY STRATEGIC PLAN: Implementing Referral-Based Reference

Strat 9: Krista Priest, Jeff Healy & Carrie Cornelius December 4, 2012

December 4, 2012 Cameron Tuai LI 805 XA Emporia State University

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction....1 Organizational Profile..........2 Analysis of Mission and Guiding Values3 SWOT.5 Contingency & Organization...8 Current Organizational Structure Task Technology Analysis...9 Planned Change..11 Departmental Inter-departmental Organizational Level Contingency and Leadership.14 Leadership Motivation Teams Contingency and Control17 Time-line SMART milestones/goals Required Resources Money Human Resources Training Reference.19 Appendices20 Appendix 1: Statement of Operating Values Appendix 2: Customer Service Values

INTRODUCTION This three-year strategic plan details the organization of Lawrence Public Library and proposed structural changes during a time of renovation. Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management students analyzed the reference services at Lawrence Public Library for LI 805XA: Management and Information Organizations under the guidance of Dr. Cameron Tuai. The organizational plan is based on two components: the analysis of the library guiding principles (mission and values) and the SWOT analysis. Both indicate an existing need to improve reference service. This becomes a particular concern during a complete library change due to the renovation. The physical move to a smaller building will limit the number of reference staff and location of materials. Several aspects will be analyzed to propose a goal to move toward a more mechanistic organizational structure by decreasing variety in the reference staff. This plan will document the current state of the Lawrence Public Librarys organizational structure on the whole, departmental level, and inter-departmental level. The proposed structural change is to implement a referral-based reference model. This change will be described in terms of leadership and motivation. The processes needed to regulate the implementation of the planned structural change will be described in terms of a timeline, SMART milestones/goals, and required resources.

ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE Lawrence Public Library (LPL) is a public library that serves the community of Lawrence, Kansas. LPL is the only public library in the town of approximately 88,000 people, although there are also several university libraries associated with the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. The main downtown branch serves the entire town. Services include: interlibrary loan, ebooks, genealogy, and programming for children, teen, adult, and seniors. Lawrence Public Library is regarded as a moderately successful library for its size. Although it does not have the efficiency of larger libraries or the ability to adjust for customers needs and agility of smaller libraries, it does an effective job of providing for patrons needs. This can be seen through the communitys willingness to provide recent funding for a large renovation project. The community of Lawrence approved funding for a $19 million renovation and expansion of the library. Although a clearly needed improvement, this will cause a move to a smaller location temporarily for 20 months. The library will be closed and reopened in the old Borders bookstore located three blocks away. This smaller space will limit the number of reference staff.

ANALYSIS OF LPL MISSION AND GUIDING VALUES The mission The mission of the Lawrence Public Library is to provide and promote informational, intellectual, and cultural resources for our community. After researching nonprofit mission statements, LPLs mission statement does answer the question of Why do you exist? but it lacks passion, because the language is formal and more than likely was concocted by the librarian professionals themselves, without community input. LPL may be successful in providing informational, intellectual, and cultural resources, but the wording of the mission statement is focusing more on the LPL, rather than the people that it serves. The mission statement should reflect on why and how the people use the library, especially in an age of ever changing technology that influences the way that resources are being utilized. Here is a possible suggestion in regards to changing the mission statement that will reflect the goals of LPL: The mission of the Lawrence Public Library is to provide the community of Lawrence with information and resources that support lifelong learning and lifelong enjoyment. This mission statement portrays an active participation of the LPL to provide for the patrons needs that will bring lifelong enjoyment and learning. Since LPL reference department needs to implement changes to organizational structures in order to meet customer satisfaction, this mission statement focuses on the behavioral outcomes, which the LPL reference department has failed to execute. The library also identifies two founding documents: Statement of Operating Values and Customer Service Values available in the appendix. First Guiding Value states: Patron needs come first. We place the highest priority on service to our patrons and treat every request as being of equal value. We acknowledge that our patrons information needs are considered first as we enhance traditional services, and implement new and innovative services. We will proactively develop new services to meet changing information needs in our community.

