Members of the Ohio Library Council staff have more than 40 years of experience working in the Ohio library community and offer consulting services for public libraries in a variety of areas.
Consultants | Director Search | Staffing Studies |
Strategic Planning | Trustee Retreat
Consultants
Lynda Murray, OLC Director of Government and Legal Services
(614) 410-8092 or lmurray@olc.org
Lynda Murray has 13 years of experience working with public libraries. She has in-depth knowledge of the administrative and legal responsibilities of public library boards and library directors and the importance of the library director's role within the community. She has consulted on the director search process for many of Ohio's libraries.
Wayne Piper, OLC Director of Professional Development
(614) 410-8092 or wpiper@olc.org
Wayne Piper has almost 30 years of public library and library-related experience. He has worked in a variety of library settings and roles, and since 2001, has been a student in the Public Library Association's “For Results” series. He is certified to train management, staffing, and policies for results and to train and facilitate planning for results. As a facilitator he works to engage all participants in conversation and at the same time keep the discussion on task and objective. Piper holds an MLS from the University of Michigan. He coordinates the OLC's continuing education program and is a frequent presenter for OLC events.
Director Search
Lynda Murray, OLC Director of Government and Legal Services (614) 410-8092 or lmurray@olc.org
The search for a new library director can be a difficult process as the library's board of trustees works to find a candidate who will be a strong leader for the library staff and the community. An outside consultant can offer guidance and support throughout the process to ensure that the board makes the best possible choice of a new library director. The search process can be flexible to meet the needs of individual library boards.
Director Search Services
The OLC can assist a library's board of trustees in its director search by providing all or a combination of any of the following services:
• Engagement Letter: The letter will serve as a formal agreement between the public library and the OLC, and outline the search process, timeframes, fees and expenses, and responsibilities of both the OLC and the public library.
• Initial Meeting: Meeting with those people involved in the hiring process. Typically, this meeting would include the outgoing director and either the full board of trustees, or a subcommittee of the board of trustees. The purpose of this meeting is to gather information and perspective on the role and profile of the position, establish a specific timeline, and discuss potential sources of candidates.
• Staff Interviews: Interviews with key staff members identified by the director and board to gather information including organizational charts, financial information, patron profiles, long-range plans, and recent communications.
• Formal Position Description: Review of current director's job description and salary level. This review will be based on an evaluation of comparable positions from similar libraries in Ohio and other states and information provided by the search committee and staff interviews.
• Advertisement Placement: Development of position advertisement based on the position description and recommendations for appropriate ad placement in a variety of publications and journals. Upon approval by the search commitment, the consultant will place the advertisements in appropriate publications.
• Second Meeting: Meeting with the search committee to review the candidate resumes and evaluate each candidate's compatibility with the profile established in the first meeting. The search committee will provide a list of five to ten candidates for additional review.
• Initial Interviews: Interviews with those candidates recommended for additional review either by phone or in person to gain perspective on their personality, experience, and skills. A written summary of the initial interviews will be submitted to the search committee.
• Reference Check: Contact of at least three references provided by the candidates. A written summary of the reference checks will be submitted to the search committee.
• Candidate Selection: Based on the interview and reference check summaries, the search committee will select three candidates for final interview with the full board.
• Interview preparation: Provision of materials and information on preparing for the interview to the board of trustees. Selection and preparation of appropriate staff leaders to participate in an interview process with the candidate that is separate from the board's interview.
• Site Interviews: Site interviews with the final candidates conducted with assistance from board of trustees. A written report of those interviews will be provided to the search committee.
• Offer and Negotiations: Act as third party in negotiations with final candidate when requested by the board of trustees. This service will require an additional letter of agreement between the consultant and the library.
• Letters to Unsuccessful Candidates: Communicate the results of the search process to the participants.
Director Search Timeframe
The timeline is established with the board of trustees and search committee at the initial meeting. The process typically lasts six to eight months.
Director Search Pricing
Costs of the OLC's Director Search services are dependent upon the extent of OLC's involvement and time commitment. Pricing estimates (including travel costs) will be provided following initial discussions with the library board or its representatives.
Staffing Studies
Wayne Piper, OLC Director of Professional Development
(614) 410-8092 or wpiper@olc.org
In times of decreased revenues, a high performance staff is especially crucial to the library's success. Staffing studies are one way to determine both efficiency and effectiveness of work performed. Staffing studies can give both library managers and administrators as well as those who are performing a specific job or jobs a better understanding of the work they are doing. The OLC's staffing study service is based on PLA's Staffing for Results process. The process helps library staff develop specific goals for a staffing study, use model survey instruments or development instruments of their own, and calculate output measures that increase awareness of how staff is using their time.
