Now accepting nominations for the Shapiro Library Staff Innovation Award

Text reads: Shapiro Library Staff Innovation Award

Have you been wowed by a Fondren Library colleague, working group, or committee’s innovative solutions to problems, exemplary service to the Rice community, can-do attitude, or all of the above? 

Here is your chance to honor your colleagues who work hard year-round for the university community: nominations for the Shapiro Library Staff Innovation Award are open starting today, Monday, February 3, 2020, until Friday, March 13. Individuals or groups of up to eight library staff may be nominated. More information is found here on our nomination form.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Thank you,

2020 Shapiro Library Staff Innovation Award Selection Committee

Amanda Thomas, User Experience/Public Services Librarian, Fondren Library
Elizabeth Festa, Associate Director, Program for Writing & Communication
Beverly Mims, Approvals Coordinator, Fondren Library
Rebecca Russell, Archivist/Special Collections Librarian, Fondren Library

Staff Association Updates

Good afternoon! We would like to share a few updates on Staff Association activity since our last meeting:

  • Our bylaws amendments all passed and the document was edited in July. The new bylaws files are now on our (older) wiki and the Staff Portal (login required). One quick way to know you are viewing the most recent document is the addition of (Revised July 2019) on the last page. If you see the file elsewhere, let us know and we will try to update it ASAP.
  • We are working on a draft update to our Operations and Procedures Manual. We started with the ad hoc committee’s 2018 suggestions and are now gathering comments from standing committee chairs. A draft will be ready for comments soon.
  • Our 2019 Nominating Committee is Robert Estep, Mira Greene, and Jun Qian. They will nominate four candidates for the two open Staff Association Executive Committee positions (2020-22).
  • Our next General Meeting is soon after Thanksgiving: Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at 1:00 pm in Kyle Morrow Room. It should be a quick meeting, and as usual we will have refreshments and treats. All Fondren staff are invited and encouraged to attend.

-Staff Association Executive Committee

Amanda Thomas, Andy Damico, Joe Goetz, and Heidi Vieira

New Digital Scholarship Services Blog and Newsletter

In 2017, Fondren Fellow Jennifer Lee developed a marketing plan for Digital Scholarship Service (DSS) to promote the department’s services and resources to the Rice community.

In order to understand how the Rice community wants to learn about Fondren’s resources and how frequently the Rice community utilizes Fondren resources, Jennifer developed and distributed a survey to the Rice community. Among Jennifer’s recommendations is that Fondren Library communicate with the Rice community through email notifications and newsletters to better reach a larger audience. Jennifer’s full report can be found at https://hdl.handle.net/1911/102505.

In response to Jennifer’s report, DSS has developed a plan to promote its services through several online methods, including a blog and newsletter. The blog, which will highlight departmental projects and staff news, can be found at http://digitalscholarship.blogs.rice.edu/. The electronic newsletter will be distributed several times a year (the Summer 2019 issue can be found at https://mailchi.mp/a463d366a0b9/fondren-digital-scholarship-services-newsletter).

DSS consulted with C-MACS during the development of this project and plans on sharing back any useful data we receive about user engagement.

Spring Tech Circles

The Web Team’s 2018 Documentation Report recommended development of a “tech” culture that supports more peer-to-peer support of learning about collaborative tools. These monthly Tech Circles, co-sponsored by the Fondren Library Web Team and Library Travel, Training and Development Committee, will provide training on topics of value to staff and will promote, support, and leverage new tools to improve and enhance workflows, communication, and project effectiveness.

Upcoming topics include:

Excel Tips for Library Staff

Wednesday, February 6, 10:00-11:00, Fondren Collaboration Space

DMC Virtual Reality Lab

Friday, March 15, 10:00-12:00, DMC Multipurpose Room

Presentation Software Tips & Tricks (PowerPoint, Canva, Beautiful.AI, Google Slides)

Monday, April 8, 10:00-12:00, Fondren Collaboration Space                                                                                             

Additional Sessions TBD

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, December 20, 2018

  1. Sara Lowman announced that a preliminary design for the new LSC module has been selected. The Rice Board of Trustees will need to approve the new module, likely at the February/ March meeting.
  2. The Executive Committee discussed the trend of some researchers using disciplinary repositories such as arXiv rather than institutional repositories. This practice does not appear to remove the need for an institutional repository. Not every discipline has a repository, and often researchers who make available  their work through a disciplinary repository are also willing to share it through an institutional repository.
  3. The Executive Committee also discussed the increasing efforts of publishing companies to move into research analytics and data services. Exec members will read a recent report on the topic to inform potential next steps.
  4. Denis Galvin described how Fondren currently handles privacy. As we move to Alma as our library service platform, it will be easier to anonymize patron data. Denis is working with Fondren IT to improve privacy practices, following emerging library best practices.
  5. Lisa Spiro shared suggestions from Fondren staff who recently attended the Library Assessment Conference. These suggestions include making assessment data and reports available in a common area (such as the new staff portal); offering training on topics such as IRB, privacy, and analytical tools; getting started on ROARS assessment activities earlier in the academic year; building assessment into new project plans (including conducting user analysis and feasibility studies at the beginning and evaluations at the end); and promoting a culture of inquiry and trust.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, November 8, 2018