Lawrence Public Library does a good job of meeting its goals of the mission and its values. If there is one value which it falls short, it is the stated goal: Patron needs come first. We place the highest priority on service to our patrons and treat every request as being of equal value. Due to a veteran underpaid reference staff, often the patrons needs do not come first, which results in a poor experience for the patron. This has been observed both through staff observations as well as patron complaints. Reference librarians are often focused more on their own tasks than assisting patrons by answering questions.

LPL reference staff duties will be analyzed. They currently cycle between a main floor reference desk and a desk located by the computers. They answer questions on book advisory, print resources, navigating the computer, and grant resources. EBook questions are a frequent need of assistance. Patrons often need help downloading books into their personal devices. When not answering questions, reference librarians assist in weeding books, preparing displays, updating handouts, and programming. This reference problem will be even more exacerbated as the library moves to a smaller location while the main location is being remodeled. This new smaller location will only allow for one person to be available for reference at any given time, (compared to the three reference librarians currently staffed) making poor service an even larger problem. This problem can be fixed through the exertion of more control on the reference department to make sure that they are doing a quality job for patrons. By more controlled supervision with more clearly outlined guidelines and procedures, the staffpatron interaction can become more mechanistic and move closer to fit with the desired goal of quality patron interaction. The change in venues will be an opportune time to also change employee policy in regards to employee patron interaction, and the library reference department will align with the librarys mission statement and desired value.

Figure 1. Temporary location will be the Border's building, four blocks to the east. The library plans to shut down during the move and reopen in January 2013. Currently, LPL plans to be there 20 months according to their website.

SWOT Strengths (Internal) Employee/Culture/Management Core Competence/Synergy Innovative, enthusiastic new management Award-winning fundraising department Synergetic social networking team which effectively communicates among departments to create an active presence on Facebook and Twitter Unique distinct Lawrence community culture evident in library

Weaknesses (Internal) Employee/Culture/Management Some employees are less helpful to assist patrons Some employees are less willing to embrace change Cultures unsaid norms may not embrace change Board extremely limits salaries of employees Management inactive to improve some customer service

Opportunities (External) Task Environment/General Environment Customers-Competitors-Labor Market-Suppliers Technological-Sociocultural-Economic-Legal/Political-International Intellectual college community financially supportive of library Incredibly active and supportive community who values information Expansion allows for change in job positions to focus and promote more positive customer service Increased communication between LPL and Kansas University Libraries. Both supportive of joint events. Partnerships in borrowing privileges in planning stages. Downtown location is in close proximity to customer base

Threats (External) Task Environment/General environment Customers-Competitors-Labor Market-Suppliers Technological-Sociocultural-Economic-Legal/Political-International More dynamic staff leave for higher salary libraries Higher paying library jobs available in the area New location will cause service limitations; half of the material collections will be available for patron use. Stored books will be available upon request. During temporary location, patrons may leave for other local libraries. In the temporary location, there will be less reference staff for staff-patron interaction. Customers may use other information services like Google.

SWOT Evaluation Current Internal Strengths. The Lawrence Public Library has three primary core competencies. A nationwide search for new management found a library director bringing enthusiasm and a fresh outlook in initiating the renovation of the library. His participatory style was welcomed as he interviewed each employee on their personal direction of the future of Lawrence Public Library. Another LPL core competence is an award-winning fundraising department. The foundation director won the KLA presidential award for 2012. Lawrence Public Library has a strong and successful fundraising ability for future projects. Finally, the social networking team uses Facebook and Twitter to interact with the local community; far above what is typical for a library its size. Activities on Facebook and Twitter include promoting events, such as reader advisory, news, and Lawrence information. This synergy ties the departments of LPL into one marketable unit. The unique culture of the Lawrence Public Library is continuously promoted with effort and by unstated norms. LPL promotes symbol on new location, free stickers, and online. Employee dress is casual. The physical facilities are artistically-centered with walls of classic Lawrence structured limestone walls. Current Internal Weaknesses . The diversity of employees is limited. The permanent long-standing Lawrence citizen staff foster a culture not embracing change. Yet, the reference department consists of librarians close to retirement, resulting in major leadership transitions. The organizational structure of the reference department is organic, making it less than desirable for some reference department to restructure their organization into a mechanistic structure, which the newly designed environment will foster. Reference librarians answer a wide variety of reference questions in a wide variety of formats in the current model. Lawrence Public Library has low salaries. The funding environment will continue to be competitive because of the lack of revenue from taxes or the lack of community support to raise the mill levy. Retention of dynamic employees becomes more difficult without proper compensation. Employees have low motivation to increase customer service. Potential External Opportunities. The greatest external opportunity of Lawrence Public Library is the community of Lawrence, Kansas. The city continually demonstrates its support for the Lawrence Public Library, by voting for the library bond to allow for new tax monies to renovate and expand. Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas. It is a highly educated community who supports and participates in Lawrence Public Library activities and events. During this

