library management best practices-systems thinking-tompson-sla2015

Systems ThinkingPart of: “Revolutionize Library Management: Best Practices” Science-

Technology Division Panel DiscussionSara Tompson, M.S., Manager

JPL Library, Archives & Records SectionSpecial Libraries Association Conference, Boston, MA | June 16, 2015

Cleared for unlimited release; CL#15-2145

June 16, 2015 Tompson for SLA2015 Library Management Best Practices Panel 2

The coolest workplace ever!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

missions/?type=current


Why I’m on this panel:Tompson, Sara R. and Lorri A. Zipperer. “Systems Thinking for Success.” Chapter 8 in Best Practices for Corporate Libraries. Porter, Marjorie and Sigrid Kelsey, editors. Santa Barbara: Clio Press,2011, pp. 129-150. Excerpted in Google Books: http://bit.ly/mQk5Jz .

à  “ ‘Systems thinking’ is a way to view the world, including organizations, from a broad perspective that includes structures, patterns, and events, rather than simply the events themselves.”

à  “Put another way, systems thinking helps one to perceive the whole, the elements of which continually affect each other over time and operate, ideally, toward a common purpose. A holistic view is necessary for an organization to sustain problem solving, and thus learning and positive change.”

à  “A systems thinking perspective and some systems thinking tools can enable librarians to lend the value of their information expertise to problem-solving and process-improvement efforts in the corporate environment.”


Questions to Panelists

1.  What is the main focus of your professional library, information or knowledge services center?

2.  How do you measure the value of your corporate library? 3.  Define “best practices” regarding the information services that you provide.4.  How do you align the research and services you provide with the business

goals of your organization?5.  Do you use the frameworks provided by current ISO standards as a guide

for providing statistics, performance measures and for evaluating the impact of the services you provide?

6.  Have you ever formed partnerships or used “teaming” with your business development stakeholders? What effect did this have on internal operations?


Questions: Main Focus“The [JPL] Library, Archives and Records Section oversees the Laboratory’s records to ensure compliance with the NASA prime contract and provides cost-effective, customer-focused services that deliver useful internal and external information so that JPL projects, programs and line organizations have the information they need to fulfill the Laboratory’s mission.”

~ JPL Rule DocID 13878, Section 273 Charter

Section 273

Division 27: Logistics & Technical Information

2x: Business Operations Directorate

Laboratory Director (Caltech VP)

Library/Archives Group

Records Management Group


Questions: Measuring Value•  Ongoing customer survey – users or staff can input•  Internal customer log•  Periodic targeted interviews of different Lab groups•  Alignment with Business Directorate goals and foci required; those

align with Lab, Caltech and NASA goals, overarching strategies, etc.•  Compliance with various requirements (see best practices)

We analyze results of all at the time and over time; respond directly when relevant, change or add products and serviceswhere and when possible.


Questions: Best Practices•  Compliance with all Lab requirements, especially re quality

•  Audited regularly to ISO 9100C and other standards•  Compliance with relevant Records Retention Schedules (NASA or

Caltech)•  Compliance with directives in Prime Contract with NASA for:

•  Records management•  Appropriate marking & handling of restricted information•  Provision of access to peer-reviewed literature (Library)•  Maintenance of an historic Archives

•  Alignment with Business Directorate Goals, e.g.:•  Customers view us as integral partners•  Customers rely upon our expertise•  Provide streamlined operations

•  Section discussions and emphases include:•  Take the time to understand the customers’ need [do an

awesome reference interview]•  Continuous workflows improvements


Questions: How Align w/ Org Business Goals•  Regular reporting:

•  From Division Manager from Business Directorate to Section Managers•  Monthly Budget Variance Report and Discussion•  Monthly Safety Reporting

•  From Section Manager and Supervisors to Division Manager who reports up•  Weekly Assessment Report to Division Manager

•  All Section Staff input via a Wiki•  Quarterly reporting of Customer Satisfaction (see survey above)•  Regular “Quiet Hours” (1:1’s) at all levels•  Presume users’ research requests align with Lab goals; however we

will and do say no to research on clearly personal topics•  Stay as agile as possible, e.g. bibliometrics, publication impact

analyses requested more often, so we developed a tool for running WoS and other citations against the LDAP to allow customized individual, group, section reports


Questions: Use ISO Standards for Measures?•  Audited to ISO 9100C and other quality standards•  ISO 9100C (an aerospace quality standard) is explicit on records

management (in Library/Archives/Records Section purview)•  AS9100 Rev 2 C, Section 4.2.4 Control of Records•  I chaired a cross-JPL-organizations task team last year on how

to implement 9100C records requirement that is new since ISO 9001 2008, which already required us to have a procedure and controls to identify, protect, retrieve, retain and dispose of records: “Define the method for controlling records that are created by and/or retained by suppliers”•  Levied records retention responsibility on suppliers and built

in alerts/information to subcontracts, approved supplier list and more; updated our records retention procedure and schedule to reflect

•  Will take several years to properly judge compliance


Questions: Teaming with Stakeholders?Yes! All the time. THE way to promote a systems thinking approach!

“A prerequisite for enhancing efficiency is to recognize the exposed and hidden paths in a process, and their patterns and relationships within a system.” Guru Madhavan.1

A few examples:•  Driven by JPL

•  Records Management is perforce distributed with Records Liaisons around the Lab

•  Driven by us•  IT Expo participation •  Matrixed an employee out to Chief Knowledge Officer (in Chief Engineer’s

Office) •  Invited by others (due to our exposure and/or good work)

•  Enterprise Search Curation•  Best practices on compiling data from multiple files for reports –

asked for input by Mars 2020 project1 Applied Minds: How Engineers Think. NY: Norton, 2015, p. 73


Linear vs. Systems Thinking

Linear Thinkers Systems Thinkers

Break things into component pieces

Are concerned with the whole

Are concerned with content Are concerned with process

Try and fix the symptoms Are concerned with the underlying dynamics

Are concerned with assigning blame

Try to identify patterns

Based on: Ollhoff J, Walcheski M. “Making the jump to systems thinking.” The Systems Thinker 17:5 (June/July 2006): 9-‐11.


Linear vs. Systems Thinking, continued

Linear Thinkers Systems Thinkers

Try to control chaos to create order

Try to find patterns amid the chaos

Care only about the content of communication

Care about content but are more attentive to interactions and patterns of communications

Believe organizations are predicable and orderly

Believe organizations are unpredictable in a chaotic environment


Systems Thinking: Favorite Tool – Five Whys

•  Simple technique to try to ascertain the root cause(s) of a problem

•  Ask “why” several times to progress from the symptom in order solve the underlying problem

•  Technique could be understood as a progression of 5 Whys to 1 How

Remember Madhavan:“…recognize the exposed and hidden paths in a process, and their patterns and relationships within a system.”


Systems Thinking: Favorite Tool – Five Whys


Waters Foundation. Systems Thinking in Schools: http://www.watersfoundation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.habits. Reuse cleared.


Questions? Continuing the Conversation•  Senge Peter M., et al. The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies

and tools for building a learning organization. 1994. •  Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the

learning organization. 1990.•  Tompson, Sara R. and Lorri A. Zipperer. “Systems Thinking for

Success.” Chapter 8 in Best Practices in Corporate Libraries. 2011.

•  Detailed bibliography: •  http://dbiosla.org/development/systems/webliography.html

•  Contact me at: [email protected]

THANK YOU!

library management best practices-systems thinking-tompson-sla2015

Leadership & Management