Developing Library as an Entrepreneurial Resource Centre to Achieve Intangible Return on Investment (ROI)

1. Developing Library as an Entrepreneurial Resource Centreto Achieve Intangible Return on Investment (ROI) GiridharKunkurLibrarianWelingkarInstitute of Management Development and Research , Mumbaigiridhar.kunkur@welingkar.org

2. Why entrepreneurship in librarianship? • Users are becoming highly tech-savvy • Technological competence is not equivalent to information literacy (National Research Council, 1999). • Librarians are supposed to be information savvy and have edge over others • Here lies the importance of making the users realise this quality of librarians.

3. Why entrepreneurship in librarianship? • If we do not change the way we interact or connect with our users, it may lead to the gradual down rating of the LIS profession • Entrepreneurship – Is it not our cup of tea? • The words or phrases such as Business Librarian, Entrepreneurial Librarianship Enterprising Librarian do not exist in Wikipedia.

4. Definition of Entrepreneurship • The Longman Concise English Dictionary defines entrepreneur as one who organises, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. • Illustrated Oxford Dictionary says that an entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses taking financial risks in the hope of profit.

5. Aligning it to the Library •  It is creatively finding opportunities to improve services and raise the profile of the library through collaboration, experimentation and and presentation of Library • Being entrepreneurial in a library context is not just about making money. It’s about finding ways to do more things that we want to do. • It’s about partnering. Seeking funding (budget). Seeking mutually-beneficial opportunities with other people . Looking beyond what has been done in the past.

6. Libraries are for spending • Traditionally, the libraries are known for spending and spending only. • First instance of charging for the service must have occurred in early sixties with the wide spread availability of photocopiers • The other most talked about service in the recent past was Inter Library Loan • The traditional ILL is now replaced by Resource Sharing of digital content • Collecting fines for overdue Books?

7. Libraries are for spending • Even the rigorous marketing strategies with dedicated staff who may be working on different membership models for eg. External users, Corporate / Institutional membership etc will not make library to earn revenue anywhere close to the annual investment that we make. • It may not be close to even to 10% of total expenditure. • Unlike, “business oriented libraries, in an academic environment, it is difficult to establish a profit oriented model. Because, the mindset of the users is not tuned to pay for the services as they have paid fees for their courses!

8. Return on Investment (ROI) • Therefore, instead of a tangible revenue model we can consider intangible benefit model to achieve ROI • Libraries’ core activity resides in the intangible services of facilitating access to information and they seek to influence the use of their services • Although they are not converted to monetary values, they are still an important part of the success profile

9. Factors contributing to Intangible Benefits

10. Free services to our audience • The products and services developed by the academic libraries are meant to be consumed by the users and these services are only expected to be rendered free of cost.

11. Customer Centric • It is about strengthening our relationships with faculty, students and researchers by innovatively supporting their teaching, learning & research activities. • First change our own mindset and develop a team that understands and appreciates new culture and become customer centric.

12. Mend the Rules where possible • Our profession is also popularly known for applying strict set of rules and regulations in most cases, not in favour of users as per their wishes and conveniences • The rules can be augmented to facilitate the convenience of the users rather than presenting how strict and protective we are with our resources. • Being liberal with the rules not amounting to lose control, and creating a happy and a user-friendly environment is equal to entrepreneurial mindset

13. Entrepreneurship initiatives at We School • To be entrepreneurial  means that Library staff should use their intellect to reinvent and enhance their work to heighten services to the users. • Some of such entrepreneurial approaches in library services at We School, Mumbai are explained here

14. Interactive Library portal - infoWE To connect with the users proactively and making our services more relevant and appropriate for classroom teaching and learning , we developed a user centric library portal called infoWE. I It provides opportunities for Library staff, faculty members and students to interact with each other and to put the resources to their optimum use

15. Connecting Resources to Classroom Teaching • INFOcapsuleis an amalgamation of SDI and CAS. It connects learning resources with classroom teaching making the provision of the most relevant information to our students based on what they are learning in the classrooms on a day to day basis. It requires a very close interaction with the Deans and faculty to understand their TLPs.

16. Marketing and Promotional activities

17. Marketing and Promotional Activities

18. Marketing and Promotional Activities

19. Events and Workshops

20. Conclusions • The destiny of the libraries is determined by the patrons, through their use or non-use of services. • Libraries will not be able to achieve their objectives if their resources are not utilized well. • Librarians have to be proactive with a persistent passion to bring in innovative ideas to engage their resources and services to optimum use and exhibit their expertise in meeting the ever changing needs of the users to ensure (ROI). • Build the image and reputation of the library and get noticed by the stake holders to keep our heads high in this dynamic world. If we possess these qualities, they certainly speak of the characteristics of entrepreneurs

21. Thank You! GiridharKunkurgiridhar.kunkur@welingkar.org