Chapter 09: Working on Leadership Structure and Developing Services to Align with Institution Mission
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Description
Ms. Hoffman begins this chapter by explaining how she changed the reporting structure in the Library for greater efficiency. She refers to an article she published in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship (document available). She discusses where the RML fits within the institution.
Next, Ms. Hoffman explains the Library’s different service areas and how they align with the institution’s mission areas: research, education, patient care, prevention. She explains her role in establishing The Learning Center for patients, an initiative led by Louise Villejo [oral history interview].
Next, she discusses funding for the Library, noting that it always has had good support from the institution.
Identifier
HoffmanKJ_02_20180326_C09
Publication Date
3-27-2018
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS, Oral History Interview, March 27, 2018
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution; Leadership; On Leadership; Education; On Education; Research; Institutional Processes; The Business of MD Anderson; The Institution and Finances; Institutional Processes; MD Anderson Culture; Working Environment; Institutional Mission and Values
Transcript
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay, our counter is moving, and today is March 26th, and we are seated in—I am seated in my office, the Historical Resources Center Reading Room, with Kathy Hoffman—I remembered your preference—for our second session today. And let’s see, I’m going to keep looking at the clock because I neglected to bring my watch today for my notetaking, so that’s what I’m doing. The time is 20 minutes after 10:00, and this is our second session, as I probably already said.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
+ So we started strategizing about what to talk about, and talking about—last time we ended up, or we started to address the issue of how when you came there were staffing issues you needed to address. And so we also talked about the formation of the Historical Resources Center. But I thought it would be interesting to continue our conversation about how you were addressing sort of the basic terrain of the library, to be a service-providing organization within the organization. So do you need more clarity on that?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
No, no, I think I’m ready to go. (laughter) When I first came, as I mentioned previously, there were staffing issues. The staff that was here, they were very good people; it’s just that the needs of the library and the services that we needed to provide required a different individual, with different knowledge and skills. And so that was one of the things I had to address early on. And, I think, typical of any organization, when new leadership comes in, there are going to be individuals who decide, no, this isn’t for me, I’m out of here. So there was a little bit of that. We lost a few people, because they realized, no, this isn’t—I’m not comfortable here anymore. So people was one thing we needed to address. The other thing was physical space in the library.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
You did talk about that.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
And the library’s physical space hadn’t been updated in years. I don’t even remember how long. So that was an initial project early on, to get the library re-carpeted, to get updated staff areas, just their workspace.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Right, and you were talking about some of the plumbing issues, or leakage issues. There was a lot with the physical space.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
And so it was a time when we were making the transition in libraries from print resources to online resources. So the other thing that I needed to address at that time was getting more computers, or computers period, into the library, and developing the online resources. So those types of things really required different personnel, different expertise in the staff. So that was a lot of what I did early on.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
What was the leadership structure like, or administrative structure like, within the library? Were you happy with the way kind of the internal workings of the library were set up, or did you tweak that?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
I was not happy with it, and the—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. Why? What was...?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
The primary reason is everyone reported to the director. I can’t do this. I can’t have all these people reporting to me. And we needed to appoint managers in different areas to manage different functions in the library. It just made more sense to me to have that type of structure. So that was one of the early things I did.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
How was that received?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
I think it was well-received, because it provided an opportunity for the librarians to become managers, to develop new skills, to be able to be in charge of an area where they could then have staff reporting to them, help develop staff. So just it was kind of a win/win all the way around. So we developed a new organization chart that placed a manager over all of the functional areas. So we had a functional area that we called General Operations, and in that area of the library we had what we call Access Services.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So, just for the record, I’m seeing that you’re reading from a document here, which, if you can provide that, I can do a scan of it, if it’s not...
