Organisation and Human Resources
STEERING COMMITTEE ON ORGANISATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES (SCOHR)
The Steering Committee is responsible for developing LIBER's strategy for Organisation and Human Resources, which is part of the LIBER 2009-2012 Strategic Plan, 'Making the case for European research libraries'. It is divided into three Working Groups:
- Joint Working Group on Quality Assessment and Benchmarking
- Working Group on Leadership Development
- Working Group on Organisation and Skills
Human Resources are key for any research library. Institutions need skilled library staff who are user-oriented, understand the research and educational process and are capable of continuously innovating library and information services.
Many libraries have great difficulties in filling vacant management positions, in particular senior management posts. This problem will become even more urgent when a complete generation of library leaders retires in the next five to ten years.
Career development and succession planning are topics that have been discussed at various times in LIBER Conferences. In various countries, leadership development programmes are currently being developed but not yet at the European level.
LIBER aims to develop an ambitious international leadership development programme to address leadership development in close co-operation with member libraries and national library organisations. LIBER will co-operate with the Ticer School which has a track record in developing high-level courses in all aspects of the digital library, change management and leadership development, and with other Associations involved in such programmes.
Quality measurement is increasingly important in terms of assessing the value and impact that libraries make in their institutions, particularly in the context of national and international League Tables and of national assessment activities.
Library services are becoming increasingly complex, and funding bodies are imposing growing demands for audits and accountability. This Steering Committee will cover topics like quality measurement, benchmarking, library statistics and international League Tables.
LIBER will offer support to its member institutions by providing opportunities for benchmarking and by offering a range of tools for quality assessment, peer review and key performance indicators. LIBER will encourage and facilitate the development of benchmarking in co-operation with other organisations (e.g. SCONUL, CENL), with the aim of identifying measurements independent of local culture, thus allowing for international comparisons.
LIBER will continue to work with ARL to develop a series of European versions of the LibQUAL+ suite of services to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users’ opinions of service quality. LIBER will pursue the co-operation with ADBU (Association des Directeurs de Bibliothèques Universitaires) and the French consortium of LibQUAL+ users about the progress and results of the online survey".
