Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship

ISSN: 1941-126X (Print) 1941-1278 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wacq20

Applying Kanban principles to electronic resource

acquisitions with Trello

Kirsten Ostergaard

To cite this article: Kirsten Ostergaard (2016) Applying Kanban principles to electronic resource
acquisitions with Trello, Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 28:1, 48-52, DOI:
10.1080/1941126X.2016.1130464

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2016.1130464

Published online: 11 Apr 2016.

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48 E-RESOURCE ROUND UP

For us, one of the best things about implementing digital badges is realizing the many opportunities
there are to use technology in assessing and documenting how much a person knows, as well as how
committed they are to staff development.
Sol Maria Lopez
Cataloging Librarian, University of Texas at El Paso
smlopez@utep.edu
Jacob Galindo
Reference Librarian, University of Texas at El Paso
jrgalindo@utep.edu
Published with license by Taylor & Francis C 2016 Sol Maria Lopez and Jacob Galindo

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2016.1130463

Applying Kanban principles to electronic resource acquisitions with Trello

By Kirsten Ostergaard, Montana State University-Bozeman

The work of Electronic Resources Management (ERM) is broad in scope yet detailed in nature. One of
the key functions of ERM in academic libraries is the acquisition of new resources to support student,
faculty, and staff success. As electronic collections grow, the question of optimal workflow continues to
dog the profession. The Montana State University (MSU) Library Collection Development (CD) Depart-
ment decided to review and apply a workflow theory traditionally used in production and manufacturing
industries to this library operation. Kanban process management, first popularized by Toyota industrial
engineer Taiichi Ohno in the 1950’s, now guides acquisitions management at the MSU Library with the
use of Trello, a project management software. Trello is a software tool developed using Kanban princi-
ples. This article will explore the acquisitions process through the lens of workflow theory to optimize
productivity and transparency, while minimizing confusion and redundancies.

Kanban theory
Montana State University (MSU) is a midsize land-grant institution. The MSU Library manages an exten-
sive electronic resources collection in support of a broad range of academic programs; some of its largest
include agricultural sciences and the STEM fields. A team of three people in the CD Department process
new acquisitions. An acquisitions checklist, developed by Nathan Hosburgh (2014), guides the acquisi-
tions process and is broken into three distinct stages: trialing, negotiation and acquisition, and, finally,
implementation. During these stages, the CD team struggled with alternatingly redundant and dropped
communications that inhibited new acquisitions, generating confusion about project status, progression,
and completion. Without a central platform from which to work, each team member operated in isola-
tion, reducing efficiency and teamwork. After reviewing each team member’s role in procurement and
diagnosing the pain points, the CD team turned to workflow theory not traditionally utilized in the field
of librarianship for application in this library process.
The Kanban System, first developed by Toyota industrial engineer, Taiichi Ohno, is based on the phi-
losophy of eliminating waste and optimizing productivity in work environments with repetitive pro-
cesses. This visually guided process directs manufacturing with the use of Kanbans, or cards. In a Kanban
system cards are attached to pieces of work and contain information, such as job type vital to production
management. The cards act as a signal mechanism to trigger work and communicate how much and
when to produce the parts required for the piece of work. Cards are then dragged between stages of a
project. A simple physical Kanban board with a three-step process may resemble Figure 1. Ohno applies
 E-RESOURCE ROUND UP 49

Figure . A sample Kanban board with a three-step process.

samurai principles of ongoing improvement to Kanban. In Japanese, the word kaizen means “continu-
ous improvement” (Anderson, 2010). For warriors of the samurai tradition, the pursuit of perfection, in
process and ability, never stops.
The goals of the Kanban system are to reduce production time, increase speed of information
exchange, and increase productivity (Huang & Kusiak, 1996). A Kanban system creates a visual record
for project management that allows for transparency and process monitoring. Kanban highlights ineffi-
ciencies and challenges teams to focus on resolving issues to maintain a steady flow of work (Anderson,
2010). The head of CD and the electronic resources and discovery services librarian reviewed stages of
the procurement process and recognized that the principles of Kanban could be applied to procurement
in order to reduce inefficiencies and increase productivity.
For the CD team, each stage of an acquisition is comprised of relatively routine tasks that create repeat-
able patterns. Team members have unique responsibilities and, in some cases, discrete task completion
prompts new project elements to action. With these observations in mind, our goals were to create a
workflow that fostered understanding of project status, reduced excess labor and communication, cre-
ated transparency, and streamlined work for smoother acquisitions. We explored tools for similarly visual
process management and turned to Trello for the application of a new workflow using Kanban process
management.
Trello is a project management software that allows for visual process management with the use of
boards, lists, and cards. Trello offers free and fee-based subscription options. With Trello, users create
boards of lists filled with cards. Cards are moved between lists to indicate task completion. The premise
of Trello is collaborative organization so that members of a team can view project processes and status
(“What is Trello?” 2015). Features include attaching files to cards, assigning team members, creating
checklists, and assigning due dates to tasks.
Trello was an attractive option for its quick upstart time, simplified interface, and ease of use. With
minimal time and effort, the CD team created a Trello board to document and track eResource acquisi-
tions. The next section documents the implementation and use of Kanban principles using Trello.

