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Sustainability for Digitization Programs. January 20, 2006 Laurie Gemmill ALA Mid-Winter. Agenda. Welcome and introductions Mini-workshop - Laurie Gemmill Sustainability Issues Business Planning Guiding Principles Needs Assessment and Evaluation Financial Plans Break - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Sustainability for Digitization Programs
Sustainability for Digitization Programs
January 20, 2006
Laurie Gemmill
ALA Mid-Winter
AgendaAgendaWelcome and introductions
Mini-workshop - Laurie Gemmill– Sustainability Issues– Business Planning
• Guiding Principles
• Needs Assessment and Evaluation
• Financial Plans
Break
Panel Discussion of Practice – Bettina Meyer - Western Michigan University – Nancy Allen - Collaborative Digitization Program– Geri Ingram - DiMeMa
Q & A - panel
Thanks to Contributors Thanks to Contributors
Indebted to: – IMLS Web Wise 2005 Pre-Conference Workshop:
Business Planning for Digital Asset Management in Cultural Heritage Institutions, Feb 2005
– Business Planning for Cultural Heritage Institutions• Authored by Liz Bishoff and Nancy Allen, January 2004• Published by Council on Library and Information Resources
SustainabilitySustainability
Projects start with grant funding – short term – funding is intended as seed money or only used to fund
innovative projects
Projects to programs– Projects: limited in scope, self-contained– Programs:
• ongoing • long-term strategic plan• integrated into institutional workflow• economically sustainable
Ongoing projects not as competitive for funds
SustainabilitySustainability
What is sustainability?
What does it mean to be sustainable?
Why it is so important to us?– Particularly for digital and preservation initiatives?
Sustainability - DefinitionSustainability - Definition
“Sustainability . . . refers to all the considerations that go into maintaining the institutional context for
creation and maintenance of digital objects and resources, and supporting . . . long-term viability”
National Institute for Networked Cultural Heritage (2002)
What Does It Mean To Be Sustainable?What Does It Mean To Be Sustainable?
Sustainable OrganizationsSustainable Organizations
Adapt to changing environments and client needs
Develop independent, diversified and dependable sources of revenue
Wean themselves from dependency on external funds
Develop and grow programmatically
Why Is Sustainability So Important For Digital Initiatives?
Why Is Sustainability So Important For Digital Initiatives?
The investment of resources is greater
The promise is greater
The expectations are greater
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Sustainability Issues for Digital Cultural
Heritage Initiatives
Sustainability Issues for Digital Cultural
Heritage InitiativesA Tale of Woe and Intrigue
CLIR Survey - 2003CLIR Survey - 2003
“Survey of Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives and Their Sustainability Concerns”
To identify factors compromising sustainability among Digital Initiative (DI’s)
To develop recommendations on ways to counter these factors
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub118/contents.html
Participants and ProcessParticipants and Process
33 DCHIs – a cross-section of the cultural community– Performing arts organizations– Scholarly and professional organizations– Museum, archive and visual resource organizations– Publishing groups– Standards initiatives– Humanities centers and projects
5 Funding Agencies– Institute of Museum and Library Services– National Endowment for the Humanities– National Historical Publications and Records Commission– Getty Grant program– Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
“Woes” “Woes”The Economy – 2003– Domino effect
• Memberships, dues, fundraising• Moratoriums – setback to creativity
Funding Trends and Dependencies– Funding pool diminishing– DCHI too dependent– Serving $ master instead of mission
Digital Initiatives as Organizational “Projects”– “Special projects” rather than programs
“Woes”“Woes”
Missions and Overlapping Domains– Passion projects– Outdated or changing missions
Lack of Standards, Practices, and Preservation– Huge editing and integration costs– Risk of Obsolescence
Unproven Business Models– Various models
“Woes”“Woes”
Growing Pains– Transition periods – high stress
Internal Tensions– Lack of clarity– Competition with other programs/projects– Staff changes
Uncertain Market Needs– Absence of user needs
Recommendations Recommendations
Planning
Training
Repositories for digital assets
Intrigue: the Secrets to SustainabilityIntrigue: the Secrets to Sustainability
Create a product (digital initiative) worth sustaining
Develop well-defined programs with discrete objectives and measurable goals
Continually reassess your organization and its programs
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Business Planning Overview
Business Planning Overview
Business PlanningBusiness Planning
A business plan is a “high-level description of how an organization will implement its strategic plan, for the organization as a whole or from the perspective of a specific project or product” “Planning Process (Bryson, 1995)
Business PlanningBusiness Planning
Before start a project, program or product
Process of determining costs, expectations and financial goals– What are the financial expectations?
