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Attending: Rhonda Gaylord, Mary Gilles (Co-Chair), Daryl Herbison, Ingrid Mifflin, Jill Palmer, Barb Paulson, Marilyn Von Seggern (Co-Chair), Kay Vyhnanek, Sharon Walbridge (Recorder), John Webb, Leslie Wykoff (by phone), and Christy Zlatos.
Absent: Janet Chisman, Vicki Croft, and Lauren McNiece.
Meeting minutes
Minutes of the March 6 meeting were approved with one change- under the Trust section, add that the committee will open each meeting with a check-in on trust.
Trust Check-in
- Members had heard that library staff were both discouraged and overly encouraged to attend the values workshops. Nancy Baker will be informed of this by the co-chairs.
- The Planning Committee will send a message of appreciation to all of those attending the values workshops and to supervisors who freed up staff to be able to participate. The message will remind people that there will be other opportunities to participate in planning efforts in the future and to feel free to comment on the values compilation to a Planning Committee member. The compilation of values will be made available on the Web Page and will be distributed in print form with minutes of this meeting.
Values Workshops Check-in
Daryl Herbison and others characterized the three values mini-retreats as successful based on the active participation and conversation that took place in all three sessions. It is hoped that the enthusiasm generated by the workshops will continue as the planning effort continues. It was noted that about 2/3 of the library staff did participate in the values sessions. Other comments during the discussion:
- The Libraries lack a sense of community - this came up at every one of the three sessions. It was suggested that the Planning Committee sponsor a potluck lunch every six weeks or so - combining that with the town meeting concept.
- It was noted that one of the sessions brought our an important perception related to the Lee and Dale exercise. The perception is that youth / new views / youthful enthusiasm are not valued here.
In discussing the values compilation and a process to pull the information together the following points were made:
- Categories seem to include task oriented values and relationship values as cultural values; change related and status quo related values; moral and competence values. These categories may help as we move toward values statements
- It was noted that many of the values in the compilation are relationship oriented. If most change needs to take place in relationship values, organizational change needs to address those values.
- We need to make library users more a part of our community--it was observed that we do not use our skills well inside the organization, trusting public service staff with users but not one another internally. Also, we don't use people's skills and expertise - people get "pigeon holed" in narrow jobs. It was noted that working in teams may provide more possibilities in terms of using people's strengths.
- In a happy organization, people may feel freer to take risks.
Strategy
- Daryl Herbison, Barb Paulson, John Webb and Rhonda Gaylord will work to identify "families" or categories of terms / phrases from the values compilation.
- Committee members will begin to draft some values statements and share them with the committee on the listserv.
Next meeting
The Planning Committee will meet on Wednesday, March 27, 1996 at 8:30 AM in the Holland Library WHETS room.
Summary by Marilyn Von Seggern, based on Sharon Walbridge's
WSU Libraries Planning Committee meeting notes
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