It continues to be harder than I imagined to keep up with this blog, although the events of the past couple of weeks have provided a plenty of grist for the mill. Our RTF colleagues provided us with a values list, distilled from our retreat deliberations. I really liked them and the way they were enumerated:
Here at Joyner Library we value…
Service
Respect for others
Life-long learning
Information access
Robust collections
Privacy
Collaboration
Leadership
Innovation
Open communication
Accountability
Empowerment
Diversity
Safety
Fun!
They will soon be distributing vision and mission statements—again reflecting on the retreat discussions. Once these documents are distributed we will have a library wide discussion about making these documents an integral part of our strategic plan.
I also wanted to thank everyone for attending the “ALS Opening Meeting” this past Monday. As usual the food and camaraderie were excellent. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity of sharing our bragging points with all of you. We had a full and exciting 2006-2007, and this new academic year is already off to a great start. September 1 is my official one year anniversary, although as you will probably remember, Sue & I took the month of September to visit Guatemala and study Spanish. I truly cannot believe that it has been one year already.
For those of you who missed the presentation, but want to review the presentation, you can check out my new personal website, http://personal.ecu.edu/boyerl/index.html. The presentation can be accessed at the ALS 2007 tab.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Expectations
At our retreat last week, I was intrigued and fascinated by the list of roles and expectations of leaders the group came up with. For me it seems a perfect report card, especially in measuring interpersonal skills, although I have added one. I plan to take it out and look at it on a regular basis, and at the end of this year ask the Library to grade me on these:
Set an example
Have an open door
Solicit different perspectives and listen to understand
Be approachable
Give me your full attention
Focus on me, why I’m there
Offer feed back
Have a pleasant, open expression
Follow up
Provide positive reinforcement
Recognize that it’s a reciprocal relationship
Be willing to be led
Be open to feedback
Get to know your colleagues-their preferences, styles, etc.
Respect their differences and those with you
Don’t assume, know what you know
Communicate what, how, and why if decisions, let staff know why
Seek to motivate others
Provide development and training
Mentor others
Set clear and attainable expectations
Don’t ask others to do what you aren’t prepared to do
Practice ethical leadership
Make decisions, take timely action
Solicit input from those affected, expected to implement
Set clear priorities for work
Be proactive, anticipate problems, be ready to act
Accept new ideas and methods
Ask for help
Have fun!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Retreat July 31, 2007
Yesterday was the Library’s Revisioning Task Force Retreat. The comments that I have heard over and over again was how much fun it was, what a good idea, and how great it was to be with your Joyner colleagues all day and to have the opportunity to get to know or even meet some of your colleagues.
I have heard from more than one person “I have worked in this Library for years, but at the retreat I was able to put faces with names for the first time.”
Others have told me that they loved working together on group activities with folks from across the Library, including our colleagues in the Music Library. Many have also asked me when can we do this again? Nothing is planned, but I certainly will keep this in mind when planning our schedule for the next few months.
I loved the openness and willingness to speak up. I thought that Maureen really handled the entire day with such professionalism and aplomb. I can not remember when I have seen such a good facilitator. Thanks again to the RTF for all of their hard work—planning, finding and hiring Maureen, choosing the Murphy Center, and the feeding us. It all went off w/o a hitch. Would that everything we do works so well, What do you think?
Treo phone photos from the retreat (my apologies for the quality)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73835453@N00/sets/72157601143719776/
I have heard from more than one person “I have worked in this Library for years, but at the retreat I was able to put faces with names for the first time.”
Others have told me that they loved working together on group activities with folks from across the Library, including our colleagues in the Music Library. Many have also asked me when can we do this again? Nothing is planned, but I certainly will keep this in mind when planning our schedule for the next few months.
I loved the openness and willingness to speak up. I thought that Maureen really handled the entire day with such professionalism and aplomb. I can not remember when I have seen such a good facilitator. Thanks again to the RTF for all of their hard work—planning, finding and hiring Maureen, choosing the Murphy Center, and the feeding us. It all went off w/o a hitch. Would that everything we do works so well, What do you think?
Treo phone photos from the retreat (my apologies for the quality)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73835453@N00/sets/72157601143719776/
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Faculty Perceptions of the Library
Educause Review floats across my desk as a matter of course, so I try to take the time to read it as I often find it informative and useful. The most recent issue has an interesting, library relevant article by Roger Schonfeld and Keven Guthrie, “The Changing Information Services Needs of Faculty,” (July/August 2007, p. 8-9). The authors report on a recently JSTOR cosponsored survey of librarians and faculty about “attitudes and perceptions toward an increasingly electronic environment.” There are four points that caught my attention:
· Faculty perceive themselves as becoming decreasingly dependent on the library for their research and teaching needs;
· Despite this perception, the vast majority of faculty members view the “librarian’s role just as important now as in the past, and none believe their institutions should redirect library expenditures.”
· “The consultative role of the librarian in helping faculty in their research and teaching is viewed as an important function by most librarians, but most faculty members do not put the same emphasis on this role of the library.”
· Faculty members and librarians support the transition from print journals to electronic formats, “But neither faculty nor librarians want existing hardcopy collections to be discarded…”
My reflections…we have our work cut out for us.
· When faculty say that they are decreasingly dependent on the library for their research and teaching needs, I think that they have no idea how hard we are working to provide access to all of the electronic resources that they use from their office desk or their home, or how much money we spend buying access to these resources and getting the best possible deal. How can we better communicate this effort?
· Thankfully, despite this misperception, most faculty (and administrators I hope) do not support redirecting library expenditures. How long can we hope or expect this attitude to continue? ECU has been enjoying some very good budget years lately; what happens if this situation changes?
· We librarians are convinced that we can and do provide a valuable consultative role to faculty, if they will only ask. Is that true? Then why this perception? This only fortifies my determination to strengthen and enhance or perhaps totally revamp our library liaison program. This is the best possible strategy for combating this perception, but what else should we do?
· Am I the only person at Joyner who thinks that we have to explore discarding bound paper copies of journals if we have guaranteed access to the information that we have purchased, through agreements with the publishers or closed archive agreements such as LOCKSS?
· Faculty perceive themselves as becoming decreasingly dependent on the library for their research and teaching needs;
· Despite this perception, the vast majority of faculty members view the “librarian’s role just as important now as in the past, and none believe their institutions should redirect library expenditures.”
· “The consultative role of the librarian in helping faculty in their research and teaching is viewed as an important function by most librarians, but most faculty members do not put the same emphasis on this role of the library.”
· Faculty members and librarians support the transition from print journals to electronic formats, “But neither faculty nor librarians want existing hardcopy collections to be discarded…”
My reflections…we have our work cut out for us.
· When faculty say that they are decreasingly dependent on the library for their research and teaching needs, I think that they have no idea how hard we are working to provide access to all of the electronic resources that they use from their office desk or their home, or how much money we spend buying access to these resources and getting the best possible deal. How can we better communicate this effort?
· Thankfully, despite this misperception, most faculty (and administrators I hope) do not support redirecting library expenditures. How long can we hope or expect this attitude to continue? ECU has been enjoying some very good budget years lately; what happens if this situation changes?
· We librarians are convinced that we can and do provide a valuable consultative role to faculty, if they will only ask. Is that true? Then why this perception? This only fortifies my determination to strengthen and enhance or perhaps totally revamp our library liaison program. This is the best possible strategy for combating this perception, but what else should we do?
· Am I the only person at Joyner who thinks that we have to explore discarding bound paper copies of journals if we have guaranteed access to the information that we have purchased, through agreements with the publishers or closed archive agreements such as LOCKSS?
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Reflections on WG I's Report
I was recently re-reading Work Group I Final Report, and they brought up a number of issues which I think we need to address and try to put behind us—because they are keeping us from being as efficient and effective as we could and should be. Among the issues:
· Delayed or failed decision making: employees have become frustrated by pouring energy into a project or idea only to have it fall apart when no one will make a decision to carry it forward. This is a frustration that I too often experience as well. My proposed solution—be personally more accountable and ask others to be also. I am going to try to make sure that when a problem is identified, the responsible party is identified—so be warned!
· Divisive leadership in the past has led to a “Them against us” mentality. I sure hope this is no longer the case; I have continuously stressed that I have an open door policy; and I have done my best to stay in close communication with the Library. More importantly, I will never knowingly pit one against another. The Library is One Team—we all should be serving the same customer—our students, faculty and community.
· Will the Library be departmentally isolated as in the past or will there be a greater emphasis on teamwork to accomplish task? Yes, we are about teamwork.
· The subject liaison system needs immediate attention—I couldn’t agree more. This needs to be a priority for the Library.
· All departments could benefit from procedures wikis. Who can lead this for us?
