Forging a New Library Network in Indiana
Hoosiers Total the Numbers and They Add Up To One

Barbara Topp

Indiana did not have a shortage of library network organizations. In fact, for more than 20 years, Indiana had 10 library networks. During the 1970s and 1980s, the financial picture for the networks was rosy, and the networks flourished. But the financial picture of the 1990s was different; a season of plenty turned into a season of want. As time passed and the networks struggled to maintain effective operations with dwindling resources, pressure from several quarters was brought upon them for fiscal accountability. Finally, the Indiana library world had to face a critical question: could Indiana afford 10 networks as the library infrastructure?

Background of the Networks

Authorized in 1967 when the Indiana legislature passed the Library Services Authority Act, the networks began operation in the early 1970s. One, the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (INCOLSA), was a statewide organization whose purpose was to oversee the automation of Indiana's library and information services. In addition to providing OCLC services for Indiana, INCOLSA did training and consulting on technology and automation. The other nine networks were regional, multi-type organizations called Area Library Service Authorities (ALSAs). Their charge was to provide assistance to member libraries, including interlibrary loan facilitation, reference/referral, consulting and continuing education, that would encourage the development of all types of library services.

The networks were municipal corporations and initially received both state and federal dollars administered by the Indiana State Library. More than 700 Indiana libraries of all types were members of a network, and each member appointed a representative to the governing body called a board of directors. The board of directors approved budgets and plans of service; the daily operation of each network was under the supervision of an executive director/administrator and overseen by a seven-member executive committee elected by the members.

Troubled Times

By the mid-1980s, federal dollars for the Indiana networks had diminished and then disappeared. Except for special LSCA grant projects, the networks had to rely solely on state funding. By 1989, a Sunset Review of the Indiana State Library was conducted. The use of public funds was under scrutiny. Funding for the networks flattened out as legislators pressured the networks for fiscal accountability and called for an increased coordination of services. The large public libraries of Indiana, feeling the stress of inadequate funding and increased interlibrary lending, called for an evaluation of the networks.

In response to the concerns of accountability and efficiency, the Indiana Library and Historical Board (ILHB), governing body of the Indiana State Library, commissioned the consulting firm of Florence Mason and Associates to conduct a study of network services in 1992. The study was to include an evaluation of the services rendered and recommendations for reorganizing the agencies into a more cooperative structure. After six months. Mason and Associates submitted a plan to the ILHB. From this document came two recommendations, or goals, that would forever change Indiana networks. Goal one: establish a commitment to a statewide cooperative and resource sharing structure. Goal two: establish a planning process to achieve a statewide cooperative and resource sharing structure.

The Stage Is Set

Acting quickly, the ALSAs and INCOLSA asked the ILHB to defer making any decisions about the Mason Report recommendations until the networks had a chance to discuss the options and come up with their own recommendations. The ILHB agreed to wait six

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months. March 15, 1992, marked the date of the first meeting of all the network administrators, and the beginning of a long journey that culminated in the submission of a plan to the ILHB in September 1994. (It took much longer than the anticipated six months. The challenge of completely reorganizing the state's networks and writing a new plan of service was a much bigger task than the network administrators anticipated.) As time passed, the administrators periodically submitted progress reports to the ILHB. In turn, the ILHB approved their progress and encouraged them to continue work until the new plan was completed.

Joining the 10 network administrators at the planning table were two representatives from the Indiana State Library. This was the first time that representatives from the ALSAs, INCOLSA and the State Library had sat down together to plan. Ellen Miller, a consultant from the Ellen Miller Group, Lenexa, KS, was hired as facilitator.

The fledgling planning team, full of enthusiasm and hope and armed with the knowledge that difficult decisions were ahead, got to work.

Getting Serious

First, there was the matter of building trust and forming a cohesive group. The planning team named themselves the Interim Group, for they were operating in a time between the old and the new. In the early months, decisions were made by the entire group until trust had grown enough to allow committees to bring decisions back to the group. Throughout, the Interim Group strove to achieve consensus on all issues, yet complete agreement on everything was unrealistic with twelve individuals at the table. To assure that all voices were heard, facilitator Miller often used two techniques: 1) silent generation, which allowed everyone a chance to think and write ideas down before a topic was opened up for discussion, and 2) round robin reporting, in which the facilitator asks each person in turn to speak. Every meeting opened with a time for sharing late-breaking news, a review of the agenda and a reiteration of Miller's number one ground rule: "If you are silent, you are agreeing."

