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.