· Marketing the Library is essential. Yes, it is. One of the most important marketing and outreach opportunities we will have in the near future will be the Chancellor’s and Provost’s visit to the Library on Thursday, September 13. We know that the Library is the Heart of the Campus—but sometimes it is too much taken for granted—and our users don’t really understand how we have adapted to the new “electronic reality,” while still needing to maintain a place for students and faculty to meet, study and do research.
· The entire student hiring system, including balancing the investiture of time to train students against the high turnover rate, the need to keep students occupied during slow times, and the attendant paperwork that consumes much time. I have asked CJ to take this task on, but also let me say that I will never advocate that we stop hiring students—despite the hiring, training, and retention problems. Providing our students an opportunity to work on campus and learn new skills is one of our main responsibilities—and provides a learning opportunity ever bit as important as the classroom.
· Committee work takes up too much time. Does it? How can we function w/o committee? I do like the suggestion that we learn how to run meetings better and more efficiently, these include: prepared agendas, information sharing before meetings, etc. Again will ask CJ to provide some training for all of us in this important skill.
· We need to have a better calendaring system—let’s ask our friends in Computing, Digital and Web Services to work on this for us.
· Why have so many of us created ghost systems for tracking orders, acquisitions, and cataloging. R2 identified this problem as well and it really needs to be addressed.
· Finally, a centralized system of new staff and faculty mentoring would allow newbies to receive all the information they need to be successful. I have asked the Faculty Affairs Committee to look into this; once we have that process moving forward, we will address the same issue for staff.
What did you find interesting or noteworthy in the Work Group's Report? What should we move on?
· Delayed or failed decision making: employees have become frustrated by pouring energy into a project or idea only to have it fall apart when no one will make a decision to carry it forward. This is a frustration that I too often experience as well. My proposed solution—be personally more accountable and ask others to be also. I am going to try to make sure that when a problem is identified, the responsible party is identified—so be warned!
· Divisive leadership in the past has led to a “Them against us” mentality. I sure hope this is no longer the case; I have continuously stressed that I have an open door policy; and I have done my best to stay in close communication with the Library. More importantly, I will never knowingly pit one against another. The Library is One Team—we all should be serving the same customer—our students, faculty and community.
· Will the Library be departmentally isolated as in the past or will there be a greater emphasis on teamwork to accomplish task? Yes, we are about teamwork.
· The subject liaison system needs immediate attention—I couldn’t agree more. This needs to be a priority for the Library.
· All departments could benefit from procedures wikis. Who can lead this for us?
· Marketing the Library is essential. Yes, it is. One of the most important marketing and outreach opportunities we will have in the near future will be the Chancellor’s and Provost’s visit to the Library on Thursday, September 13. We know that the Library is the Heart of the Campus—but sometimes it is too much taken for granted—and our users don’t really understand how we have adapted to the new “electronic reality,” while still needing to maintain a place for students and faculty to meet, study and do research.
· The entire student hiring system, including balancing the investiture of time to train students against the high turnover rate, the need to keep students occupied during slow times, and the attendant paperwork that consumes much time. I have asked CJ to take this task on, but also let me say that I will never advocate that we stop hiring students—despite the hiring, training, and retention problems. Providing our students an opportunity to work on campus and learn new skills is one of our main responsibilities—and provides a learning opportunity ever bit as important as the classroom.
· Committee work takes up too much time. Does it? How can we function w/o committee? I do like the suggestion that we learn how to run meetings better and more efficiently, these include: prepared agendas, information sharing before meetings, etc. Again will ask CJ to provide some training for all of us in this important skill.
· We need to have a better calendaring system—let’s ask our friends in Computing, Digital and Web Services to work on this for us.
· Why have so many of us created ghost systems for tracking orders, acquisitions, and cataloging. R2 identified this problem as well and it really needs to be addressed.
· Finally, a centralized system of new staff and faculty mentoring would allow newbies to receive all the information they need to be successful. I have asked the Faculty Affairs Committee to look into this; once we have that process moving forward, we will address the same issue for staff.
What did you find interesting or noteworthy in the Work Group's Report? What should we move on?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
59 & holding
Yesterday was my 59th birthday; it was lots of fun to spend with my colleagues at Joyner. Besides a myriad of cards & electronic greetings, Frances & Gena were kind enough to stand in the hot noon day sun at B's Barbeque to bring back barbeque pork and chicken for a veritable birthday lunch. To say that I over indulged is probably not stretching the truth. Last night Sue & I grilled steaks--please don't anyone tell my family doctor who tells me that my cholesterol is already out of control.
Today, I went to visit the library at Elizbeth City Statue University. along with Ann Carol and Beth. We were warmly welcomed by Juanita Midgett, the Interim Director, and given a tour of the facility. We also talked about some things that we can colloaborate on, including some possible grant proposals. In addition, we invited as many as can come to visit Joyner on August 3rd, when Helene Blowers will be talking to the Library about "Library 2.0." Juanita was truly excited & plans to come and bring a number of her colleagues and spend the entire day with us. The Little Library is a wonderful facility, striving to serve the needs of the faculty and students of ECSU but they also face a number of challenges--mostly because of the limited resources they have historically received. I truly hope this will be the beginning a new and mutually rewarding collaborative effort on both of our instituitions parts.
Today, I went to visit the library at Elizbeth City Statue University. along with Ann Carol and Beth. We were warmly welcomed by Juanita Midgett, the Interim Director, and given a tour of the facility. We also talked about some things that we can colloaborate on, including some possible grant proposals. In addition, we invited as many as can come to visit Joyner on August 3rd, when Helene Blowers will be talking to the Library about "Library 2.0." Juanita was truly excited & plans to come and bring a number of her colleagues and spend the entire day with us. The Little Library is a wonderful facility, striving to serve the needs of the faculty and students of ECSU but they also face a number of challenges--mostly because of the limited resources they have historically received. I truly hope this will be the beginning a new and mutually rewarding collaborative effort on both of our instituitions parts.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Fun in the Sun
I did not write anything last week—much of the time I was on vacation. Early in the week, Sue and I spent three days at Atlantic Beach with my elder daughter, Bryn, and her husband Grant. What a relaxing time, and to have 80 degree, non-humid weather during the first week of July is nothing short of extraordinary.
Friday, we all traveled up to DC for our niece Susie’s, wedding. She was a beautiful bride and I was fortunate enough to be able to walk her down the aisle.
Ah, but back to the Library and business.
Yesterday, I heard Gloria Bradshaw say something which I plan to take as my personal mantra, “We should do our jobs and our duties by providing help as if we were the ones who needed it.”
I was really glad to see the turn out to hear the presentation of the R2 Workflow Analysis—there must have been 70 or more people. Rick and Hester did a great job, and you seemed very engaged. Jan Lewis sent out the report to everyone in the Library. Please, please take some quality time to read through the report very carefully, make notes, and note your questions—then pass those on to Jan as soon as you can. I have asked Jan to form up an Implementation Task Force to set priorities and put forth a time line for implementation. R2 has a great deal of experience in doing these analyses and my initial impression is that they were right on in their recommendations, so I am assuming we will be carrying out their recommendations unless there is some overwhelming reason not to. There are some very time critical recommendations, and I hope we can act on them quickly. Of course, we will not be able to carry out all of the recommendations, and certainly won’t be able to carry out all of them in the next couple of weeks. Still I think that R2 has given us a blueprint to make some substantive and needed changes.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
June 2007 ALA
Before I headed off for the beach, I wanted to get down my thoughts about ALA. I have always enjoyed ALA, but in recent years as I have become more active in committee work, there is less time for programs and the exhibits. This year was no exception, and perhaps worse than ever.
As chair-elect of LAMA’s Building and Equipment Section (BES), I had to attend the LAMA Board meeting, which meets twice—from 8:00 – 12:00 on Saturday and the same time on Tuesday. Since our section’s all committee meeting is Monday from 8:00-12:00, you can see my time was severely limited. For me, it is worth it. BES routinely puts on one or two pre-conferences and five or six programs. In Anaheim next June, the section will provide a pre-conference tour of libraries in Santa Monica and Cerritos—both of them green and award winning facilities. Programs will include offerings on Security & Preservation of Rare Materials; Redesigning and Repurposing Existing Library Space, “PeopleSpaces in Libraries:”Top Building Trends, Sustainable Libraries, ALA-IIDA Library Interior Design Awards; Planning a Capital Project; Ergonomics, and Building Blocks for Planning Functional Library Space—I only hope that I get to sit in on a couple of them.
I attended one terrible program, entitled “Transforming your Library though Technology,” which was offered by ALA but unfortunately was very mundane and basic and offered little food for thought. I did, however, attend the LAMA Presidential Program which featured Frances Hesselbein. Ms Hesselbein, the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of America, is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Governors of the Leader to Leader Institute. A petite mature woman with a very quiet voice, she held her audience spell bound and challenged all of us to care and trust one another and especially to work for America’s young people and children—our future.