Sara Lowman and Sandi Edwards reported on the study on expanding the LSC. A recent kickoff meeting included perhaps 25 stakeholders, including representatives from Facilities, Engineering & Planning and campus IT. Mark Boone of Shepley Bulfinch will serve as architecture lead. The group will explore any existing options for expanding LSC storage space plus resolve questions regarding building life, desired capacity, etc. A new unit need not be exactly the same size as the existing LSC module. Dec. 31 is the target date for the report on planning LSC expansion.

Led by Sara Lowman in an annual exercise, the group reviewed a spreadsheet showing the fees Fondren pays to belong to membership organizations such as ARL, GWLA and the like. Group members will check on the usefulness of a few memberships, but no cuts were recommended this year. Campus interest persists in having Fondren join the Hathi Trust. A membership may be considered following completion of Fondren’s reclamation project, which will align all our historical holdings on OCLC and locally.

The group then discussed the topic of the library’s participation in open access (OA) publishing initiatives. Rice pays article processing charges (APCs) for authors publishing in journals operated by BioMed Central and PLOS (Public Library of Science). Fondren has also participated in OA efforts through Knowledge Unlatched (http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org). The library has more recently become involved in monograph OA publishing ventures Punctum and TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem, associated with the Association of Research Libraries). The price for publishing a single OA monograph through TOME is $15,000. Obviously, these prices prompt questions of budget, fair access and scale. Both the California Digital Library and MIT have campus plans for their libraries’ support for open access publishing. The group discussed the possibility of setting up an advisory group that would include faculty and/or supporting OA-published works via an award system. Sandi Edwards is currently working with a small, informal group: Joe Goetz, Shannon Kipphut-Smith and Lisa Spiro. Fondren’s LibGuide on Open Access Fees will be revised and expanded.

Due to time constraints, the SWOT analysis exercise was again postponed. Sara Lowman clarified that, in a future meeting, she wants the group to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for each of Fondren’s large strategic goals.

Sara Lowman noted that Gillis Award nominations are due November 30. She also noted the status of several new or pending library endowments, and that the Friends’ gala proceeds this year are being directed toward a University Librarian’s Discretionary Fund. She further noted that the Friends have approved the expenditure of $250,000 from last year’s gala towards short-term refurbishing (e.g. furniture, paint) of the Brown Fine Arts space on the third floor.

Tech Circles

The Fondren Library Web Team and Library Travel, Training and Development Committee are collaborating to offer a series of Tech Circle events.

The Web Team’s 2018 Documentation Report recommended development of a “tech” culture that supports more peer-to-peer support of learning about collaborative tools. These monthly Tech Circles will provide training on topics of value to staff and will promote, support, and leverage new tools to improve and enhance workflows, communication, and project effectiveness.

Upcoming topics include:

Staff Portal Preview 
Wednesday, November 7, 2:00-3:00, Fondren Collaboration Space

Creating Accessible PDFs
Friday, November 30, 10:00-11:00, Fondren Collaboration Space

Google Team Drives 
Tuesday, January 15, 10:00-11:00, Fondren Collaboration Space

Excel tips for library staff
Tuesday, February 5, 10:00-11:00, Fondren Collaboration Space

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, October 11, 2018

Led by Mary Lowery, the group discussed interest by the Friends of Fondren Library (FoFL) Membership Committee in heightening staff and faculty engagement. Various measures were proposed to increase FoFL exposure and better understand staff and faculty interests FoFL might address. Faculty already play a large role in FoFL activities, e.g in delivering lectures.

Led by Sandi Edwards, the group discussed staff incentives for above and beyond performance. New university awards were discussed and creative ideas for library-specific recognition will be explored. Fondren already has a built-in event every other month in which service anniversaries are celebrated. These events could also be used for additional forms of recognition.

Led by Sara Lowman, the group began discussion of John Doerr’s book, “Measure What Matters.” Sara shared that the university administrators read this book as a group, but that full discussion has not yet taken place there. Denis Galvin noted that Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as described in the book are already in wide use in IT circles.