The first task of the Interim Group was to define the purpose of the new organization and write a mission statement. Ideas flowed in fits and starts, pages and pages of flip chart paper lined the walls, concepts bubbled up and were tested, pricked and burst. Slowly, the Interim Group hammered out a mission statement, guiding principles and service goals. They then turned to creating governance models and a methodology for folding the networks into one entity and starting business as the New Network. Long days often lengthened into two-day sessions and months passed. For those readers interested in statistics, the Interim Group met 37 times in 30 months. (This does not include numerous outside meetings with member libraries.) The end result was a blueprint for a new organization titled Toward the Integration of Indiana's Statewide Library and Information Network: A final Report and Plan.

Simply stated, the Interim Group developed a plan that would integrate the Indiana networks into one statewide, multitype network. This new network would address three challenges:

• Broaden the vision of resource sharing.

• Incorporate new concepts of end-user access.

• Reorganize network components to maximize the use of state funds.

In addition to the above challenges, the Interim Group would inaugurate a planning process that could become a model for other libraries and groups.

The New Network Mission

The Network assures that all Indiana residents receive the best possible library and information services by providing a cooperative, statewide structure for information and resource sharing.

The Planning Process

Communication and cooperation were essential to the success of the Interim Group's plan for a new network. It must be remembered that for more than 20 years a majority of network members had aligned themselves with the local ALSA, had been part of the governance of the local ALSA, and had relied on the local ALSA for services. The situation was analogous to city-states voluntarily agreeing to become a single nation; autonomy and boundaries would be eliminated, and concessions would have to be made in return for the assurance of continued and improved network services. While some of the member librarians resisting the idea of change, others thought a change should have been made years ago and were pressing for action.

To ensure good communication among member libraries, the Interim Group planned a series of all-day meetings, held three times during the 18-month planning period, to give the membership a chance to express their ideas and concerns and to make recommendations regarding Interim Group decisions. Each meeting covered a major component of the plan: first, the mission statement and guiding principles; second,

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the proposed services; and third, a governance model for the new organization.

Before any meeting was held, the draft document under consideration was mailed to all network members so they would have a chance to study it. Then, a Reactor Panel met to evaluate the document. The Ractor Panel was made up of four representatives from each of the existing networks, academic, school, public and special library. Also included in the Reactor Panel were representatives from other professional organizations in the state, such as the Indiana Library Federation, the Department of Education, and the State University Libraries Network. Next, an open meeting was held for all other members of the network who cared to attend.

The same format was followed for each meeting. Introductions were given by Indiana State Librarian C. Ray Ewick and Consultant Miller. Then, members of the Interim Group would explain the draft document under discussion. After a period of questions and answers, the Interim Group departed so that participants could divide into small groups for discussions. The group then rejoined and the participants reported their comments and ideas. (Members unable to attend the meetings were also given a chance to respond through an Individual Feedback Form mailed to each member). At an intensive post-meeting session, the Interim Group discussed every comment and idea generated by the Rector Panel or by librarians at the open meeting. More than 500 persons attended these meetings or sent in written comments.

The all-day meetings were not the only method used by the Interim Group to communicate with members throughout the planning period. The Interim Group kept members informed through network newsletters, memorandums, regular reports to executive committees and through speaking engagements at various outside meetings around the state.

A Star is Born

September 15,1994 the planning was over now. The Interim Group's two-year transitional plan was submitted to the Indiana Library and Historical Board. In a 4-0 vote, the ILHB accepted it as the network component of the Indiana State Library's Long-Range Plan and agreed to transfer state funding to the new organization. The ALSAs and INCOLSA held meetings in December 1994. The plan was presented, voted on and accepted by the membership who also approved a memorandum of agreement containing 29 items covering all aspects of the new network activity.

That a vote was taken may sound like a simple thing. It belies that fact that the regional meetings were emotional as ALSA members voted to dissolve the ALSAs and transfer all their assets and members to INCOLSA. It must be understood that although most network members agreed that a reorganization of the networks into a single, statewide organization was essential to the continuation of the network, it was not a universal sentiment. In addition, the plan itself had been thoroughly cross-examined by the members as it was presented to them during the 30-month planning period, and parts of it had come under criticism. Most of the concerns centered around fears that current services might be curtailed or lost altogether, or that the power base would be concentrated in Indianapolis where INCOLSA was headquartered. The overwhelming positive vote, however, indicated a high level of trust in the network administrators and hope for the future of Indiana's library network.