For me, the other worthwhile program was the 23rd presentation of AIA/ALA Library Building Awards, which is sponsored by the American Library Association and the American Institute of Architects, and administered by BES. Some of this year’s winners included new library buildings or renovations at Santa Monica College, Lafayette College, Seattle’s Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center, and La Grande Bibliotheque in Montreal, Canada. I enjoy seeing the winning libraries and it is exiting hearing the architects and librarians talk about bringing their ideas to fruition. After my term as Chair of the Section, I have volunteered to serve on the committee making these awards, so I am looking forward to that time. I would urge you to put this awards program on your ALA to do list, alternating years with the ALSA-IIDA Library Interior Design Awards which will be presented next year in Anaheim.
I was also able to spend some time with R2’s Rick Lugg, along with Hester Campbell, talking about their return visit to Joyner on July 10. They had their first draft of their report, which we discussed in part; their final draft will be delivered to us next week. They, however, have asked us not to distribute the report to the Library until after their presentation. Through experience, they have found that this works best.
Along with Blythe, I also met with Maureen Sullivan who will be leading the Library on a visioning retreat this coming July 31. I felt that Maureen and I immediately clicked—she and I are the same Myers-Briggs type indicator—ENFP. The best way I have of explaining that is that there are no trees in my forest. Well, that is just an aside; Maureen has extensive experience leading libraries though change, and I think all of will get a lot out of the sessions.
I did not get much time to go through the exhibits--my favorite thing is to look at the children's books--and to buy books for my hoped for "grandchildren." Joyner Library had a booth--staffed mostly by our TRC colleagues and other participants in our Eastern North Carolina Digital Program. They certainly are good ambassadors for Joyner and ECU. Thanks guys!
As chair-elect of LAMA’s Building and Equipment Section (BES), I had to attend the LAMA Board meeting, which meets twice—from 8:00 – 12:00 on Saturday and the same time on Tuesday. Since our section’s all committee meeting is Monday from 8:00-12:00, you can see my time was severely limited. For me, it is worth it. BES routinely puts on one or two pre-conferences and five or six programs. In Anaheim next June, the section will provide a pre-conference tour of libraries in Santa Monica and Cerritos—both of them green and award winning facilities. Programs will include offerings on Security & Preservation of Rare Materials; Redesigning and Repurposing Existing Library Space, “PeopleSpaces in Libraries:”Top Building Trends, Sustainable Libraries, ALA-IIDA Library Interior Design Awards; Planning a Capital Project; Ergonomics, and Building Blocks for Planning Functional Library Space—I only hope that I get to sit in on a couple of them.
I attended one terrible program, entitled “Transforming your Library though Technology,” which was offered by ALA but unfortunately was very mundane and basic and offered little food for thought. I did, however, attend the LAMA Presidential Program which featured Frances Hesselbein. Ms Hesselbein, the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of America, is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Governors of the Leader to Leader Institute. A petite mature woman with a very quiet voice, she held her audience spell bound and challenged all of us to care and trust one another and especially to work for America’s young people and children—our future.
For me, the other worthwhile program was the 23rd presentation of AIA/ALA Library Building Awards, which is sponsored by the American Library Association and the American Institute of Architects, and administered by BES. Some of this year’s winners included new library buildings or renovations at Santa Monica College, Lafayette College, Seattle’s Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center, and La Grande Bibliotheque in Montreal, Canada. I enjoy seeing the winning libraries and it is exiting hearing the architects and librarians talk about bringing their ideas to fruition. After my term as Chair of the Section, I have volunteered to serve on the committee making these awards, so I am looking forward to that time. I would urge you to put this awards program on your ALA to do list, alternating years with the ALSA-IIDA Library Interior Design Awards which will be presented next year in Anaheim.
I was also able to spend some time with R2’s Rick Lugg, along with Hester Campbell, talking about their return visit to Joyner on July 10. They had their first draft of their report, which we discussed in part; their final draft will be delivered to us next week. They, however, have asked us not to distribute the report to the Library until after their presentation. Through experience, they have found that this works best.
Along with Blythe, I also met with Maureen Sullivan who will be leading the Library on a visioning retreat this coming July 31. I felt that Maureen and I immediately clicked—she and I are the same Myers-Briggs type indicator—ENFP. The best way I have of explaining that is that there are no trees in my forest. Well, that is just an aside; Maureen has extensive experience leading libraries though change, and I think all of will get a lot out of the sessions.
I did not get much time to go through the exhibits--my favorite thing is to look at the children's books--and to buy books for my hoped for "grandchildren." Joyner Library had a booth--staffed mostly by our TRC colleagues and other participants in our Eastern North Carolina Digital Program. They certainly are good ambassadors for Joyner and ECU. Thanks guys!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Funding the Margin of Excellence
Keeping up with this blog is even harder than I imagined. I am constantly confronted by two problems—lack of time to write and lack of anything of worth to say.
For me the last week here at Joyner has been really hectic, with having to participate in two to three evaluations on the days that I am here—and then there is the problem that I don’t seem to always be able to be here. Yesterday, along with Alan White form the College of Arts and Sciences, I participated in a follow up to April’s ECU Foundation Spring meeting, working on strategic planning for the organization. The Strategic Planning Committee is led by Carol Mabe, who recently during our Staff Development Day led the Library in a discussion of branding and marketing. Carol, who is joining the Board of Trustees, is an excellent and well organized leader. She helped us come up with a Vision for the ECU Foundation—Funding the “Margin of Excellence” for ECU. We will take that vision plus some strategic goals to the Foundation Board in October. It seems very likely that the University will launch a Capital Campaign in the next year or so and is looking to raise from $50 to $100 million. I hope the Library can be an active participant in that campaign.
I have very much enjoyed an email debate that has been going on among the members of the RTF about appointments and recruiting—with the Task Force recommending that we not do any more appointments at least until their work is closer to completion. It has been good to hear and see the debate. I have asked the RTF to post the discussion on their blog—if they don’t do that, I will try to get people to post it here.
Later this week I am off to ALA—I am chair elect of the Building and Equipment Section and assume those duties after this annual conference. As chair elect, one of my prime responsibilities has been to appoint committee members and chairs, but the database which one is suppose to use to do that has not functioned very well. I am hoping that I can get things finalized at the conference—when I can talk to folks face to face.
For me the last week here at Joyner has been really hectic, with having to participate in two to three evaluations on the days that I am here—and then there is the problem that I don’t seem to always be able to be here. Yesterday, along with Alan White form the College of Arts and Sciences, I participated in a follow up to April’s ECU Foundation Spring meeting, working on strategic planning for the organization. The Strategic Planning Committee is led by Carol Mabe, who recently during our Staff Development Day led the Library in a discussion of branding and marketing. Carol, who is joining the Board of Trustees, is an excellent and well organized leader. She helped us come up with a Vision for the ECU Foundation—Funding the “Margin of Excellence” for ECU. We will take that vision plus some strategic goals to the Foundation Board in October. It seems very likely that the University will launch a Capital Campaign in the next year or so and is looking to raise from $50 to $100 million. I hope the Library can be an active participant in that campaign.
I have very much enjoyed an email debate that has been going on among the members of the RTF about appointments and recruiting—with the Task Force recommending that we not do any more appointments at least until their work is closer to completion. It has been good to hear and see the debate. I have asked the RTF to post the discussion on their blog—if they don’t do that, I will try to get people to post it here.
Later this week I am off to ALA—I am chair elect of the Building and Equipment Section and assume those duties after this annual conference. As chair elect, one of my prime responsibilities has been to appoint committee members and chairs, but the database which one is suppose to use to do that has not functioned very well. I am hoping that I can get things finalized at the conference—when I can talk to folks face to face.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Doing Our Part
I had hoped to write about the Appalachian Regional Development Conference, Doing OUr Part: The Role of North Carolina's Rural Public Universities in Economic Transformation, earlier, but tempus fugit, ya’ll. It was great to spend the weekend in the mountains. Sue and I were able to get some much needed yard work done at the house and to get in a visit with a number of our friends. But on the day of the conference I arrived at Rosen Hall, not really knowing what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
The day’s proceedings began with introductory remarks about encouraging economic development in their regions from the chancellors of each of the rural public universities—ECU, ESCU, UNC-Pembroke, Western and ASU. Our Chancellor, Steve Ballard, led off and presented a very cogent and succinct outline of our strategic framework, focusing on developing Eastern North Carolina’s economic, research and artistic potential and ameliorating the health and educational needs of the region. The chancellors from ESCU, Pembroke, and ASU also addressed how they are contributing to their regions, especially in training teachers and nurses and other vital professions. I was very impressed with Western’s Chancellor, John Bardo, and I would encourage you to look at his statement: Communicating the University’s Role in Economic Development.