process, community pride and support of the library will continue to be flexible and open to changes and limitations caused by the new facility. The current location and the temporary location are both downtown. The walking downtown area is a popular place. The library has high foot traffic. New location is accessible by public parking areas, bus, and many other businesses and services. Potential External Threats. Since Lawrence Public Library is surrounded with high quality public libraries in surrounding communities, Lawrence Public Library could lose patrons to other competing libraries. Patrons expect high quality services in a resource rich environment. If the library provides bare minimum access to resources, then this only strengthens the resourcefulness of the Internet as a replacement for the reference department of the library. Similarly in current technological trends of internet use, the information explosion has created a growing trend in information acquisition. Many mid level, ready reference requests are met by Google and Wikipedia. Consequently, patrons will not be adequately educated in knowing what information is needed, how to locate it, and whether it is a reliable source or not. The accessibility to internet has changed informational needs of patrons. It has led to new models to meet the extremely low and high levels of questions to reference and information services. Patron needs are directional and immediate information or high level reference questions require expertise.

Summary: A Needed Change The SWOT evaluation identifies the need to change the organic structure to more mechanistic, by increasing control in the reference department. Because the priority concerns in the SWOT evaluation are internal weakness, the environmental strategy will be to increase efficiency. This plan will address the implementation of a referral-based reference model to reach the needed goal. The goal is to maintain and improve Lawrences access to information and resources through the reference department.

CONTINGENCY & ORGANIZATION Current LPL Organizational Structure Lawrence Public is somewhat both mechanistic as well as organic on the structural dimension scale (2.5 out of 5). The library is quite mechanistic in hierarchy of authority with a high degree of control and centralized authority in few people- the director, assistant director and board. The library is also quite organic, however, as there is less specialization than would be expected of a library its size, as many employees will do different things throughout the day and will receive some training across departments. Formalization. Lawrence Public Library is only somewhat formalized, scoring a 3 out of 5, as there is documentation for job roles and duties, although they are often looked at as guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Furthermore, the documented instruction present in the library, is often used with initial employee training, and then subsequently disregarded in preference of employees utilizing their personal discretion when encountering difficulties. Specialization. The library is also in the middle of the scale for specialization scoring 3 out of 5 again. Lawrence Public is definitely more specialized than smaller libraries as there are separate departments for circulation and reference as opposed to smaller libraries where those two departments might be combined. There is some cross department interaction however such as social networking teams where employees from many different departments work together. Hierarchy of Authority. Due to the size of Lawrence Public it has a relatively low amount of hierarchy of authority, 2 out of 5, because of the many different levels of control at the library. The bottom of the authority chain would have a direct supervisor, a service coordinator, the assistant director, and the director above them making the structure rather wide. This makes it difficult to control, and a lot of decisions are left to the lower levels. Centralization. Lawrence Public Library has a somewhat high amount of centralization, 4 out of 5, because of the small amount of important decision makers compared to the large amount of employees. There are very few people actually able to make hiring, firing and other personnel decisions in the library, mainly the director, assistant director, and board of directors. The coordinators of departments may not hire, fire, or make personnel decisions. This shows a good amount of hierarchal control given the size of the library.

