Overview
Innovations in continuous quality improvement are moving off the manufacturing line, out of the corporation, and into the library. This guide applies quality management concepts to make library processes more effective with 29 practical and easy-to-use templates. Field-tested and refined over three years in nineteen different public libraries, the tools are structured with consistent guidelines. Library success stories and cartoon illustrations bring the principles alive. Examples of library situations, step-by-step instructions, and a section of hints, cautions, and tricks round out each section. Using these "continuous improvement" tools, mapped to the specific outcomes needed, your library team will consistently add value to its community, make a difference to customers, and improve services.Synopsis
Innovations in continuous quality improvement are moving off the manufacturing line, out of the corporation, and into the library. This guide applies quality management concepts to make library processes more effective with 29 practical and easy-to-use templates. Field-tested and refined over three years in nineteen different public libraries, the tools are structured with consistent guidelines. Library success stories and cartoon illustrations bring the principles alive. Examples of library situations, step-by-step instructions, and a section of hints, cautions, and tricks round out each section. Using these "continuous improvement" tools, mapped to the specific outcomes needed, your library team will consistently add value to its community, make a difference to customers, and improve services.
Library Journal
In order to continue to provide an ever-growing set of standard resources in a world of diminishing funds, many libraries are looking for creative ways to allocate resources and provide the maximum return on time and dollars spent. Some are exploring decision-making tools and strategies that are used by business and industry. In 2001, authors Laughlin, Denise Shockley, and Roy Wilson, who combine many years of successful librarianship, partnered with 19 public libraries to apply W. Edward Deming's theories of continuous quality improvement, in the form of "continuous improvement tools" as a way to help libraries rethink the ways in which they make decisions and manage the business of librarianship. Their book presents 29 tools (from affinity diagrams and brainstorming to Gantt charts and histograms) arranged by chapter; each chapter contains the tool, an explanation of how to use the tool, a success story of how the tool was applied in a library, and a "Hints, Cautions, and Tricks" section. Each tool is well defined and the instructions are easy to follow. This great resource is recommended for all libraries.-Tim Daniels, Lib. & Info Ctr., Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.