• Make revenue?• Support project?• ???
Parallels to grant writing– Components– Experience
Business PlanningBusiness Planning
Cultural heritage repositories/Non profits do many aspects of business planning
The natural outgrowth of organizational planning process
Early days digitization explored technology; today used to advance mission/goals
Need to incorporate at beginning
No single recipe for success
PartnershipsPartnerships
Collaboration increasingly common element of sustainability strategy, particularly for digital initiatives
Funders strongly encourage
Can leverage funding
Show governmental bodies and others– CHI work with community for greater good– Higher profile for all involved
Successful PartnershipsSuccessful Partnerships
“The key is to find a compelling shared goal with real added value and to orient the partnership and its opportunity seeking activities around it.”
University of Washington and Eastern Washington Historical Society– UW - expertise in scanning and metadata, technology– EWHS - expertise on Plateau Indians, selection and
marketing
Consortial digitization endeavors– Museum Online Archives of California (MOAC)– CDP (Colorado Digitization Program)– Ohio Memory
Environmental ScanningEnvironmental Scanning
Knowing about:
Economic
Social
Technological
Environmental
General business trends
Examples:– Amount of leisure time available for cultural heritage
visits– Families are having fewer children
Models for SustainabilityModels for Sustainability
Subsidy– For specific period or long term support– Support from operating funds
• Understood to contribute to overall institutions sustainability
– University of Michigan• Supported by library funds, grants, and revenue sources
Grants (foundation & government)
Self sustaining – Nebraska Historical Society Digital Imaging Lab
• Generate own funding to support staff and infrastructure
Combination– Begin with subsidy or grant funding, supplemented in other ways
Identifying a Sustainable Competitive AdvantageIdentifying a Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Services or programs of highest quality available
Most reasonably prices services/programs
Most experienced staff
Most variety of services offered
Most highly endorsed services or programs
– Barry McLeish – Successful Marketing Strategies for Non Profit Organizations, 1995, 31
Identify a Competitive AdvantageIdentify a Competitive Advantage
You need to build new revenue streams– Need to be creative but follow mission
Digitization Examples– Facilitating photo-duplication
• sell images?
– Digitization lab • cost recovery
– Licensing
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Mission, Vision, Values, & Goals:
Your Guiding Principals
Mission, Vision, Values, & Goals:
Your Guiding Principals
Guiding PrinciplesGuiding Principles
Mission or Vision Statements
Values
Goals
McCarter – Field Museum’s Four TasksMcCarter – Field Museum’s Four Tasks
Continue to believe in the strength of our core missions
Know how generation X, Y, and now Z use information and what they expect
Lead our businesses not only responding to change but also anticipating change
Take seriously the challenge of information overload
Museum Institutional TrajectoryMuseum Institutional Trajectory19th Century
Focused on:
Disciplines
Inventories
Object Presentation
Descriptive Info
Staged Scenes
Exotic and Remote Locales
AVAILABLE
20th Century
Focused on:
Multidisciplinary
Researched Plans
Object Interpretation
Hands On
Behind the Scenes
Memorable
ACCESSIBLE
21st Century
Focused on:
Interdisciplinary
Educational Tools
Engagement (stories)
Layered (multimedia)
Inside Out
Transforming
RELEVANT
Bill Barnett, Field Museum
MissionMission
Remain true to mission
Capitalize on strengths
Utilize technology
Mission, Vision, and Values Mission, Vision, and Values
This should express the purpose of the organization and describe what is distinctive about it
What is the organization trying to accomplish– Marketplace niche– Quality of products/services
Example: Washington Resource Library Consortium– “We saw this idea as a natural extension of the digital
library system we were already providing. We have a plan for integrating the new service into the existing organization”
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Assessment AssessmentNeeds and Program Measures
Assessment CategoriesAssessment Categories
Before Beginning Product/Program– Needs assessment or market research
• learning about user needs and market characteristics
Measuring Product/Program– Outcomes assessment
• how have you changed individual lives/behaviors, or organizational practice, and what difference your program made
– Output assessment • data providing information on success in goals
Develop Objectives
to meet Needs
EvaluationDid Activities meet Objectives?
Did Objectives meet Needs?
NeedsAssessment
DesignProgram Activities
To Meet Objectives
Adjust Program to
Reflect Assessment
Who Are The Users?Who Are The Users?
