Safety Issues in ACC Libraries

Thanks for the careful read and comments on my "Safe and Sound" email post Monday. As we all know, IRT administration takes staff safety and security and comfort levels very seriously. To list our work in this area let me reiterate what is out there for you regarding these issues and what is in the works.

Wiki Content - The wiki has a variety of types of information that include links to college information, copies of guidelines I have sent out in emails, scripts to use in relevant situations and information we have created over the years, updated in '07 and '08 and are now reviewing, updating again, and adding to. Although we have an "Emergency Preparedness" area, it combines a number of things that we are separating out.

As to the presence of the Staff Development Team on the wiki, the SDT is:

• reviewing the content on the wiki and revising as needed
• adding scripts to the wiki for handling these situations
• reviewing older emails for current accuracy and adding content from past memos such as the 2008 "Memo from the Dean of Library Services on Campus Alarms: Required Behavior by LS Employees during Emergency Evacuation/Fire Drills"

Training

1. Part of the review of ACC content is the identification of college training related to what we do. We will be recommending some of these trainings for this year.
2. As we all know, our LS all meeting last year was a panel of our ACC police with content in general as well as content prepared just for us/in our space. We received excellent feedback from that meeting and will schedule another one of those when our content has been updated.
3. I will be coming around to each campus and meeting with staff there regarding their own/unique safety issues of their buildings. If you will remember, 10/21/2009, I sent an email around regarding those elements that needed to be in first day/first week training for each staff member. See the content I have included at the end of this email labeled "do you know" as it includes that information and more. HL's/Managers will be working with staff (all staff....all levels and no matter how many hours they work for us) to determine if all staff know the answers to these critical questions prior to my coming out to the campus.

SO...do you know regarding Emergency Management (EM) in your building?

1. Visit each floor of your buildings on campus. Review the following information:

Where are the posted floor plans and specifically where are the emergency exits?
What are the floor plan notations for emergency evacuation locations?
Where are emergency boards/marquees located?
What do the instructions near the elevators say regarding evacuation/in case of emergency?

2. Review the external areas of the building(s) on your campus.

Where is the shelter-in-place on your campus in case of emergency?
Where are the rally points in case of emergency?
Who are the floor managers in case of emergency? How can you recognize them?

3. Note any equipment on the floors outside the library.

Where are the defib machines? Who is supposed to use those? When are they to use them?
Where are the fire extinguishers on each floor?

4. What are the posted/written EM elements?

What number is on the phone for emergencies?
Where is the notification button (right now only at Round Rock) in the library?
If we call for an emergency what is the code?
Who decides an emergency exists and who manages us through that emergency at your campus?

5. Where are any safety materials libraries have for staff?

Where are your non-latex gloves for handling possibly toxic materials?
Where are your face masks staff can and should use if smells or dust or mold make it difficult to breathe?

Dean's Message Spring 2010

To write my Dean's Blog/midyear memo or my LS "what's up," I started with a review of the mid/late summer early email from 2009 so that I could give you the status of those issues. Therefore, the first part of this email is your update from fall 2009 using the specific content from the summer…THEN, I will move into what is newer information.

Summer 2009 Content - 1. Timing/Team Membership … Last year the Head Librarians requested that we move Team appointments earlier/to midsummer to provide a longer lead time for reviewing old goals/accomplishments and for proposing and getting approval for goals for FY' 10. LLT members felt this timeline worked out well this past year and we met last week to discuss Team membership for this coming year. As I understand it, LLT members had discussions with librarians and the recommendations are to leave FY '10 LS Team membership as it is now for this coming year. This is fine with me for now. When we receive information about new staffing positions for Round Rock as well as dollar amounts for print/media purchases, we will review - as we typically do when we get new resources - how business is done and what else may need to change. Last year the budget was passed in mid-July. FYI only...Since our budget year ends on 8/31, but the semester begins the week before, we ask for - if we open a new site in a fall of an academic year - one to two months of money for the site in THIS fiscal year. I will let you know as soon as I know.
Also - just as last year - when accomplishments, etc. are reported out from teams "ongoing" is not a word to be used. What should you say? If it is ongoing but is up-to-date then say something like "completed for the FY'09 year." If it is ongoing but is NOT up-to-date say something like "X is outstanding for the FY '09 year and is to be completed by x" and if necessary, say "why."

As stated this summer, we have been taking a careful look at how we accomplish work with an eye to how many new positions we have coming up. That is, we always assess collection areas, both in terms of how many areas do people buy and how many dollars they spend as well as formats purchased. We have also been looking at communication and management of information within teams, among teams and from teams and facilitators. To recap some things we all know:

• We are continuing our practice of appointing facilitators and have added back in the reference facilitator, the reserves facilitator, and created an assessment facilitator. We will continue this and - as usual - will assess functional areas for their need of a facilitator. As any growing organization we often change our minds. For example, we had a circulation facilitator in our early years, then changed to a team and have now returned to a facilitator. Coordinating functions for attention needed, ensuring uniqueness and allowing consistency is always an evolving process. We will continue to explore the team and facilitator process. As always, teams and facilitators are posted in the LLT wiki project.


• Another group we are beginning this year is our MAM group to assist in our MAM Service. Take a look in the LS wiki TSLA project at their activities, minutes, Q and A, etc. as they move through the process of integrating modules to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff.


• We have "grown" the wiki as a major management and communication tool and now know that we need to assess and - as appropriate - begin to weed project content as well as standardize what is placed on the wiki, how content is removed, how it is labeled etc. The wiki is also nearly maxed out for users; therefore we will be looking at assignment of contributor logins, etc. this spring.


• We expand our web presence almost every day. As part of this process we have devoted a collection management area to a new e-resource reference librarian and have integrated her work with other areas.

The newbie (fewer-than-five-years) group has requested that we address two things this spring:

• review of the wiki to assess, weed and standardize wiki content (tags, etc.) to better organize access,


• and the formation of a group - parallel to the web group who deals with our web structure - to deal specifically with web content.