At lunch, we were shown a very interesting video called Shift Happens, which is about rapidly changing economic development, mostly what is happening in China and how we in the US are not keeping up nor really aware of the rapid change overtaking us. Worth watching and thinking about. The conference audience was certainly intrigued to say the least.
I also very much enjoyed hearing from a number of others, including:
· Valeria Lee, President of the Golden Leaf Foundation, which is helping North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state.
· Judith Cone is vice president of emerging strategies for the Kauffman Foundation, “where she leads efforts to explore new program opportunities to advance entrepreneurship and education;” and
· Eva Klein, president and founder of Eva Klein & Associates, Ltd. (EKA) which “is a specialized consulting practice, providing technical expertise, planning facilitation, creative strategy formulation, and ongoing project management for colleges and universities, communities, and regions that want to compete effectively in the Global Knowledge Economy.”
· Valeria Lee, President of the Golden Leaf Foundation, which is helping North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state.
· Judith Cone is vice president of emerging strategies for the Kauffman Foundation, “where she leads efforts to explore new program opportunities to advance entrepreneurship and education;” and
· Eva Klein, president and founder of Eva Klein & Associates, Ltd. (EKA) which “is a specialized consulting practice, providing technical expertise, planning facilitation, creative strategy formulation, and ongoing project management for colleges and universities, communities, and regions that want to compete effectively in the Global Knowledge Economy.”
Thursday, June 7, 2007
June musings
It has been an interesting week to say the least—starting with the announcement about Jim Smith’s resignation on Monday morning. Quite frankly, I am still in some stage of grief. Meeting Jim and talking with him about his management style and how we would work together was certainly one of the deciding factors for my coming to ECU. Jim is and always has been a friend to the Library and supportive and helpful throughout my first eight months. It has been nothing but a delight reporting to Dr Smith since I arrived; I surely hope that his successor will maintain his “transparent, collaborative management.”
We have had two opportunities to discuss the administrative changes that I think are necessary to continue moving forward and dealing with the complexity of issues we face vis a vis the delivery of information services to the ECU campus—the Revisioning Task Force (RTF) and then an all Library meeting. In both of them, I hope that I have made it clear that the appointments do not and will not negate or nullify the work of the RTF; as someone has said “change is organic.” We have a lot of issue to deal with and questions to answer. All this summer we will be hearing from experts on the changing role of libraries—beginning with this week’s dynamic speaker, David “Giz” Womack from Wake Forest’s R.Z. Reynolds Library, who shared with us the fun that hosting a “gaming night” has generated in their library. I was excited—I know that I will never be able to compete at Halo, but I have some hope that I would not embarrass myself at DDR.
I was asked to share the outline of the organization chart with the Library. That is one of my goals this week—so look for the email.
Finally, I can not tell you how much fun I have had cheering on the Joyner Knights! We may not be the winniest team competing, but I love watching them play and along with a large number of our Joyner colleagues, cheering them on. In fact, I think it is fair to say that we have the most supportive and boisterous “cheering section.”
We have had two opportunities to discuss the administrative changes that I think are necessary to continue moving forward and dealing with the complexity of issues we face vis a vis the delivery of information services to the ECU campus—the Revisioning Task Force (RTF) and then an all Library meeting. In both of them, I hope that I have made it clear that the appointments do not and will not negate or nullify the work of the RTF; as someone has said “change is organic.” We have a lot of issue to deal with and questions to answer. All this summer we will be hearing from experts on the changing role of libraries—beginning with this week’s dynamic speaker, David “Giz” Womack from Wake Forest’s R.Z. Reynolds Library, who shared with us the fun that hosting a “gaming night” has generated in their library. I was excited—I know that I will never be able to compete at Halo, but I have some hope that I would not embarrass myself at DDR.
I was asked to share the outline of the organization chart with the Library. That is one of my goals this week—so look for the email.
Finally, I can not tell you how much fun I have had cheering on the Joyner Knights! We may not be the winniest team competing, but I love watching them play and along with a large number of our Joyner colleagues, cheering them on. In fact, I think it is fair to say that we have the most supportive and boisterous “cheering section.”
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Saturday was a long day, beginning at 8:00 and not ending until 9:30 when we returned to the hotel. I found the plenary opening session enlightening and sobering. Michael Adams is a Canadian social scientist and researcher who has published a lot about the differences between Americans and Canadians, focusing on social values. Being a bleeding heart liberal, I found myself pretty much in agreement with the Canadian psyche and not in step with my fellow Americans. I know that his power point presentation will be on the ALADN website, so you can see some of the points that he made in his presentation entitled Fire & Ice, which is also the name of one of his recent books.
There were several other high points during the day for me—I really identified with Michael Ridley, CIO and Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph. He is guiding the library to the concept of The Academic Town Square—bringing the university and community into the library as much as possible for speaker for a, book readings and signings, art presentations, class meetings, etc—and not tucking these events off in some quiet corner but putting them in the busiest part of the library. He described the atmosphere of the library, especially the first floor, as some what akin to a circus. Of course, this is exactly how I would like to see Joyner evolve—and I am even more committed to trying to bring art and other activities into our Library. We have to bring our community—and especially our faculty and administrators into the Library, or we will surely become a backwater.
The last presentation of the day provided an opportunity to hear from the Dean of the Library at the University of South Florida, Derrie Perez, and her development officer talk about an opportunity they were presented about five years ago. An alumnus and her husband offered the library a planned gift of their multi-million dollar medieval manuscripts and incunabula collection. The library neither had the staff and resource much less the building to accept the collection—but working over time with the University administration and the donors, they were finally able to accept the collection. The University has committed both its research and facility dollars to the collection and the donors have committed to helping fund an endowment and bring others in to assist. A win/win for all. Reminds me of a similar problem we are facing with the possibility of acquiring the Wright collection. It will take equal planning and organization on the part of the University and the Library if we are to acquire that collection—and I don’t know that the will is there.
Sunday morning’s session was dedicated to one presenter—Penelope Burk who spoke on Donor Center Development. She has some powerful arguments backed up with extensive and long term research to support her premise that the most important aspects of development are acknowledgment and information. After listening to her, I am convinced that we have to begin calling our donors and engaging them and providing them information on what their gifts are doing for the University and its students. Bought her book to bring back to share with the Library.
Sue and I spent Sunday afternoon hiking along the Bow River. I lack the words to really describe the grandeur and beauty of the place—of course, we are sharing Banff this weekend (Victoria Day) with half of Alberta and thousands of other people from around the world—seem to be a lot of Australians and Japanese, but there are many others represented. You can see some of the pictures we took at Springtime in Banff. After the conference, we will spend the next four days traveling through Banff National Park, looking at the scenery, animals, and especially the glaciers.
Before Cynthia & Wayne left on Monday afternoon, we all had High Tea in the Rundle Lounge. An experience for all of us. The Monday morning sessions provided information on the new ARL Spec Kit on Development, which we need to acquire and the stories of three libraries that have been successful in getting corporate grants—from the Gates and Kresge foundations. Again, I think we need to expand into those areas.
There were several other high points during the day for me—I really identified with Michael Ridley, CIO and Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph. He is guiding the library to the concept of The Academic Town Square—bringing the university and community into the library as much as possible for speaker for a, book readings and signings, art presentations, class meetings, etc—and not tucking these events off in some quiet corner but putting them in the busiest part of the library. He described the atmosphere of the library, especially the first floor, as some what akin to a circus. Of course, this is exactly how I would like to see Joyner evolve—and I am even more committed to trying to bring art and other activities into our Library. We have to bring our community—and especially our faculty and administrators into the Library, or we will surely become a backwater.
The last presentation of the day provided an opportunity to hear from the Dean of the Library at the University of South Florida, Derrie Perez, and her development officer talk about an opportunity they were presented about five years ago. An alumnus and her husband offered the library a planned gift of their multi-million dollar medieval manuscripts and incunabula collection. The library neither had the staff and resource much less the building to accept the collection—but working over time with the University administration and the donors, they were finally able to accept the collection. The University has committed both its research and facility dollars to the collection and the donors have committed to helping fund an endowment and bring others in to assist. A win/win for all. Reminds me of a similar problem we are facing with the possibility of acquiring the Wright collection. It will take equal planning and organization on the part of the University and the Library if we are to acquire that collection—and I don’t know that the will is there.
Sunday morning’s session was dedicated to one presenter—Penelope Burk who spoke on Donor Center Development. She has some powerful arguments backed up with extensive and long term research to support her premise that the most important aspects of development are acknowledgment and information. After listening to her, I am convinced that we have to begin calling our donors and engaging them and providing them information on what their gifts are doing for the University and its students. Bought her book to bring back to share with the Library.
