Service Quality Improvement Council
October 3, 2001
3:00p.m. -- 4:30 p.m.
SML 409
Present: Sue Crockford-Peters, Holly Grossetta Nardini (recording), Carol Jones, Fred Martz, Danelle Moon-Geraci, Danuta Nitecki, Kimberly Parker, Paul Stuehrenberg, Joan Swanekamp, Sandy Peterson, Alan Solomon (Chair), David Stern, Jae Williams
Guests: Julie Linden
Absent: Mark Gentry, Kate Reynolds
Alan Solomon invited reports from two groups that are not part of the SQIC but have impact on service quality. They will periodically report to SQIC.
Julie Linden, chair of the FDC, described the work of this group, formed after the Front Door Redesign Task Force and the Research Workstation Advisory Board dissolved when the new Library Web site ("Front Door") was launched. The FDC is the oversight group that does daily maintenance of, fields staff and reader suggestions about, and manages the Front Door. Their major activity has been to convert all the Research Workstation pages to the new look. They have worked with WAG-TLC to provide workshops in using the Front Door templates and are planning upcoming sessions about customizing the e-journals and databases pages. Julie is pleased with the way the News section is being used and commented that it currently has five "hot" topics. She encouraged staff to submit public news items for posting. A recent project of the FDC was to partner with the Library Systems Office to revise the Orbis graphics so they echo the Front Door and are more streamlined. The Committee is also now the home of the Databases on the Web (DBOW) project. That project, as well as the e-journals pages and the revised Staff Directory, is a good example of using databases to maintain Web pages. In October, FDC plans a quick usability study to test potential problem areas in the Web site. The questions they intend to use have been triggered by reader and staff concerns.
SQIC had many questions for Julie. Danuta would like to review the usability tests in advance. The Council asked if the use of the Front Door templates is increasing. Julie mentioned that some new library sites, like Divinity, echo the feel of the Front Door and the new design is having a ripple effect. This comment generated a discussion about exploring the creation of further templates—modular designs that could be minimally and simply customized by units, for example Sciences or Social Sciences, to present a harmonious but unique Web look. The Council agreed on the importance of this step and Danuta indicated that a small budget could be available to explore a set of templates if there is library-wide application. Julie will poll LMC again about interest in this common effort. Julie also mentioned her plans to post periodic updates about the FDC’s work to yulib-l.
David Stern, chair of WAG, began by mentioning the many overlaps between FDC and WAG and his interest in clarifying the reporting structure. David mentioned many of the topics that WAG is addressing, including building the appropriate level of support for web specialists. A new Web site for and periodic meetings of these specialists are planned, as well as skills and responsibilities checklists. WAG now encourages that "mailto" links be backed by a Web form, since e-mail is not possible at many public workstations. WAG is dealing with new realities on the Web such as dynamically generated URLs, and pages with multiple copyright. WAG and Manuscripts and Archives have formed a subgroup to look at programmatic ways to archive library web sites. This offers MSS&A an opportunity to use the library as a practical test case within the University.
Diane Ducharme is the new chair of WAG-TLC and David mentioned that the committee will be hosting a program to show different capabilities of Web browsers. WAG is also working loosely with campus efforts to develop a portal for the University. WAG is communicating through LMC-level announcement (which are in the minutes) and postings to yulwww-l.
In the general discussion, David Stern and Julie Linden both expressed their support for the concept of a Web Manager. Some Council members expressed interest in a wider concept of a Web Department that would handle Web pages for departments. There was a recommendation that Web support not follow the model of the expert user, since departments seem to be expected to develop high-level technical skills from within.
Alan Solomon led the group in a brief discussion of the two articles assigned for today’s meeting.
"Building a Culture of Quality," by Anne Brockhoff, University Business, July/August 2001, p. 53-8, 85.
Some members liked the concept of linking costs to activities, but the overhead of implementing such a system was not well-explained in the article. Danuta mentioned the concept of alternative costs, "How much are we losing by not doing certain things?" The Q/ABC Template reproduced in the article is similar to the model that the Document Delivery Group established. Other groups that have used a service quality model are the Reference/Instruction Group and the Front Door Redesign Task Force. LSF has also served as a model. Overhead is high at the beginning of quality efforts, but diminishes with time. The element of competition can be helpful. The bottom line question remained, "What do we stop doing to start doing this type of analysis?"
"Making Quality Work," University Business, July/August 2001, p. 44-51, 80, 85.
How do you know you’re doing the right thing? One key finding of this article is that there is no prescriptive approach to quality. One indicator that a university administrator mentions in the article is to ask questions of staff--the answers show how deeply a quality process is being used. The principles of all quality programs are similar but there is no single way. There are no fixed rules. Everyone comes in at a different starting point and the goal is to do what you can with that.
One more article was distributed for the next meeting: "Improving the Process is not Process Improvement," by Mel Adams, Christoph Disch, Michael Kinney and Bernard J. Schroer. The Quality Management Forum, Summer 2001. Vol. 27, no. 3, p. 4 - 8, 14.
Danuta mentioned that the authors granted her copyright with the expectation that we would share with them how we might apply their approach.
Alan invited suggestions for agenda topics at the next meeting. Currently, he is planning a discussion of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The next meeting will end early so those planning to attend the World Health Organization lecture may do so.
Adjourned 4:10 p.m.