TASK TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS Departmental Assessment of the Organizational Structures of the LPL Reference Department. The organizational structure of Lawrence Public Library Reference Department is organic. Reference employees rely upon their personal experience and expertise in locating information for their patrons, as their roles and duties are less formal. There are some pathfinders available. Like most reference departments in public libraries, patrons make a high variety of requests. There is no filtering system for the requests. Patrons make requests in a variety of formats. Staff is not typically known for their specialized expertise. Requests for specialized information may have a time delay. Reference department members are interchangeable. Each reference department member reports to a service coordinator, the assistant director, and lastly the library director. Centralization resides at the top of this hierarchy, affecting the reference personnel. Within departments of authority is low centralization. The reference staff problem-solve among themselves using their own resources. Assessment of the Task Technology of Reference Department The goal of the Lawrence Public Library Reference Department is to provide needed information to its patrons in the most efficient manner possible. Apart from other departments, reference is extremely high in variety. Reference questions present themselves in a variety of formats and in complete randomness. Patrons may walk up to the reference desk; Chat with a librarian online; email a reference question; or call in. In this variety, there is a high level of uncertainty which is difficult to document and analyze. Workflow technology and coordination structures of the departments that work with the target department The reference department also has very low work-flow interdependence as most projects are completed by one or two people within the adult services department. The highest workflow interdependent department is the social media department and marketing working throughout all the departments. Otherwise, the departments are specialized. Strategic Contingency and Structures of your Organization The proposed strategic contingency plan is as follows. The independent variable is the low quality and intermittent customer service in the LPL reference department. The dependent variable is the structure described above and depicted in the analyzed units below in Figure 1. The independent variable (proposing the fit) is to increase control on customer interaction and increasing communication within the departments of LPL. The dependent variable will be the increased customer satisfaction as measured in customer responses rated surveys.

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Figure 1 shows the existing organizational structure of LPL. The figure shows the hierarchy of authority and specialization throughout the departments. It also shows the low task flow interdependency between the departments.
Library Director

Assistant Director

Adult Services/Referenc e

Youth Services

Social Media Team

Collection Development

Circulation

Marketing

Technical Services

Dept Head

Dept Head

Media

Print

Serials

Dept Head

Dept Head

Dept Head

Staff

Staff

Staff

Staff

Staff

Staff

Staff

Staff

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THE PLANNED CHANGE Recommended Goal and Strategy This plan will address the implementation of a referral-based reference model to improve customer service in the reference department. The goal is to maintain and improve Lawrences access to information and resources through the reference department. It is recommended that the reference department move to a more mechanistic structure to increase efficiency, by raising the formalization and division of labor through restructuring roles and lowering task variety and raising analyzability in order to meet the needs of the patrons lifelong learning and lifelong enjoyment through quality interactions. By decreasing workflow variety within the reference department, this will increase the specialization of tasks. The referral-based model is similar to the tiered or Brandeis reference model. This model enables the reference technician the ability to filter questions to low-level reference questions, thus allowing the reference librarian to perform other professional responsibilities. The reference technician is trained by the professional librarians and is limited to pre-written scripts, databases of ready-reference, and frequently asked questions (FAQ). The technician is located on the reference desk to handle face-toface and virtual or e-reference questions (phone, chat, text, message). Higher level questions will be directed to the reference librarian whose duties may be located elsewhere. Departmental Describe Change in Terms of how it will affect the task contingencies of reference. The Lawrence Public Library would notice significant improvement by decreasing variety and increasing analyzability. The change in the reference department will increase the division of labor, increase authority, and increase centralization by decreasing variety. Inter-departmental Decrease variety. By increasing centralization, the head of services will filter incoming calls and in-person requests through to related departments. Reference help will become more specialized and requests will be directed to each department. For example, childrens questions will go to the childrens department. Government requests will be directed to the government reference personnel. By far, the largest structural change that will occur is the increased focus on specialization within the reference department. The reference staff will be trained to refer questions to the specialized departments or individuals within the reference department greatly increasing the quality of reference service provided while also reducing the analyzability. The reference staff will also experience an increase in the