There are several ways to accomplish these two activities that include creating ad hoc and/or permanent workgroups, teams, facilitators or possibly a new designation. We will prioritize what needs to be done and discuss the best way to get these activities going early this spring.

One thing we are changing is the approach to leaders meeting with leaders. Typically the Library Leadership Team meets twice a month or every other Tuesday.

Beginning this spring, the LLT will meet as is, one Tuesday a month, then the next Tuesday meeting will include LLT members AND facilitators, team leaders, etc. to discuss issues. This meeting will be organized to allow discussion on everyone's function rather than their role in the organization. LLT decided this mid fall, however, since reference schedules were set, we felt we couldn't free up reference desk schedules to include leaders, facilitators as needed. I will be sending out a schedule of days and times and dates on Tuesday or Wednesday of this next week so that reference schedules and IL can be scheduled to allow people to attend.

2. Curb Appeal, Design on a Dime, Trading Spaces... A number of libraries are receiving the items they ordered as a result of our transforming discussions we began last fall. When new furniture has arrived and has been installed and libraries feel their vision has been completed, we will take pictures and post them to the website. Those of you who are still in progress, let us know when you have decided what you want...Those of you not yet discussing or stalled, feel free to call a design consultant team (Ellie, Saidah, Leigh, Pam...or put your LS dream team together and invite them over to review and suggest!)

Changes to our library facilities this last year have been exciting and some have been planned and some unexpected.

• You've seen some pictures of South Austin and the shelves are finally up! There are other changes coming for the wall in back of reference at SAC as well.


• The Pinnacle student body and faculty have grown by leaps and bounds. Changes to the library have focused on student, collection, and staff areas - including moving the entire circulating book collection & stacks, relocating student seating areas, creating a quiet study area, increasing student computers & laptops, increasing circ desk space and providing staff workspace for circulation desk employees.


• Rio Grande received an unexpected gift from facilities and the old carpet was replaced with carpet squares over the break. Taking advantage of the last minute gift, the staff swung into action and not only achieved the re-carpeting, but also moved some staff areas in back of circulation, took back the small e-resources room and that is being divided into an office for the Head Librarian (which is where I started out if you were here to remember!) and the other ½ of the room will be a small group study room - which has been requested constantly over the past decade. This change is taking place with no loss of seating or hardware for student use so it's a win-win situation.


• I know other things are planned…NRG painting? & we will continue to make the best use of our library spaces.

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3. Circulation Services - Assessment Two years ago we decided to create a lead Senior Library Assistant, Jon Sprecher, who has been working to train SLA's and LA's and assess and standardize - where appropriate - circulation services throughout ACC libraries. Last year we "retreated" and spent a day on standardized SLA training and a number of things requested based on that meeting have been happening. Just coming to closure is the process of assessing other Austin and central Texas area library circulation services (public, academic and special.) These visits will come to closure this summer and Jon Sprecher and Maria Taylor will be creating a report of the visits and assessments and recommending best practices. These recommendations will come to LLT with further comments on what we need to implement here at ACC.

A lead SLA (…the first year Jon Sprecher served as lead and now he and Maria Taylor are co-leads…) to coordinate hiring and training of SLA's and LA's as well as design of circ desk content for standardization for best possible services for students has been a very successful program. This past year we created a "five things everyone needs to know about circulation" and we tried to standardized deposits, etc. We have far to go on standardizing ALL employee knowledge, however, and our training focus for this January meeting - instead of our security theme we began in August - will focus on:

• Confidentiality of our patron records


• Handling money


• Customer Service for circulation desk services


• Communication

Please note that these issues are critical for all employees and not just circulation desk employees.

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4. Round Rock... We completed RRC design of the facilities and created and submitted a staffing plan. Periodically we have a few decisions to make and just this last week, I had a "front door" question to resolve. In addition, I talked with ACC facilities because I looked for and couldn't find any RRC pix on the website. They will be posting some construction pictures soon.

ACC is moving ahead quickly on a number of construction projects. Visit http://www.austincc.edu/faoadmin/projects.php to get recent pictures of Round Rock (specifically Building #1000) as well as the RGC parking garage and the gymnasium renovation.

I was very pleased to find out in October we received all the RRC personnel we requested. This happens due to - our need for these personnel - but also due to the support of Richard Smith and Mary Hensley. Therefore this spring we will be hiring a Head Librarian, three reference librarians, a senior library assistant, two library assistants and one administrative assistant. I will be putting together committees early in the spring. The HL will start employment on July 1st and all other library employees will be scheduled to begin on August 1st.

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5. Office Productivity Software... Also brought up in the fall 2008 LS Transforming summit, we are finalizing the consistent accessibility and identification of Office on the public service library terminals. The Ad Hoc LS team that reviewed what was needed declared that nothing was needed in the way of announcement, more labeling, training, etc. I am pleased that staff members are pleased with how this has rolled out.

IRT staff members are preparing hardware and software designated for technology trade out.

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6. Future... This coming year we will have expanded communication discussions, a resurrection of a facilitator position and a few other new/revised areas. They include:




- We will be further standardizing our email communication this fall with a goal to cut down on individual emails. This will include a review and expansion - if necessary - of our email subject heading and more grouped content group emails (Teresa Ashley will be grouping Net/Web information and distributing in a timely manner and Steve Self is already grouping and expanding tech suggestions. In addition, Ellie will continue to group and distribute staff/professional development materials.)


- In the past we have grouped and standardized reference activities in a variety of different ways. These ways have included reference coordinators at each campus, then a reference committee or team, then facilitators...We have decided to return to a standardized approach to managing our general reference materials. In review of librarian jobs/responsibilities (and LS ongoing vacancies ...Cypress HL,) needed coordination and facilitation, project management expertise and availability of librarians, we have chosen Sylvia Owens to facilitate general reference activities. To "design" this responsibility we gathered three 'job descriptions' and designed a new approach that combines a number of older activities and new needs. Jonathan Buckstead has managed the reference selection function for new campuses through the AdHoc groups formed out of the standing Collection Development Team. He will continue to work on the RRC reference collection development initiative in partnership with Sylvia for this year, transitioning processes to her. Thanks to Jonathan for doing such a good job on our new campus collections. Sylvia's has been learning the ropes and reviewing how this happened in the past and reviewing how other institutions do this, therefore "official notification" of her work on LS library-wide reference initiatives should be this email.

