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to do other tasks. The staff in technical services ultimately was reduced from 44 to 38. Presently all staff members spend from two to fifteen hours per week in cross-functional teams.

The staff savings for processing materials broke down as follows: (1) thirty minutes per title in-house processing time vs. 75 seconds per title outsourced and (2) five to seven days for a title to reach a user (the previous methods) vs. two days in an outsourced environment. Other new outcomes involve the selectors who are now managing their approval plan profiles. In essence the approval plan with Blackwell North America, which now generates one-third of all of the approval material received by the University of Arizona has become a blanket plan, inasmuch as all duplicates are retained unless they stem from a vendor mistake. Everyone needs to be very flexible in such a changing environment. In its expanded scope, the overall outsourcing plan will encom- pass the preprocessing of books without MARC records. The thrust of this case study is that if you want significant results, you must create something entirely new.

The final speaker, Dawn Hale at the Milton Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, talked about Project MUSE, which is being conducted in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins University Press. The initial objective was to use library catalogers to "provide intellectual access to e-journals" by preparing online table-of-contents (TOCs) access with hypertext links to the full journal texts. This involved forty-three journal titles produced by the press. In-house catalogers did the cataloging authority work, and the creation of hypertext links for these journals according to emerging national standards. This developed HTML skills in the cataloging department and increased the staff's ability to deal with the idiosyncrasies of TOCs. This, in turn, suggested further projects where these specific skills might be utilized.

"These (three) case studies range(d) from the familiar to the innovative in acquiring records, cataloging and processing, and HTML and authority control for electronic journals."

PII S0364-6408(96)00106-8 Floyd M. Zula Coordinator, Acquisitions Section

University Library California State University, Fullerton

P.O. Box 4150 Fullerton, CA 92834-4150

lnternet: fzul@fullerton.edu

Managing Acquisitions in a Changing Environment: From Coping to Comfort

This program was sponsored by LAMA, Systems and Services Section, Acquisitions Systems Committee and cosponsored by ALCTS, Acquisitions Section, Acquisitions Organization and Management Committee, and by ACRL, Personnel Administrators and Staff Development Officers Discussion Group along with support from Academic Book Center. Kim Buch, from the Depart- ment of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was the keynote speaker. She was followed by four librarians describing their experiences with change and reorganization in their departments. David Goble wrapped up the session with a summary of the major themes that had been heard during the presentations. The speakers' papers will be published in an upcoming issue of Library Administration and Management.

"Change: The Only Constant," was the title of Buch's presentation. As an organizational psychologist and change management facilitator she was asked by the libraries at UNC-Charlotte to facilitate a major change effort. Organizational change efforts seem all-pervasive today as

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exemplified by our familiarity with terms such as Total Quality Management, Reengineering, Teaming, and Downsizing. However, up to 80% of organizational change efforts have failed. This is due to the fact that the focus in most institutions is only on the technical side of change and the human side of change is ignored.

A simple "Change Model" shows the stages people go through when faced with change. First, people must go through a process of "endings." They need time to let go of the old ways of doing things and to deal with their perceived losses. Next, a "transition" period occurs when people start making connections between the old and the new. The last stage is "new beginnings" when the actual technical change can take place. Many organizations skip to this last step before people have had a chance to work through the first two stages.

During the endings stage common emotional reactions include disidentification, disorientation, disenchantment, and disengagement. Characteristics of people with these reactions were given and two possible strategies to use at this time were discussed: the self-management process and the change response scales. During the transitions phase, people need empathy, information, and specific ideas on how the change will take place. Even if people have been given the opportunity to work through the first two stages, they will still have a natural resistance to new ways of doing things during the third stage. At this point, the traditional response by managers is to overcome any resistance. A better approach is to engage people by respecting those who resist and not forcing them to accept change unwillingly.

