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MEMO
/ NOTE DE SERVICE
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To / Destinataire
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Mayor Jim Watson and Members of Council
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From / Expéditeur
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Jan Harder, Chair
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Ottawa Public Library Board
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Subject / Objet
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Ottawa Public Library
Strategic Planning, Alignment and Budget
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Date: July 9, 2011
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Colleagues,
I
am writing to you in my capacity as Chair of the Ottawa Public Library Board to
inform you that the Board is making strong progress in finalizing its strategic
priorities for the period ending in 2015. It is the intention of the Board to
align with Council’s draft priorities outlined in the Term of Council Report
(COS-ODP-0011). As well, Ottawa Public Library (OPL) staff is using the budget directions
included in the City’s Long-Range Financial Plan IV (LRFP) report to guide the
development of the Library’s 2012-2014 budgets (ACS2011-CMR-FIN-0029).
The
OPL Board has a Strategic Plan for 2008-2011 (http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/archive/board/strat_plans/strategic_e.pdf). We had
already begun our strategic planning process for the period 2012-2015 when we
received Council’s recommendations in the draft Council priorities report. I am
pleased to note that the Board’s deliberations have been synchronous with
Council’s proposed priorities. A report outlining the Ottawa Public Library
Board’s new strategic plan for 2012-2015 will be tabled for Board approval
before the end of the 2011 year. This report will subsequently be presented to
Council, as requested in the Term of Council Priorities report. To assist
Council with planning, an interim report will be provided in the early fall.
In
terms of the budget, Ottawa Public Library is developing an operating budget
strategy for 2012-2014 that will take into consideration the budget allocation
for Boards in the LRFP, based on an annual 2.5% tax increase and a 2% increase
resulting from population growth.
Strategic
Alignment
With
the publication of the draft Term of Council Priorities and Objectives, we
recently completed a cross walk or alignment document to determine where our
current priorities matched up with Council’s proposed priorities. We were very
pleased with the results. There are significant synergies between proposed
City and current Library priorities. Some examples include:
·
The
Library Settlement Partnerships program (with CIC and local settlement
agencies), which links to the City’s priority of effectively integrating
immigrants (EP2).
·
The
Library offers many services (in partnership with local business agencies and
organizations) to small business, entrepreneurs, and job seekers, which links
to the City’s priority of supporting growth for the local economy (EP3).
·
The
Library increases customer service and satisfaction through technology (e.g.
social media catalogue, self-service kiosks etc) which links to the City
priority of ensuring a positive experience for every client interaction (SE1).
The directions that are emerging as the Board is
developing its new strategic plan make me confident that the OPL will continue
to be aligned with the current term of Council priorities, and our discussions
have been supportive of the need to help the City achieve those priorities. The
draft framework for the 2012-2015 plan includes: services that are relevant,
accessible and customer-centric; spaces that are vital, welcoming and serve as
community hubs; both of which are enabled by a commitment to innovation,
engagement and excellence.
Strategic
Opportunities
The OPL Board intends to
support City Council in better aligning Library operations and requirements to
Council’s priorities and to the City’s and OPL’s long term goals. In order to
facilitate this alignment, the Board has identified one multi-year strategic
initiative capital investment opportunity. The Board is also supporting a
second initiative in partnership with Ottawa Public Health. The proposed
strategic initiative investments are:
Radio-Frequency
Identification (RFID) Technology
The Library
seeks to maximize use of existing employees and to improve customer service by
finding new efficiencies through the use of technology, in the same way that
the City is looking to technology as a tool to improve performance through
various Service Ottawa initiatives. OPL has been strategic and creative in
maximizing the use of resources to deliver services and programming to the
citizens of Ottawa. Our new strategic plan will continue to identify technology
as a critical driver in delivering service. Currently, OPL is facing major challenges in managing the
physical demands that accompany increasing use of our collections and expansion
of our facilities (e.g. new Greely branch, West District branch). Circulation
of materials alone was 10.4M items in 2010, which represents a nearly 50 %
increase since amalgamation. Therefore, OPL is requesting that Council
approve a Library Board capital request from Strategic Initiative funds for
RFID technology as part of its budget submission, and in conjunction with other
City departmental requests. This technology will serve to mitigate the impact
of future increases in activity.
RFID technology has been implemented in
hundreds of libraries throughout North America and internationally, and is
built into several types of library equipment designed to automate
labour-intensive processes. This includes equipment that allows customers to self-checkout
and self-checkin multiple items concurrently, faster automated materials handling
and sorting systems, as well as security devices and portable devices to assist
employees with managing inventory.
RFID technology will facilitate OPL’s ability to accommodate
growth and drive Board priorities in other key areas, all without the need
for additional staff. Tangible benefits come from numerous staff and
customer efficiencies gained through reduced processing times for checking out,
checking in, and moving materials through the system, in addition to vastly improved
management and security of library materials. Intangible benefits include
increased customer and employee satisfaction. Ken Roberts, Chief Librarian of
the Hamilton Public Library, said recently: “In terms of RFID, we have it
everywhere [...] It is fast, efficient and has allowed us to handle the huge
increase in physical circulations with no additional staff. We have also opened
a new 25,000 square foot branch with no new staff, relocating staff because
RFID created such terrific efficiencies.”
OPL plans to implement RFID over a 10 year period with an
emphasis in 2012-2014 placed on the largest, busiest branches which will yield
the greatest efficiencies. The implementation plan will be detailed in the
business case currently in development. OPL will bring forward the business
case at budget time, which will detail the financial requirements ($4M over 3
years, 2012-2014). (Attachment 1)
New
Baby Express
- Joint partnership with Ottawa Public Health
The
Ottawa Public Library currently has 10 partnership programs with Ottawa Public
Health in recognition of the important correlation between literacy, health and
positive life outcomes. This proposed new partnership is intended to connect
new parents to Public Health Nurses to provide assessment of newborns’ growth
and development and parenting skills in library locations. Public Health
Nurses will work with library staff and volunteers to build on the prenatal
resources and to support the transition to parenthood. Library staff are able
to assist by engaging clients, particularly people with low literacy or
language barriers, to link parents in need to outreach services on a regularly
occurring schedule. This additional community support will help address funding
gaps in universal home visiting programs. This is an Ottawa Public Health
request being supported by the Ottawa Public Library.
Should
you have any questions regarding this information, please do not hesitate to
contact me directly or our City Librarian.
Thank
you,
Jan
Harder, Councillor
Chair
Ottawa
Public Library Board
Cc:
Members,
Ottawa Public Library Board
Barbara
Clubb, City Librarian/CEO
Leslie
Donnelly, Deputy City Clerk and Solicitor
Dr.
Isra Levy, Ottawa Medical Officer of Health
Attachments:
1. Ottawa Public
Library, Strategic Initiative Funding Request, 2012-2014
