1. 25th Annual IATUL Conference
TIB – An Organisation with a Cost-Effective, Strategy-Oriented Approach
Düren, June 3, 2004

2. German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB), Hanover
specialises in all areas of technology and their related sciences (in particular chemistry, information technology, mathematics and physics)
founded in 1959
by now more than successfully carried out orders a year
one of the world‘s largest special libraries and one of the most reliable suppliers of documents within its fields of specialisation

3. German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB), Hanover
to be able to keep this up and to expand the document delivery worldwide, it is necessary to ensure that prices remain competitive in the marketplace; it is important to adopt an efficient, cost-effective approach:
constant optimising of business and working processes
growing importance of strategic planning
detailed costed project plans

4. Contents
Groundwork
Planning Process
Outlook

5. 1. Groundwork – Commercial Booking System
introduction of SAP R/3 as the commercial booking system
project from June 2002 till March 2003
numerous training courses for the staff
SAP-modules adjusted to the special issues of the library
building of extensive interfaces to the acquisition system and to the customers management system

6. 1. Groundwork – System of Cost and Service Accounting
development of a system of cost and service accounting
to reproduce where the costs occur and which services are done at regular intervals,
to calculate prices more precisely,
to prove the need for financial recourses of the federation, and
to supply the library‘s management team with information needed as assistance in reaching a decision for the planning of new products and to enable them to act cost-effectively

7. 1. Groundwork – System of Cost and Service Accounting
Cost Centres Accounting
cost centres reflect the organisational structure
the heads of the organisational units are responsible for the costs arising at the corresponding cost centre

8. 1. Groundwork – System of Cost and Service Accounting
Cost Categories Accounting
in the plan for cost categories are the total costs that arise in the TIB divided into cost groups according to the kind of the goods and services required
special cost categories for libraries: e.g. „library royalties“ and „external acquisitions“

9. 1. Groundwork – System of Cost and Service Accounting
Cost Units Accounting
cost units are the TIB‘s products
all costs will be taken into account for the products
products (cost units) summarized into product groups:
Collection Development
Information Service
Document Delivery
Research and Development
General Services

10. 1. Groundwork – System of Cost and Service Accounting
examples for types of activities „Collection Development“:
selecting stock
East Asian and Eastern European literature
cataloguing (with or without the adaptation of catalogue data from external sources)
subject indexing (with or without the adaptation of catalogue data from external sources)
making stock available
...

11. 1. Groundwork – System of Cost and Service Accounting
Registration of Time
in some areas of the TIB it‘s enough to estimate
particularly in the Document Delivery Service with its different, specialised activities there is a need for registration of time (agreement with the staff council)
already carried out in the magazine- and reproduction-area

12. 1. Groundwork – Change of the Organisational Structure
management team for the library was set up, to change the TIB in an organisation with a strategy- oriented approach
library management (Executive Director, Deputy, and Commercial Manager) and department heads
guarantees that all areas of the TIB work together on devising and implementing the TIB‘s strategy and targets
meets regularly once a week

13. 1. Groundwork – Change of the Organisational Structure
product-oriented teams have been formed throughout the organisation, to strengthen the staff‘s product responsibility and to be able to agree product-related targets with the staff  large-scale projects with the support of external consultants in the Document Delivery Service and Collection Development groups:

14. 1. Groundwork – Change of the Organisational Structure
Start of the Project
introductory workshops to inform the staff involved about the planned measures and targets of the restructuring
process analysis, to fix size and area of responsibility of the future teams

15. 1. Groundwork – Change of the Organisational Structure
Assignment to the Teams
on a voluntary basis
measures agreed with the staff council to tackle over- or under-occupancy of individual teams
team-members had the chance to choose the head of the team and her/his deputy by themselves
every team chooses its own team-spokesperson
to work successfully as a team physical proximity is an advantage (at the moment extensive moves within the library are taking place)

16. 1. Groundwork – Change of the Organisational Structure
Team Training
all staff working in teams attended teamwork training sessions
there is still extensive training necessary to deepen teamwork-knowledge as well as training in communication, how to deal with conflict and presentation of meetings

17. 1. Groundwork – Change of the Organisational Structure
Project Structure
project structure with steering committee, project group and team meeting
internal (trained) process companions to support the teams
once a process of reorganisation has been completed, team-leader and team-spokesperson groups are established in the individual areas (meet up on a monthly basis to optimise work-processes and adapt them regularly to new conditions)

18. 2. Planning Process
the actual planning of costs and services is done two years in advance
Guidelines from the Outside
issued by the ministry responsible and the scientific organisation responsible
financed together by Federal Government (30 %) and States (70 %)
annual targets are to be agreed with the ministry for the product groups; at the same time the planned programmes for the programme-budget are defined
TIB is to be measured by performance indicators

19. 2. Planning Process  Performance Indicators
Examples of general performance indicators for the TIB:
lectures, specialist publications p.a.
days of advanced training attended by each member of staff p.a.
...
Examples of annual performance indicators for Collection Development:
acquisitions / member of staff (journals, monographs, series, electronic journals etc.)
speed of acquisition
speed of processing of books and journal issues
book-binding operations / member of staff
customer satisfaction with the quality of the TIB‘s collection

20. 2. Planning Process
Strategy, Plan for Library Development, Product Groups, Programme Budget
TIB‘s strategy with mission, vision, model of the TIB and the strategy fields
annual plan for library development with internal and external projects for the following years

21. 2. Planning Process
projects of the product groups / programme budget are based on the TIB’s strategy and found in the annual plan for library development
for these projects detailed costing has to be done, to be able to apply for the public subsidies needed and to demand the budget required for external projects

22. 2. Planning Process Balanced Scorecard
will be introduced as a control system
to support the project planning and
to ensure, that besides the guidelines of the Government and other financial sponsors as well as customer‘s wishes, internal processes and staff are taken into equal consideration during the planning process
to find the individual targets for each product group / programme, first the following questions have to be answered – based on the TIB‘s strategy:

23. 2. Planning Process  Finances (sponsors)  Customers
How do we satisfy our sponsors?
Which financial resources do we need in future?
 Customers
How do we satisfy our customers?
What new products do we need or how do we need to change / improve our products?

24. 2. Planning Process Internal Processes Staff
How can we optimise our processes?
Where do we need to employ new staff members, where to move staff from one team or department to another, where is outsourcing useful and cost-effective?
Staff
What kind of seminars does the staff have to attend to cope with new needs (such as digital library, new customer requests etc.)?
How can the staff participate in planning processes to intensify their motivation?

25. 3. Outlook
evaluation of the teambuilding processes and restructuring carried out in the Collection Development and Document Delivery Service groups
training of team-members, team-spokespersons and the head of teams
in 2004 restructuring of the Accounts Department (with the support of external consultants); followed by the General Administration and the IT Department
the Balanced Scorecard will be spread over the TIB
external projects of the product group „Research and Development“ will be transferred into day-to-day operations