Is LEAN coming to the libraries?

When processing improvement models, such as LEAN, was initially introduced within the private sector, it was only a question of time before multiple industries within the public sector, found them desirable as well. As a part of the New Public Management movement, LEAN is today seen everywhere in the public- and privat sector, and it is probably coming to a library near you too (Schubert, 2009; Schweikhart & Dembe, 2009). But what is LEAN and why does many think of LEAN negatively? Some would argue that LEAN is similar to a cost-reduction program as it may offer a method for cost-cutting strategies (Daudelin et al., 2015). However, the original idea of LEAN was to introduce cost-effectiveness (Nelson-Peterson & Leppa, 2007; Zuffo, 2011). LEAN has further found its way to the universities. The opinions of implementation of LEAN at universities are divided as one side may argue the variety of benefits and utilities that follows the new regime, and the other side may argue that the universities are now killed of in the new transformation (Lock & Lorenz, 2007; Lorenz, 2012). Nevertheless, it seems like a natural step for LEAN to be adopted at every department within the university, even the research libraries. We will present a local variant of LEAN, the so-called Model of Improvement, developed by Odense University Hospital and University of Southern Denmark. They implemented the model as a part of a new research strategy to create more efficient research procedures within clinical research as they argue will ultimately have a great benefit for the treatments and patients (Brixen et al., 2020). But what would happen if LEAN found its way to a library? The central element of our presentation is a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses related to the implementation of such process improvement systems, as LEAN, in a mid-size research library as seen at the University Library of Southern Denmark.