The CFO of a medium-sized campus found a vendor to outsource library services, asserting that this will save the campus money. What should the director do to convince the CFO that this isn’t a good solution to the campus’ financial woes?

• Example scenario outline
• Example supporting infographic

• Audience

• • Primary: Chief Financial Officer
  • Secondary: Additional stakeholders (President’s Cabinet, students, faculty, etc.)

• Message

• • Focus: Make the case for the importance of the academic library and its value to the student experience. 
    • • Back it up with data — Actual effect on university budget; impact on retention, long-term academic success, engagement in research, etc.
      • Compare the pros and cons of outsourcing versus retaining library resources and services (hidden current and future costs, time lost in pre-planning and transitioning, loss of control, loss of institutional knowledge and expertise, etc.).

• Delivery method

• • Contingent on a number of factors:
    • • The CFO’s preferred communication style
      • Your relationship with them
      • Decision timeline
      • Channel: Could range from email, to one-on-one conversation, to infographic report, to full-scale presentation.
      • Schedule: Depends on the decision timeline, method of delivery and frequency.

• Source

• • The owner of the messaging (in this case, the library director) should consider the following: 
    • • How stakeholders with buy-in can help support the case
      • Who on campus can serve as allies (deans, students, staff, others), and what resources will they need to support the messaging?

Understanding your stakeholder audience and whatever their unique personas are will affect how you approach this situation.

Our primary audience here is the CFO. There will be particular nuances in communicating with this person, but our mission is to convince them that the library and its staff are:

• invaluable to the student experience 
• at the forefront of preparing for a new, technologically advanced generation of higher education
• ultimately a critical revenue driver and essential resource rather than a disposable expense. 

Our secondary audience is the additional stakeholders—anyone from the president and their leadership team to faculty and students. In addition to being part of our audience, they may also become important allies in making the case for keeping the library internal. After all, these are the people who stand to benefit from its services the most.

A good strategy for developing your talking points is to state the focus of the message and then break down the ways in which you can support and articulate it effectively.

The broad focus in this example is to make the case for the importance of the library, its value to students, and its mediating role between virtual and in-person learning as the higher education landscape continues to change. How do we do this in a convincing way for a CFO who is looking at the overall budget and possible solutions pragmatically? 

In this situation, communicating through numbers might be the best option. Nothing speaks louder than data, and often, it is simple to curate and package into talking points. The library director in this situation could point out that:

• Libraries have been receiving a shrinking piece of the pie for years. How much money could outsourcing really save the university if the library already takes up such a small percentage of the overall budget? 
• Libraries have been the most strategic units on campus in terms of embracing a technologically fluid existence. Long before instructors in the classroom had to abruptly pivot to virtual or hybrid instruction, libraries had been adopting new methods of existing and thriving in a technologically advanced world with a diminishing need for tangible resources.
• Dozens of scholarly articles assert that students who use library resources and engage directly with staff are retained at a significantly higher rate than those who do not. Moreover, they are more likely to succeed academically in the long term. Point out that every student the library helps retain is x amount of tuition revenue saved. 

Additional statistics that comprise the message could address engagement in research for both students and faculty, improvements to instruction, and so much more. Any way that the communication team can quantify their talking points will make the information more substantiated and, thus, more convincing. We can assume the CFO will want to see the hard numbers – those statistics are going to speak the loudest in a budgetary situation.

In addition to this data, comparing the pros and cons of outsourcing vs. retaining library resources is critical, especially for a CFO who is weighing different options. The library can help do the work for them in this case.

As the expert in library services, the director is in a position to point out downsides that the CFO may not anticipate. Examples include:

• Hidden current and future costs related to legalities, technology, etc.
• Significant work hours spent on pre-planning and transitioning to an outside vendor
• The loss of control in terms of adding to or modifying collections and resources
• The loss of ownership of intellectual property.

These are all budgetary landmines that will cause substantial problems down the road. Use these as your talking points.

Once the message has been developed and the evidence to support it is curated, a delivery method can be determined. The channels the crisis communication team will use to deliver the message are contingent on a number of factors, including:

• The library director’s relationship with the CFO
• The CFO’s preferred communication style 
• Decision timeline

The most important question to ask in regard to determining a delivery method is, what will get your audience’s (in this case the CFO’s) attention?

At this point, the expectation is that the crisis communication team will be able to articulate a clear case for retaining library services with some urgency. But they don’t have to go it alone. The library’s stakeholders – those who benefit from having services reside in-house – are likely willing and want to support the cause. With the appropriate resources, these individuals can easily be mobilized as allies.

• Apologize for the actions of the individual, reiterate library values, and state the consequences.

• For example, a staff member has been recorded saying unethical and controversial statements that go against the institution’s values. The library’s reputation is at stake because stakeholders are shocked and disappointed.

• Key message: “We apologize for the actions of XXX. Their statements do not reflect our library’s, nor our institution’s, values and they will be met with disciplinary action.”
• Impact: The messaging will ensure stakeholders that the actions of the employee are not being taken lightly. They will trust the library and institution more than if you said nothing at all or tried to cover up the details.

• State awareness of the problem, apologize for the inconvenience, and explain that a resolution is underway.

• • For example, in a situation where a service provider has equipment go down, all students and faculty could be affected. The library is flooded with questions and complaints and stakeholders are searching for answers.

• Key message: “We have identified an issue within our systems that is affecting how students and faculty access materials. We apologize for the inconvenience as the library works to resolve the problem. We will provide updates as they become available.”
• Impact: Stakeholders will be less frustrated as they know the root of the issue, and that there is a plan to resolve it.