Staffing Study Services
- Three meetings that accommodate both the library's needs and the facilitator's schedule.
- Meeting One: Orient the library's selected staff team to the staffing for results process. Develop goals for the project. Create methods for communicating with staff the reason(s) the project is being undertaken. Develop a survey instrument for testing with a limited number of library staff.
- Meeting Two: Review the first wave of results of the study by running numbers and calculating averages that indicate how work time is being used. Evaluate how efficiently the survey instrument worked and modify it as necessary for full study.
- Meeting Three: Review results from the full-library study by running numbers and calculating averages that indicate how work time is being used. Determine what steps the library will take to integrate the results of the study into areas such as job descriptions, performance evaluation, hiring procedures, on-the-job training, and continuous improvement.
- Free consultation calls with the facilitator scheduled at comfortable intervals for both the library director and the facilitator during the course of the project.
- Proofing and suggestions of the plan itself.
- Potential for additional meetings should the facilitator and the director deem them necessary to enhance the process.
Staffing Study Timeframe
Generally speaking the project takes about three to four months but can be compacted or expanded for the convenience of the library and staff.
Staffing Study Pricing
Costs of the OLC's Staffing Study services are dependent upon the extent of OLC's involvement and time commitment. Pricing estimates (including travel costs) will be provided following initial discussions with the library board or its representatives.
Strategic Planning
Wayne Piper, OLC Director of Professional Development
(614) 410-8092 or wpiper@olc.org
OLC's strategic planning service is based on a model created by the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association and used in libraries across the United States. Following the process outlined in New Planning for Results the library staff, trustees, and community members, guided by OLC's facilitator, engage in a process that creates a vision for the library's next three years of operation. The final plan generally includes clearly stated goals and measurable objectives that position the library to be responsive to community needs, undertake new initiatives and services when appropriate, eliminate services that are no longer relevant, and evaluate and as necessary reallocate the library's four main resource areas: staff, technology, collections, and facilities.
Strategic Planning Timeframes and Services
When the library agrees to use this OLC service, the library director and facilitator set a calendar of meetings that accommodate both their schedules. Some libraries have taken as long as six months to complete the process while others have completed the process in less time. Generally speaking, three to five months should be an adequate amount of time.
New Planning for Results as a process is remarkably flexible and can be adapted to the library's individual needs.
Steps in the process (and the meetings scheduled around those steps) usually include:
- Planning to Plan
- Orientation for library board members and staff
- Setting the planning calendar
- Gathering information about community needs
- Reviewing demographic data
- Surveying community members
- Engaging community leaders in conversation about the community's need
- Preparing to write the plan
- Reviewing all community information with library staff
- Training staff members who will write the plan
- Approving and implementing the plan
- Presenting the plan to the board for approval
- Coaching staff in implementation techniques
Additional services include:
- Free consultation calls with the facilitator during the course of the project scheduled at intervals convenient for both the library director and the facilitator.
- Proofing and suggestions of preliminary drafts of the plan.
- Potential for additional meetings should the facilitator and the director deem them necessary to enhance the process.
Strategic Planning Pricing
Costs of the OLC's Strategic Planning services are dependent upon the extent of OLC's involvement and time commitment. Pricing estimates (including travel costs) will be provided following initial discussions with the library board and/or the library board.
Trustee Retreats
Wayne Piper, OLC Director of Professional Development
(614) 410-8092 or wpiper@olc.org
A trustee retreat can provide an opportunity for a library board to step back from it's normal meeting schedule and routine patterns of operation to evaluate the state of the library, its role in the community, and the services it provides. A retreat can allow trustees to take up special issues such as working with the director and staff to develop a modified strategic plan, discussing the need for an expanded facility, exploring the profile the library has and/or wants to have in the community, or evaluating opportunities for new services. Working with an outside facilitator helps to keep the process objective and the work of the retreat on track. While Trustee retreats can be useful to libraries of all sizes, they work especially well for libraries in smaller communities that may not have the community resources, time, or funds for more elaborate planning efforts.
Trustee Retreat Services
Six hours of meeting/facilitation time. Generally, it's recommended that the process be divided between an evening meeting of two hours in length followed by a four-hour meeting on the following morning. Scheduling can be modified, however, to accommodate staff and trustee schedules.
Following the retreat, the library director or his/her designee drafts a full report of the meeting for the library board and includes recommendations for action. The board reviews and approves the report. Following approval, the director and staff are charged with implementing the plan, process, or service and reporting on their progress to the board at regular intervals.
Trustee Retreat Pricing
Costs of the OLC's Trustee Retreat services are dependent upon the extent of OLC's involvement and time commitment. Pricing estimates (including travel costs) will be provided following initial discussions with the library board or its representatives.