I think our standardized organized emails we began this past fall have worked out well. I am grateful to Teresa Ashley, Ellie Collier and Steve Self - among others I'm sure - for organizing and recommending content for us. If you miss the emails, visit the wiki where the majority of this good information is posted. More content on this will be presented at the Spring All-LS meeting January 14th.

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7. New Initiatives and Stimulus and Recovery... In partnership with the ACC Humanities Department, we are involved with the college's Big Read and our first programs and online displays will begin this fall. Terese Morgan/the South Austin Campus is the primary partner for this and Terese will keep us posted and advertise the program as we get closer to the events. I have also been talking to ACC grants and monitoring statewide reaction to the federal monies and possible statewide dollars. I am meeting with Mary Harris week after next to discuss the college's plans and two other initiatives to see if Library Services might play a supporting role. (Example...ACC's Distinction project)

We participated in the English/Humanities Grant program - The Big Read - this past fall. We thank Terese for participating with the Humanities Department planning team and Saidah who did a great job of photographing authors and creating posters as well as publicity.

Our participation in college partnerships is always good advertising for the critical supporting role we play in the college.

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8. Recession...When the FY '10 budget is passed, we will have a better idea of what we will need to do to tighten our belt for the future. More later.

So far so good. We are being careful with our dollars and are making sure to spend as we need and to spend economically and efficiently. To ensure we ARE carefully watching our dollars we are assessing how our projects are going more often.

We have a VERY busy spring getting ready for the new Round Rock collection and librarians have their usual money to spend as well as dollars for new resources for the Round Rock collection. As usual, this spring we will send out emails asking for people to meet all of their deadlines including collection management - spending money on new materials and weeding.

Meeting deadlines will be very important this spring and summer.

I am very excited about the technology survey project being launched this spring. Determining what we think people NEED has always been - in my opinion - one of our strengths, however, determining what people want and what people think they need is something we have done as needed but never on such a grand scale.

Thanks to Ellie and Adrian and others working with them, for requesting this initiative and making it happen.

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9. Community Access Policy... By all reports this Policy and all policy implementations have gone VERY well. Thanks to everyone. In a related note, my theme for next year will be 'safety and security' and our all-LS event - including all hourly workers - will feature this content. I am working with ACC police on this program now. More later but all staff are required to attend the Thursday, August 20th morning training. Mark your calendars now.

We have had a few issues with community members related to our new Community Access Policy. These have included community members not liking where their assigned computers were located and the amount of time they spend as a guest on ACC computers.

It's our job to keep enforcing the policy consistently across Library Services and report any problems.

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What's New and what to look for in this spring ...

Open LS Positions

We are still in the process of interviewing and hiring for the Head Librarian at the Cypress Creek Campus. I am hopeful we make a decision and move it on up the chain of command successfully, this spring.

New After-LS-Hours Chat Reference Pilot

We have agreed to join "Ask Academic" this Spring for a pilot project to supplement our existing Live-Chat service. The new service provides live-chat for ACC students AFTER LS is closed. Other Ask Academic partners will answer those chat calls. Sylvia Owens, Reference Facilitator, will be working with Ask Academic, and our Staff Development Team to coordinate training and information on this service and pilot. So, more info will be coming soon. Robert Bermea, Distance Learning Director is very excited about this supplementary reference after hours' service in support of ACC Blackboard users and we are pleased to offer all online and/or after hours users assistance

Round Rock Campus

Planning for Round Rock is in full swing. Floor plans have been finalized and the RR team is reviewing where tech/network connections/drops will go. In earlier emails I have sent links to floor plans, construction drawings and some great information Teresa Ashley forwarded to me. The information about RR grows weekly so visit back to the original links off the ACC Facilities page and see the progress. The timeline remains the same - classes begin Fall 2010 so August of 2010. When you look at this timeline, of course, it means that this year will be a very busy one for us as CDT orders materials and TS manages this huge project. Thanks to all the LS RR Team in advance. It's always exciting to have new space - but a great deal of work goes in to creating this space ...and it will be our largest.

The RRC is ahead of schedule in its construction and we will open for the fall 2010 semester, this August. As stated in other sections this spring and summer we are:

• Busy completing designs for the facility


• Making decisions on furniture and fixtures


• Advertising and hiring staff


• Building the collection

The college now has THREE categories for posting positions. We used to have two and the internal approach for posting was often confusing. Their three approaches now include:

• Internal - employees apply and then - if selected - there is a direct move to identical jobs/positions


• External - open application from both internal and external employees

We now have a new internal approach and this includes any internal employees - qualified of course - applying for positions and - if selected - moving to similar, completely different or the exact job at the new location. This is the one I have chosen for our first round of postings. Postings should begin this end of February or March.

ACC Facilities - Future Plans

I gathered our facilities needs from library managers and met with Bill Mullane, our ACC Facilities Administrator. During our conversation of existing needs, Bill talked about future facilities and current discussions include: building four more campuses in the next 5 to 7 years and using the RRC template as the future template for facilities. This is exciting for us as RRC will be our first campus library of this size and staffed fully from day one. I am thrilled to hear this and we will move forward to carefully assess RRC to make any changes needed in the facilities/staffing plan. This proves to be an exciting future for us.

Training Issues - Confidentiality; Money Handling

My original choice was to focus on Emergency Management for this year's training program for all LS employees with an emphasis this fall. While we had a great kickoff meeting this past August, other issues steered us in a different and more greatly needed direction - confidentiality of information we house/maintain and handling money. Therefore, our first all-LS meeting since these issues arose will be devoted to these topics. Please note:

Our need for safeguarding the confidentiality of the information entrusted to us is of paramount importance. We have zero tolerance for employees who misuse the information or their access to student, patron/customer information.