Sue and I spent Sunday afternoon hiking along the Bow River. I lack the words to really describe the grandeur and beauty of the place—of course, we are sharing Banff this weekend (Victoria Day) with half of Alberta and thousands of other people from around the world—seem to be a lot of Australians and Japanese, but there are many others represented. You can see some of the pictures we took at Springtime in Banff. After the conference, we will spend the next four days traveling through Banff National Park, looking at the scenery, animals, and especially the glaciers.
Before Cynthia & Wayne left on Monday afternoon, we all had High Tea in the Rundle Lounge. An experience for all of us. The Monday morning sessions provided information on the new ARL Spec Kit on Development, which we need to acquire and the stories of three libraries that have been successful in getting corporate grants—from the Gates and Kresge foundations. Again, I think we need to expand into those areas.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
ALADN continues
Both Cynthia and I, since we are new to library development, decided to register for the pre-conference workshop for people new to the field. The ALADN conference program can be found at http://aladn.library.ualberta.ca/program.html
I think I can speak for both of us that it was a good choice. It led off with a presentation by Arthur Criscillus, "Personal Solicitations: Realities, Roles and Relationships" in which he talked about the basics of fund raising. Not having done this too much in the past, I do have some hesitation about approaching people for money. The thing that I will take away from his talk is that fund raising or development for out Library is about the greater good. We are doing good things for the university and our students and we need to be proud of that and be able to present our story to all that we talk to. People want to be part of something, but they want to know how what they give will be used; always be ready & prepared to answer the So what? question.
It is always fun and interesting to hear from people about their successes—many of which you might be able to use in your own library.
Gena Scott and her colleague from University of Missouri at Columbia spoke about "Getting Everyone on the Same Page: How to Turn the Entire Library Staff into a Successful Development Team" I really liked a couple of their ideas, including the Honor the Graduate program which is directed at the parents of new graduates to buy a book in honor of their student & the book will be added to the collection with a bookplate recognizing the student.
My favorite session was by provided by Sam Huang, the Development Officer at the University of Arizona. Sam was a librarian for 28 years before he went into development. He said that he went into fund raising for the University of Arizona library because he was tired of seeing the library’s ARL ranking decline because of budget cuts. He works hard but obviously has a lot of fun. He had many wonderful ideas, but the one I like most was about a Library Faculty Development Endowment, which Cynthia and I ave vowed to try to get started at ECU.
Talking with other participants is always the best part of any event like this. I had lunch with a great group who talked about the best ways to promote your library—black tie events, art openings, literary festivals were all discussed. One intriguing suggestion was to host a “Bring Your Pictures” event at the Library during Home Coming. Concentrating on the featured classes, the Library gets people into the building, receives a lot of relevant pictures for the archives, and probably makes a lot of good “friends.” Sharing all of the pictures on a CD with the participants—or even the “class” seems like it might be a great development tool. Again something I think we should try.
At this event Sue & I have gotten to meet and spend some time with Cynthia’s husband Wayne—we all went out to Bumpers—the Beef Place last night. Cynthia and I however opted for barbeque ribs, which were quite tasty.
We continue to marvel at the incredible beauty of Banff. After the workshop, Sue and I took a short walk, ending up going through a trail in the forest. We saw a young elk grazing calmly, about 50 feet from us. She looked up and studied us for a few minutes and then ambled on her way. Evidently we posed no threat to her. It is still early spring here and so there is not a lot in bloom. I did discover some kind of orchid growing along the woodland path—perhaps a lady slipper. They were very, very tiny—no taller than three or four inches, but oh so lovely. Of course we did not have the camera, so no pictures were captured, but I am going to go back. Well that is all for now.
I think I can speak for both of us that it was a good choice. It led off with a presentation by Arthur Criscillus, "Personal Solicitations: Realities, Roles and Relationships" in which he talked about the basics of fund raising. Not having done this too much in the past, I do have some hesitation about approaching people for money. The thing that I will take away from his talk is that fund raising or development for out Library is about the greater good. We are doing good things for the university and our students and we need to be proud of that and be able to present our story to all that we talk to. People want to be part of something, but they want to know how what they give will be used; always be ready & prepared to answer the So what? question.
It is always fun and interesting to hear from people about their successes—many of which you might be able to use in your own library.
Gena Scott and her colleague from University of Missouri at Columbia spoke about "Getting Everyone on the Same Page: How to Turn the Entire Library Staff into a Successful Development Team" I really liked a couple of their ideas, including the Honor the Graduate program which is directed at the parents of new graduates to buy a book in honor of their student & the book will be added to the collection with a bookplate recognizing the student.
My favorite session was by provided by Sam Huang, the Development Officer at the University of Arizona. Sam was a librarian for 28 years before he went into development. He said that he went into fund raising for the University of Arizona library because he was tired of seeing the library’s ARL ranking decline because of budget cuts. He works hard but obviously has a lot of fun. He had many wonderful ideas, but the one I like most was about a Library Faculty Development Endowment, which Cynthia and I ave vowed to try to get started at ECU.
Talking with other participants is always the best part of any event like this. I had lunch with a great group who talked about the best ways to promote your library—black tie events, art openings, literary festivals were all discussed. One intriguing suggestion was to host a “Bring Your Pictures” event at the Library during Home Coming. Concentrating on the featured classes, the Library gets people into the building, receives a lot of relevant pictures for the archives, and probably makes a lot of good “friends.” Sharing all of the pictures on a CD with the participants—or even the “class” seems like it might be a great development tool. Again something I think we should try.
At this event Sue & I have gotten to meet and spend some time with Cynthia’s husband Wayne—we all went out to Bumpers—the Beef Place last night. Cynthia and I however opted for barbeque ribs, which were quite tasty.
We continue to marvel at the incredible beauty of Banff. After the workshop, Sue and I took a short walk, ending up going through a trail in the forest. We saw a young elk grazing calmly, about 50 feet from us. She looked up and studied us for a few minutes and then ambled on her way. Evidently we posed no threat to her. It is still early spring here and so there is not a lot in bloom. I did discover some kind of orchid growing along the woodland path—perhaps a lady slipper. They were very, very tiny—no taller than three or four inches, but oh so lovely. Of course we did not have the camera, so no pictures were captured, but I am going to go back. Well that is all for now.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Banff & the ALADN Conference
This is the view from our hotel window at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Seldom do you get to see much less stay in such a wonderful place. Built in the late 19th century, it seems to me to be one of the true wonders of the modern world. Sue & I left Greenville Wedensday night around 8:00--arrived at our hotel at the RDU airport at 10:00. It was a short night, as we had to catch the 4:00 am shuttle to the airport. Flights were uneventful, but any more traveling by plane reminds me of what it was like to travel by bus in the 1950s--no amenities to speak of & long layovers before you catch your next bus, uh I mean plane.We arrived in Calgary, Alberta around 1:30 MDT (3:30 our time). We rented a car--here we were lucky and were given a brand new PT Cruiser w/ less than 25 miles on it. Once you get out of Calgary, which seems to lack any discernible charm, the 100 km drive to Banff is quite lovely--you climb from the flat prairie up into these beautiful rugged mountains. We arrived safely at the hotel, but discovered that I had made the reservation to begin on the 18th not the 17th--not to worry, they could accomodate us & had a room all ready for us. Which brings me back to the picture of the view from our room--wow! The room is incredibly lovely as well, so it looks like this conference will be quite enjoyable.
The preconference begins this morning at 8:00. Both Cynthia Adams and I are registered for the full Conference. ALADN is the Academic Library Advancement & Development Network. In the next four days, I am sure I will learn all I need to know about raising private money for the Library; well, I actually am just hoping that together Cynthia and I will bring back a lot of good ideas about a strategy for coordinating our Development Program. I will close this narrtion for now, but will try to keep the blog current while we are here.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
More on Staff Development Day
I just want to come back to last week's Staff Development Day. I had a great deal of fun, in addition to learning something about marketing our mission. Carol Mabe has shared her summary and in the next few weeks I want to come back to that idea and see if together we can come up with a vision that we can all share and support.
Bill took some wonderful photos of the event & I have uploaded them to Flickr--think you can access them at Staff Development Day Photos. This is all a work in progress, so I am hoping for the best.
As I am fond of saying, everything I know I heard on NPR; this week is no exception. Driving into work yesterday, I listened to a piece on “National Bike to Work Week.” I was intrigued by the idea & had actually scoped out the likely route from our new home in the Brook Valley area. Walking into the building yesterday morning, I ran into Matt Reynolds carrying his helmet & other paraphernalia and he told me that he tries to ride his bike to work as much as he can. That proved the final impetus that I needed (not to mention the calorie laden lunches I have been packing in lately.)