Now it was a time to celebrate. The Interim Group was pleased with the predominately positive response from the library community. Especially nice was a communique from the Oregon State Librarian Jim Scheppke, who received a copy of the plan from state Librarian Ewick, which stated, "I believe it to be a great achievement for Indiana. As far as I know, it represents the first real 'reinvention' of library systems that we have seen anywhere. Most of the other states with strong systems have had trouble making any changes. The changes proposed in your report make a lot of sense, and it is remarkable to me that your group process was able to result in proposals for such a comprehensive (if not radical) change to the status quo.... My hat is off to you and your colleagues."

The Plan of the Plan

In brief, Toward the Integration of Indiana's Statewide Library and Information Network contained goals and objectives in three service areas: information access, resource development and network development. The goals, slated to be accomplished in two years, focused on helping member libraries effectively serve the end user. The state would be divided into five governance regions instead of the original nine ALSA regions. Members would have ample opportunity to participate in network matters through three advisory councils that would meet several times a year. A seven-member executive committee, containing at least one member from each type of library (academic, school, public and special) and having geographic balance, would be elected by the membership to govern the new network.

The new network would become a legal entity on July 1, 1995. Indiana's only statewide network, INCOLSA, would serve as the transition agency for the new network, and the current INCOLSA executive

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director would serve as the interim director until a new director was hired. All ALSA members who were already INCOLSA members (a library could belong to both an ALSA and INCOLSA) would automatically become new network members; all others must complete paperwork to join the new network. To ease the fears that services might be compromised or consolidated in Indianapolis, the plan guaranteed that for the first two years services would continue to be offered regionally from the same offices with the same staff and a new executive director would be hired from outside the state.

Money, Power and Jobs

Early in the planning process. Miller told the Interim Group that when institutions go through a reorganization process, three issues come to the forefront: money, power and jobs. She was right. Members of the group had to deal with the reality that their current positions as network administrators would be eliminated when the new network began operation, and they had concerns about what new jobs, if any, would be available within the new organization. Interim Group members also had to remain cognizant of their regional members' needs and not compromise those needs during the planning process. Discussions often were heated and emotional around the planning table, and tensions increased toward the end of the process as members felt pulled back to the old, familiar networks then thrust into the unknown, new network. The Interim Group had a transition period of six months, from Jan. 1 to July 1, 1995, to resolve the money, power and jobs issues and address a myriad of other matters.

Extra funding was needed to cover the extraordinary expenses associated with the merger. An LSCA grant in the amount of $200,000 per year for two years was sought by the Interim Group and obtained. This paid for things such as the search for an executive director, promotional materials and meeting expenses. The INCOLSA business manager assisted the ALSA administrators as they closed down all banking operations and transferred their assets to INCOLSA. A new payroll procedure was set up and the INCOLSA executive director prepared a draft of the first New Network budget.

High on the list of transition tasks was hiring an executive director for the new network. In January 1995, a search committee was formed and went to work. On Nov. 1, 1995, Indiana welcomed Millard F. Johnson from the PORTALS Network in Portland, Oregon, as the new INCOLSA executive director. The Member Advisory Council, made up of four members from each ALSA region and four from INCOLSA, also held its first meeting in January, as did a nominating committee whose charge was to prepare a slate of members for the New Network executive committee.

Job issues required a great deal of Interim Group time and attention. The group examined current job descriptions, reviewed salaries and evaluated staff requirements. This resulted in a reduction of administrative assistants and bookkeepers in the regional offices. The Interim Group also prepared job descriptions for seven new specialist positions related to the new network goals. The ALSA administrators were given an opportunity to compete for these new positions. A committee also worked with a personnel consultant to condense 10 personnel policies into one; a new employee handbook was published, distributed and explained to the staff.

The new network is now six months old. While many problems have been settled, others will require time to resolve. With a new executive director, a new executive committee and 714 member libraries, however, the infant organization is healthy and filled with energy and optimism. The new network gives to the libraries and citizens of Indiana the foundation for a vital, cooperative, information and resource sharing organization which will serve them for years to come.

If you build castles in the air, your work need not be lost;
that is where they should be
Now put the foundations under them.
-Henry David Thoreau

*Barbara Topp is the Continuing Education Coordinator for the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (INCOLSA), Indiana. Her position prior to the formation of the New Network was ALSA Administrator, serving on the Interim Group. She also was employed for eight years as the assistant director of the Steubenville and Jefferson County Public Library, Steubenville, OH.

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