College students, faculty, researchers
General public in the region
International web-using public
Physical visitors
K-12 students and teachers
Hobbyists
Businesses
Library organizations and their staff
Museums and their staff
Individuals with disabilities
How to Find Out About User Needs and PreferencesHow to Find Out About User Needs and Preferences
Expert opinion (librarian or curator judgment)– Based on anecdotal
evidence– Based on curator subject
knowledge– Often based on knowledge
of existing users rather than potential or future users
http://www.imls.gov/pubs/pdf/userneedsassessment.pdf
Research based knowledge of user preferences:– Do-It-Yourself Market
Research• Web Surveys
• Phone or in-person interviews
• Focus group research
– Social Science-Based Methodologies
• Demographically targeted
• Quantitative measures
• Controlled research
Needs Assessment or Market ResearchNeeds Assessment or Market Research
Determine the data elements to be covered
Develop the procedures for collecting the data and monitoring the process– Careful development of focus group and survey
questions
Collect and analyze the data
Prepare reports and present the results– Include conclusions
Environment and CompetitionEnvironment and Competition
Basic info on environment and competition
Who are major competitors?
How many customers does each competitors have?
What are their strengths/weaknesses
Demographic trends
Key
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
EvaluationEvaluation
Outcomes AssessmentOutcomes Assessment
“Benefits or changes for individuals or populations during or after participating in program activities, including new knowledge, increased skills, changed attitudes or values, modified behavior, improved condition, or altered status.”
“Documenting the Difference: Demonstrating the Value of Libraries Through Outcome Measurement, by Peggy D. Rudd, in Perspectives on Outcomes-Based Evaluation for Libraries and Museums, Washington, DC: IMLS.
Congruence of Objectives and AssessmentCongruence of Objectives and Assessment
Each objective must have measures of success:– Objective: “Improve teacher awareness of
digital resources for classroom use”
– Measure: “Though pre- and post- testing, measure workshop participant learning”
http://www.cdpheritage.org/about/grants/2001/imls_prop_edu_2001.pdf
(further examples, pages 2-7)
Project Outcomes Assessment TechniquesProject Outcomes Assessment Techniques“How did you change behavior, organizations, lives?
What difference did you make?”
Surveys– Written surveys – Telephone surveys– Email surveys (home-done or corporate)
Case study or interview
Focus groups (formal, structured discussions)
Output Measures: Data CollectionOutput Measures: Data CollectionSome indicators of success are measures you
can collect without surveys or focus groups
How many uses were there?
Who used it?
How many resources are available?
Were activities completed as promised?
ExampleExample
Decide that your targeted user group is teachers
Do surveys or focus groups to ask what they need or would use in the classroom
Create digital resources to meet those needs
Follow up with additional focus groups to find out how teachers actually used the digital resources
Modify program depending on results
SummarySummary
Base your predicted outcomes on research about user needs and preferences
Build in activities that let you know if you succeeded in achieving the outcomes you planned
Be ready to change course depending on measured results
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Financial Plans/Costing AnalysisFinancial Plans/Costing Analysis
Financial GoalsFinancial Goals
You need to work with senior management to determine financial goals:– What is your margin target? (i.e. profit)
• 10%, 20%, 50% ?
– Do you need to • Cover fixed costs?• Cover fixed and variable costs?• Just need to break even for now as beginning• Or do you need to earn a 20% margin immediately?
Financial PlansFinancial Plans
Should outline finances for 3-5 years
Include revenue and expense components– Salaries and fringe
• Training
– Legal and accounting– Equipment– Promotion costs– Sales costs– Exhibit costs
Financial ConsiderationsFinancial Considerations
Work with Legal and Accounting offices to determine your institution’s specific policies on:– Amortization– Overhead– Benefits– Indirect cost rates
Wrap-UpWrap-Up
Business planning is essential for long term sustainability
Remember to create a product/service that is true to your institutions’ mission and goals
Do your research!– Define your competitive advantage– Conduct Needs Assessment, Product Evaluation and
Usability Assessments
Be prepared to change!– Businesses must
Practitioner PresentationsPractitioner Presentations
Bettina Meyer – Assistant Dean for Resources, Western Michigan University Libraries
Nancy Allen – Dean and Director of Penrose Library at the University of Denver
Geri Bunker Ingram – Customer Service Specialist, DiMeMa
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
Questions?Questions?Don’t Forget Evaluations!
Laurie Gemmill
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
800-848-5878 ext. 6160