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Interim University Librarian's UpdateAnne Kenney I'm a month into the job as Interim University Librarian and am happy to report that so far so good. I'm not so self-delusional as to believe there won't be any tough issues facing us in the coming months or that I have much to do with the fact that the library is humming along. The credit goes to you, the staff of this incredible institution. Many of you attended the all-staff meetings on February 26 and 27, but I want to devote this first column as Interim to highlighting some of the points made in those meetings. In subsequent issues, I'll be giving you my take on key issues affecting the library in the intervening months. We all know that this is a highly complex environment, and it's hard to keep on top of things or to filter out important information from the deluge of e-mails received every day. So my goal is to get you to take five minutes to read this column every other month—think of it as Cliff Notes for the library. Interim Administration During the all-staff meetings, I discussed the administrative structure and goals for the interim—which might last anywhere from six months (optimistic) to a year (let’s hope that's a pessimistic take). In terms of the administration, I'm still serving as the Sr. Associate University Librarian for Public Services and Assessment (PSA), but I'm counting on a lot of help from my colleagues. In particular, I'm grateful to Pat Schafer for agreeing to chair the Public Services Executive Committee (PSEC), to Xin Li for chairing the PSA Cabinet, and to Greg Green for chairing the Asia Curators Council. The library administration will be vested in three key groups: the Library Management Team (LMT), the Administrative Team (dubbed "CAT" for CUL Admin Team), and the University Librarian's Support Group. I value LMT's role in providing advice, recommendations, and feedback and have reinstated biweekly meetings of the group. We meet on Wednesday mornings, and Ed Weissman prepares the agenda the week before, soliciting suggestions from LMT members. You may recall that Sarah Thomas expanded LMT last year to include additional key stakeholders. Currently we're a group of thirteen, including Karen Calhoun, Lee Cartmill, Joanne Davenport, Elaine Engst, Claire Germain, Susan Markowitz, Ellen Marsh, Janet McCue, Jean Poland, Carolyn Reid, John Saylor, Ed Weissman, and me. LMT members will be taking turns hosting Academic Assemblies over the next year, so you’ll have a number of opportunities to get to know them better. The Administrative Team meets weekly to address programmatic and resource issues. CAT also forms recommendations and vets issues to bring to LMT for discussion. Karen Calhoun is chairing CAT; the other members include Lee Cartmill, Janet McCue, Ed Weissman, and me. The UL Support Group also meets weekly with me to ensure that we’re keeping on track with daily operations and commitments. Michelle Eastman keeps our list of "to do's." The other members include Joanne Davenport, Susan Markowitz, Ellen Marsh, and Ed Weissman. Goals for the Interim LMT has reconfirmed its commitment to maintaining momentum on key initiatives that are currently under way or in the final planning stages. Ed recently distributed on CU-Lib the LMT minutes for February 7, which provide an itemized list of these priorities. They may be categorized as falling into one of three areas: Supporting Academic Excellence, Building Our Base, and Ensuring Our Future. Over the coming months, expect to hear more about these initiatives in greater detail, but for now, I’d suggest you read Ed's minutes. As Interim Librarian, I'm particularly vested in four key goals: promoting the campaign, renovating Olin, connecting Ithaca/Weill Medical libraries, and engaging staff. Promoting the campaign. As you know, Cornell is in the throes of a major fundraising campaign with a $4 billion goal. The library's target is $60 million, which we seek to support students, faculty, and programs. I've been meeting with Joanne Davenport and her staff to come up to speed on the campaign, and, beginning this month, I'll be traveling to meet with key prospects and members of the Library Advisory Council (our external advisory group, headed by Beth Anderson, Vice President of Audible.com). Our plan is to unveil "case statements" for the three priority areas at the spring meeting of the Advisory Council at the end of April. You'll hear more on that in upcoming issues of Inside CUL, and I hope to report soon on the results of a survey of student library workers. Renovating Olin. Unfortunately, facilities is not one of the areas included in the campaign for the library (the university has other priorities in this area, including the life sciences project, the physical sciences project, and the West Campus initiative. However, we are hopeful that the university will support upgrades to Olin in terms of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) and life safety (in particular, a sprinkler system for the stack tower). Our plan is to go to the April meeting of the Capital Funding and Priorities Committee (CF&PC) to secure its approval to fund these renovations and to secure their permission to include programmatic upgrades for Olin in the library campaign. We'll make good use of the results of the Olin user survey that was completed by over 1,000 people in December. An