NISO Webinar

Several folks in the Libraries attended the NISO webinar "Behave Like a Startup: Adapting Your Organization to Rapid Change" last week. The Employee Development committee had arranged for a showing in Young Library's Athletic Association Auditorium. 

The webinar featured three speakers:

• Thinking like a Startup, Behaving like an R&D Shop: Pathways to Innovation for Libraries, Brian Mathews, Associate Dean for Research and Learning, Virginia Tech University Libraries
• Kuali OLE and Agile Development Practices, Michael Winkler, Director for Information Technologies and Digital Development, University of Pennsylvania Libraries
• Innovative Thinking at HighWire Press, John Sack, Associate Publisher and Director, Highwire Press

I "interviewed" (um, emailed) our Digital Library Services group, to see if anyone would be willing to share their notes and insights from the event.  Stacy Yelton, Imaging Technician, said:

The NISO “Behave Like a Startup” webinar was very engaging and energizing. I was especially impressed with Stanford’s HighWire Press e-publishing program, with its emphasis on transforming its product and getting it to market quickly. 

Programmer James Howard was also impressed with the Highwire presenter, who "talked about the changes they had to implement in order to compete with tech companies in that area. Changes such as HR policies for having shorter time frames for job postings and facility policies for allowing pets in buildings."

And Sarah Dorpinghaus, Digital Projects Library Manager, provided several key points she recorded from each speaker.

Brian Mathews:

• Startup = creating something new under condition of extreme certainty
• Need to shift from collection centered focus to engagement centered focus
• Cycle: planning- searching-learning-adapting

Michael Winkler:

• Acknowledging and accepting decisions rather than re-evaluating at each step
• Agile web development:  Importance of practicality and functionality over perfection; Need to have a chance to cycle back and look over the code several times; Importance of documentation and testing
• Some of the barriers he discussed: Enough time for research and planning; Learning curves to get everyone involved up to speed; Organizational structure; Code size

John Sack:

• Importance of focusing on the minimal viable product, and that most users don’t care about the extra features.
• “Make it better, not perfect”
• Importance of being open to change 

If you were unable to attend the webinar, we hope these notes give you something to think about! The slides from the session are available online.  Have ideas about how UK Libraries can behave like a start-up? Leave us a comment! And for further reading on this topic, check out the Agile Manifesto.