King county library system service center

Th e Ele c tron i c Ha llwa y ® Case Teaching Resources FROM THE EVANS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Box 353060 · University of Washington · Seattle WA 98195-3060 www.hallway.org IMPROVING DECISION MAKING AND PATRON SERVICE IN THE KING COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM (A) Bill Ptacek, director of the King County Library System (KCLS), picked up a copy of “The Year 2000 Plan” and glanced inside at the table of contents. His eyes scanned the headings: “Service and Collection Levels,” “Capital Projects,” “Staffing Model”, and “Revenue and Expenditures.” Since becoming the library system's director three years ago, Ptacek and his senior management team had worked long and tedious hours on all these crucial components to develop a long-range plan to guide the library system through the year 2000. The ultimate goal of the plan seemed clear: to ensure that the library system was structured so that resources were distributed equitably and were coordinated to maximize the value to the community of the library's offerings. Inherent in this goal was a major building program to address the county's 20% projected population growth and a shift in collection development targeted toward providing a more in-depth and sophisticated level of materials and services. Underlying all of these efforts was a renewed emphasis on quality service to patrons. If only there was a formal way to address the organizational culture of the library system, Ptacek thought to himself. For the past three years, he had been hearing numerous complaints from personnel throughout the library system, from line staff in the 38 community libraries to senior management at the library's headquarters, called the Service Center. Branch personnel argued that management decisions made at the Service Center often had a negative impact on line staff and patrons, while the senior management team, all quartered at the Service Center, seemed to be suffering from interdepartmental competition and complained of being overworked. Typical of the issues, one branch librarian complained that it took over a year to authorize repair to a microfiche reader. New programs and policies were initiated by the administration that branch employees found difficult to implement or which impeded service. For example, the wait list and reserve system, developed at the Service Center, was so complicated that staff were embarrassed to explain it to their patrons. The recordkeeping system was considered onerous, and in an understaffed system, any extra work was unwelcome. At the same time, “The Year 2000 Plan” called for a renewed emphasis This case study was made possible through the generous contributions of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation as part of their support for this national curriculum development project. The case was prepared by Krista Chell while a candidate for a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and was supervised by Jon Brock, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This material may not be altered or copied without written permission from The Electronic Hallway. For permission, email hallhelp@u.washington.edu, or phone (206) 616-8777. Electronic Hallway members are granted copy permission for educational purposes per the Member’s Agreement (www.hallway.org). Copyright 1996 The Electronic Hallway Improving Decision Making and Patron Service in the King County Library System (A) on patron service, through promotion of the system's many services and by providing individual attention to patrons. Ptacek knew that certain changes in the management practices and culture of the library system needed to be implemented to achieve successful completion of the goals outlined in “The Year 2000 Plan.” As its main advocate, he was determined not to let internal disharmony within the library system undermine the traditions of success and excellent service or all the hard work that had been poured into the long-range plan by the senior staff and himself. A relative newcomer to an organization known for its high proportion of long-time employees (the average term of employment was 15 years), Ptacek questioned how he should go about making truly effective and acceptable changes.