At the University of North Carolina at Charlotte the library had recently merged with informa- tion services. There was also a major building expansion underway. Many core processes were restructured and position changes as well as job tasks were altered for most of the staff. In dealing with all of these changes, a series of workshops on coping with change was offered to all staff. A weekly open session with senior management was offered as well as an open-door policy with the human resources manager. External experts were consulted to help with the changes and a genuine effort was made to match people with new jobs and tasks that would fit their interests. In retrospect, however, there was still too much focus on the structural aspects of change rather than the cultural aspects. Staff were probably not involved early enough and the impact of the old culture was underestimated. In closing her presentation, Buch's quoted Karen Kaiser Clark, "Life is Change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely."

Doug Duchin, Head of Technical Services at Baruch College, related his experiences with change at his institution. Ten years ago, there were two dozen people in technical services. There were no overlapping responsibilities, vague serials tracking and a backlog in cataloging. Since then they have implemented NOTIS and reduced staff in technical services to nine. More material is moving through the department in faster time. To do this they have placed an emphasis on speed, production, and patron needs. In cataloging, they have eliminated many of their local practices and instead rely on reasonable OCLC records not just DLC. Cataloging and acquisitions developed interrelationships and acquisitions staff now do basic copy cataloging as well as creating brief records when no OCLC record is available. New functions in technical services include binding, preservation, periodicals check-in and current awareness.

There is more cooperation with reference and circulation. A new building helped to bring in fully integrated technical services workstations so that staff members do not need to move to another workstation to do another job. The new building also brought new public service areas. To help cover the new area, a staff of roving reference assistants were developed using former members of the technical services staff. By doing this they became aware of the results of their technical services work and distinctions between technical services and public services became blurred. Changes in attitude included more accessible supervisors, greater emphasis on public service needs, and respect for support staff. Supervisors do not have the ability to promote or give

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pay raises so instead they have used nonmonetary rewards such as praise, pizza, and pitching in. Technical services jobs have become more varied and have more responsibility so that staff are recognized for their intelligence and abilities. However, there was still a sense of loss by the staff and an unspoken implication that their jobs were not done well in the past. Duchin advised that you should know why you are changing and believe in what you are doing. Work with staff by pitching in when needed, inform everyone and develop individual rapport with staff. Lastly, you should never rest on your laurels.

Peter Kingsley, Invoicing and Payments Supervisor at New York University, gave a delightful and unique presentation in the style of a Protestant sermonette. Starting with an appropriate quote from a hymn, "Change and decay in all around me I see, Unchanging God above, Abide with me," Kingsley maintained the style of a preacher while describing his library's experiences with change. The technical services area had been two departments divided by type: books and serials. It was reorganized into one department arranged by workflow function: ordering, receiving, and pay- ments. The Head of Technical Services, Beth Jacoby, had the vision that led them to a common goal. Work space was redesigned, and furniture and workstations were upgraded. Management supported the change with funds. There was an increased level of staff satisfaction and a low level of complaints as staff appreciated the simpler, easier workflow. "Everything followed from vision and careful preparation."

Randy Call, Bibliographic Services Coordinator at Detroit Public Library, was unable to attend so her paper was read by Nancy Gibbs of NCSU. Detroit Public Library has twenty-four branches and a materials budget of two million dollars. Two years ago, the acquisitions department was still largely a manual operation and there had been no procedure changes for ten to twenty years. In addition, there were backlogs and complaints. Then the department was reorganized by function into ordering/cataloging, receipt/processing, and paying/business operations. Operations were automated which required everyone to relearn how to do their job. Procedures were streamlined and the backlog was reduced. Individual staff reacted differently as they were moved to new reporting lines and started working with new colleagues in the new units. Although there was a positive outcome, it was hard to cope with change. Overall, morale in acquisitions did improve and the new organizational structure enabled them to see how what they did fit in with the rest of the library. Some staff members welcomed the new responsibility that came with empowerment but most were cautious. Opposition was also expressed about delegating decision making that formerly was done by librarians with an MLS degree. The unions of both groups are undergoing negotiation about this issue.

Things that could have been better were more time to go through the change. Also a simulation of the new workflow before implementation could have fixed a few problems before they happened. One of the things that worked well was involving the staff in planning. There was an environment of open communication along with day-to-day support and attention. Technical services was viewed as an interconnected system with the rest of the library instead of separate and isolated. Call recommends to others to take time to plan carefully and thoroughly and to communicate the reasons for the change and the expected results.

