Celia eLibrary : Process Improvement of eLibrary Services

Abstract

The topic and the object of this Thesis is CELIA eLibrary, from the point of view of the process improvement of eLibrary services. Celia is a government owned special library for print disabled persons. The library lends and produces digital DAISY audio books, e-books and other materials. Celia wants to use Internet as a distribution and production platform and for this purpose the library must re-engineer and improve its processes. The challenge that the library meets, however, is that the working environment is in constant change, and the amount of customers is always growing. To achieve these goals, Celia must improve its processes to be able to serve these potential customers. The challenge for the library is therefore to improve its processes in order to create new services that will use the Internet as the distribution and service platform. Research materials for this Thesis were the plans that Celia made for the Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as the library’s strategies, implemented documents and workshop materials from the development work. For the purposes of this Thesis the researcher interviewed the library employees and also analyzed the old library processes and IT-architechture.

The outcome of this research is the actual description of the proposed new processes as well as the metrics to measure them. The Thesis also proposes that Celia should use its current on-demand CD creation process as a model for future distribution processes. The use of standard user interfaces for the library’s IT systems will make it easier to develop new e-service models and will increase its networking opportunities with other libraries both in Finland and abroad. Since the reason for library’s existence is to serve its customers, the improved processes will help Celia to develop totally new services using the Internet as its distribution and service platform.