Any money we handle in our jobs is public money. Our need for careful procedures and policies in place regarding this public money managed through our circulation desks is of paramount importance. We have zero tolerance for employees who do not follow the college's policies and procedures and any IRT/LS policies and procedures for the money we handle/are responsible for daily.

ANY dollars spent are public money. Most activities we "do" are tied to spending public money, that is…buying materials, weeding materials, buying furniture, contracting with vendors, subscribing to resources or services…even buying food for ACC all-LS meeting, using the P-card for purchases, all bidding processes - even sole source processes, tracking and reimbursing for travel, in-district and out- of-district , as well as petty cash reimbursements is managed and there are policies and procedures in place…other areas these are always under (and should be) great scrutiny. We also consider how we spend our hourly money as a process for spending public money wisely…Spending money in IRT/LS is a transparent process and there are many checks and balances in the college for the dollars we spend including management of money at a number of levels AND approvals through LS and on up through the administration as well as through ACC's budget office.

We are continuing to monitor money closely even though the college is making ends meet in these poor economic times. Again, emails pointed out required deadlines for spending our dollars will be coming out this spring as usual.

Training Issues - Customer Service

Staff Development survey results have indicated a need for more customer service training. While good customer service is something the library always scores high on in ACC's internal surveys we always need to remember that longstanding employees can always use refreshers, we have new staff as well as hourly employees who aren't with us every day.

Training/Staff Development

We are - once again led by our expert SD team, offering a diverse array of staff development and training opportunities this spring. They include:

Forums for librarians held on the 2nd Friday of every month. "Reference" is the February 12th Forum topic.

Webinars including a iii series, the DuPage series (titles posted in the wiki) and product webinars such as the Booklist program.

Training for services and functions as well as products such as the EBSCONet training on March 19th and LibGuides and Wiki trainings planned for this spring.

Staffing Patterns/Services

We are always exploring our services and - most often our staffing patterns for services we provide. Sometimes the best of services simply can't be paid for because we may not have the money or the college infrastructure doesn't support the service request.

I am most reminded of the comments gathered at every open student forum. It is not uncommon for students to request 24/7 hours at library locations. We receive these comments gathered from Student Services in one large table and each area dean/manager must answer the questions or respond to comments. I always respond - as I did above - that we closely watch usage during the year and usage during holiday times, we monitor budget dollars to see what we CAN do to serve students, we focus on creating a robust online environment for meeting student needs and we always talk about the infrastructure of the college, that is, the greatest cost to open services on any campus is the cost of police presence at these times. 24/7 costs are prohibitive not only for us, but for police and - by all accounts of surveys we have conducted - no location would be used much after 10 pm and really 9 pm.

As always we are gathering data on what happened this last semester and I will be distributing that to see if managers wish to explore - for example - two campuses open during semesters to meet patron needs. We'll see.

To this end, however, we do have a unique opportunity to add a reference service after hours or from 10 pm throughout the night/in line with data on Blackboard student use. As a pilot, for this spring and summer we will be using such a service. As always we'll be assessing set up, use, impact on us, etc. More on that later after ACC librarians complete their work on this.

LS Snapshop "Now" and Some Future Issues

It seems hard to believe that we're already halfway through the summer. I thought I would send out an update & information about now and next fall before we finish this semester; just when 10.5 contract librarians are returning from their time off; and before people taking 10.5 in July/August leave for their time off.

1. Timing/Team Membership

Last year the Head Librarians requested that we move Team appointments earlier/to midsummer to provide a longer lead time for reviewing old goals/accomplishments and for proposing and getting approval for goals for FY' 10. LLT members felt this timeline worked out well this past year and we met last week to discuss Team membership for this coming year. As I understand it, LLT members had discussions with librarians and the recommendations are to leave FY '10 LS Team membership as it is now for this coming year. This is fine with me for now. When we receive information about new staffing positions for Round Rock as well as dollar amounts for print/media purchases, we will review - as we typically do when we get new resources - how business is done and what else may need to change. Last year the budget was passed in mid-July. FYI only...Since our budget year ends on 8/31, but the semester begins the week before, we ask for - if we open a new site in a fall of an academic year - one to two months of money for the site in THIS fiscal year. I will let you know as soon as I know.

Also - just as last year - when accomplishments, etc. are reported out from teams "ongoing" is not a word to be used. What should you say? If it is ongoing but is up-to-date then say something like "completed for the FY'09 year." If it is ongoing but is NOT up-to-date say something like "X is outstanding for the FY '09 year and is to be completed by x" and if necessary, say "why."

2. Curb Appeal, Design on a Dime, Trading Spaces...A number of libraries are receiving the items they ordered as a result of our transforming discussions we began last fall. When new furniture has arrived and has been installed and libraries feel their vision has been completed, we will take pictures and post them to the website. Those of you who are still in progress, let us know when you have decided what you want...Those of you not yet discussing or stalled, feel free to call a design consultant team (Ellie, Saidah, Leigh, Pam...or put your LS dream team together and invite them over to review and suggest!)

3. Circulation Services - Assessment Two years ago we decided to create a lead Senior Library Assistant, Jon Sprecher, who has been working to train SLA's and LA's and assess and standardize - where appropriate - circulation services throughout ACC libraries. Last year we "retreated" and spent a day on standardized SLA training and a number of things requested based on that meeting have been happening. Just coming to closure is the process of assessing other Austin and central Texas area library circulation services (public, academic and special.) These visits will come to closure this summer and Jon Sprecher and Maria Taylor will be creating a report of the visits and assessments and recommending best practices. These recommendations will come to LLT with further comments on what we need to implement here at ACC.

4. Round Rock...We completed RRC design of the facilities and created and submitted a staffing plan. Periodically we have a few decisions to make and just this last week, I had a "front door" question to resolve. In addition, I talked with ACC facilities because I looked for and couldn't find any RRC pix on the website. They will be posting some construction pictures soon.