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
I would be happy to. This is actually the organizational chart that was published in an article I wrote for the Journal of Hospital Librarianship in 2004.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay, great. I have a list of your publications.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
So I was invited to write this article, and the title of it is “A Profile of a Comprehensive Cancer Center Library.” So it really highlighted what is a comprehensive cancer center, and what role does the library play, what does it need to be. And—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And what were some of your takeaways from that? What is the role it serves, and what does it need to be?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Well, for MD Anderson, it—the library, I felt, needed to complement the mission of the institution, which deals with four areas: research, patient care, education, and prevention. And so the library needed to speak to all four of those areas. So we developed a strategic plan that had our mission and vision, that mirrored or complemented the mission and vision of the institution.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Had that been done before?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
No, not to my knowledge. I don’t believe it had. And so, with that, staff were able to more directly identify with the mission of the institution, and everybody was always very clear on what our mission, the institution’s mission, is, and still is today, and that’s to make cancer history. That was the catchword that came as I was toward the end of my career here, I guess. But nonetheless, that was—has always been Anderson’s mission is to eliminate cancer, in Texas, the nation, and the world. Those were the words they used way back when. Now it’s just “Make cancer history,” but it’s still in Texas, in the nation, and in the world. So going back—I tend to go off on tangents a little bit too much—I was talking about the different areas of the library that then were set up to be able to respond to those areas in Anderson’s mission. So in the General Operations area we had our access services. This included things like circulation. You come to the library. You go to the circulation area to be able to check something out. It also just had to do with basic things, like shelving of books, photocopy. When I first came, photocopy was huge business here. We had, I think, at least six enormous industry-sized photocopy machines, and so people would come in, they’d get their journals off the shelf, and they’d photocopy like crazy their articles to be able to take them away with them. I don’t even know if they still have a photocopy machine here. Maybe one.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, they—I think they do. It’s more scanning. Actually, I don’t know—
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Oh, it probably scans, rather—and then—exactly—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And you can email them.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
—rather than copying to paper. So that’s just how things have changed in the last twenty-some years in libraries. Photocopy machines are a thing of the past, as you say. We can scan, send it directly to your personal device, and away you go. But we had to deal with these machines, and with accounts to pay for the copies that people made, volumes and volumes of paper. That was just part of the business in the library at the time, not to mention we needed physical space to house these machines that were noisy. It was always a cluttered area. So we tended to try to put them in a space that was away from where quiet study took place.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I can recall, too, being in some of those spaces myself, photocopying, and it could get testy sometimes if there was a rush on machines—
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Oh, yeah.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
—and there were people waiting, and kind of annoyed, and... Yeah.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Yeah. So that was part of what we had to manage. Another area in General Operations was what we called document delivery, and this was the borrowing and lending, library to library, interlibrary loan. Because we were, I think—I would classify us as a premier cancer center library—we had significant resources, and resources that were unique, because we did have a fairly good collection budget, so we were able to acquire the resources that we felt were needed to support the mission of the institution. And, consequently, we were called upon by other libraries to borrow our materials, and we did this through what we called document delivery, which at that time was a very automated system. We did things electronically. I guess the other thing we had in that general operations were our satellite programs. We, at Anderson, had, and still have, a patient family library, and there’s the Learning Center. And the patient family library was more of a—or is more of a—public library. It’s leisure reading. It operates, I think, almost exclusively on donations, and it’s incredible, the books they have in this tiny little library. I don’t know if it’s still located in the main lobby when you come into the Clark Clinic. That’s where it was, front and center, where patients and family could see it immediately. And for so many people, it was this wonderful escape. They could pick up a book or two, and take it with them when they were going from their appointments, traveling around the hospital. They had a little comfort of home with a book that they can hold in their hands. That was the patient, or is the patient family library. Then there’s the Learning Center. I don’t remember the year it was put into place, but I served on a committee with Louise Villejo [oral history interview], who was—I can’t remember her exact title at the time, but she was charged to establish a patient library. This is different from the patient family library. This was a library that would supply medical information at the patient level. And so I served on a committee with her to make that a reality. She was very adamant she wanted it to be called the Learning Center. I wanted it to be called a library, the patient library. In the end, she got her way, which was—that’s fine, but I have a thing about the word “library.” To me, “library,” it’s been around forever, but it’s one of those warm, fuzzy words that everybody can relate to. They know “library.” It’s a place I can go to get information, a place I can go to pursue my own research interests, or just to pick up a good book to read. But the Learning Center came about—The Learning Center, TLC—and we had a role with that, with the Learning Center, to help them with their collections. We organized and catalogued their collections. They did all of the purchasing and the selecting of materials, but the Research Medical Library put it into our online catalogue and made that aspect of it available to them. So we had a really close working relationship.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I interviewed Louise, and, yeah, I mean, she’s so passionate about—
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Oh, yeah. She—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
—topics of patient experience and patient education. It’s so—
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Yes. I learned a lot from her. I really did.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah. I did, too, talking to her. I mean, pretty amazing, so...
