Current Charge (last amended October, 2005):

The Documentation Committee creates and maintains CUL-wide instruction-related paper and electronic documentation for the public, such as guides to finding and using library resources and services and online help pages. The committee will:

1. Create new documents as appropriate and ensure that existing documents are current.
2. Work to make paper and electronic documentation consistent in content where possible, and determine if and where documentation should reside online (e.g., in the pages of the Library Gateway)
3. Maintain the distribution system for paper documentation.
4. Revise and maintain the "Help" pages of the Library Gateway.

The Documentation Committee reports to the PSEC Reference and Outreach Committee. Significant recommendations and reports will be reviewed by the PSEC Reference and Outreach Committee, PSEC, ASC, and the Library Gateway Editor as appropriate.

Membership: The Documentation Committee will consist of four reference/instruction and access services staff, one technical support liaison, and one Access Services Committee liaison. Members will serve for two years on a staggered basis, beginning July 1.

Representation on other CUL Committees will be assigned as needed. Currently, one member of the Documentation Committee serves as a liaison to the Library Gateway Committee, and one member of the Documentation Committee serves as a liaison to the TSEG-ReDS Committee.

January 2000 Amendment:

FROM: IRPC Steering Committee
DATE: January 12, 2000
RE: Documentation and Online Help Committee issues

The role of the Documentation and Online Help Committee is integral to many of our campus-wide initiatives that support instruction and reference. Formalized only a couple of years ago, this Committee has authored and revised numerous documents both online and in print. The volume and quality of their work is recognized and touted across campus. To some extent their success has also caused them to be sought out by various groups when those groups are ready to launch new initiatives. This last minute incorporation of the Committee has led to high volume impacts and unrealistic time constraints. The Documentation and Online Help Committee and the IRPC Steering Committee, have struggled with trying to find efficient models for operating. One example of where we have streamlined processes is in the merger of the Gateway Help Committee and the Documentation Committee. This merger brought unique talents together to coordinate and enhance the transmission of documentation in print and electronic form via the Gateway Help pages. The merger of these two groups and the exploration into various production models, were outgrowths of on-going discussions with both committee chairs. In addition, relationship building with other committees such as the Gateway Committee were also explored. Highlights from these discussions are outlined below. In brief two action items need to be addressed by PSEC: 

(1) That a standing liaison be appointed to attend both Documentation and Gateway Committee meetings as necessary. We have built this design into the current membership structure and Nan Hyland, Chair of this year's Documentation and Online Help Committee, is currently serving in this dual capacity. 

(2) That any future initiatives requiring public documentation have as part of their initial proposal, recognition that documentation will be a component of the project and that a member from the project team will be responsible for the original drafting of said documentation. This person will also serve as a liaison to the Documentation and Online Help Committee and will forward the materials to the Committee for their editorial review. The project that originally prompted our concern in this area was the My Library project. More recently, the Illiad project has also asked for extensive writing of documentation on a tight deadline. The Documentation and Online Help Committee
responded to this group's needs right after the program was presented to the general IRPC meeting.

The following are quoted from a memo that we sent to the Documentation and Online Help Committee back in September of 1999, in which IRPC Steering responded to concerns raised by the Documentation Committee.

1. IRPC Steering strongly agrees with your (Documentation Committee, Chair Martha Walker and Gateway Help, Chair Angi Faiks) assessment that the Documentation Committee needs a standing, rather than periodic, relationship with the GW Committee or its future counterpart. As electronic resources and services evolve at an ever faster pace, it is important that we consider providing on-line supporting documentation as an integral part of making these products available. We would like to see a standing liaison appointed who would attend both Documentation & GW Committee meetings as necessary. We also concur that a strong relationship needs to be maintained with Mann ITS; a more formal relationship with the GW Committee will also serve to strengthen this connection.

2. Relationship to in-house development of new products and services: IRPC Steering shares your concerns about Documentation becoming overwhelmed with requests for writing user support for new CUL projects and services, such as PES. Writing effective project documentation from scratch would require the Doc. Committee to appoint a member to every project that comes along. This is not always realistic. We agreed that in the future, given the amount of time and work involved in keeping up with existing needs, the Documentation Committee should serve as an editorial board for these CUL projects. We will request that administrators formulating the charges for these ad hoc groups include the creation of basic documentation in their assignments. The Documentation Committee can then take over to provide design, editorial support, and feedback.

In cases where the Documentation and Online Help Committee is called upon for work outside of direct IRPC Steering Committee oversight, we will need guidance from Library Administration to ensure that these other groups have documentation as a part of their initial charge/proposal, and that there be someone in these groups responsible for drafting this material and for working with the Documentation Committee to ensure its successful publication and distribution. The IRPC Steering Committee will serve as the intermediary between these "outside" projects/requests and the Documentation Committee. IRPC Steering will also determine, up front, if these requests are appropriate and germane to the mission of CUL instruction and reference.

This year will be particularly taxing on the Documentation and Online Help Committee as they gear up for public documentation in support of Voyager. We must remain mindful of the pressing demands Voyager implementation will have on the Committee. At the same time, however, we need to put in place mechanisms that will ensure successful, future cross-committee relationships as well as establish standards for the development of public documentation. These standards include the naming of a project team member as a documentation liaison and the clear expectation that that individual will be responsible for drafting any original documentation, and for working with the Documentation Committee on editorial revisions and eventual dissemination.

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Current Members:

James Alberts	ja253@cornell.edu	July 2006 - June 2008
Amy Blumenthal	ab18@cornell.edu	DLIT liaison
Susan Kendrick, Co-chair	sfk23@cornell.edu	July 2006 - June 2008
Melody Padgett	mlp57@cornell.edu	July 2006 - June 2008
Staci Rogers	sr352@cornell.edu	Access Services liaison, July 2007 - June 2009
Glen Wiley	gsw55@cornell.edu	July 2007 - June 2009

Suggestions Concerning our Activities? 

We are eager to hear your comments and ideas. Please feel free to contact any committee member.

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