So today was the day, with temperatures in the sixties and a cook breeze blowing, it probably could not get better. I left the house around 7:30 & except for a near death experience crossing Greenville Boulevard; my trip was pleasant & uneventful. As I turned into campus, Matt passed me & shouted what I think was encouragement. Of course, planning is everything & the devil is in the details and I don’t have a lock, so I had to stash my bicycle in the back entrance stairwell—so if you see it, don’t panic, Al Qaeda has not come to ECU—just an out of shape Library Director.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Support Staff: What a Great Resource
Another great day for Joyner Library; the Support Staff: What a Great Resource Conference which is organized and put on by the Joyner SPA Staff Association is a wonderful gift to the library community. I don’t know of any other comparable conference. It is an honor and a pleasure to work with the Joyner staff. Thanks especially to Leigh Butler, Leigh Younce, and Jenna Nadler as well as Melissa Williams, Lynda Werdal, Bill Bunting, and Rita Khazanie—I am sure that there are others who should be recognized and thanked. Emily Blankenship, Gloria Bradshaw, William Gee, Cynthia Jones, Linda Teel, Justin Vaughan, Hazel Walker, Alan Bailey, Ralph Scott, David Hursh, Beth Winstead, Mark Sanders, Tracie Hampton, and Harry Frank served as faculty and presenters for the conference.
It was heartening to see the turn out for the discussion of the Computers in Libraries conference. As I said at the gathering, I learned so much at the conference and increased my awareness of Library 2.0 technology by orders of magnitude. Thanks to Maliha, Carenado, Ann Carol, Justin, Stacy, David, Kendall, Nick, Beth, Rita, and Beth for sharing their thoughts about the conference and highlighting their favorite sessions. I have charged all of the participants to take one thing they heard or saw at the conference and try to incorporate it in their work or our services—I am anxious to see the follow-up. For me, this blog was prompted by my being at the conference.
Many of you have provided your thoughts and comments about the Staff Development Day this past Monday. If you are interested in see the results of the survey, check out the following:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=379116072715
I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it looks like almost everyone else did as well. We will definitely do it again! Saw someone ask for Swing lessons next time—that might be a little outside of my comfort zone. Some people expressed some concern that the day takes away from your busy schedule, but I have always believed that participating in training, development, and team building activities helps you return to your job with more enthusiasm, drive, and excitement & you recoup the time lost through more productive work. Bill & Beth took some photos, and I have asked them to share them with the Library when they get the chance.
It was heartening to see the turn out for the discussion of the Computers in Libraries conference. As I said at the gathering, I learned so much at the conference and increased my awareness of Library 2.0 technology by orders of magnitude. Thanks to Maliha, Carenado, Ann Carol, Justin, Stacy, David, Kendall, Nick, Beth, Rita, and Beth for sharing their thoughts about the conference and highlighting their favorite sessions. I have charged all of the participants to take one thing they heard or saw at the conference and try to incorporate it in their work or our services—I am anxious to see the follow-up. For me, this blog was prompted by my being at the conference.
Many of you have provided your thoughts and comments about the Staff Development Day this past Monday. If you are interested in see the results of the survey, check out the following:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=379116072715
I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it looks like almost everyone else did as well. We will definitely do it again! Saw someone ask for Swing lessons next time—that might be a little outside of my comfort zone. Some people expressed some concern that the day takes away from your busy schedule, but I have always believed that participating in training, development, and team building activities helps you return to your job with more enthusiasm, drive, and excitement & you recoup the time lost through more productive work. Bill & Beth took some photos, and I have asked them to share them with the Library when they get the chance.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Staff Development Day
I hope that everyone enjoyed Staff Development Day as much as I did. Thanks to Beth for the suggestion about breakfast & thanks to both her and Dennis for cooking pancakes and waffles this morning. Beth tells me that a number of people including, Ann Carol & Pam provided oven space for one of the sausage casseroles. Thanks also to Matt for dropping in early this morning and volunteering to help; because of his help and experience the ham biscuits arrived at the table warm, but not burnt!
I was not sure what to expect from Carol Mabe’s presentation; but I should have know from experience that she would do a fantastic job. Who would have thought that a talk and discussion about branding could have been so germane to the Library and our Revisioning process? Although she started with the caveat that she usually did this exercise with groups of 20 or less, I was happily surprised with the excitement and participation generated at the meeting. (Even the backbenchers were shouting out their suggestions and contributions.) Thanks to everyone for being so attentive and participative. I look forward to getting her notes and your input about a possible Joyner Library brands.
As some of you know, I have said that I wanted the Library’s brand to be “The Information Place,” but I am sure you will be able to come up with a better and more distinctive suggestion. JMD from the Music Library handed me his suggestion as he left the meeting:
Joyner Library: Gateway to a World of Information—or at least I think that is what it says. I had a little trouble reading the handwriting.
Finally thanks to everyone for being so willing to participate in the group dancing: you were great, making up with your enthusiasm what was occasionally lacking in finesse. With a little more work on distinguishing right hand and left hand turns, we can take this show on the road! I think I counted nearly 90 people dancing! Wow!
Someone said to me that they had never heard so much laughter in the Library—which makes me feel great. Now we have R2 to look forward to next week.
I was not sure what to expect from Carol Mabe’s presentation; but I should have know from experience that she would do a fantastic job. Who would have thought that a talk and discussion about branding could have been so germane to the Library and our Revisioning process? Although she started with the caveat that she usually did this exercise with groups of 20 or less, I was happily surprised with the excitement and participation generated at the meeting. (Even the backbenchers were shouting out their suggestions and contributions.) Thanks to everyone for being so attentive and participative. I look forward to getting her notes and your input about a possible Joyner Library brands.
As some of you know, I have said that I wanted the Library’s brand to be “The Information Place,” but I am sure you will be able to come up with a better and more distinctive suggestion. JMD from the Music Library handed me his suggestion as he left the meeting:
Joyner Library: Gateway to a World of Information—or at least I think that is what it says. I had a little trouble reading the handwriting.
Finally thanks to everyone for being so willing to participate in the group dancing: you were great, making up with your enthusiasm what was occasionally lacking in finesse. With a little more work on distinguishing right hand and left hand turns, we can take this show on the road! I think I counted nearly 90 people dancing! Wow!
Someone said to me that they had never heard so much laughter in the Library—which makes me feel great. Now we have R2 to look forward to next week.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Spring Semester Ends...
We’ve come to the end of another school year and another marker for me. When I arrived here last October, classes had already been in session for several weeks, but it did not take me long to adjust to the rhythm of the ECU campus. What I can not believe is how quickly these last seven months have sped by.
Just a few of the things which we have accomplished in that time include:
· Third Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming
· Successful completion of the third year of the NC Echo grant & the rollout of the Eastern North Carolina Digital Library—the CDP & TRC staff have done soooo much to make this a success and to share the information with our community
· Review of almost all SPA position descriptions, resulting in many upgrades—thanks CJ & supervisors!
· Record # of library instruction classes by the Reference Department & Special Collections, NC Collection, & TRC
· Transfer of most of our servers to Cotanche; roll out of many new staff workstations & distribution of new PDAs
· Installation of plasma screens in some group studies
· Renovation projects in the building including shipping & receiving and a new Building Ops Office
· New life for the Friends of the Joyner Library
· Gift of the De Bry volume to the University
· Columns won two CASE awards
· Started working on the IR initiative
· Hired a new Major Gifts Officer
· Access Services initiated Pull & Hold service—Great PR for the Library
I am sure you can think of others! Please share them!
We have launched into an examination of our services and the allocation and distribution of our resources. I appreciate the enthusiasm with which the Library has embraced Revisionining Task Force. I think that we will all of us will benefit from this exercise and process—but more importantly, I believe that the students, faculty and all of our users will benefit to a greater extent. You are all sick and tired of hearing me talk about change and having to adjust to that change, but the simple fact is that is what it is all about.
Personally, I can not keep up with all of the changes taking place in the library world and the delivery of information, but fortunately, I don’t have to do it alone. Joyner really is the Information Place!
Just a few of the things which we have accomplished in that time include:
· Third Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming
· Successful completion of the third year of the NC Echo grant & the rollout of the Eastern North Carolina Digital Library—the CDP & TRC staff have done soooo much to make this a success and to share the information with our community
· Review of almost all SPA position descriptions, resulting in many upgrades—thanks CJ & supervisors!
· Record # of library instruction classes by the Reference Department & Special Collections, NC Collection, & TRC
· Transfer of most of our servers to Cotanche; roll out of many new staff workstations & distribution of new PDAs
· Installation of plasma screens in some group studies
· Renovation projects in the building including shipping & receiving and a new Building Ops Office
· New life for the Friends of the Joyner Library
· Gift of the De Bry volume to the University
· Columns won two CASE awards
· Started working on the IR initiative
· Hired a new Major Gifts Officer
· Access Services initiated Pull & Hold service—Great PR for the Library
I am sure you can think of others! Please share them!
We have launched into an examination of our services and the allocation and distribution of our resources. I appreciate the enthusiasm with which the Library has embraced Revisionining Task Force. I think that we will all of us will benefit from this exercise and process—but more importantly, I believe that the students, faculty and all of our users will benefit to a greater extent. You are all sick and tired of hearing me talk about change and having to adjust to that change, but the simple fact is that is what it is all about.
