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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

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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

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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

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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”

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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

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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

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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

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Questions?Questions?Don’t Forget Evaluations!

Laurie Gemmill

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

800-848-5878 ext. 6160

Laurie_Gemmill@oclc.org