Cardiff’s LEAN Journey

1. Cardiff’s LEAN Journey Tracey Stanley Cardiff University Library

2. Some background • 14 Library Sites (reduced from 18!) • Considerable duplication of effort and function • Lacking economies of scale • Library Review 2005 indicated that: • Professional staff are pulled into routine tasks (issue desk rota etc) • Need to free up subject librarians to concentrate on subject support!

3. Our Self-service Journey • Self-service project commenced in 2007. • Stated aim of project was to: • Increase the time staff have for liaison with Schools and development of support for information literacy, and support for researchers. • Target set of 80% of circulation transactions to be achieved through self-service • 8 of the Libraries now have RFID self-service  • But not our biggest Library: ASSL 

4. LEANing our Services • Cardiff LEAN Principles: • Identify how you can add value for the customer • Understand how your service is delivered end-to-end • Eliminate waste in the delivery of services • Respond to customer pull (what the customer wants, when they want it) • Pursue perfection

5. Cycle of Service: borrowing a book Enlarge classmarks Get it sorted Nicer furniture/decoration Water cooler Temperature not good. Not conducive to study Ambience New classmarks too small Spell friendly (predictive text?) Go to library Located Voyager search too specific Go to library Train staff Staff to complete form rather than student, or online form Is catalogue easy to use? Yes/No Telephone library System created to ensure staff are efficient in this process Not located Knowledgeable staffHelpful staff? At home Long wait Speak to staff as book not in home library Complete form Staff Information Good response Search catalogue Book arrives Faster email / staff intervention In library User receives email Delay in email being received Is information good enough Allow book to be renewed unless reserved Book returned to holding library User returns to home library to collect book Item posted to student Another visit to library Is library opening hours sufficient? User returns to book library Telephones library Pay Fines online Limit of renewals reached User renews item 3 times from home No reservation Must return book

6. Value vs. Failure Demand • Value Demand is demand for the service (meeting legitimate first time requests in full) • Search catalogue • Find item on catalogue • Find item at the location indicated by the catalogue • Issue book using self-service • Leave Library (satisfied) • Failure Demand is ‘created’ by the failure of the system to provide the service it exists to deliver in full • Search catalogue – can’t find book? • Do we hold it? • How to search the catalogue correctly? Help needed! • Can’t find item at location specified? • Mis-shelved? Lost? • Needs reshelving? • Queue at desk? • Can’t borrow - no valid ID card • Can’t borrow – fines • Leave Library (unsatisfied)

7. Addressing the boulders; facilitating easy self-service • Remove circulation desks • Make the self-service units more visible and prominent • Remove loans block for readers with one overdue item. • Raise the fines threshold

8. Trevithick Library

9. Outcomes • Small, unobtrusive information desks. • Numbers of staff on service desks reduced dramatically (by 50%+) • More space for casual seating, self-service, welcoming reception areas and group study. • Staff time freed up for roaming, projects, development of IL and research support programmes, support for distance learners • 90%+ transactions via self-service!

10. What’s next? • LEAN Review of workloads across our remaining 14 sites: • Identify areas where we could improve our processes. • Match staff profile to current demands. • How do we free up time to enable us to continue to innovate? • What could we stop doing? (Low value services?)