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formalization of their jobs, as the rules and expectations of their jobs will be much more clearly outlined and explained. Increase analyzability. To increase the quality of interactions, each patron will be requested to rate the performance of the reference help in a 1-5 rating form with one line for open comments. Direct supervisors will participate in calculating and developing an extrinsic reward system for reference positions with an average rate of 4.5 or higher. This reward system will take the form of raises, and one time cash rewards. Structural changes necessary to support the change. By far the largest structural change that will occur is the increased focus on specialization within the reference department. The reference staff will be trained to refer questions to the specialized departments or individuals within the reference department greatly increasing the quality of reference service provided while also reducing the analyzability. The reference staff will also experience an increase in the formalization of their jobs, as the rules and expectations of their jobs will be much more clearly outlined and explained. The structure of the reference department is now much more vertical depicting a more mechanistic structure which is tall and narrow in its hierarchy of authority.
Adult Services Coordinator

Referral Technician

Reference Librarian

How your change will effect workflow interdependence and change in coordination structures to support your change. Workflow interdependence will increase as the reference staff will be reducing the amount of questions answered on the spot due to an increase in specialization causing more referrals to other staff members and sections of the library. Reference staff will be made more aware of other staff departments specialization and how and when to refer patrons to them. This change will help the understaffed reference staff move into a better fit with the new structure of the library.

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Organizational How will change affect the overall strategic contingency of your organization and the change in organizational structures to support your change. Although intended for the reference department, this change will make the entire library more mechanistic and interdependent while reducing variety. Although the changes are intended to specialize and formalize the reference department, the increase in interaction with the various other staff members will inevitably cause these other departments to increase their specialization and formalization as well, in order to best deal with the reference staff. These changes will be useful as all departments will need to reduce the organic nature of their structures because of size and resource limitations the new building will cause.

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CONTINGENCY & LEADERSHIP Leadership Current state of relevant contingencies. In Hershey and Blanchards situational theory, the theory focuses on the characteristics of the followers. Since the reference technicians have been exposed to a delegating style of leadership, low task behavior has been exhibited in not taking responsibility in performing the necessary job tasks at the reference desk. With regards to Fiedlers theory, the task structure of the reference technician position has been unstructured. The tasks have been undefined and vague. Therefore the situation is highly unfavorable to leadership. Leadership has not examined whether they are a relationship oriented leader or a task-oriented leader, which affects whether the situations in the reference department are favorable or unfavorable. Future state of relevant contingencies. Leadership will adopt the telling style of leadership since there is a low readiness of task behavior with the reference technicians. The telling style gives leadership the ability to define Blanchard style by diagnosing the followers and adopting the correct leadership style. By separating the reference technicians and the professional reference librarians and creating a new structure, the leader is paying attention to the fact that the task structure needs to be more favorable. Therefore the leadership style (task-oriented or relationship-oriented) will match the situation which applies Fiedlers contin gency theory.

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Motivation Current state of relevant contingencies. According to Herzbergs Two-Factor Theory, there are areas of satisfaction (motivators) and areas of dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). One of the hygiene factors that have influenced the reference technicians is the lack of pay. Since the pay does not meet basic needs, then it is hard to use motivators to increase job satisfaction. The equity theory also comes into play because the reference technicians do not perceive themselves as being treated fairly to others when it comes to pay. Therefore the employees reduce their level of effort in their jobs. The expectancy theory further proves that if effort and performance do not produce a desired outcome (pay, recognition, and other awards), than motivation will be lower. Future state of Contingencies. By initiating a two percent pay raise to reference technicians based on the LibQUAL evaluation of reference based interactions, they will be reinforced with a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule. Therefore, LPL will remove the dissatisfiers (the hygiene factor of pay), which will propel LPL to use motivators to assist in greater achievement and satisfaction within the reference technicians job. The reference technicians will also perceive equity with regards to their pay being comparable to other employees of a similar job description. Therefore, the level of effort for performing job tasks will increase since the desired outcome (pay) has increased. Physiological and safety needs will also be fulfilled in the need hierarchy. With regards to the professional librarian, they will have performance appraisal and rewards (gift certificates, gift cards, awards, cash, raises.) given at random times on a variable-interval reinforcement schedule. These motivators will propel reference librarians to attain higher levels of success in their job tasks and possibly surpass others according to the acquired needs theory by David McClelland. Furthermore, the motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility, personal growth) influence the level of job satisfaction in the two-factor theory. The effort leads to a desired performance, and performance leads to the desired outcome (recognition, rewards, etc.) in the expectancy theory. Teams Current State of Relevant Contingencies. With regards to teams, LPL has an informal vertical team where staff (reference technicians/reference librarian) are under the Department Head of Reference/Adult Services. Since the organizational structure is organic, the reference staff makes their own decisions and assumes the nonparticipator role in member task and social behavior in the intradepartmental team. Furthermore, this organic structure has produced low productivity in job effectiveness as far as having buy-in to the LPLs mission statement and values. Future State of Relevant Contingencies The reference librarian and the reference technicians will report to the Department Head of Reference/Adult Services which consists of a formal vertical team. However, now that the reference technicians and the reference librarian are separate units, horizontal communication will need to occur among the interdepartmental units of the reference