In 1993 Christian Boissonnas was appointed Director of Central Technical Services at Cornell University and was asked to do a self-study of the department. Budget considerations were not a reason for the study. Functional task forces were established for ordering, receiving, cataloging, end processing, cataloging management, authority work and special projects, and administrative support. The chairs of all of these task forces sat on a steering committee that had oversight of the whole effort. Members of task forces were chosen because of their knowledge or because they had questioning minds. Task forces met weekly and the steering committee met twice a week. The end result of this intense self-examination was a very flat organization chart. Departments that had been

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organized by material type were instead organized by process. The span of control for the head of central technical services was greatly increased. Therefore, decisions had to be delegated and thus, real authority was given to each unit head in order for them to get their jobs done. Since that time they have made further adjustments and rearrangements to the organization chart as there were staff changes and new needs within the department.

Positive outcomes of the reorganization were: a better coordination of processes, increased communications, elimination of departmental and cultural barriers, receiving jobs became more substantial, and the unit heads jobs increased in more professional content and responsibility. Negatives included: for some, the loss of identity as a work group; some incorrect staffing decisions; some uncertainty, fear, and confusion; and too much was done, too quickly.

Boissonnas ended his presentation with some free advice to others. (1) Make sure effective communications are taking place continuously. (2) Involve staff from the beginning. (3) Make sure that goals are clear and that you can explain them. (4) Do not try to do too much. (5) Explain to colleagues in other units what is happening, what you can or cannot do while reorganizing. (6) Do not look at acquisitions in a vacuum. (7) Leave yourself plenty of leeway for things to go wrong. They will. (8) If you are the manager, spend eight hours a day on the floor with your staff on the first two days of the reorganization, then four hours on the next two, and two hours on the fifth day. Don't tell them what to do, but help them discover for themselves the solutions to their problems.

Summarizing the comments of the entire program was David Goble from North Carolina State University. Goble's perspective on change in organizations began with his work in banking. One day in 1984 he went to lunch and when he came back his organization had been merged with another. His work then became focused on working with the people in the two organizations to bring about this change. In many ways, he has found banks and libraries to be similar: banks loan money, libraries loan books; both banks and libraries have branches and late fees; banks have automated tellers and now libraries have automated check-out; and both kinds of organizations are technology dependent. Just as many bankers woke up and found their lives radically changed, libraries are now waking up.

Peter Drucker has said, "The modern organization must be organized for innovation a n d . . , the systematic abandonment of whatever is established, customary, familiar and comfortable -organized for constant change." Knowledge workers need new knowledge every four to five years or they become obsolete. The best hope for libraries may be to aspire to become learning organizations as described by Peter Senge. Learning organizations accept change as a routine part of doing business rather than avoiding it for as long as possible.

Systems thinking, personal mastery and mental models are three components of a learning organization. Systems thinking is the ability to see the interrelationships within an organization. The library is a social system as well as a delivery system for information and services. When people are able to express themselves through their jobs instead of letting their jobs define who they are, they have achieved personal mastery. This is very difficult and management needs to help by finding the right job for each person. Mental models are assumptions and generalizations that influence how we understand the world. Management needs to inject sources of new ideas and not necessarily expect workers to push changes. One example of this in a library setting would be to rename public services and technical services in order to break down the walls between the two. Another example is raising our expectations of support staff. Since most libraries have underes- timated support staff, a changed attitude would probably lead to substantial benefits.

In summary, most of us have been thinking of ourselves as being in a changing environment, which implies that someday we will finish changing. Instead, we should consider ourselves to be in a change environment where change is a normal occurrence. Librarians are managers and leaders and not just practitioners. Do we want to see the future unfold before us and hope for the best, or

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do we want to actively create our futures?

PII S0364-6408(96)00107.X Kathy Schmidt Periodicals Librarian

Murphy Library University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

La Crosse, WI 54601 Internet: kathy_schmidt@ uwlax.edu