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Survival Strategies for Government Libraries. Specifically the Ministry of Forests and Range Library!. MoE Library : what happened. Kathy retired Allison Bond the ADM responsible for the Library decided that Libraries were no longer relevant (dusty places)
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Survival Strategies for Government Libraries Specifically the Ministry of Forests and Range Library!
MoE Library : what happened • Kathy retired • Allison Bond the ADM responsible for the Library decided that Libraries were no longer relevant (dusty places) • My executive warned me that something bad might be happening • I pulled out the GLABC scenario and wrote a series of briefing notes
What happened next • January 2003 the MOE (WLAP) agreed to give us bucks and a body (we are so lucky that John Pinn joined us!) pay for the move and the integration but we needed to have the amalgamation complete and billed out by March 31. (SRM too!)
What was involved? • Expanding our space • Interfiling the collections • Converting and merging the catalogue • Teams of people running back and forth Sounds easy in point form!
Outreach to our new clients • Initial outreach to all clients twice once individual and once with targeted info packages • Attended staff meetings • Surveyed clients after 6 months to see if goals were being met – we got rave reviews
Survival Strategies we have employed • Client outreach (using tools to target groups and individuals) – do good things and let management and the executive know • Scenario planning (so you are ready!) • Building unique collections (FIA, FRBC etc). • Retrospective conversion project.
Survival Strategies Continued • Becoming the ‘home’ for collections and key items (e.g.Tree Book) • Section staff sit on cross agency committees as well as cross ministry committees • Finding additional budgets in order to improve services • Building effective teams so that every product coming from the section is top notch (I absolutely have the best staff!)
Is it working?Client Satisfaction Survey Results Forest Science Program Survey April 2006 “In general the highest satisfaction level among all users is with the library services” (BC Stats) • 90.8% were satisfied (23.9%) or very satisfied (66.9%) • 82% of our clients indicated that they received what they needed. • Library Services received the highest score for service delivery.
How do the Executive see us? • 100% of the Executive were satisfied (40%) or very satisfied (60%) (n.b. they rarely give vs’s) • 87.6% of Senior Managers were satisfied (6.3%) or very satisfied (81.3%)
MOE 2004 Client Satisfaction Survey • 89% of MOE library users gave an overall satisfaction rating or satisfied or very satisfied • 94% gave library services – reference and in-depth research, providing books and articles as requested and access to information on our website as good or very good • 45% those surveyed who were not current library users asked for additional information and became users • It is time for another survey!
What is next for us? • Mountain Pine Beetle Librarian • Negotiations with Agriculture and Lands • Improved access to electronics • More recon • Moving the Library (yech) • Potential staff changes