Personally, I can not keep up with all of the changes taking place in the library world and the delivery of information, but fortunately, I don’t have to do it alone. Joyner really is the Information Place!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Why We Need an IR
Joseph Thomas recently shared with the Library an article by Tyler Walters, “Reinventing the Library—How Repositories Are Causing Librarians to Rethink their Professional Roles.” I too would recommend it, as it provides a great summary of what we can expect & hope for by creating an IR here at ECU. Georgia Tech has been working on their’s since 2004, so obviously we are not on the cutting edge, but we are probably in the middle of the pack with a lot of other academic libraries—trying to figure out what to do, how to do it, and how many resources it will need to make it work. The CDP Head Search Committee is already at work revising that position to include heading the IR initiative for us. We have the IR Working Group led by Joseph Thomas; Bryna is working with the Graduate School on an ETD initiative, and one of the first new faculty positions I want us to pursue in the new year is a Web Librarian, so I think we are slowly making progress.
Once a month the Revisioning Task Force invites me along with the rest of the Executive Committee to attend their meeting for a briefing and update. I am so impressed with this group and all of the work they are doing. Today’s briefing mostly centered on the progress the Four Work Groups are making: 1.) Group One: Individual and Team Work Inventories; 2.) Focus Groups; 3.) Survey, and 4.) Guest Speakers and Literature Review.
The Task Force as well as all four groups have been very active this past month—and we should begin seeing and experiencing the results of their work. I can not thank enough each of the members of the Task Force and the Work Groups for all of the work that they have done!
Don’t forget to check in on the Joyner Library Blog, for the latest update on the work of the Task Force and Work Groups. And they would love to hear your thoughts, comments, so take a few moments to provide your comments on the blog.
Once a month the Revisioning Task Force invites me along with the rest of the Executive Committee to attend their meeting for a briefing and update. I am so impressed with this group and all of the work they are doing. Today’s briefing mostly centered on the progress the Four Work Groups are making: 1.) Group One: Individual and Team Work Inventories; 2.) Focus Groups; 3.) Survey, and 4.) Guest Speakers and Literature Review.
The Task Force as well as all four groups have been very active this past month—and we should begin seeing and experiencing the results of their work. I can not thank enough each of the members of the Task Force and the Work Groups for all of the work that they have done!
Don’t forget to check in on the Joyner Library Blog, for the latest update on the work of the Task Force and Work Groups. And they would love to hear your thoughts, comments, so take a few moments to provide your comments on the blog.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Birthday Lunches
One of the activities that I have most enjoyed since coming to Joyner has been the monthly Birthday lunches. I can not take credit for the idea—the University Librarian at Appalachian State, Mary Reichel, came up with the idea, and it worked so well there that I thought I would emulate the practice here.
Each month, usually on the last Wednesday of the month, I ask all of the people who had birthdays during the past month to join me for lunch. Sometimes we go out to a restaurant, but most times it works best to have the food brought into us. Selecting by birthday creates an unusual grouping, often including people who don’t know each other well. This month’s group included David Hursh, Sheri Black, Amy Smith, Ken Harbit, Gloria Bradshaw, Maliha Farhadi, and Hazel Lucas. Of course, our three TRC folks knew each other well, but David and Ken had never met.
As we begin eating, I explain the ground rules—tell the group the date of your birthday, a little about your history at ECU and Joyner, and something about your life and interests. After the round robin in which we all learn a little bit about one another, I ask the hard questions: In your opinion, what is going well at the Library? What is not going so well? What advice do you have for me? This produces some interesting comments and observations. The April participants, like past participants, all seemed to like and enjoy the Birthday lunch and the opportunity to meet and mix with colleagues outside of their service unit. I received a number of positive comments about the open communication that we are experiencing in the Library, although we all agreed that we can never do too much to enhance it—especially sometimes between supervisors and employees.
Some specific suggestions included: public lockers, public book carts, a ramp from the rear employee entrance, and more add money machines near copy machines. I will explore all of these suggestions and report back to the Library. Someone also asked about the availability of laptop computers to replace desktop workstations—again I will try to follow up. As you can see, the Birthday lunches present a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know a little bit more about individuals at the Library—and I hope the participants feel like they get to know me a little bit more.
Each month, usually on the last Wednesday of the month, I ask all of the people who had birthdays during the past month to join me for lunch. Sometimes we go out to a restaurant, but most times it works best to have the food brought into us. Selecting by birthday creates an unusual grouping, often including people who don’t know each other well. This month’s group included David Hursh, Sheri Black, Amy Smith, Ken Harbit, Gloria Bradshaw, Maliha Farhadi, and Hazel Lucas. Of course, our three TRC folks knew each other well, but David and Ken had never met.
As we begin eating, I explain the ground rules—tell the group the date of your birthday, a little about your history at ECU and Joyner, and something about your life and interests. After the round robin in which we all learn a little bit about one another, I ask the hard questions: In your opinion, what is going well at the Library? What is not going so well? What advice do you have for me? This produces some interesting comments and observations. The April participants, like past participants, all seemed to like and enjoy the Birthday lunch and the opportunity to meet and mix with colleagues outside of their service unit. I received a number of positive comments about the open communication that we are experiencing in the Library, although we all agreed that we can never do too much to enhance it—especially sometimes between supervisors and employees.
Some specific suggestions included: public lockers, public book carts, a ramp from the rear employee entrance, and more add money machines near copy machines. I will explore all of these suggestions and report back to the Library. Someone also asked about the availability of laptop computers to replace desktop workstations—again I will try to follow up. As you can see, the Birthday lunches present a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know a little bit more about individuals at the Library—and I hope the participants feel like they get to know me a little bit more.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
More about CIL & other Musings
At the Computers in Libraries Conference, I listened to a great & almost overwhelming presentation, Trends in Mobile Tools and Applications for Libraries, by Megan Fox from Simmons College. The reference desk may not be dead or dying, but we need to continuously keep up with the trends both in social networking and the gadgets that our Gen Y students and soon to be faculty are using.
Another thing I learned about at the CIL was Libworm, which compiles library RSS feeds. According to the website, Libworm “is intended to be a search engine, a professional development tool, and a current awareness tool for people who work in libraries or care about libraries.” The amount of information being created and posted on the Internet seems almost overwhelming, but this might help you keep up with some of the news. While looking over what was available there, I came across an interesting and thought provoking posting from the “futurist”, Thomas Frey, about the Future of Libraries.
Thinking about the CIL is almost a stream of consciousness experience for me—but before I put behind me, I have to mention one existential moment—watching “The Machine is Us/ing Us.” Even for those of us who are not big YouTube fans, my bet is that this video will blow you away. (Thanks to Beth for providing this link—my note taking skills had failed me and I was unable to pull it up on my own.)
A friend of mine sent me a link to a thoughtful and provocative piece by Scott Carlson entitled “Are Reference Desks Dying out?” in the latest Chronicle of Higher Education. When you hear or read something talking about the death of reference desk or other library services, we all might want to respond as Mark Twain was reputed to have said “News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated. Still you have to wonder where the continuing falling numbers of reference questions will end?
Finally, I just finished and enjoyed Maury York’s review of Book Talk: Essays on Books, Booksellers, Collecting, and Special Collections, which appeared in March 2007 (p. 205) issue of College and Research Libraries.
Another thing I learned about at the CIL was Libworm, which compiles library RSS feeds. According to the website, Libworm “is intended to be a search engine, a professional development tool, and a current awareness tool for people who work in libraries or care about libraries.” The amount of information being created and posted on the Internet seems almost overwhelming, but this might help you keep up with some of the news. While looking over what was available there, I came across an interesting and thought provoking posting from the “futurist”, Thomas Frey, about the Future of Libraries.
Thinking about the CIL is almost a stream of consciousness experience for me—but before I put behind me, I have to mention one existential moment—watching “The Machine is Us/ing Us.” Even for those of us who are not big YouTube fans, my bet is that this video will blow you away. (Thanks to Beth for providing this link—my note taking skills had failed me and I was unable to pull it up on my own.)
A friend of mine sent me a link to a thoughtful and provocative piece by Scott Carlson entitled “Are Reference Desks Dying out?” in the latest Chronicle of Higher Education. When you hear or read something talking about the death of reference desk or other library services, we all might want to respond as Mark Twain was reputed to have said “News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated. Still you have to wonder where the continuing falling numbers of reference questions will end?
Finally, I just finished and enjoyed Maury York’s review of Book Talk: Essays on Books, Booksellers, Collecting, and Special Collections, which appeared in March 2007 (p. 205) issue of College and Research Libraries.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Blogging aint as easy as I thought...