exhibit highlighting the survey's findings is currently on display outside the Libe Café. It clearly identifies program improvements (more electrical outlets, more computing, more quiet and group study space) as high priorities. Connecting Ithaca/Weill Medical libraries. When Karen Calhoun, Sarah Thomas, and I met with President Skorton in December, he was very complimentary about the library with one exception: the lack of access to library resources and services between the Ithaca and the Weill Med campuses. Ed Weissman chairs a steering committee to address this problem; Janet McCue, Jean Poland, and Carolyn Reid round out the membership. Under their guidance, a group of very talented library staff from both campuses is working to identify, prioritize, and resolve issues on the basis of known problems, but also informed by interviews with faculty both in Ithaca and in NYC. The working group includes Kris Alpi and Mark Funk from Weill Cornell and Adam Chandler, Erla Heyns, Bill Kara, Holly Mistlebauer, and Leah Solla from Ithaca. Key issues include
The group's goal is to present a report and recommendations to President Skorton by June 1. Engaging staff. In his inaugural address, the president offered five basic propositions, the second of which was to "optimize the environment for our staff.' He asked whether the university is doing 'what is needed to become the employer we aspire to be." We know that CUL excels in many categories. In 2002 we won the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries. We are routinely ranked in the top ten North American research libraries by the ARL (Association of Research Libraries)—ninth for 2006. The Princeton Review named CUL the fourteenth best library in the country among all academic libraries. Graduating seniors at Cornell consistently vote the library the best service on campus and value the library higher than their counterparts in a highly select group of colleges and universities. And every year that we participate in ARL's LibQual survey, we outscore comparable institutions in terms of users’ perceptions of library services. But how do we perceive the library? Would staff identify the library as the place to work on campus? If not, what can be done to improve employee engagement? First, it is important to get a sense of where we stand by creating and assessing baseline data. We have a few important data points already. Chief among them is the "Innovation without Burnout Report," produced by a team charged with identifying the skills and resources needed for library innovation. I would urge those of you who haven't read this report to do so. We'll be looking closely at its recommendations in the coming months. The library also has an opportunity to participate along with six other units on campus in the Well-Being at Work Research Project, a joint effort of the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell. To date, approximately 20% of the library staff has participated, but more of us need to complete the survey so that we can build reliable benchmarks for the library as a whole and gain access to important tools in subsequent phases of this project (we need a critical mass of participants for this to be the case). The deadline for participation has been extended until the end of May. To participate, please go to the Research Portal. Second, we can also work to improve two-way communication. The "Innovation without Burnout" report noted the importance of clearly articulating the library’s vision and values and assessing new initiatives against that vision. I was pleased to see that the Weill Cornell Medical Library has recently reviewed and expanded its vision—and has put a link directly to it on its home page. Too much information is as ineffective as too little information, and we have all experienced e-mail fatigue. As noted earlier, I plan to use Inside CUL to update you on key issues facing the library during the interim. I'll also be holding monthly "Shop Talks" with interested staff to discuss issues of concern, gain new perspectives, and encourage direct communication. The first Shop Talk will be from noon to 1:30, Thursday, March 15, in 703 Olin Library. Coffee, tea, and sweets will be provided. There will be no agendas for these meetings, so come prepared to discuss whatever is on your mind. I have also blocked off time each week to meet with staff individually—contact Michelle Eastman (mre2) to schedule an appointment. In the coming months, we'll be pursuing other means for making CUL the place to work, and we need your ideas and help. Linda Bryan, Susan Markowitz, Angela Horne, Pat Schafer, and others are working on a range of issues, from identifying the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) to targeted training, succession planning, and yearly evaluation and assessment measures. Finally, a key ingredient for me in terms of job engagement is to have fun. One recent fun thing has been to work with Ellen Marsh, Carla DeMello, and the rest of the Communications team on developing ideas for the virtual Cornell Library Store. Ellen's accompanying piece in this issue talks about this effort. Come join in the fun at a brain-storming session she's holding on Friday, March 30, at 3:00 in 703 Olin. That's it for now. If you have ideas or questions, please drop me a line or come visit me in my new digs in 201 Olin. |
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