248740885 ITIL A Framework for Managing Digital Library Services

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OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives
ITIL: a framework for managing digital library services
Frank Cervone
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Frank Cervone, (2008),"ITIL: a framework for managing digital library services", OCLC Systems & Services:
International digital library perspectives, Vol. 24 Iss 2 pp. 87 - 90
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MANAGING DIGITAL LIBRARIES:
THE VIEW FROM 30,000 FEET
ITIL: a framework for managing
digital library services
Frank Cervone
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework and its relevance to digital library projects and operations.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the ITIL framework.
Findings – The use of the ITIL has been pervasive in the corporate environment, particularly in the
UK. With the release of version 3 of the library, the use of the library is expected to grow and expand
into newer areas, such as digital library infrastructure management.
Originality/value – This paper fills a gap in the digital library management literature by exploring
the applicability of the ITIL framework as a means for more effectively developing and delivering
services in IT organizations that support digital libraries.
Keywords Communication technologies, Project management, Service levels, Digital libraries,
Information operations
Paper type General review
It seems that no matter whom you talk to, everyone claims to use best practices. While
most people would consider this a good thing, the problem with best practices is that
discovering and implementing them is not always an obvious or easy task. Most
operational areas, including information technology, have wrestled with this problem
for years. Many different methodologies and frameworks for optimizing the use of
information technology have emerged over the course of the last 40 years or so, but
most of these appear to have fallen into historical obscurity. For example, does anyone
still use total quality management (TQM)? Or from an even more distant past,
management by objectives (MBO)? Most people would say, “No, we’ve moved beyond
that.”
While it is true we have moved beyond explicitly thinking about TQM and MBO as
distinct methodologies today, neither has simply vanished from the face of the planet
either. What actually happened is that the most useful parts of the methodologies were
incorporated into our day to day practice. And then, one day, somewhat mysteriously,
neither of them was something we “did” anymore. The good parts of TQM and MBO
just became part of our everyday procedures, practices, and processes. This is one of
the dilemmas of best practices: if they stand the test of time we get so used to using
them and we forget about them as a distinct entity as the useful parts have just become
second nature.
It would seem that this cyclic pattern is not a barrier to our adoption of best
practices. As this paper was being written, a quick search of Google indicated there
were approximately 39,600,000 results for “best practices.” Clearly, people are using
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1065-075X.htm
Managing digital
library services
87
OCLC Systems & Services:
International digital library
perspectives
Vol. 24 No. 2, 2008
pp. 87-90
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1065-075X
DOI 10.1108/10650750810875430
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best practices and apparently quite a number of them as well. The question haunting
many technology managers is “How do we decide which best practices apply to us and
our digital library projects?”
For many issues related to digital libraries, the answers are more obvious in some
areas than in others. For example, when confronted with issues related to digital
repositories and preservation planning, one can consult documents such as the “Draft
DCC curation lifecycle model” (Higgins, 2007) or the Trustworthy Repositories Audit &
Certification (TRAC): Criteria and Checklist (2007) for guidance about best practices. In
other areas, such as technology infrastructure management for digital libraries, the
answers may not be as obvious as many of the answers come from outside the library
technology community.
A comprehensive source of information on best practice in information technology
infrastructure management has been, until fairly recently, relatively unknown outside
of the UK. However, with the recent release of the third version of the Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), this framework will certainly become a more
prominent factor in discussions of best practice related to digital library infrastructure
management.
The theoretical basis of ITIL can be traced back to seminal work done in the early
1970s related to the management of large information technology operations. Using
stage theory as a basis, Nolan (1973) was one of the first to propose that information
systems, rather than being static monolithic entities, have a life cycle and that for the
management of an IT system is to be successful for the long term, the methods for
managing the system have to change over the course of time as well. From this and
other related work, further investigation in this area, particularly by researchers at
IBM such as Van Schaik (1985), led to the development of IBM’s information systems
management architecture in the mid-1980s.
At approximately the same time, the Central Computer and Telecommunications
Agency (CCTA) in the UK had begun development of what would become the first
version of ITIL in response to internal problems it was facing with its systems. For that
inauspicious beginning, the ITIL has grown become an international standard
(ISO/IEC 20000) which provides a cohesive set of best practice for information
technology service management which is drawn from the public and private sectors
worldwide (www.itil-officialsite.com).
Part of the reason many organizations have adopted ITIL is because it offers a
systematic approach to providing and managing information technology services.
Knowledge derived over the course of the last 20 years related to these issues provides
within ITIL an overall framework and set of best practices that afford organizations
with a significant number of benefits. In addition to general concerns such as reducing
costs, improving customer satisfaction, and improving productivity, ITIL can also help
in providing effective ways of defining metrics and measuring their outcomes.
ITIL focuses on the service lifecycle associated with a project. Information
technology organizations in libraries that choose to improve service using ITIL will
have to spend time thinking about the lifecycle of services they provide. This may be a
bit complicated as while this is something we do consider in relationship to physical
assets, it is not something which we normally contemplate for services. For example,
physical equipment has a clear lifecycle that begins with a requisition request and ends
with equipment retirement. Services, on the other hand, are influenced by all of the
OCLC
24,2
88
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processes within the IT organization. Quality, stability, and availability are all directly
dependent on processes within the service lifecycle.
However, unlike other guidelines and best practices we may use in digital libraries,
ITIL is not solely focused on technical issues. In the latest version of ITIL, its scope has
broaden to encompass how the services and functions within an information
technology organization align with and add value to the larger organization.
