1. A Tale of Two Libraries: Kanban, Workflows, and You
Jaclyn McLean
Robin Canham
Digital Resources Librarian
Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Regina, SK
Electronic
Resources
Librarian
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK

2. large research university: one of Canada’s top medical/ doctoral universities
member of U15
broad combination of human, animal, and plant studies
student FTE 18,920
e-resources budget approx. $12 million CDN
staff devoted to e-resources: 5 FTE
diverse programs: everything from red seal trades to nurse practitioner programs
four campus locations in the province (Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, & Prince Albert)
student FTE 9,606
e-resources budget approx. $300,000 CDN
staff devoted to e-resources: 2.4 FTE

3. How the Story Begins…
looking for tool to keep track of details & responses (among several people)
tracking e-resource lifecycle & project management
using a solo
tool to track projects, tasks, & research activity
inboxes
unorganized / tracking projects over multiple campus locations

4. The Supporting Characters
Kanban Board: A tool to visualize, organize, and complete work (Benson, 2009).
#1: show work in progress
#3: show
how efficiently
we work
3 fundamental principles of Kanban (Lai-Chong Law & Lárusdóttir, 2015):
limit work in progress (WIP)
visualize the workflow
measure the lead time
#2: show work that hasn’t been done

5. Kanban Benefits clarity of workflow and workload time management
communications management
simple, clean, visual approach using distinct columns

6. Kanban Board
TO DO
DOING
DONE

7. lean visual display (desktop or app)
easy to learn & use, flexible
easy to use online help
free, premium, & enterprise plans
structured well for team or individual work
great tracking, reminder, notifications capability

8. Trello as Communication Tool: To-Do/Assignment Cards

9. Trello Card Examples

11. clean, intuitive, & simple display (desktop or app)
wide variety of customizations in terms of board tags, labels, & colors
add recurring tasks, subtasks
includes Pomodoro timer
excellent reporting feature (included with the premium plan)
free & premium plans

12. Kanban Flow as Communication Tool: To-Do/Assignment Cards

13. Kanban Flow as Issue Tracker: Troubleshooting

14. Sample Report

15. Our question for you! Let’s share strategies!
What are you currently using to manage e-resource workflows?
full disclosure: the responses gathered may be used in future work/presentations

16. Thank you! image: Rebecca McCorkindale

17. Benson, J. (2009). What is Kanban. Retrieved from http://www
Lai-Chong Law, E. & Lárusdóttir, K.M. (2015). Whose experience do we care about? Analysis of the fitness of Scrum and Kanban to user experience. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 31(9).
Minchew, T. (2015). Who’s on first? License team workflow tracking with Trello. Serials Review, 41(3), 165–172.
Minchew, T. & Slutskaya, S. (2016). The path of least resistance: Using available tools to support the e-resources lifecycle. The Serials Librarian, 70(1-4).
Ostergaard, K. (2016). Applying Kanban principles to electronic resource acquisitions with Trello. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 28(1), doi: / X
References