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technicians and the reference librarian. The reference technicians will need to communicate effectively to the professional librarian when a reference question needs to be referred to the reference librarian.

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CONTINGENCY & CONTROL

Timeline

Smart Goals 100% of reference staff will be divided into two categories with two distinct job duties: technicians and reference librarians upon change to new location. The goal of the change in the Lawrence Public Library reference staff is to divide up the staff into two different departments in order to have a referral based reference system. The reasoning for this change is to provide better service by making the referral librarians jobs more analyzable and less uncertain making the jobs easier to perform, while also making the professional reference staffs jobs more organic. This will increase the reference service by increasing the quality of reference provided: the easy reference/referral questions will be answered by the highly trained and better paid referral staff, while in depth reference questions will be answered by the professional and experienced reference staff. This change will take place in the new temporary library, and will only include the adult services department. The divide between the referral staff and reference staff will be done by placing part time employees and those without a Masters of Library Science degree on the referral desk, while placing full time professional employees with Masters of Library Science in the new reference group.

To increase the number of positive reference desk customer interactions by 10% every three months as measured by LibQUAL. The success of this change will be measured through a LibQUAL survey which will be given to patrons to rate the quality of their library experience. The survey will gauge the success of the change by seeing if

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patron satisfaction with the service provided by the new staff is greater than the previous organization. The goal of better reference service through the move to a referral-based system is attainable because all of the required staff currently works at the library. The staff needed for the referral desk is already doing referral work at the library; they will merely have their classification changed, while the reference staff is also already employed by the library. This change will accomplish the goal of increasing patron satisfaction by reorganizing the staff into the fields they are most skilled at while not making any major staffing changes. The attainable and worthwhile goal of better reference service, as well as the move to a new building, makes this the right change at the right time for a number of reasons. The largest reason this change makes sense is because there will be a great reduction in reference librarians able to work the floor of the library, from 3 to 1, meaning it is essential for there to be a referral librarian who can direct any questions to the correct staff member, or reference questions to the reference librarian who is in a back office. This change also makes sense for this time because of the change in a new building means the staff and public will be expecting changes and will be more receptive to any changes. The time frame will be for the initial change to be completed in one month. The staff members will be broken into their groups and then have a week to be given a general understanding of their job changes, two weeks of intermediate training and then one week of working in their new roles with success and failures recorded by their superiors and reported back to the employees so they can better do their jobs. After one month the change should be complete, with both the referral and reference employees fully trained and able to do their new jobs, as well as the LibQUAL survey system introduced.

Required resources The required resources for this change will be $3500 for a yearly subscription to the LibQUALservice(http://www.libqual.org/about/about_lq/fee_schedule) , as well as the approximately $120 per week in raises to the referral staff. There will also be the cost of sending a staff member to the LibQUAL training day, however this service is free and the cost will merely be the cost of having someone work for that employee on the training day. There will be no additional hiring or firings which will need to take place.

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REFERENCES Agosto, D. E., Rozaklis, L., MacDonald, C., & Abels, E.G. (2011). A model of the reference information service process: an educators perspective [electronic version]. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(3), 235-244. Daft, Richard (2008). Management. 8th ed. Mason, OH: Thomson Higher Education. Fritz, J. (2012). How to write a nonprofit mission statement. Retrieved from (http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitbasics/a/mission.htm Lawrence Public Library. Image acquired December 4, 2012. Facebook. Accessed December 4, 2012. http://www.facebook.com/lawrencepubliclibrary Lawrence Public Library website. Whats up with the renovation? Accessed December 4, 2012. http://www.lawrence.lib.ks.us/.