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Yeah. So anyway, that was one area of—one kind of segment of the services that we provided. Another one was reference services. And in our reference services, we did consulting. We did online searching. I don’t think we had education in that group; maybe we did.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, when... Were there tweaks to the way these services were presented? Because, I mean, some of what you’re saying is—yeah, I mean, I kind of see that as sort of what a library does. But were there certain new things that you were instituting, or efficiencies that you were discovering, or...? I’m trying to figure out how did the services coalesce differently, how did they start to operate differently in this new environment with this new director.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
One of the areas was in education. Because we were acquiring a lot of online resources, and we provided access to a large number of databases, we needed to teach people how to use them. So one of the renovations I did was to take some existing space—it was actually located outside the library proper. It was not too far down the hall, but it was space that had belonged to another department. And it was given to us, and we built it out to be a totally electronic classroom that I think, if I remember correctly, would seat 25 individuals. So we offered a lot of classes, and not just for individuals at MD Anderson, but we did a lot interlibrary. I mentioned the last time I was with you we had a consortium in the Medical Center, and we frequently would host online classes for librarians that were being offered, as well. So we played a role that way. So this classroom at that time was a really state-of-the-art classroom. It’s interesting: the one that is here today is even more state-of-the-art, so it’s—you change, you evolve with the times. But back in the early 2000s, or I guess, really, more like 19—what year did I come—1995, between 1995 and 2000 that type of classroom environment was just getting started, and that was one of the things we did.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
How interesting, yeah. Were there other changes or—that you instituted with services that kind of...? I mean, it’s interesting: technology—I’ve talked to so many people who talk about how technology would shape patrons’ or clients’ expectations, and then the new technology had to come in to whatever department was providing the services. And, of course, the technology changes how work is done. So were there other instances of those kinds of changes you were managing?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Well, it was the whole... We had to have an IT person on staff, just to manage all of the equipment.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And that was new?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
They actually had an IT person when I came, but... Oh. He didn’t stay... I’m trying to remember when he left. He did not stay that long. So the person I hired is still here, Wes Browning, just fabulous individual.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And I work with him a lot, too, and yeah, he is. So, good job. (laughs)
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Yeah. So having someone like him on staff just made all the difference in the world with what we were able to offer, because he’s so knowledgeable, and so dedicated to the work he does. I just can’t imagine the library without him.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I know. And he’s also very client-centered in his approach.
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Yes, he really is.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I mean, he listens to what a person needs. He doesn’t try to manhandle the process to make it into what he does. So he’s really great to work with, a real team player. Now, was it a new thing for a library to have an IT person? Was that difficult to budget for? Do you know? In the previous, or...? I’m interested in the—you had mentioned before we turned on the recorder that you actually didn’t have some of the financial stresses that would come later on, so...
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Right. Yeah, the financial environment for the library, when I came, was really very good. In addition to the—I don’t remember what it was called, but the allotment that I got from the institution, I had a number of other sources of funds that allowed me to do things. One thing was continuing education for the staff. I felt, and still feel, very strongly that the staff needs the financial support to continue their education and be allowed to develop to their fullest potential, and I always made sure we had a line item in the budget, or a source of funds, that we could provide that to staff. Their continuing education, it just—it comes back to the organization. If you invest in them, it will come back to you. So that was one thing: I had other sources of funds, plus we had access to the system’s permanent university funds. The library was always given a priority spot. These were called—oh, [LEER?], Library... They weren’t just for libraries, but libraries was a piece of the organization that was identified to receive this funding from system. You had to apply, write almost like a little—maybe a one-page little mini-grant on how much money you were requesting, what was the project, what was it intended for. And in the early days, when I was—came here, we used a lot of the permanent university funds for renovations, but also for collections. So that funding really helped us expand into the digital world with our online journals and databases. That outside funding was huge, as was the funding to do the various different renovation projects. So that didn’t come directly from Anderson funding.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Now, does that...? I had asked you the question last week, because you’ve had experience in three medical institutions, and—two of which are system—and... Were all three?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
Actually, the TMC library is not [UT] System. The TMC library is a totally independent, standalone library.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Right, but UT Southwestern was...
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
UT Southwestern is System. Yeah, so this one and UT—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, yeah, so two of the three...
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
I was confused. Right, you’re right. (laughs)
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, so... Well, it was probably the way I constructed my sentence. (laughter)
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
No, no, no. I think it’s the hour of the day.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So I’m curious: what does that say about [UT] Sstem? Was that a new thing in System? How did that work? Because putting in a complex organization, like MD Anderson or UT Southwestern, in this neighborhood, if you will, or community of other institutions, and then you have the governing body over that, I mean, was that enlightened on the part of system? Was it...?
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
What do you mean? I don’t...
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
The money, providing that money, and giving a priority slot to a library. I mean...
Kathryn Jones Hoffman, MSLS:
I don’t know. I mean, the permanent university funds, I’m not sure when that started. I think it was oil money. It went way back. It predated me. We even were able to get some of that funding through our association with UT when we were—when I was at the TMC library. Because the TMC library is itself a consortium library. It serves all the institutions in the medical center. So it served Baylor Medical School, UT Medical School, three nursing schools. It goes on and on and on. The hospitals, all the institutions. That was kind of the mission of that library. So it was made up of—it was a consortium, and it had a board of directors that—or it still does; I keep talking in the past tense, I guess, (laughs) because I’m not here anymore—has a board of directors that’s made up of representatives from all the key institutions in the Medical Center. MD Anderson has a seat on that board. I believe Stephanie sits on the board. Anyway, because of its association with UT institutions, there were a couple of times that library was the recipient of some of the permanent university funds, but because the library was an independent entity, it could not apply for those types of funds on its own, so it always had to be a joint application with one of the UT system libraries that was here in the medical center.
Recommended Citation
Hoffman, Kathryn Jones MSLS and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 09: Working on Leadership Structure and Developing Services to Align with Institution Mission" (2018). Interview Chapters. 1070.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1070
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