62 · Survey Results: Survey Questions and Responses
The small size of our staff relative to our services and collections does not allow a large quantity of resources for
bleeding-edge development. We actively monitor innovative, research-based activities in other libraries and quickly
adapt what will work well in our environment. The two additional staff working with the User Experience Librarian is an
estimate of between 1 and 2 FTE composed of additional librarian/staff hours, students, and library school practicum
students. Informal research goes on in every department, sometimes at a very high level in connection with complex
projects.
The tracking of R&D spending is a challenge for internal initiatives.
There can sometimes be a downside to being an institution that has a long history of innovation. We assume we always
will get a better product/service if we do it from scratch here, rather than buy it off-the-shelf. This can mean that things
take a long time and cost a lot of labor.
There is an assumption that the print-to-digital trends in librarianship will continue to demand flexibility and innovation.
Though we don’t anticipate creating an R&D/innovation department or budget line, there is a desire to support more
research and development across the library system.
We highlight these activities at all-staff meetings and talk about innovation as part of this library’s culture. Staff and
administration become discontent when there is not some highly visible, cutting-edge activity underway.
While we have always had pockets of innovation and projects that relied on some level of R&D, we are fairly new to the
concepts of committed effort and risk required for innovation. The new Innovation and Strategy Division is a next step
for us toward becoming a more innovative organization.
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