Consequently, in addition to pragmatic advice on best practices in managing
technological issues, ITIL also focuses on issues related to ensuring projects embarked
upon are relevant and useful from the perspective of the larger organization and are not
things that are implemented just for the sake of enhancing technology. By using
an “end-to-end” perspective that views services from their creation to their eventual
demise, one of the principal questions related to services becomes “How do we create
value for the organization by developing and implementing services that are
innovative?”
While it may sound that ITIL focuses primarily on operational issues, this is not the
case. Within the ITIL framework, there are many stakeholders that form part of
the team, some of whom have not traditionally considered themselves to be part of the
service implementation function. For instance, system developers play a large role in
developing good infrastructure service management processes. Involvement of
programmers and system analysts ensures that capacity needs as well as anticipated
costs and availability of services will be considered early on in the design and
implementation of the project. For effective service design, customers of the digital
library must be considered as well. Years of ITIL usage has proven that close
cooperation with customers as well as a modicum of understanding of the ITIL process
by the customers, helps guarantee that information technology services will serve the
purposes of the organization.
Understanding ITIL takes a bit of doing. In the prior version of ITIL, the
methodology was described in a set of nine books. In version 3, this has been reduced
to five books that cover the major areas of IT service when an organization is using a
lifecycle approach. The five books in the sets include:
(1) Service Strategy. Explores the issues related to management information
technology as an integral part of an organization. The focus in ITIL is to define
those processes, services, and methods that will most effectively promote
success of the organization as a whole. As part of this, this book describes a
framework for making trade-offs within a service portfolio management context
which presents approaches for determining when to continue and discontinue
services.
(2) Service Design. Focuses on the identification and development of services that
are cost-effective, work as they were designed to, while aligning with and
promoting the goals of the organization.
(3) Service Transition. A completely new take on change management that
concedes change is far more complex than traditional methodologies
have acknowledged. Within this construct, best practices are explored that
provide for testing and roll out in a controlled manner while balancing
the goals of mitigating risk, assuring quality, and promoting agility and
responsiveness.
Managing digital
library services
89
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(4) Service Operation. Focuses on the details of supporting and delivering services.
(5) Continual Service Improvement. Discusses how to promote continuous
improvement as well as providing pragmatic metrics and measurements
related to monitoring quality and cost of services.
An added benefit of the new version is that rather than focusing exclusively on
technical staff within IT organizations, ITIL now provides material that people outside
of IT will find useful. For example, version 3 of ITIL addresses concerns that senior
managers may have about resource allocation, decision making related to trade-offs,
and measuring outcomes. Another feature of this new version is that it documents
standardized definitions of IT services and processes. Using these standardized
definitions can help reduce the costs of services as well as provide end-users with
consistent results and costs.
A major drawback to implementing ITIL is the cost of the ITIL library. The cost of
the complete library is approximately $800, which is a considerable investment in most
organizations. Given the scope of ITIL, it is difficult to condense all the information
into smaller volumes, but there are some recent titles, such as the Introduction to the
ITIL Service Lifecycle from the Office of Government and Commerce UK, that provide a
comprehensive overview of the methodology.
Anyone involved in the management of digital library projects understands the
difficulties and complexities of these types of projects. While we have many guidelines
and best practices that are related to technical issues in digital libraries, the broader
service delivery issues have not been explored in great detail. Using ITIL, managers of
digital libraries, as well as users, can get a clearer picture of all the issues and at the
same time learn how other areas in information technology have successfully
addressed similar issues.
References
Higgins, S. (2007), “Draft DCC curation lifecycle model”, International Journal of Digital Curation,
Vol. 2 No. 2, available at: www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/45/52, (accessed February 3, 2008).
Nolan, R.L. (1973), “Managing the computer resource: a stage hypothesis”, Communications of
the ACM, Vol. 16 No. 7, pp. 300-405.
Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC): Criteria and Checklist (2007), Center for
Research Libraries, Chicago, IL, available at: www.crl.edu/PDF/trac.pdf (accessed
February 3, 2008).
Van Schaik, E.A. (1985), A Management
System for the Information Business: Organizational
Analysis, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Corresponding author
Frank Cervone can be contacted at: f-cervone@northwestern.edu
OCLC
24,2
90
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This article has been cited by:
1. Professor Zahir Irani, Norita Ahmad, Noha Tarek Amer, Faten Qutaifan, Azza Alhilali. 2013. Technology
adoption model and a road map to successful implementation of ITIL. Journal of Enterprise Information
Management 26:5, 553-576. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
2. Norita Ahmad, Zulkifli M. Shamsudin. 2013. Systematic Approach to Successful Implementation of
ITIL. Procedia Computer Science 17, 237-244. [CrossRef]
3. Mauricio Marrone, Lutz M. Kolbe. 2011. Uncovering ITIL claims: IT executives’ perception on benefits
and Business-IT alignment. Information Systems and e-Business Management 9:3, 363-380. [CrossRef]
4. Mauricio Marrone, Lutz M. Kolbe. 2011. Einfluss von IT-Service-Management-Frameworks auf die IT-
Organisation. WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK 53:1, 5-19. [CrossRef]
5. Mauricio Marrone, Lutz M. Kolbe. 2011. Impact of IT Service Management Frameworks on  the  IT
Organization. Business & Information Systems Engineering 3:1, 5-18. [CrossRef]
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