From support to mission critical: United Nations libraries in transition

1. From support to mission critical:United Nations libraries in transition Linda Stoddart, United Nations UKSG 2006, University of Warwick

2. Moving from a “nice to have service” to a “essential resource”: • Impacting on daily work • Becoming an ubiquitous service • Transforming internal messages • Demonstrating technology competency

3. Incremental approach • Communicating the vision • Developing a strategy • Launching new activities • Creating a core group of change agents • Involving staff at all levels • Celebrating successes • Learning from mistakes

4. From collections to connections: • Emphasizing people to people • Changing skill sets required • Streamlining process • Creating partnerships

5. Learning what’s important for senior management • Supporting core work (UN Reform) • Creating trust between management and staff • Providing ideas for internal messages • Assisting use of all new technological tools • Partnering with other organizational units

6. Learning to influence decision-making • Identifying crucial information and knowledge staff require to do their jobs • Determining who needs what, when… • Demonstrating how applications and tools can be used effectively

7. Use of information in decision-making: UN Secretariat • Political considerations • Low use of print publications • Medium use of electronic data • High use of news sources and direct contacts

8. Are international organizations different? • Hierarchy culture: decisions taken at senior levels • Junior staff not part of the decision-making channel – resulting in lack of a sense of responsibility

9. How are they different? • No “bottom line” culture • Formalized and structural • Rewards based on rank • Little change or risk-taking

10. Moving from “Collections to connections” Structure

11. Moving from “Collections to connections” Culture

12. Moving from “Collections to connections” Training and Development

13. Asking questions, interviewing: • What information/knowledge do staff need ? • What information/knowledge should be shared? • When is information needed and in what form? • How should information be organized, stored, accessed and communicated?

15. Changes in outlook and attitude • Embracing opportunities and new roles • Accepting a new world of complexity and a role as interpreter and networker • Influencing the decision-making process by identifying new, approaches to knowledge sharing and organizational learning

16. OBSTACLES Bureaucratic procedures make it difficult to take decisions Difficult to breakdown section loyalties and short term vision New skills required/few training opportunities Staff understand the need to change but remain boxed in Recruitment process slow and arduous

17. OPPORTUNITIES Increased flexibility helps quicker decision-making Team approach promotes networking and partnering New skills lead to new roles and responsibilities Staff has new challenges Experimentation and innovation lead to new activities and services

18. Changing perceptions New signals and symbols