1st Edition

Medical Library Downsizing Administrative, Professional, and Personal Strategies for Coping with Change

By Michael Schott Copyright 2005
    172 Pages
    by Routledge

    170 Pages
    by Routledge

    Learn how to stay ahead of the game when budgets and staff are cut

    Medical Library Downsizing: Administrative, Professional, and Personal Strategies for Coping with Change explores corporate downsizing and other company-wide events as they relate to medical librarians in their organization. This training manual is designed to help librarians prepare for a new era where shrinking budgets, inflated journal costs, and the increasing demand for new and expensive services now put salaries and jobs at risk. While focused on health care issues, this book will appeal to a general library audience and can be used in a graduate course in library administration, corporate librarianship, or hospital librarianship.

    Medical Library Downsizing investigates the BCEs (Bad Corporate Events) that can negatively affect a librarian, including:

    • an across-the-board budget cut
    • a downsizing
    • a restructuring (also called a re-organization or re-engineering)
    • a buyout
    • a merger
    • a consolidation
    With Medical Library Downsizing, you will learn how to prepare for the possibility of a BCE, what signs to look for that a BCE is about to take place, and how to weather the storm. The book provides the typical patterns for a downsizing, budget cut, merger, or pension buyout—teaching you step-by-step to make the most out of each possible scenario. This unique guide uses sardonic wit and entertaining examples to bring home each lesson, making Medical Library Downsizing a vital asset to librarians in any field.

    Medical Library Downsizing will help you deal with:
    • consultants who recommend downsizing and outsourcing
    • staff communications
    • planning your survival—and your escape route
    • presentations to help you keep your job
    • implementing change
    • re-training staff
    • and more

    Preface   Acknowledgments  Chapter 1. Introduction.  Corporate View of Downsizing.
    Paradigm Shift Without a Clutch.  Health Care Reality.  Figures Don’t Lie, Liars Figure.
    Definitions.  The Nastiest Secret of All.  Chapter 2. Arming Yourself (Before the Announcement).  Secret Arrow in the Quiver: The Résumé.  Positive Power of Great Leadership.  Sword in the Scabbard: The Mission Statement.  Mace of Righteousness: Your Management Style.  Stout Shield of the Arm: The Certifications and Regulations.  Protective Helmut: The Numbers of Your Life.  Greaves of Steel: Benchmarks, Flowcharts, Organization Charts, and Evaluation Surveys.  More Arrows to Fill the Quiver: The Literature.  Countering Those Slings and Arrows.  Final Defense: Military Intelligence.  Not So Dirty Tricks.  Chapter 3. Hostilities Begin: The Announcement.
    The Paranoid Zone.  How It Will Happen.  When It Will Happen.  What Things to Look For at the Announcement.  Consultants.  How to Tell Your Staff: Communication 101.
    The Library Staff As Tribe.  Chapter 4. Phony War Syndrome (PWS).  Phony War Explained.  Opportunities.   Case Histories.  Opportunities from Other Librarians.
    The Business Model.  The Inner Circle and Positioning.  Chapter 5. Planning Your Campaign.  Trends in Libraries.  Vision Statement.  SWOT-ing Your Organization.
    Budgeting in a New Millennium.  Considering Your Options.  Chapter 6. The Big Presentation.  Writing for Success.  Powerful PowerPoint.  Secrets of a Great Presentation.  Case Histories.  Conclusion.  Chapter 7. Implementing Your Battle Plans and the Uh-Oh Factor.  Implementing Change.  Outsourcing.  Back to Survivor: The Merge.  Retraining Staff.  Layoffs: Beware the Executioner’s Song.  The Uh-Oh Factor and Backpedaling with Style.  Conflict Resolution.  Chapter 8. Surprise! You Are the One Downsized.  Benefits of Being Laid Off.  The Severance Package: Negotiating the Best Deal.  Fallacies of Downsizings.  What to Do After You Have Been Laid Off.  The Right Attitude.  The Interview.  Chapter 9. When Hostilities Cease.  Aftermath.  Alternatives to Downsizing.  Survivor Syndrome.  Dodos: A Cautionary Tale of the Future.  Conclusion.  Notes.  Bibliography.  Index.

    Biography

    Michael Schott