One problem I am definitely finding in blogging is not having access to the Internet—or better said easy access to the Internet. I was not able to get back onto the Internet until today (Monday)—so the nifty reports I planned to make about the Wednesday happenings of the CIL now seem unimportant & certainly untimely.
I still want to mention, so all of our colleagues at Joyner are reminded about the great job that the NC ECHO grant team from Joyner (Linda Teel, Hazel Walker, and Justin Vaughn, along with Emily Gore and Lynn Wagne) did. They made a great & well received presentation at the CIL. I was certainly proud to be sitting in the audience and to hear them talk about the project & for them to demonstrate what a great site it is. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/historyfiction/
Later in the afternoon, I happened to run into a couple of old acquaintances from my time in DC. Both of them had attended the presentation & were efusive in their praise.
Speaking of praise—let me commend Cynthia Adams for going above & beyond on Wednesday, she drove up from Greenville to Arlington, to join me in a meeting with a longtime ECU & Joyner Library friend—Betty Debman Hunt. Betty is an educator and creator of the Mini Page; her generosity to the University has enabled us to create the Debman Center in the Teaching Resource Center. I had never met Betty before, so it was a great opportunity for me. We have invited her to come to campus next spring & to be a guest speaker at the Annual Summit for school librarians and media center staff.
This past weekend Sue & I spent in Williamsburg at the spring meeting of the ECU Foundation Board. It finally seems that spring has decided to make a re-appearance. I stayed busy with meetings discussing strategic planning for the Foundation, but during the breaks it was great to be outside & absorb the beautiful blue skies, fresh breezes, and spring blossoms. This is the first time that vice chancellors and deans have been invited to the board meeting, and the synergy seemed to be terrific. Mickey Dowdy has bringing a lot of excitement to the Foundation.
It is good to be back in the library—it was a long week away from the library and campus. It was also a troubling one with the horrific events at Virginia Tech. My heart goes out to all of the parents, families and friends of the slain students and teachers. Eileen Hitchingham, the Dean of the Virginia Tech Libraries shared a poem from Nicki Giovanni with her ASERL colleagues. You might want to see and hear it read by the poet on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMsloktqpeQ
Finally, I am hoping that some of our Joyner Library colleagues who attended the CIL will respond to this blog with some of their comments on the conference highlights—and there were a lot of them for me.
I still want to mention, so all of our colleagues at Joyner are reminded about the great job that the NC ECHO grant team from Joyner (Linda Teel, Hazel Walker, and Justin Vaughn, along with Emily Gore and Lynn Wagne) did. They made a great & well received presentation at the CIL. I was certainly proud to be sitting in the audience and to hear them talk about the project & for them to demonstrate what a great site it is. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/historyfiction/
Later in the afternoon, I happened to run into a couple of old acquaintances from my time in DC. Both of them had attended the presentation & were efusive in their praise.
Speaking of praise—let me commend Cynthia Adams for going above & beyond on Wednesday, she drove up from Greenville to Arlington, to join me in a meeting with a longtime ECU & Joyner Library friend—Betty Debman Hunt. Betty is an educator and creator of the Mini Page; her generosity to the University has enabled us to create the Debman Center in the Teaching Resource Center. I had never met Betty before, so it was a great opportunity for me. We have invited her to come to campus next spring & to be a guest speaker at the Annual Summit for school librarians and media center staff.
This past weekend Sue & I spent in Williamsburg at the spring meeting of the ECU Foundation Board. It finally seems that spring has decided to make a re-appearance. I stayed busy with meetings discussing strategic planning for the Foundation, but during the breaks it was great to be outside & absorb the beautiful blue skies, fresh breezes, and spring blossoms. This is the first time that vice chancellors and deans have been invited to the board meeting, and the synergy seemed to be terrific. Mickey Dowdy has bringing a lot of excitement to the Foundation.
It is good to be back in the library—it was a long week away from the library and campus. It was also a troubling one with the horrific events at Virginia Tech. My heart goes out to all of the parents, families and friends of the slain students and teachers. Eileen Hitchingham, the Dean of the Virginia Tech Libraries shared a poem from Nicki Giovanni with her ASERL colleagues. You might want to see and hear it read by the poet on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMsloktqpeQ
Finally, I am hoping that some of our Joyner Library colleagues who attended the CIL will respond to this blog with some of their comments on the conference highlights—and there were a lot of them for me.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
CIL Tuesday
Attending the Computers in Libraries Conference here in Arlington has really gotten me reved--there is so much we can and should be doing to incorporated social networking software or Web 2.0 in pushing information to our users. We have 16 folks here from ECU, including six colleagues from Laupus and I think it has been a great learning experience for many of us. Whenever I meet people after a session, the usual reaction is excitement and let's try to move forward with using what we have learned, and I think we will.
The Keynote speaker for Tuesday was Andy Corvin—who is in charge of the Web 2.0 for PBS—his theme was the democratization of the news with the expansion and use of the social networking software. The BBC, PBS, Reuters, et al have begun to let audience make the news, or as Jay Roren says the “People formerly known as the audience.” For more of what Andy has to say see: http://www.andycarvin.com/
Helen Bowers, technology director for PLCMC, has developed for a program called Learning 2.0—a nine week program in which all of the library staff, including the cleaning staff, was encouraged to learn how to use the social networking software like RSS feeds, wikipedia, FLIKR. The had nearly 70% of the staff start the program & more than 42% finish the program. Everyone who finished the program received an MP3 player—the justification was that one of the things that they wanted to teach was how to download audio books onto an MP3 player so that they could demo it to their users. The program is free & available to download and copy, and I am really hoping that we will do this here at Joyner—I can not wait to learn how to use these cool tools. Far & away for me the best session for the day. http://library2.0.alablog.org/blog/_archives/2006/5/30/1993696.html
Another fun packed and interesting session was Sephen M. Cohen’s session on RSS feeds—a library consultant who has really incorporated RSS feeds into his daily life and work. http://www.librarystuff.net/He gave a list of his top favorites tools and sites, including:· Internet Archive· Snapper· Browster· Bugmenot· TinyURL· Libworm· Sitebytes· Missing-Auction· Meebo· OpenCongress· PBwiki· Google Reader· Page2RSS. He also mentioned the University of Oklahoma catalog which has integrated RSS into their catalog—which he thinks is very effective.
I finished the day listening to David King, Digital Branch & Services Manager, Topeka Shawnee county Public Library talk about “Guiding Libraries & Info Pros Through Change.” Nothing earth shattering as far as I was concerned, but it did give you pause once again to think about the changes we are going through here at Joyner. I am more and more convinced that we have chosen the right path with Revisioning.
Attending the Computers in Libraries Conference here in Arlington has really gotten me reved--there is so much we can and should be doing to incorporated social networking software or Web 2.0 in pushing information to our users. We have 16 folks here from ECU, including six colleagues from Laupus and I think it has been a great learning experience for many of us. Whenever I meet people after a session, the usual reaction is excitement and let's try to move forward with using what we have learned, and I think we will.
The Keynote speaker for Tuesday was Andy Corvin—who is in charge of the Web 2.0 for PBS—his theme was the democratization of the news with the expansion and use of the social networking software. The BBC, PBS, Reuters, et al have begun to let audience make the news, or as Jay Roren says the “People formerly known as the audience.” For more of what Andy has to say see: http://www.andycarvin.com/
Helen Bowers, technology director for PLCMC, has developed for a program called Learning 2.0—a nine week program in which all of the library staff, including the cleaning staff, was encouraged to learn how to use the social networking software like RSS feeds, wikipedia, FLIKR. The had nearly 70% of the staff start the program & more than 42% finish the program. Everyone who finished the program received an MP3 player—the justification was that one of the things that they wanted to teach was how to download audio books onto an MP3 player so that they could demo it to their users. The program is free & available to download and copy, and I am really hoping that we will do this here at Joyner—I can not wait to learn how to use these cool tools. Far & away for me the best session for the day. http://library2.0.alablog.org/blog/_archives/2006/5/30/1993696.html
Another fun packed and interesting session was Sephen M. Cohen’s session on RSS feeds—a library consultant who has really incorporated RSS feeds into his daily life and work. http://www.librarystuff.net/He gave a list of his top favorites tools and sites, including:· Internet Archive· Snapper· Browster· Bugmenot· TinyURL· Libworm· Sitebytes· Missing-Auction· Meebo· OpenCongress· PBwiki· Google Reader· Page2RSS. He also mentioned the University of Oklahoma catalog which has integrated RSS into their catalog—which he thinks is very effective.
I finished the day listening to David King, Digital Branch & Services Manager, Topeka Shawnee county Public Library talk about “Guiding Libraries & Info Pros Through Change.” Nothing earth shattering as far as I was concerned, but it did give you pause once again to think about the changes we are going through here at Joyner. I am more and more convinced that we have chosen the right path with Revisioning.
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