Poudre River Public Library District provides service from three facilities: a trad-itional Main Library in downtown, a joint-use public/academic library at a community college and a pop-ular, family oriented library located in a retail complex. Until recently, staff from the 3 buildings rarely interacted and the service models and customer base at each library were significantly different. Furthermore, most decision making for the District was made at the top by a six member management team. Despite branding efforts and periodic all-staff meetings, silos existed among the 3 libraries and different staff levels and a systemwide approach to services was not part of the organizational culture.

In order to develop a system approach to decision-making and share responsibility among staff at all levels and locations, the District developed and implemented 5 staff member “Teams” in the areas of Circulation, Programming, Collection, Customer Experience and Learning Organization. Super-hero character “ReOrg Guy” was created to steward the effort of the reorganization. The guiding prin-ciples for the District reorganization were: We are committed to the District’s mission, and vision. Every-thing we do is for the benefit of our customers. PRPLD is a learning organization that continues to re-main relevant and evolve. Our staff is our greatest resource. We strive to enhance the skills, knowledge, passion and commitment of our staff. And finally we are most effective when we all work together to provide our customers with the best experiences possible. ReOrg Guy was part of a communication strategy to provide information about the reorganization process to staff on a weekly basis, creating a sense of urgency and excitement about the changes to come. He is seen with weekly messages on the staff Intranet, he leaves special “super” gifts on people’s desks, and he has even come in person to all-staff meetings. Strategies were developed to engage our staff in creating a strong and en-during culture of continuous learning with a customer centered approach. Staff in all areas throughout the organ-ization had the opportunity to participate on teams, to take risks and reward innovation. The District wanted to create and foster an environment for everyone to question existing processes, analyze procedures, and play a role in making improvements. ReOrg Guy - the champion to make that happen.

During this time of enormous change in our organization, ReOrg Guy helped to bond the staff together. This innovation helped to streamline the way communications were sent out to the staff and gave a humorous outlook to a serious situation. Teams have been in place for 6 months and in that time are working together and throughout the system. They are involved in meaningful dialog and decision making. Each Team has already made significant changes.