SWON Libraries

Since February, thirteen libraries have been working to improve the way they do things in their libraries. Staff from all of these organizations have been participating in the workshop series "Process Improvement for Libraries" sponsored by the Regional Library Systems of Ohio and supported through an LSTA grant from the State Library of Ohio.

Each library sent a team of staff members to each of the four workshops. During the sessions, the participants learned about processes, selected a process to improve, explored various tools to improve processes, actually applied the tools in action in their libraries, then finally presented their results at the final workshop this month. The improvements realized throughout the state were stunning. One library reduced its daily time to process interlibrary loan receipts from over three hours down to 90 minutes, saving the time of nearly one full staff member each week. Other teams discovered new ways to communicate emergency situations throughout the library, better methods to order materials, and more efficient equipment reservation systems.

Libraries participating in the series were: Adams County Public Library, Amos Memorial Public Library, Blanchester Public Library, Carroll County District Library, Chillicothe and Ross County Public Library, Franklin-Springboro Public Library, Ida Rupp Public Library, Kenton County Public Library, Mary Lou Johnson-Hardin County Public Library, Massillon Public Library, North Canton Public Library, Puskarich Public Library, Sabina Public Library, Southern State Community College Library, Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, Willard Memorial Library, Wilmington Public Library.

The entire series was directed by Sara Laughlin and Ray Wilson, who recently published the book, "The Quality Library: A Guide To Staff Driven Improvement, Better Efficiency, and Happier Customers" available from ALA editions. According to Sara, "Each of these teams achieved stunning results in a very short time. This sort of significant improvement is not uncommon, if a library can learn the tools and apply them properly."