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Stanford University Libraries Redesign Report
Executive Summary
In July, 1994, the SUL Directors appointed the
Redesign Team to work with Stillwater Consulting
Group to apply the principles of reengineering to
the acquisitions-to-access processes in order to
realize at least $750,000 in cost savings from
the Technical Services Budget, while maintaining
or improving efficiency, speed, and quality of
service.
The Team represented a cross-section of
experience and expertise within the library
system and at Stanford, including technical
services librarians, selectors, a finance
officer, and an information technology manager.
The Stillwater Consulting group facilitated the
Team's efforts and provided analytical support
for process and cost examination.
From July through December, the Team studied
library and management literature related to
reengineering concepts, workflow design, and
vended services. The Team interviewed staff and
conducted walk-throughs of most Technical
Services sections in SUL, contacted colleagues in
a variety of libraries, visited vendor sites, and
compiled information on vendor and utility
offerings.
The Redesign Team's final report recommends a
conceptual redesign that focuses on eliminating
duplicate transactions, using technology and
vendor services when possible to increase
efficiencies, and performing tasks at the time or
the location that makes the most sense. The
proposed redesign reflects a multi-tiered
approach to processing which is responsive to
SUL's commitment to collect a wide variety of
material from different types of sources and
which allows SUL to cut costs where vendors,
technology, and streamlined processes can
increase efficiencies. Overall cost savings will
be directly affected by the percentage of
materials which can be directed to vendors
selling these services.
The vendor-assisted tier includes components
for both the acquiring and cataloging functions.
Book vendors with interactive bibliographic
databases who can provide shelf-ready materials
(including call number labels) and can transmit a
stream of data necessary for the control and
payment of those materials are at the core of the
schematic redesign for monographs. Current
imprints and approval materials are likely
candidates for this tier. Bibliographic utilities
who can manage the automatic recycling of
searches for fuller copy and transmit the results
of the successful hit are key to the cost savings
in catalog functions.
The local processing tier includes components
for consolidating processing steps and for
eliminating duplicate transactions by vesting
responsibility for serials check-in and some
record maintenance in service units.
The analysis of transaction savings indicates
that the cost reduction targets can be met with
this plan.
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Last modified:
August 8, 2005 |
