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Abstract (Summary)
Agility in staffing involves whom you hire and how you hire them.
Strive to bring staff on board who exhibit the flexible traits I outlined in
the previously cited column. Also, rather than thinking that every job
requires a full-time, permanent staff member, consider the range of
potential staffing opportunities. It's more flexible to hire part-time staff,
temporary staff, and contractual staff, if unions involved will allow such
options.
Copyright Caners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc. Apr 15, 2001
New tools and technologies offer new ways we can meet the needs of
our users but only if the organization can accommodate them. Agile
organizations are marked by committed staff, skilled managers, and
commonly held beliefs in the organization's mission.
For example, look at what happened at Microsoft. Bill Gates did not
understand the Internet and the impact it would have on his company.
Those of us who were Internet-savvy were amazed when Gates
attempted to remake the Internet with a Microsoft label and call it MSN
(Microsoft Network). It took an employee to make him see the light,
but when he did, he turned the company around on a dime. It was
stunning (see "How the Web Was Won").
Agility in staffing involves whom you hire and how you hire them.
Strive to bring staff on board who exhibit the flexible traits I outlined in
the previously cited column. Also, rather than thinking that every job
requires a full-time, permanent staff member, consider the range of
potential staffing opportunities. It's more flexible to hire part-time staff,
temporary staff, and contractual staff, if unions involved will allow such
options.
As your staffing needs change, you can adjust the mix if you are not
completely committed to permanent staff. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics reports that in the 1990s use of temporary staff for jobs in
the information technology sector grew dramatically (see "The
Changing Temporary Workforce").
Truly agile organizations will set aside a portion of the budget to move
quickly in new directions. Most libraries lack such money. In these
cases, you might consider trimming areas of the budget to support
new endeavors. Still, such exercises are time-consuming and lower
staff morale. Also, try to seek extramural funding from foundations and
government agencies.
It took years for most libraries to learn about and begin to implement
what was obviously a vital technology; this demonstrates that most
libraries are far from agile. But with effort, libraries can create the kind
of agile organizations that we require to meet the ever changing needs
of our users in a timely and effective manner.
[Sideb
ar]
LINK
LIST
[Sidebar]
The Changing Temporary
Workforce stats.bls.gov/opub/ooq/1999/Spring/art03.pdf
How the Web Was Won www.webwon.com
"The Most Important Management Decision"
www.libraryjournal.com/articles/infotech/
digitallibraries/19980215_2276.asp
[Author Affiliation]
Roy Tennant (roy. tennant@ucop.edu) is Manager, eScholarship Web &
Services Design, California Digital Library. He is founder and manager
of the electronic discussion lists Web4Lib and Current Cites