4. Office Productivity Software...Also brought up in the fall LS Transforming summit, we are finalizing the consistent accessibility and identification of Office on the public service library terminals. The Ad Hoc LS team that reviewed what was needed declared that nothing was needed in the way of announcement, more labeling, training, etc. I am pleased that staff are pleased with how this has rolled out.

5. Future...This coming year we will have expanded communication discussions, a resurrection of a facilitator position and a few other new/revised areas. They include:

- We will be further standardizing our email communication this fall with a goal to cut down on individual emails. This will include a review and expansion - if necessary - of our email subject heading and more grouped content group emails (Teresa Ashley will be grouping Net/Web information and distributing in a timely manner and Steve Self is already grouping and expanding tech suggestions. In addition, Ellie will continue to group and distribute staff/professional development materials.)

- In the past we have grouped and standardized reference activities in a variety of different ways. These ways have included reference coordinators at each campus, then a reference committee or team, then facilitators...We have decided to return to a standardized approach to managing our general reference materials. In review of librarian jobs/responsibilities (and LS ongoing vacancies ...Cypress HL,) needed coordination and facilitation, project management expertise and availability of librarians, we have chosen Sylvia Owens to facilitate general reference activities. To "design" this responsibility we gathered three 'job descriptions' and designed a new approach that combines a number of older activities and new needs. Jonathan Buckstead has managed the reference selection function for new campuses through the AdHoc groups formed out of the standing Collection Development Team. He will continue to work on the RRC reference collection development initiative in partnership with Sylvia for this year, transitioning processes to her. Thanks to Jonathan for doing such a good job on our new campus collections. Sylvia's has been learning the ropes and reviewing how this happened in the past and reviewing how other institutions do this, therefore "official notification" of her work on LS library-wide reference initiatives should be this email.

6. New Initiatives and Stimulus and Recovery...In partnership with the ACC Humanities Department, we are involved with the college's Big Read and our first programs and online displays will begin this fall. Terese Morgan/the South Austin Campus is the primary partner for this and Terese will keep us posted and advertise the program as we get closer to the events. I have also been talking to ACC grants and monitoring statewide reaction to the federal monies and possible statewide dollars. I am meeting with Mary Harris week after next to discuss the college's plans and two other initiatives to see if Library Services might play a supporting role. (Example...ACC's Distinction project)

7. Recession...When the FY '10 budget is passed, we will have a better idea of what we will need to do to tighten our belt for the future. More later.

8. Community Access Policy... By all reports this Policy and all policy implementations have gone VERY well. Thanks to everyone. In a related note, my theme for next year will be 'safety and security' and our all-ls event - including all hourly workers - will feature this content. I am working with ACC police on this program now. More later but all staff are required to attend the Thursday, August 20th morning training. Mark your calendars now.

More later as we figure out our money issues.

Spring 2009 Welcome!

I know it's a little late to be "welcoming" everyone to the Spring 2009 semester, however, there has been a great deal going on! So, welcome anyway and a few things going on:

ACC's Round Rock Campus

Planning for Round Rock is in full swing. Floor plans have been finalized and the RR team is reviewing where tech/network connections/drops will go. In earlier emails I have sent links to floor plans, construction drawings and some great information Teresa Ashley forwarded to me. The information about RR grows weekly so visit back to the original links off the ACC Facilities page and see the progress. The timeline remains the same - classes begin Fall 2010 so August of 2010. When you look at this timeline, of course, it means that this year will be a very busy one for us as CDT orders materials and TS manages this huge project. Thanks to all the LS RR Team in advance. It's always exciting to have new space - but a great deal of work goes in to creating this space ...and it will be our largest.

Area Libraries

As one might imagine, the economic situation - and other issues - relate to other similar organizations and institutions in Austin...and how they react in turn, comes back to us.


* Austin Public Library branches (each one) are already closed one day a week due to the City of Austin cutbacks. This last week additional measures were announced and in addition to their one day, each branch will also close an additional 4 to 6 hours. At this time, web information regarding hours includes this general hours and locations link
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/map.htm
and a nice "What Austin Public Library locations are open today?" link
http://www.austinlibrary.com/whoisopentoday/index.cfm

This means a few things for us...

1. Our customer service answers are different when we are sending people to APL branches as their hours are limited...we will be sending links to new hours as soon as the decisions are completed and APL hours pages have been posted. Your usual community information has now changed..if you had memorized the local branch library hours, they will now be different.

2. We may well see more customers from the general public. We are addressing this in a number of ways...see this section on "Guests/Visitors" below.

* Austin Public Library - downtown/main - will be closed for 6 weeks beginning next Monday. Closing is for "repairs." Again, this means we will be giving out different "directions" or customer services messages if we are directing people to materials and resources more appropriate for their needs.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/news/nr20090204.htm



* Other area libraries hours may change as well as we head into downturn times. We will keep you updated on that but it is likely I won't have all the answers the minute they happen so if you hear or as you hear of anything, let me know!


ACC LS Guests/Visitors

We welcome the general public to our libraries, however - as we all know - we have limited resources for our own students, faculty and staff and our increased enrollment contributes to even busier ACC IRT/LS libraries, media centers and computer centers. Beginning soon we will be identifying resources (in accordance with our resource contracts, etc.) that ACC LS Guests/Visitors are invited to use/will be guided to and identifying usage times and sign in procedures for all Guests/Visitors. We will be sending customer service scripts for public service staff to use in assisting 'guests/visitors."

We have received approval by ACC administration and we are working closely to prepare simple procedures and a guideline and brochure that outlines the services and resources available to the general public. In addition, we are working with ACC police to set up general training (requested last summer) for working with all of our customers and patrons including ACC students, faculty and staff and general visitors.

Budget Issues

President Kinslow outlined a general guide for ACC for the next three or so years. We all know we are in an economic downturn and that does have an effect on our budget. Yes, we have more students, but teaching students costs money! Round Rock funding (bond and operating) aside, we will have no or little new funding for the next few years.

