PRESENTATION B7

TRANSFORMING A LIBRARY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. HOW THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA DEVELOPED A VISION AND STRATEGY TO DELIVER A BROAD RANGE OF CHANGE INITIATIVES

Ian Patterson & Prue Mercer
State Library of Victoria, eStrategy & Innovation, Melbourne, VIC

Aims:

The State Library of Victoria's slv21 strategy 'creating the Library of the 21st century' aims to transform the Library's service model to one based around digital information and access appropriate to the 21st century, while achieving a sustainable funding base for the future. In the third year of a four year strategy that commenced in 2006, the program is delivering a significant number of benefits to the Victorian community and has resulted in substantial increases in both physical and online patronage to Library services and collections. (Onsite visits increased by 18% in first year; examples)

Methods:

In 2004 the Library began developing a vision and strategy to transform its operations into a digitally based service model and to ensure that the necessary organisational adjustments were made to underpin its ongoing financial viability. Funding commenced in July 2006 and the slv21 program is now in its third year of delivery.

Results:

To achieve the benefits and outcomes to be delivered to the Victorian Government through the slv21 program, extensive planning was undertaken; including development of program governance, a new senior management structure, implementation of an enterprise Project Management system, adoption of the Victorian Government's Investment Management and Reporting framework, and providing staff with the opportunities, resources, skills and knowledge to effectively engage with and implement the program. This development program includes organisation-wide "Shared Leadership" team building and "connect@slv" engagement initiatives.

Conclusion:

This paper will focus on how the vision and strategy was developed and implemented across the Library. It will highlight critical success factors and issues in organisational development and futures planning.