Thoughts on Re-organizing Library and Information Services
draft
Michael Roy
September 2008

With the departure of Carrie Rampp for Bucknell, we need to come up with both a short-term and longer-term plan for how to divide up the many areas of responsibility that made up Carrie's portfolio. We've developed an interim organizational plan that should carry us through the fall, but want to go through a more thorough planning process before we define the position that will take on some if not all of Carrie's responsibilities.

To that end, I've drafted a plan that will help us arrive at a new structure for the organization that will support our work, as we support the work of the college. I'll be working closely with the Provost's Office, with Human Resources, my colleagues on President's Staff, and with the LIS management team to make sure that this process provides ample opportunity for input from all interested parties, for self-study and reflection, and for analysis and comparison from the world outside of Middlebury. The challenge is to go through this process in a timely manner, and in such a way that even those whose ideas are not put into place feel that they indeed did have an opportunity to have their ideas heard.

At the outset, it seems worth noting that organizational charts have their place, but need to be understood in the broader context of how we do our work. The most cleverly designed organizational chart is no substitute for motivated, well-informed, and well-trained staff. For our organization to function well, we also need good communications, and access to resources. But a well-thought out division of labor that puts people who work together regularly into logical groupings is certainly part of this larger picture of what it takes to be successful.

Below you will find listed the inputs that I am planning on using to inform this process, some guiding principles/assumptions, and a process and timetable to get us to a point where we can launch a new structure, and know what we are looking for when we post a job ad for Carrie's replacement. At this point, this is still a draft plan. I would like to hear from you about what can be done to ensure that this process is open and fair, and most likely to result in a new structure that we can all be happy to work within. Please feel free to email me or set up a time to discuss this.

Inputs Into the Process

  1. one-on-one and group conversations with Area Directors
  2. one-on-one and group conversations with work group leaders
  3. one-on-one and group conversations with non-supervisory staff
  4. poll obegroup library directors/look at obegroup libraries
  5. poll clac IT directors/look at clac schools
  6. poll CLIR Merged CIOs /look at merged schools
  7. gather examples from other schools
  8. conversations with key administrative offices
  9. conversations with faculty
  10. one-on-one and group conversations with President's staff
  11. external consultants and recommendations from previous consultations


Guiding Principles

  1. Need a smallish (4-7 person) LIS management team for planning, budgeting, policy, made up of directors and associate deans.
  2. For each director/associate dean, need smaller workgroups within these areas (4-7 people).
  3. Need cross-functional teams from across departments with team leaders and a well-thought out scheme for supporting teams and their leaders.


Process and Timeline
  1. Ask each area director (and associate dean) to write up SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) analysis for their area, and for other areas as they feel comfortable/qualified.
    Due by mid-October

  2. Ask each workgroup leader to write up SWOT analysis for their area, and for other areas as they feel qualified.
    Due by mid-October

  3. Collect ideas from all of LIS about what teams would be useful to form. Seed that with a list of initial thoughts (e.g. user education, LIS website team, etc.)
    Due by mid-October

  4. Identify individuals interested in taking on team leader and/or managerial responsibilities, and managers who might be interested in no longer being managers. .
    Due by mid-November

  5. Develop a draft organizational chart that includes newly defined areas and workgroups and teams (without names attached.) Solicit feedback on this and revise.
    Due by late November

  6. Assign internal staff to best fit for this new structure, and use open positions to fill in the rest.
    Due by mid-December

  7. Roll out new structure, first internally to LIS and then externally to the rest of Middlebury. For new teams, develop training plan to help ensure successful launches.
    Launch by early January