Mielke, L. (1995). Short term planning in turbulent times. American Libraries, (25), 906. Seattle Public Library. (2012). The Seattle public library strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.spl.org/about-the-library/strategic-planning Stalker, J. C., & Murfin, M. (1996). Quality reference service: a preliminary case study[electronic version]. Journal f Academic Librarianship, (22), 423-429.

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APPENDIX 1
Lawrence Public Library Statement of Operating Values We are dedicated to the highest standards of ethics and public service, and will strive for the maximum of effectiveness and economy in library operations. Information services will be conducted with all possible consideration of confidentiality for the researcher and the contents of research. The Lawrence Public Library Board of Trustees, Director, Staff, and Volunteers will strive for equity and fairness in serving individuals and organizations throughout the community. We are dedicated to the development of full and equal access to information for all people. These are the values which guide our service: Patron needs come first. We place the highest priority on service to our patrons and treat every request as being of equal value. We acknowledge that our patrons information needs are considered first as we enhance traditional services, and implement new and innovative services. We will proactively develop new services to meet changing information needs in our community. Respect for people. We treat all our patrons, and each other, as valued individuals. Access to information. We ensure access to information for people of all ages, abilities, and means. Freedom of information. We protect the freedom to read and view all library information. Privacy and confidentiality. We safeguard the right to request and obtain information in confidence. Basic services without charge. We provide basic library services free of charge. Promotion of services. We inform our community about library services. We draw our community into dynamic environments that encourage a love of reading and lifelong learning. Quality. We strive to deliver the highest quality services possible. We strive to provide friendly, approachable, knowledgeable, and expert staff. Stewardship of community resources. We recognize that we have been entrusted with managing library resources contributed by the community. We hold ourselves accountable for the efficient and effective use of all resources people, time, assets, and funds. Integrity. We follow the ethical standards and policies which have been adopted by the Lawrence Public Library Board of Trustees and the City of Lawrence.

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APPENDIX 2 Lawrence Public Library Customer Service Values Service to library customers is based on the values of the organization rather than merely on rules and procedures. Service policies are based on the mission of the Library and the shared organizational values. Certain general concepts of valuesbased service differ from a service that is based solely on policies and procedures. These include: Empowerment. Staff members are encouraged to make decisions that will result in success for library customers. This means that anyone, not just a supervisor, can make an exception to policy or procedure if it provides quality customer service and is consistent with our organizational values. Customers like to have their problems solved by the first staff person with whom they deal. Staff members should feel confident and comfortable in solving individual problems. On the other hand, there are times when it helps to ask the advice of a colleague or supervisor, and such a team approach to problem solving is encouraged. Consistently Applying Values. With staff members making decisions there is concern about consistency. In a values-based service, it is important to consistently apply the values of fairness, respect, and quality. Though the procedural details of how a situation is handled might vary, library customers should feel that staff members consistently listen carefully and try to meet their individual needs. The needs of the individual should be balanced with the overall needs of library customers throughout the community. People-Oriented Service. The focus is on the customer. Library users have human needs that go beyond their needs for access to information or reading materials. Users need to feel welcome, and need to know that staff members care about their needs and concerns. Making Sense to Our Customers and Ourselves. Library policies must make sense to library customers. Staff members should be able to explain library policies with the confidence that the policies are just and reasonable. The reasons behind a policy should be easily understood by all, public and staff alike. No Hassles. Whenever possible, staff members should remove barriers to successful library use. This is true of library policies and procedures, but should be equally true of individual customer transactions with the library. Flexibility and Accommodation. Flexibility means that staff members should change their service style and approach based on the customers needs, personality, and disposition. The library cannot create a policy and procedure to cover every possible course of action in any given situation. Though standard procedures may call for one course of action, a particular situation may call for a creative non-standard solution. Learning and Growing. Staff members are capable of learning and growing, and will make mistakes as these concepts are applied. This is accepted as part of the process of growth.