1. Morning activity: What could lean thinking do for me?
Sheet 1
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A challenge to design skills to encompass a diverse range of services
Help us to maintain (and improve?) level of service to customers in face of budget
pressures
More innovative thinking in terms of building/service relocation into shared service
provision
Ensure that our cultural programme has a ‘ratchet effect’ built in through efficient
integration of partners, stakeholders and consortia
Put libraries at the centre of the community
Protecting the future of the Library Service and maintaining a real community
service
Be brave – not be put off by challenges that can be overcome
‘Lean thinking’ will mean a greater role for the library service in meeting public
health objectives
Sheet 2
 Breaking down ‘silos’ and ‘silo’ working
 What we do, who with & how
 Push forward the recommendation of a project between libraries & customer
services
 ‘Lean thinking’ will help me to challenge the norm, look for new partnerships, and
widen the range of uses of the spaces
 Make our library service the hub of all council services
 Generate content with the co-operation of staff
Sheet 3
 Ensure that every pound spent counts for the community & provides value for public
services
 Help me to use innovative ideas to look at my area of the library service
 Reducing processes & giving more ‘power’ to frontline
 Reassess current practices used by our team with aim of delivering more of what
customers want/need, without extra staff/resources

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‘Doing more with less’
Working with communities more to promote efficient and effective library services
Sheet 4
 Be able to provide better service to public using resources that are ever more
limited
 Save money & focus on priorities
 Think big….look for funding/partnerships which add value – value being income &/or
funding
 Looking at different ways of working – do we need to do it all
 Decrease ‘historical’ work patterns and unnecessary tasks to free staff to
concentrate on customers and new services, events & activities
 Bring partners together to join services & venues to protect service delivery
Sheet 5
 Reviewing every process with the people who carry out the processes & taking out
costs whilst improving results for customers
 Sustainability – make libraries focus on their long-term future
 Will help me understand change has to be made and by understanding help me lead
the team through very lean times
 Enable me to develop a clear picture of:
 What we currently do
 What should we start doing?
 What should we stop doing (even if we love it)?
 What should we keep doing & develop?
 Building partnerships with council, our public sector & voluntary sector
 Better ways of working to improve the lives of our customers
Sheet 6
 Utilise library buildings more & convince members that they should be community
hubs
 Enable a ‘library service’ to continue at reduced costs and to a high standard
 Transform & modernise the service
 Protect public services
 Lean thinking will help me to be positive about the changes we are currently going
through
 Focus resources on priorities. Stop doing some things that are no longer relevant
 Start a much-needed debate about the role of libraries in our communities
 Working across the city with public, private & community sectors
Sheet 7
 Ideas to take community partnership libraries forward including new ways od
partnering with community
 Enable me to continue to improve my service rather than cut backs at a time when
demand is high
 Much closer working with other parts of NYCC/other councils
 Speed up processes; give the customer a better journey
 Running the service as a business and collaborating with second & third sectors
 Lean thinking will help me to challenge old ways of working!
 Getting libraries to the community & involving them in delivery of service