Comments on: You Can Not Do More With Less – Less for Libraries Means Less For Our Communities and They Deserve More

By: Steve Benson

Steve Benson — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:50:07 +0000

Taken to an extreme, more with less becomes doing everything with nothing. Unlike a for-profit business more business for a library doesn’t translate to more revenue. A frequent reality is that sometimes there is less revenue and we have to face and temporarily accept that circumstance. It doesn’t mean our services are less valued. It can be opportunity to examine and prioritize services and associated costs. Perhaps maintaining or even increasing the quality of selected services and a contingency to add back others when able is a good plan to accept and publicize.

By: Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:09:38 +0000

Great point Henry. We must be careful which one we are talking about. And I think maybe more importantly, consider our words carefully when talk with others outside the profession. If we use “more with less” when we mean maximize value others may well think we can actually get buy with less and don’t need more.

By: Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:07:22 +0000

I’m gonna go with yes and no on this one. You’re right a passionate team is worth more than an dispassionate one. It’s the numbers you’re using that are a bit much for me. 5 people can’t physically staff a library all the hours it needs to be open. Sometimes we just need bodies, would I prefer that all those bodies be passionate – absolutely. Would I prefer that bodies do much more that just staff a desk – absolutely. But we all sometimes just needs more bodies to be in more places. You also need to be worried about burn out. Passion requires down time. It requires time off a public service desk, it requires days off and vacations.

Would I take 5 passionate people over 8 dispassionate people? Most likely, but I might also make the argument that this isn’t doing more with less, it’s doing more with more – more passionate, more dedication and more commitment.

By: Nathan Hans

Nathan Hans — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:54:10 +0000

Hi Bobbi,

I’m having trouble with the ‘more with less’ phrase.

I agree with the sentiment that focusing on the core services(whatever a library defines as such) will make libraries more powerful than trying every passing fad.

But do I think a staff of 100 who are ‘just there’ will out do a staff of 5 who are passionate and involved. Absolutely not. That is doing more with less(less bodies more passion).

So if my library could replace 2 blah staff members with 1 more passionate staff member, then that would be a net win.

Bodies and Money can be found, it’s passion that is lacking. I feel like in my community the passionate are disjointed at best. I often feel like the only one excited about the library(or atleast the only one showing it)

Less money and less bodies are solvable problems. Less passion is a killer.

-Nate

By: Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:13:28 +0000

Henry,
I wrote this post after reading something that did mean do more with less, not get the best value. That said you’re right as Nina is that often we don’t really mean do more with less. But I also think that means we need to chose our words more carefully. Saying we can do more with less is inaccurate at best and may lead others to believe we can in fact do more with less which may lead to, well, less.

By: Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:57:26 +0000

Great points Scott!

By: Henry

Henry — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:32:28 +0000

I think that it’s in our nature to *get the best value* and not to do more with less. These things are often considered to be the same thing when, in fact, they’re not.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 22:35:48 +0000

I think you’ve identified one of the reasons behind the “more with less” mantra Alan. If a community is willing to discuss staffing a library with volunteers (or closing it entirely, or outsourcing to a private company, or…) library staff may fear they’ll lose their jobs unless they somehow do even more to show their value to the community.

(In some communities this fear may be unfounded, as they continue to support their libraries… but if people look at other communities where these things ARE happening… it may make them fall into that mindset.)

{I’d make an argument that while we can’t do more with less, we sometimes can do different with less… if only we’re willing/able to give up on some services/processes that have become ingrained over the years. Depending on what the “different” is, and what gets dropped, there may be some people who perceive this as “more”, even though others are getting less.}

By: Round up | Alan Gibbons’ Blog

Round up | Alan Gibbons’ Blog — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:00:25 +0000

[...] Not Do More With Less – Less for Libraries Means Less For Our Communities and They Deserve More http://librarianbyday.net/2012/07/18/less-for-libraries-means-less-for-our-communities-and-they-dese… South London Press : 18th July Criticism as libraries shake-up is approved Lambeth [...]

By: alan

alan — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:42:07 +0000

Really interesting perspective. Thanks for the blog post.