Services That We Offer

DBC can provide reports on any activity for organisations wishing to change any aspect of its operation or strategic direction. David Baker has written consultancy reports for many countries on library and information transformation projects, various institutions seeking to gain taught degree awarding powers (TDAP), leadership and management benchmarking exercises and organisational training provision.

Notable recent examples include three reports written for for SCONUL to assess the strategic role of libraries and their leaders from the viewpoint of the universities’ senior management. This resulted in a publication for the commissioning body SCONUL to highlight the expectations of university leadership in the development of relevant library strategies. As a further phase of this work, Alison Allden and David Baker looked at the opportunities and transferable skills relating to international movement amongst library leaders.

David Baker has been working with the University of London since March 2020 to develop a new strategy for Senate House Library, along with the School of Advanced Study, Federal Member Institute Libraries and the University of London Worldwide. The initial report was accepted by the University in September 2020. In the light of this, David has created a major Library Transformation Programme (LTP). The work involved in developing and operationalising the report included surveys, benchmarking, focus groups and workshops.

Professor David Baker has experience of mentoring professionals from different sectors and academics reaching back to 1990. He is currently heavily involved in mentoring for CILIP Chartership, Certification and Fellowship status (the UK’s library and information association). The focus is on developing and nurturing staff while learning new ideas and approaches from other professionals. Mentoring can be undertaken in person, by email, by telephone or through online platforms.

DBC has a wealth of experience in delivering face-to-face and online workshops for a range of projects and purposes. These can be for the purpose of stakeholder engagement, data gathering or as part of a communications strategy. Workshops, interviews and focus groups are carried out consistently and coherently to give maximum value of data and information gathered. This is done through agreed pro forma and protocols.

The DBC team can offer project management and change management training using previous live (anonymised) projects. A DBC Associate is PRINCE2 trained.

David Baker has delivered training in library management and information systems for senior leaders, library tecnhnicians and assistants for many countries of the world including, Slovenia, Ireland, Kuwait, Hungary, Germany and Portugal and has published several training guides, including on the subject of co-operative training in this area. He has also provided training and development for third world countries such as Ethiopia and Nigeria and has published a book on this.

In 2022, DBC is undertaking a major international benchmarking exercise based on the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) model. It is being led by David Baker, Caroline Williams (Librarian of the University of Queensland for academic and research libraries in the Australia and South Pacific region), Cliff Wragg and Lucy Ellis. The title is “Benchmarking Library, Information And Education Services: New Strategic Choices In Challenging Times”. An Elsevier book publication bearing the same title will be published in early 2023. The benchmarking model can be adapted for any organisational purpose.

DBC Associates worked in 2021 on a scoping study commissioned by Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It resulted in a wealth of evidence of the role and potential of research libraries as partners and leaders of research, contributing to longer-term strategic development in the process. A range of research techniques were used for this and other consultancies such as surveys, benchmarking, focus groups and workshops. Two senior associates have research backgrounds and PhDs and the Director, Professor Baker, has a substantial and significant track record in research and publishing.

DBC has been developing strategic plans at organisational and pan-organisational levels for many years, not least through working in chief executive and governance roles as well as high-level consultancy work. We are accustomed to working with governing bodies, steering committees, task forces and other groupings to shape strategic direction and effect major organisational change as a result.

Our biographical details demonstrate that we have developed, written and implemented many strategic plans, including for the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc), as well as contributing to strategy development for the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) and Research Libraries UK (RLUK).

DBC delivers high-quality consultancy projects in higher education both nationally and internationally, with a long-standing track record, especially in strategy development. Associates have a broad and deep knowledge of the field.