Kanban in practice
As the electronic resources and discovery services librarian, I collaborate with the head of CD to gather
product information and negotiate pricing during an acquisition. I also arrange trials; communicate and
liaise among vendors, librarians, and patrons; review license agreements; and administer access. The
head of CD manages the materials budget and processes payment. A serials coordinator routes invoices
for payment, scans documentation for record keeping, and records payment information in our ERM
System, 360 Resource Manager.
50 E-RESOURCE ROUND UP

The CD Department organizes electronic resources acquisitions using one Trello board. The board
is divided into five lists representing different stages or outcomes of the acquisitions process. Each elec-
tronic resource is assigned a card with a checklist of activities that moves between the lists.
The Trello board is called eResource Acquisitions. The five lists follow: interest, trialing, negotiation
and acquisition, implementation, and no subscription. A Trello card is generated for each new resource
and contains a template with checklists of activities. Checklists can easily be copied between cards, allow-
ing for time-saving reuse (see Figures 2 and 3).
Cards are pulled between lists indicating the status of a particular resource in the procurement lifecy-
cle. The forward progress of one card between lists, however, is not necessarily dependent on the com-
pletion of all tasks in a given checklist. Checklists are designed to be flexible and capture a range of
acquisition activities. Specific tasks, such as scanning invoices for record keeping, are not bound to a
timeline, nor do they directly impact service and access for patrons. In these instances, the checklists
simply function to log task completion for record keeping purposes.
 E-RESOURCE ROUND UP 51

Figure . Screenshot of the Trello board.

Figure . Checklist of activities.

In addition, the wide variety and types of electronic resources, including, but not limited to, tradi-
tional database collections, video streaming services, statistical data portals, and online foreign language
learning tools, dictate that not all acquisition elements are routine. For example, some products like a for-
eign language learning tool, do not provide COUNTER compliant usage statistics or require activation
in a link resolver KnowledgeBase. In these cases, task completion is specific to resource type.
52 E-RESOURCE ROUND UP

The CD team arranged checklists according to acquisition stage and the primary person responsible
for the completion of specific tasks. With this workflow, there is no question about who is responsible
for completing a specific task or project. The clarity provided by the Trello framework allows for anyone
to step in at any stage of an acquisition to assist when needed. The Trello lists and cards provide a clear
record of trial and acquisition activities completed with each new eResource.

Conclusion
In ideal conditions, repetitive tasks are completed efficiently. Kanban is a method of control for ongoing
improvement that can be applied to repetitive tasks and visualized in one central location. The MSU
Library CD team wanted a solution that would expedite procurement, reduce bottlenecks, and miti-
gate communication confusion. Applying Kanban principles to eResource procurement improved this
process.
Unlike other project management tools, including ERMs, Microsoft Excel, and BaseCamp, Trello is a
visually appealing, flexible, low-cost option with little upstart time and a minimal learning curve. More-
over, Trello is agile and adaptable to the project or acquisition. It works well for our needs. The eRe-
source Acquisitions board, created in Trello, is a visual record for project management that allows for
transparency and process monitoring. Employees are empowered to take action and focus on producing
quality work while optimizing time management. The Kanban methodology has fostered a collaborative,
trusting environment that affords us the ability to work smarter, not harder, in this ERM practice.

References
Anderson, D. J. (2010). Kanban: Successful evolutionary change for your technology business, Sequim, WA: Blue Hole Press.
Hosburgh, N. (2014). Managing the electronic resources lifecycle: Creating a comprehensive checklist using
techniques for electronic resource management (TERMS). The Serials Librarian, 66(1–4), 212–219.
doi:10.1080/0361526X.2014.880028
Huang, C.-C., & Kusiak, A. (1996). Overview of Kanban systems. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufac-
turing, 9(3), 169–189. doi:10.1080/095119296131643
What is Trello? (2015). Trello Help. Retrieved from http://help.trello.com/article/708-what-is-trello

Kirsten Ostergaard
Electronic Resources & Discovery Services Librarian, Renne Library
Montana State University–Bozeman
kirsten.ostergaard@montana.edu
Published with license by Taylor & Francis 
C 2016 Kirsten Ostergaard

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2016.1130464

Keep honking: Making noise about e-books and resource-sharing models

By Matthew Shaw, University of Indianapolis

The traffic flow at the intersection of U.S. copyright law and e-books is not working very well—think stop
sign on the Autobahn. Libraries, which have long enjoyed the benefits of resource sharing, borrowing
and lending materials across a vast community of libraries, have been stymied by restrictive licensing
models imposed by publishers of e-books that limit the capacity of libraries to acquire reasonable tem-
porary access to full e-texts from lending partners. The core problems are related to questions about
distribution of digital content and e-book ownership. Rights holders have successfully argued that trans-
mission of digital content involves reproduction rather than distribution, and vendors and publishers
often license rather than sell electronic content. These complex issues leave libraries without much legal
leverage as they attempt to cooperatively and responsibly share e-books. The Big Five publishers (Penguin