Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Singing the Tune Management Wants to Hear

Matthew Barrett, Library AdministratorDorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library & ArchiveGTRIC - SLA Seattle 2008

The Strategic Plan – Are you in it?

• How is your Library supporting the mission of your organization and is it obvious to your executives?

• What library products support that mission and are they widely distributed with the Library’s name on them? Be consistently branded.

• Are you at the table for critical issues? Show up anyway – half the people invited don’t even want to be there – offer solutions not problems.

• What is your library doing to inspire excellence in others? If they don’t give you credit, take credit.

• Who are your key partners and who is the go-to person on the staff of your key partners?

The Strategic Plan Roll Up

• Your Agency’s Strategic Plan• Your Library’s Role in that plan• Your individual annual performance plan• Your employee’s individual performance plans

– All have to be a foundation that supports the ultimate mission of the organization

– The documents need to specifically state HOW your library, your employees and you are achieving the agency’s strategic goals

– How to tell you’ve been accepted into the club? One or more of your library’s SMART goal performance measurements will make it into the CEO’s annual review

Key Partners – Your Key Patrons

• Your Governing Board and your CEO• Government Relations, Community Relations,

Public Affairs, Press Relations, and contracted Lobbyists

• Marketing, Communications, Design• Planning - GIS, Long Range Planners • Finance – The Chief Financial Officer• Legal Counsel – The General Counsel• Inter-departmental Task Forces, Ad-Hoc

Committees, Tiger-Teams, Advisory Groups• Policy and Procedures writers• Community Advocates & Activists• UTCs, Colleges, & Universities – never say no

Stand out with…

• Websites that generate traffic & buzz

• Early adoption of new technology

• Annotated Hot-Topic Bibliographies made available to working teams ASAP

• Historical Research on key subjects

• Current information sent to key stakeholders that is distributed regularly and dependably

• SMART Goals, Key Performance Indicators, regular reporting on your libraries accomplishments, traffic, and value – count everything, report against goals. Do ROI.

• State your library’s role in meeting your agency’s mission – Don’t hold anything back, be bold.

• Engage others in your collection development

Leverage Historical Resources

• Arcadia Publishing http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/

• Earned over $4,000 in royalties so far

• Sold on Amazon and local book stores

Contribute items or your time to Your State’s Digital Archive, the Digital Archives of Historical Societies, Colleges and Universities. Sign licensing agreements.

Build a digital social media empire

Bust myths, write history, predict the future

• Environmental scanning of the past, present and future – cultivate your clairvoyance

– Roger Rabbit was Wrong – GM did not conspire to dismantle the Red Cars

– LA’s first African American Streetcar operator was a woman, Mrs. Arcola Philpott

– We can improve meeting our customers digital information expectations

– Most of the future transit capital in the next Re-Authorization is likely to go to Chicago during the Obamanation, the CTA system needs to be rebuilt in time for the 2016 Olympics

Leverage your Budget

1. Know the exact sources of funds and the color of money that is funding your library - Respect it if its solid ground, work towards changing it if its not.

2. Spend every last dime allocated to you, don’t leave a single penny on the table by year end.

3. Use other people’s money – it’s like overdraft protection, only better, it proves you need additional resources for the following year.

Leverage your FTEs

• Your value is tied your classification and to that of your employees, just as your bosses value is tied to you.

• Use the SLA Salary Survey

• Compare what your librarians do to the work of Senior and Chief Analysts, Sr. Systems Analysts, Senior Planners, Programmers, Senior Auditors – none of them require a Master’s degree

• Know your HR Department’s process for reclassification and use it to get the maximum title classification and pay grade you possibly can.

What’s being taught in MLIS Schools?

• UCLA School of Information Studies uses Reframing Organizations: The Leadership Kaleidoscope by Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal

• Examines four frameworks for looking at organizations: – Structural – Human Resources – Political– Symbolic – and ways one might integrate them.http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/bolman.html

Get comfortable with politics

• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

• Largely ignored by its business school audience• Embraced by Rap/Hip-Hop artist community

looking for guidance in relating to unfamiliar corporate power structures

• Summary online:http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cg/Courses/cgt411/covey/48_laws_of_power.htm

Why cultivate political power?

You can add enduring value in a competitive, volatile, ever changing environment; preserve and expand your resources; and serve your organization and customers more effectively.