Becoming a Lean Library

Part 1. Introduction

1. Purpose

2. Language and Organization of the Book

3. Catalog Pull Platform

4. Learner and Library Leadership Badges

5. Memory Institutions are Learning Institutions

6. The Lean Learning Library

Part 2. Generative AI Transforming Libraries

1. Overview of Generative AI

2. Societal Impacts of Large Language Models

3. Prompt Engineering for Libraries

4. Retrieval Augmented Generation for Library Collections

5. AI Agents as Library Patrons

Part 3. Organizing Libraries

1. Tracking the Future of Text and Books

2. Power and Culture

3. The Importance of Diverse Voices

4. The Long Tail of Library Services Demand

5. Models for Library Information Technology Departments

6. Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change for Library Technology

7. Catalog Pull Platform Case Studies: Sinopia and Blue Core

Part 4. Pull vs. Push: Lessons from Lean Manufacturing

1. Quick Primer on Lean Manufacturing

2. The Past as a Series of Push Processes

3. The Growth and Development of Pull

4. Applying Jidoka and Heijunka: Examples of Lean Principles

5. Genchi Genbutsu

6. Kaizen

7. Improving the Flow of Patron Services

8. Kanban

9. The Andon System in Library Workflows

Part 5. Build-Measure-Learn as an OODA Directed Acyclic Graph

1. What is a OODA DAG?

2. Building for the OODA DAG

3. Measuring during the OODA DAG

4. Learning from the OODA DAG

5. Catalog Pull Platform: BML DAGs

Part 6. Innovation Accounting and Francis Taylor (Keep or Remove?)

1. Innovation Accounting versus Financial Accounting

2. Key Concepts of Innovation Accounting

3. Knowledge Stocks versus Knowledge Flows

4. Francis Taylor and the Library's Baseline

5. Accounting for Intralibrary Loan Using the Just-In-Time Principle

6. Catalog Pull Platform Case Study

Part 7. Defining Hypotheses and Managing Complexity

1. What Is a Hypothesis?

2. Using LLMs for Hypothesis Generation

3. Business Model Canvas

4. From Business Model Canvas to Defining Hypothesis

5. Managing Complexity through Lean Principles

6. Continuous Improvement through Library Operations Standardization

7. Muda, Muri, and Mura 8. Catalog Pull Platform Case Study: Sinopia and Blue Core

Part 8. Actionable Metrics from Patron Activity

1. Actionable Metrics from the Build-Measure-Learn Cycle

2. Library Patron Activity as a Library Action Metric

3. The Myth of the Monolithic Library Patron

4. AI Agents Patrons Activity

5. The Long Tail of Library Cohorts

6. Network Activity as an Actionable Metric

7. Distinguishing between Passive and Active Metrics

8. A/B Testing as an Active Metric

9. Catalog Pull Platform Case Study: A/B Testing and Privacy

Part 9. Pivoting or Persevering when Technology Changes

1. Pivoting

2. Perseverance

3. Agile Decision Point

4. Disruption Occurs

5. Responding through Tenkan

6. Catalog Pull Platform Case Study: Pivoting towards MCP-based Services

Part 10. DevOps and DataOps as Lean Strategies (Keep or Remove?)

1. Characteristics of a Healthy DevOps Department

2. DevOps for Larger Organizations

3. DevOps for Smaller Libraries

4. Vibe Coding and Operations

Part 11. The Future as a Warehouse of Active AI Agents

1. Reclaiming "Book Warehouse"

2. Smart Collections with AI Agents

3. Peer-to-Peer Lending

4. Extending into Communities

5. Increasing Serendipity through Creation Spaces

6. Leading from the Edge