Creating a 21st Century Vision for Science

LibrariesRichard Huffine, Candidate for Director,

National Agricultural LibraryJuly 14, 2015

Overview• About Me• Why Focus on Vision?• Exploring a Metaphor• My Experience with Crafting a Vision• A New Vision for NAL• Questions and Discussion

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About Me• Third generation librarian• North Carolina born; Tennessee raised• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration• Master’s Degree in Library and Information

Science• 20+ year career in support of federal libraries• Career focus on science libraries and supporting

research communities

About Me• Leadership positions with:

• Environmental Protection Agency• US Geological Survey• ProQuest LLC• Special Libraries Association• American Library Association• Friends of the DC Public Library

• Most recent experience:• Market segment strategic planning for a

large corporate information provider• Independent consultant and writer

Why Focus on Vision?

A shared vision is the foundation for any successful endeavor.

Every enterprise has stakeholders:- Customers- Funders- Employees- Peers

Engaging stakeholders in why we do what we do is the best way to ensure that our efforts have their support and that we can succeed in our mission.

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Exploring a MetaphorIt is common to say that trees come from seeds. But how could a tiny seed create a huge tree?

Seeds do not contain the resources to grow a tree.

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Those resources come from the environment within which a tree grows.

But the seed does provide something that is crucial: a place where the whole tree starts to form.

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As resources like water and nutrients are drawn in, the seed organizes the process that generates growth.

The seed is the gateway through which the future possibility of the living tree emerges. - Senge, et al. Presence, 2004. P.2

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I see libraries as the seeds of their institutions, providing the place for ideas to grow and become great.

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My Experience with Crafting a Vision

• Strategy• Baseline• Benchmarks• Cultural Context• Internal Drivers• External Environment• Changing Capabilities• Examples• Communicating the Vision• Measuring Impact• Making Adjustments

Strategy

A vision establishes the foundation and context for all discussions of investment, partnership,and positioning for your function.

- The vision is articulated in the mission, goals, strategies, and plans of an organization.

- With the right vision, those components can change to meet specific needs of the moment without changing the vision.

- Defining a new vision takes time, engagement, and focus from everyone involved.

BaselineStart with what you are currently doing and who you currently serve. How does that reflect the values of your organization?

EPA USGS

● The data was a surprise to the leadership.

● The baseline reflected gaps across disciplines.

BenchmarksLook for organizations that you can compare yourselves to. Look at their vision, mission, goals and strategies. Adopt what resonates and adapt or address what doesn't fit.

EPA USGS

● Diversity of users across the agency

● Supported common tasks, collections and systems

● Need a vision to unify operations

● Needed to understand how the library could strengthen its position across the survey

Cultural ContextTake time to understand the culture of your users and their current view of libraries, knowledge management, data lifecycle and other topics that drive both their research and the library's future.

EPA USGS

● Two vastly different perspectives and colored views about the value of libraries and information services.

● Four disparate research disciplines each approaching their research in different ways.

Internal DriversThe vision for the library should incorporate the values of the larger organization. It should be informed by the direction that its users are taking in their own pursuit of a larger vision.

EPA USGS

● Leadership committed to improving performance

● Open to collaboration and leveraging current spending

● Leadership determined to improve interdisciplinary work

● Promote the value of research to make decisions about land use

External EnvironmentEvery organization has peer institutions as well as institutions they look up to and others that look to them. It is important to understand where all of these parties are, what they value, and what they look to you to provide.

EPA USGS

● Various organizations looking to EPA for different things

● The Bureau received as much in cooperative funding as they did in appropriated funds annually.

Changing CapabilitiesA vision should encompass what is possible, not just what is feasible at the present time. While no boundless vision can be realized immediately, a vision should not be constrained by current but temporary boundaries.

EPA USGS

● Contracted services and diversity of skills limited the ability for branches to cooperate.

● Migrate resources online with new features and functionalities

Examples of Vision

EPA USGS

● Needs Assessment

● ROI Analysis

● Leverage investments in libraries

● The result was a more cohesive and functioning network with less duplication and more efficient use of funds.

● Consultation with internal and external stakeholders

● Focus on the library’s role to support virtual research

● The result was a focus on access, curation and utilization of digital content and services.

Communicating the VisionThe vision is a lens through which you can view everything that the institution does. It is important that the products of the organization reflect the vision and can be viewed as part of a larger, cohesive, strategy to accomplishing that vision.

EPA USGS

● Transparency was a key part of their vision

● Embraced all research disciplines

● Community for Data Integration

Measuring ImpactRegardless of the state of your planning, incorporating assessment means that you can identify strengths and weaknesses and adjust your plans to address issues and celebrate successes.

EPA USGS

● Demonstrated efficiency of operations

● Address needs of users that were previously unidentified

● Broadened their journal collection to support all research disciplines

● Adapted training strategies to meet researchers across multiple disciplines

Making AdjustmentsWhile a vision should endure across multiple planning cycles, how it is communicated and what it emphasizes should change to reflect current trends and issues. Specific investments and priorities can change without revisiting the vision.

Lead, take a shot, listen, respond, lead again.- Guy Kawasaki in Beckwith, Selling the Invisible, 1997. P.

62

EPA USGS

● Feedback from Congress and General Public

● That feedback impacted adjustments to their vision

● Adapted vision as the Bureau reorganized and realigned every program and activity

A New Vision for NALWhat would a new vision for NAL look like today?

What do NALs constituents need today; where do they look for information?

What can NAL contribute to the information it collects and preserves?

How does NAL compliment other library and information providers?

How do agricultural researchers seek information?When in the research lifecycle do they seek support outside of

their network?What are their barriers to sharing data, information and

knowledge?

What has worked to disseminate knowledge to the general public?

Questions and Discussion

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