The group discussed the current strategic plan version including action items. Comparisons were drawn to the planning documents of 3 other university offices (Dean of GPS, Dean of Undergraduates and Provost’s Office), but there is no need for our plan to look exactly like theirs. Our plan is now no longer a draft and will no longer be labeled as such. Issues raised recently, such as the lack of backup laptops and textbooks for lower-resourced students, should be addressed. The role of managers and chairs of key committees in the Fondren planning retreat was very significant. This group could possibly be of enormous help in the “care and feeding” of the plan over time. Lisa Spiro and Melinda Flannery will confer about these ideas and share with the group.

Various staff tuition and class opportunities were discussed, including a free leadership certificate from the Jones School (https://business.rice.edu/graduate-leadership-certificate-glc). The group will explore showcasing staff activities in these areas at an upcoming Town Hall meeting. Testimonials may be more effective than HR presentations to remind staff of these opportunities at Rice.

Sara Lowman reported briefly on Board of Trustee meetings. An important topic was ensuring student success across the economic range. The Board’s Building & Grounds Committee reported that the next Fondren renovation is likely to be scheduled on the late end of the Capital Campaign. Less major renovations to the Brown Library (e.g. furniture, paint) may be possible before the larger effort takes place.

Keeping Current

As part of Keeping Current, staff members share the latest library developments gained from professional meetings in the previous year. We also invite you to an in-person Keeping Current event at 10:00 on Wednesday, October 24, in the DMC Multipurpose Room.

Alice Rhoades

I attended the NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group) Annual Conference this past June (6/8-6/11/18). Besides participating in meetings of the Membership Services Committee, I attended a number of presentations and user group meetings. Some of the most informative were those involving other libraries that had transitioned to Alma. The Users Group meeting, in particular, was very useful in identifying which areas had caused problems and which did not, and which types of pre-migration cleanup projects had proved most useful. Another presentation detailing how cataloging works in Alma’s Folio environment was also very enformative. Some of the other meetings of interest involved how subscription cancellations affect e-journal access and current and upcoming metadata issues.

 

Sue Garrison

This year I attended ALA Midwinter and Annual as co-chair of LLAMA’s Practical and Applied Management Committee. Along with my co-chair we met with the full LLAMA LOMS committee and proposed a name change for our committee which was accepted. Our new name is LLAMA Leadership & Management. I met with ALA technical staff to create our committee’s web page on ALA Connect. Our committee now has a space to store meeting notes, capture documentation procedures, and share other important information with current and future members.

At Midwinter, a session entitled “It’s Your Future: Get Ready for it Now!” presented by Caitlin Williams, was not only engaging, but also filled with useful tools, activities and resources. The presentation inspired me to head over to the ALA Store and pick up a pack of their Center for the Future of Libraries Trend Cards http://www.ala.org/tools/future/trends, which I will use with my team to discuss the impact of trends in libraries and their effect on careers. I’m always noting recommended resources and titles at the conferences, and this conference netted me a monograph that my team selected for their fall read The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. We’re just beginning to read it and hope to have some insightful conversations.

Two sessions at Annual were very relevant with our LSP migration…”Managing Change (and an ILS migration) like a Get out the Vote (GOVT) Campaign” and “The Fundamental Aspect of Library Project Management.” Both shared some great tips such as organizing staff to lead change based on their level of interest (similar to a government campaign), recognizing that you have: 1. Leaders, 2. Highly Supportives, 3. Undecideds , 4. Apathetic/Somewhat Unsupportives, and 5. Actively Unsupportives. The motive here is to move the individuals up in numbers by engaging higher numbered individuals with lower numbered individuals. Two book titles that were suggested from these sessions were Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager and Creativity Inc, and again, many great tips about how to manage a major project implementation including using FreeMind and XMind to plan a project and Office Timeline www.officetimeline.com (for PowerPoint), for scheduling and tracking. The PM session emphasized that innovation requires flexibility and trust, collaboration with other organizations, celebrating small victories along the way, calculating risks, and making it safe for the team to take risks, crafting and sharing impactful messages and reports, empowering stakeholders to get involved, and clearly and regularly communicating the status of a project.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, September 13, 2018

1. Sara Lowman shared strategic goals from the university’s academic units. The Executive Committee will review Fondren’s action plan in relation to these plans as well as John Doerr’s Measure What Matters.

2. Planning for new storage space is underway, with funding available in FY19. Additional storage space will lay the groundwork for a future renovation of Fondren Library.

3. Alma update: August 1, 2019 remains the go live date for Alma. Many Fondren staff have been working on clean-up projects, including in acquisitions, cataloging, and resource sharing. The Primo team spent this summer benchmarking other institutions’ implementation of the same platform that we will use. The benchmarking process raised questions and ideas that will inform usability testing and training programs.

4. The Executive Committee discussed an external group’s request to book the Collaboration Space. The request was denied because of concerns about the technology demands and need for the space by library staff.