Library Workflow Redesign: Six Case Studies

The proliferation of electronic information and tools has changed the way that readers and researchers do their work. It has also changed the way library staff members provide materials and services. Several years ago a group of liberal arts college librarians, realizing the need to streamline processes to serve changing needs, asked CLIR to help.

With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, CLIR offered workflow redesign support to teams from six institutions that are part of consortia. This volume documents their work. These institutions were pioneers. Now the issue of workflow redesign appears to be on the minds not only of librarians in small institutions, but also of many librarians in research libraries. We hope that this publication can be the beginning of describing changing work patterns, and that it can be followed by additional publications, both in print and through the CLIR Web site, on imaginative ways of providing good services in a shifting environment.