Friday, August 24, 2007

A New Academic Year

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 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/