This means no raises for faculty and staff and re-purposing operating and capital dollars we already have carefully to keep up with rising costs. In addition, we have been and will continue to review how we do business and we will continue to identify ways to make sure we are focused on providing excellent services to our students, faculty and staff and maximizing our direct services (reference, circulation) to patrons in the midst of possible shrinking dollars.

More on that as we move along. We've had downturns before and made it through and the college has always approached these situations thoughtfully and carefully. This time will be on exception.

More later as we move through this year!

Welcome to the Fall 2008 Semester !

Welcome to the Fall 2008 Semester of IRT Library Services
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Table of Contents:
Fall Flings | Tech Trade Out | SACs at SAC | ACC Reorg | Round Rock Campus | One-Card;G-mail | Email Subjects | Team Goals | Signs | Community Access | New Librarians | Training & CE | Staffing | Management Style | LS Workspaces | New Activities

As usual there are many things going on in the college, IRT and Library Services. Some of our activities are driven by college events and some are driven by IRT events and activities and others are driven by our own services and resources as well as our own ideas for activities and initiatives. Although I have specific sections in this "welcome" about these events and activities, in general, college activities this year include:

• The 35th Anniversary of the beginning of Austin Community College


• ACC's wonderful technology trade out plans that support both public services and staff workstations


• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation issues


• ACC's new Round Rock Campus planning process


• ACC's Student Projects - One-Card; Gmail

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The 35th Anniversary of the beginning of Austin Community College

ACC goals for celebrating the 35th year include:

• Celebrate the college's history, accomplishments, and look to the future


• Raise public awareness of ACC's mission, programs, and impact on the community


• Engage the community


• Invite the public to a variety of ACC events/celebrations


• Fundraise for the ACC Foundation


• Launch the Alumni Network


• Thank our partners for their ongoing support/engage new partners


• Honor ACC pioneers and alumni [both student and Board of Trustees]


• Enhance the current schedule of events with additional promotion


• Integrate the anniversary with the 'I am acc' image campaign

There are two groups planning for the 35th anniversary year. They are a 35th Committee and an Archive Committee. Richard Smith is serving on the 35th Committee and I am serving on the Archive Committee. The initiatives are being led by Gary Hampton, ACC Dean and Brette Lea, ACC Director of Marketing. While there are a few stand alone programs plans for the year, the 35th Committee's primary goal is to tie in to existing programs and couple the theme of those programs with the Anniversary. In addition, the PR/Marketing plans for the year include: incorporating 35th anniversary facts, stories, and logo when appropriate into presentations, radio/print/TV ads, and talking points, press releases, and trivia giveaways. Projects & events designed to engage the community [students, faculty, staff, and public] in a yearlong celebration include those in the list below. I am including them all, because we need to know what is going on where on our campuses for any scheduling shifts we may need.

• August-Sept. WelcomePalooza - 35th anniversary table and trivia giveaways at each campus.


• Oct - Nov. Library Services Fall Fling - open houses at NRG, CYP, EVC, and SAC libraries


• September 12th Day enrollment-PR anniversary kick-off: announce to media enrollment numbers, surpassing the 35,000 mark on the 35th Anniversary.


• September eNewsletter blast-Invite the community to celebrate ACC's 35th anniversary by staying up-to-date on college developments and events via the ACC eNewsletter.


• September 16 Diez y Seis at Riverside-35th Anniversary Table/ACC promotion/Birthday giveaways


• September Archive Project public announcement-work with the Austin American Statesman on possible series on ACC's contributions to the community since 1973. Detail the project and invite the community to the exhibit in the spring.


• September 24 Constitution Day-students receive a copy of the Constitution on September 17 (Constitution Day), while ACC celebrates on September 24.


• September 24 BOT Alumni-special event for the new ACC Board of Trustees alumni organization.


• Oct. 3-4 Buda Firefest-ACC Fire Academy competes with the best in the region.


• Oct 9-Nov 20 Eastview Restaurant-Culinary Arts "presents


• Oct. 10-19 "Proof"-Tony-award winning drama by David Auburn, from the ACC Drama Department.


• Oct. 16 Neal Pollack Reading-Acclaimed novelist and satirist Pollack is the author of "Beneath the Axis of Evil," presented by ACC Arts & Humanities.


• Oct. ACC at-a-glance-create a publication, one brochure, that tells the entire ACC story, outlines programs, services, and benefits to the community, & pays special tribute ACC's unique history.


• Oct. "Thank you" ads- first round of print ads spotlighting 35 years of ACC community partnerships, and thanking superintendents, mayors, and business partners for their support.


• Oct-May Launch the ACC Archive Project - Collect stories, artifacts, and history to showcase at an exhibit in spring 2009. Produce video and 35th anniversary micro-site that includes an interactive timeline of events, college history, photos, and shared stories.


• Oct. ACC 35th Anniversary coloring book- aimed at building a college going culture among youngsters.


• Oct.-May "I am acc" ads celebrating 35 years


• Oct-May Campus Tours-promote self-guided campus tours. Design printed tour guides.


• November 1-2 Texas Book Festival-ACC will have a big presence at the 2008 Book Festival, promoting the college on its 35th anniversary. Plans include: Mobile Go Center, ACC authors, 'I am acc' pix [people take pictures in cap and gown in front of 'I am acc' banner], and an interactive create-your-own-book project, children will be able to author their a book that outlines their goals, college and career plans, and includes an autograph section.


• November 13 Student Art Show-Pinnacle will host a showcase of ACC student art


• November 14-23" The Bacchae"-Greek tragedy by Euripides, presented by ACC Drama Department


• December 5 "Blues on 35"-Annual holiday party will play the blues and celebrate the 35th anniversary


• January Spring General Assembly-showcase 35th anniversary video/archive project.


• Jan-March Round Rock Campus-groundbreaking ceremony.


• February 2-3 Black History Celebration-Student Life event at CYP, 35th anniversary table/ACC Promotion/Birthday giveaways.


• February 4 Stomp the Yard-Student Life at EVC, 35th table/ACC promotion/Birthday giveaways.


