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.
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