Managing the film library: what to do until the panacea arrives

Today's imaging departments are complex and often decentralized. Despite such growth, the film library is often overlooked and minimally planned for. The oversight may come from the anticipation of picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), considered by many to be the panacea for film management, but in reality, still only a concept, or at best, in its early stages. Since most departments do not anticipate going filmless for many years and others expect to continue hard copy imaging at a 20 to 30 percent rate, managing the film library remains an important issue. In general, film librarians' daily work remains labor intensive, despite attempts to automate some tasks. Yet when cutbacks are made, this support staff is often cut. One way to deal with service and expansion issues in the film library is to stop and evaluate the situation, assess the decline in the level of service, and determine what issues need improvement. Managers should gather information, analyze the data and listen to all interested parties to be sure they understand the overall problems, often best done by someone from outside the department. Analyzing and evaluating work processes, even observing the design of work areas, can be useful in understanding productivity inside the department. An invaluable way to gather data is to listen to those who carry out the daily tasks and those who use the services. Until their needs are understood by management, further changes will have minimal success. When a list of issues is assembled, managers should establish a team to review and prioritize them. Team members will need to understand departmental long-term plans before making recommendations. While every library's operations are unique, a key problem remains lost films. Policies and procedures for removing films must come from hospital senior administration, while managing film within the department is everyone's job. With the chaos under control, managers will be ready to face the challenge of electronic imaging.