• February 5 Black Women in History-Student Life event, 35th anniversary table/ACC promotion/Birthday giveaways.


• February 18/19 Springtini-Student Life event at SAC/RGC, 35th anniversary table/ACC promotion/Birthday giveaways.


• Feb 27-Mar 1 "The Flu Season"-Oppenheimer Award-winning tragicomedy by Will Enno, presented by the ACC Drama Department.


• TBD Archive Project Exhibit--grand opening. The exhibit opens at one campus and then hits the road in a traveling exhibit to each campus, complete with reception for the local community. Possibility- the final showcase at the newly opened Round Rock Campus in fall 2009.


• TBD 35TH Anniversary VIP Celebration- Tickets sold [invitation-only] to raise funds for scholarships offered by the ACC Foundation.


• March 29 Hip Hop into College-Community Outreach event showcasing ACC programs and services


• April 8-26 ACC and ProArts Collaboration-Rollins Theater, Long Center for the Performing Arts, presented by ACC Drama and ProArts.


• April 2-4 Carnival ah!-A celebration of Arts & Humanities at ACC, using the 35th to kick off the event.


• April Dia de la Familia-Invite the community to Riverside for the annual event that showcases all that ACC has to offer.


• May Graduation-incorporate the 35th Anniversary theme with special video honoring alumni and spotlight Alumni Network [TBD]


• May Cinco de Mayo-Celebration/Univision-sponsored event, 35th Anniversary table/ACC promotion/recruitment


• May ACC Archive Exhibit-road tour

Obviously Library Services isn't involved in all events, although employees can self select what they wish to attend that works with their schedules (work with your managers,) BUT Library Services will have their flings, we will be providing space for exhibits of archive and fine arts materials, we will have booths at several events and we will be linking activities to our webpage throughout the year. More later on these events and our role in 35th celebration activities - many of which, if not most, are free.

Library Services Flings

The Austin Community College Library Services' Fall Fling Open Houses are part of ACC's 35th Anniversary celebrations. Campus constituents, visitors from other ACC campuses and members of the educational community are invited to visit any or all of the four "Fling" campuses and see the "libraries of the largest (Northridge), the newest (Cypress Creek and South Austin), and the most specialized (Eastview) campuses." Visitors will see our facilities and resources, our newest custom celebrity READ posters and a demo of our Know How Island on Second Life, starring our avatar, 'KnowHow Jewell'. For questions, call 223-3085. For maps and contact information go to http://library.austincc.edu/gen-info/campuses/. Times are from 2:30 to 5:30pm and dates include Friday, October 3 - South Austin Campus, Thursday, October 16 - Cypress Creek Campus, Thursday, November 6 - Eastview Campus and Friday, November 7 - Northridge Campus.

ACC's wonderful technology trade out plans that support both public services and staff workstations

Many LS computers will be replaced according to the College's replacement schedule -- probably during the winter intersession. Your supervisor has a list of campus computers which will be replaced this fall. The new computers will come loaded with Windows Vista (Business edition). Steve and Margaret will work with Ellie and Molly to provide some training material to assist you with the transition from WindowsXP. Look for information from the Tech Team soon.

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation issues

SACS returned to ACC the last week of August to assess the South Austin Campus, one year after opening. I met with the team with the larger ACC group and then toured a team member (with great assistance from Mike Midgley and David Fonken) through the South Austin Campus library/IRT space. I think the team was impressed and ACC get status and recommendations soon.

ACC reorganization

The college's reorganization created a shorter management span for the president. Our reporting structure is still the same and we are very pleased.

ACC's new Round Rock Campus planning process

As of Monday of this week, I have returned all LLT comments on the 119 page document designed to present contiguous space comments/ideas to ACC IRT/LS and lead architects. We have an exciting future with the Phase I Library/IRT space opening in fall of 2010 in the main building on part of the 3rd floor. In Phase II, IRT/LS will expand into all of the 3rd floor. This will be our largest library/IRT space and I am excited about the possibilities.

ACC's Student Projects - One-Card; G-mail

By now you have received the copy of the AST's email to staff regarding the college's move to providing g-mail addresses to ACC students beginning this fall. I think the one-card transition went smoothly this last year and expect that the g-mail initiative will be well received and go smoothly as well.

LS Emails/Print Communications

Years ago the LLT started the process for standardized subject lines for emails in an effort to provide organization to the dozens of emails we send back and forth among LS employees. Using these headings gives us a quick "what it's about" and also allows us to sort our email folders quickly by subject line (by ourselves) and set preferences for automatic sorting. Individuals need to use these for print communications and can also - if appropriate - create library files with these titles as well.

Email and Memo Subject Line Terms

Area	Wording	LLT Comments
Teams/Groups	LLT CDT TT LS Tech LS Web ELE PR AST SDT etc.	LLT - Library Leadership Team CDT - Collection Development Team TT - Teaching Team LS Tech - LS Tech Team LS Web - LS Web Team ELE - Electronic Resources PR - Public Relations and Marketing AST - Access Services Team SDT - Staff Development Team etc.
Importance? Priority? Need to Know?	Optional Deletable FYI Query	I think these headings are self-explanatory.
Timing	ASAP Need Reply Deadline: {date}	ASAP This should include the date and time. Should also include "deadline" somewhere in body of the memo/email Need Reply - Use for Julie if urgent Deadline: {date} may not be urgent but needed by date

LS 2009 Team Goals

LS goals can be found on the wiki on individual pages of a spreadsheet. These are being consolidated for a single, more global look at the goals. We will send out an email when the combined/merged goals document is ready.

LS Signage Inventory/Program

HL's will be working with staff to inventory signage and instructions in libraries in order to establish continuity and necessity but with flexibility for campus differences. Although the expectation is that some signs will be identical in terms of wording and look, libraries will also have individual/unique signs as needed. LLT is also looking into mural possibilities.

Public/Community access to ACC Libraries

LLT will review data gathered from across the state to design an access document that specifies privileges, age levels, use of resources and the prospect of a visitor sign in at ACC police offices - for individuals (non-ACC constituents coming in to ACC Libraries.)

