|
Attending: Janet Chisman, Rhonda Gaylord, Daryl Herbison, Jill Palmer, Barbara Paulson, Marilyn Von Seggern
(Co-Chair), Kay Vyhnanek, Sharon Walbridge
(Recorder) and Leslie Wykoff (via WHETS).
Attending for portions of the meeting: Vicki Croft, Lauren McNiece, John Webb and
Christy Zlatos.
Absent: Mary Gilles (Co-Chair) and Ingrid Mifflin.
Check-in
- Lauren McNiece noted that union members in WSU Bargaining Unit 5 (representing the non-supervisory Library staff) voted to ratify their contract last night. The
contract will go to the WSU Board of Regents on May 10.
- Marilyn Von Seggern noted her concern that the Planning Committee may be seen as involving itself in issues that are outside of our charge. It was suggested that issues such as this could be noted at the end of our process.
University of Arizona Conference
Jill Palmer reported on Living the future: process improvement & organizational change at the University of Arizona Library (Tucson: 1-4 May 1996), a very interesting conference on organizational change that she attended. Palmer will copy some of the handouts for the Committee and will route the entire packet of information. Some of her comments are included below:
After the initial few months of planning at the U-A Libraries, when it became clear that real change was going to occur, the Libraries did conflict resolution training to be able to deal with tensions that began to surface.
For real and significant change, the backing of the University and even the state was found to be necessary. The ability to change salaries and budgets was necessary.
At the U-A Libraries, the entire Libraries is viewed as a team. Everyone is judged on the performance of the Libraries as a whole, not just of their particular unit.
Everyone in technical services works 20% of their time in public services, and everyone takes regular turns at night or weekend shifts.
The total goal is the customer/user.
The U-A Libraries equivalent to WSU Libraries Director's Council is now an elected body.
There are cross-functional teams and work teams in operation at the U-A Libraries.
Since the U-A Libraries now operate on consensus, much time is spent on communication and in meetings.
The U-A Libraries transition has taken three hard years. They made their major changes in one move - one day they operated in the old way and the next day, the new way.
The U-A Libraries do regular user surveys. If scores are either exceptionally high or low, the user is asked to explain the reason for the score. If the rating is high, everyone gets a small cash bonus. (Everyone includes student employees.)
The U-A Libraries has spent a great deal of money on the change, but they feel they have saved a lot.
At the U-A Libraries, librarian roles have changed more than staff roles.
The U-A Libraries had to change their hiring to deal with new ways of operation and new expectations.
During the transition, a number of people left. Positions were not filled as the Libraries moved toward change.
The U-A Libraries are now viewed as a leader on the campus - that was not true prior to their major change.
The U-A Libraries are now very open - very little is confidential.
Meeting minutes
Minutes of the May 1 meeting were approved as distributed. It was
later noted that no decision had been made to talk with Nancy Baker about a user survey as stated in the minutes.
Draft Statements
It was reiterated that the three statements (values, mission and vision) should be considered to be drafts or working documents. As we progress, we may need to revisit the statements to see if changes need to be made in them. More work was done on the drafts and the revised statements will be sent to Planning Committee members. Copies will not be sent to all staff, but there will be an announcement that the revised statements are available on the Web Page.
What's Next
- Interest in doing some sort of user survey continues. How can we determine what users want if we have not asked them? Mary Gilles and Marilyn Von Seggern will talk with Nancy Baker about this. We could do a survey during the summer as there are students here.
- We also need to know more about organizational models. Jill Palmer noted that there are bibliographies scattered through the U-A Libraries material.
- The Planning Committee will begin to do some brainstorming on the topic of "what should the WSU Libraries be doing?" Our discussions could be followed by more Town Meetings or focus groups to involve the rest of the Libraries staff.
- John Webb indicated that he will distribute his expanded version of a vision statement to help prompt thinking. Daryl Herbison noted that another way to
stimulate thinking would be to consider what a learning organization would be.
Summary by Marilyn Von Seggern, based on Sharon Walbridge's
WSU Libraries Planning Committee meeting notes
|