New Librarians

We are so pleased to have two more new librarians for ACC Library Services. Our two new hires include:

• Adrian Erb, Assistant Professor- E-resources Librarian - Adrian is the new Electronic Resources and Reference Librarian at Cypress Creek campus. This fall she will be immersed in intensive training and will be moving among Tech Services (with Cherry Luedtke,) South Austin Campus (with Terese Morgan) and Cypress locations, because her position responsibilities are new due to consolidation of e-resource activities for ACC LS. Her previous professional experience is from Concordia University in Austin where she served for two years as a reference librarian. Her Concordia position gave her unique e-resources experiences that included managing licensing and vendor contracts for e-resources; the redesign of Concordia's library website to improve and promote access to library resources for students, faculty, and staff; the establishment of chat reference services; the creation of Web tutorials; and, the implementation of new database offerings to enhance the quality of student learning.
  

  Adrian received her MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin and BA in English Rhetoric from Texas A&M University. She describes herself as tech-oriented person. Her hobbies include going to the gym, trying new restaurants, and attending live music events.

  
  


• Barbara Jorge, Assistant Professor - Barbara joins ACC Library Services as a Reference Librarian, at the Pinnacle Campus. She comes to ACC Library Services with reference and webpage design experience through internship positions at the Austin Public Library, Central Branch, and with reference and outreach experience as an ACC Adjunct Librarian from both ACC Rio Grande and Pinnacle campus libraries.
  

  Barbara received her Master of Science in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English also from The University of Texas at Austin.

  
  

LS managers will continue the extensive web-based, self-directed orientation; one-on-one management training; and mentor relationships for training, continuing education and development; and, will join the class (taught by Julie, the sophomore class and the sophomore graduating class) for new librarians.

Orientation, Training, Continuing Education, Development

In the past we have been focusing on separating out orientation, training, continuing education and development (hence my discussion at all-LS) and providing staff members as many opportunities for internal learning (inside LS, inside IRT and then inside ACC) and also linking you to staff development for free or low cost and fee-based staff development you can choose from (A special thank you to the LS Staff Development Team here.!)

This last summer we had our first Senior Library Assistant continuing education and development and will have our first LA activities and ongoing SLA activities this fall.

LS Staffing

The staffing plan…

LS has maintained a staffing plan for many years. This plan is our roadmap for full time and part time position needs, requests and timing. We are beginning a review of our existing plan and updating it for existing campus needs and what we will need to request for Round Rock, Phases I and II. Other areas we are contemplating include outreach librarian for P-16 initiatives to piggyback on what we already do (ex. Cedar Park) and expanded Early College Start and Extension Services activities.

Open positions…

Riverside SLA (interviews held, offer made/turned down, new interviews in progress)

Eastview LA (interviews in progress)

Head Librarian (was at Pinnacle, no decision on where it will be placed)

Library Services Management Style

For many years my basic management style for decision making was and still is a Situational Management Style. Basically it's a classic style that has managers assessing situations before they choose how to manage them. Example, my choice is usually to involve others in decision making which would speak to Participatory Management style, however, elements might dictate a different style for me. That is, a schedule of meetings might have to be changed because someone has a health issue. I would have to change the schedule but wouldn't be able to share with those involved the "why" because it is a confidential health issue. Therefore my usual style wouldn't be possible so I would have to dictate to employees the schedule change rather than involve them or participate in changing it together. Obviously, sometimes I can involve people and sometimes you just have to trust me.

A focus on individuals is considered more of a Coaching Management Style within Situational Management and is a Democratic Style. In Coaching, employees are provided with what they need to do (performance outline, timelines, teamwork needed, etc. as well as consequences) and then managers ALSO pay a great deal of attention to reminding, illustrating what needs to be done or - obviously - coaching. I have used this style for some time as well, however, beginning with this Fall, I will not be coaching EXCEPT for new employees. This is - in my opinion - more in line with a higher education management style that provides direction and then Head Librarians and faculty perform accordingly.

• Example, encumber deadlines are clear and published. If deadlines are not met for collection areas (acquisitions, weeding, etc.,) deadlines are not extended and money pools back into the larger CDT accounts.


• Example, teams require involvement and performance by team members. Goals and timelines are established now. If involvement doesn't occur or timelines aren't met - these issues are identified early and activities not completed go back to the workgroup for reassignment.

ACC Library Services Workspace

As a reminder …(not coaching but establishing initial expectations!) Workspaces for individuals should be arranged as ergonomically appropriate space. Workspaces, however, are available to other LS staff members who need them and should not be treated as a personal/private space.

• For their own safety, individuals should NOT leave anything of value or private out in the open - either items or written materials.


• Personal materials should not be stored on computers including music.


• All ACC guidelines must be adhered to such as no inappropriate activities should take place on workstations such as - for example - downloading music.


• All passwords for phones and computers should be available to other staff. An example would be the password to a phone would be the extension of the phone and not an individual's private password.


• Computer desktops should not have personal shortcuts.


• All workstations should be left - at the close of the individual's workday - with all programs closed.

In addition, wearing headphones while working at public service desks is prohibited. Individuals at workstations may wear headphones if listening to work-related content such as training materials, however, managers should work with staff on appropriate timing. That is, if an individual at a personal workstation is backing up someone at a public service desk, using headphones would not be appropriate.

New Activities

• AST will look at media as a format and how it has been handled for the past few years. AST will then work with IRT Media and the Language Department to determine services and issues surrounding the purchase of, access for and duplicating of CD's, etc. In addition, how DVD's are handled, media weeding, and media placement on shelves is already being discussed with Media staff.


• Facilitators & Team Leaders will meet to coordinate activities this fall. Oct. 10, 2008 @ 9:00am.


• This fall's All Librarians' Meeting will be in November and will focus on Transforming Libraries Activities.


• Cypress Librarians are piloting working with students on research questions and answers in Cypress Learning Lab.