Changes and Evolving Staff Roles

By JIM MULLINS

As you are aware from your own and/or co-workers experience, recent Liball messages, and articles in INSIDE, our work in the Libraries is changing. Some changes are a result of cost saving as well as general library environmental changes, for example the policy change last spring to only bind print-only journals resulting in binding and serials staff having time for other duties. Some changes reflect the new organizational structure for Purdue Libraries, with the creation of a new Collections unit and HSSEB division. Future changes will certainly reflect the Libraries strategic planning overarching goals, and emphasis areas of Information Literacy and e-Science.

As I mentioned in my April 5th Liball message on organizational structure and planning, it is my intent and the intent of the associate deans to keep all Libraries faculty and staff with continuing appointments employed. To do so, and to meet our strategic planning goals,  we will all need to be working in new ways: assuming new roles, new positions, and being flexible, with a willingness to adapt and experience new things (what is new today will be standard operating procedure tomorrow, as experience has taught us during the last thirty years!).

There are a variety of ways new roles and positions will transition or be announced. Sometimes a  posting will be made with an open call for a new opportunity in INSIDE, as we have been doing the past few months for the bar-coding project, the oral history transcribing project, and the ILL decentralization effort. In some situations, division heads and associate deans will work together to match an existing staff person with an immediate need, such as the recent example of an UGRL staff member moving to ASC. In the future, we may have vacancies which will result in internal-only postings. In all of these situations, supervisors must be involved in the discussion about who can participate and for how many hours. Position descriptions will be revised to reflect the new duties. And, of course, Tom Haworth and the campus HR staff are involved throughout the process, to ensure we are following campus guidelines and regulations regarding position classification, etc.

It is an exciting time as well as a challenging time for us all, I look forward to hearing and learning about new ways to collaborate and facilitate the mission, goals, and objectives of the Libraries as we advance the strategic directions during the upcoming year while maintaining our high level of service and access to resources and facilities.

I am very much looking forward to getting to know my colleagues in the Libraries. In its new location in Stewart Center, the Press is now an integral part of one the nation's finest library systems. In the digital age, there is increasing convergence between liblishers and pubrarians, and I can think of no better place than Purdue to explore some of the things that bind us together. I can't wait to start working on this with all of you, and I hope that you will come and visit me and the other press staff in Room 370 anytime you are passing by.

My wife, Heather, and I look forward to getting to know West Lafayette and surroundings better. Although I was brought up amidst hills near Oxford, UK, Heather was born in South Dakota so the Indiana landscape looks positively mountainous to her. We have had so many kind greetings from new colleagues. Thank you for those and I hope to meet all of you soon

Charles will start in his new role on September1, 2009.

Krannert Partners with Libraries to Provide Training to Disabled Veterans

A unique and innovative Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) will be held at Purdue from August 29 – September 6.  Fifteen qualified veterans will be on campus to participate in classes that will be offered through the Krannert School of Management. George Bergstrom, MEL, has been invited to teach a class about using library resources and the internet.

The EBV was founded by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 2007 and includes UCLA Anderson School of Management, Mays Business School at Texas A&M, Florida State University’s College of Business, and Purdue. “The Krannert School is honored to be part of the EBV consortium,” says Rick Cosier, Krannert School Dean and Leeds Professor of Management. “Helping the veterans with disabilities of this millennium understand how to start their own business and become entrepreneurs is a noble calling for any business school. The faculty and staff at the Krannert School eagerly look forward to our first EBV class.”

The intent of the program is to open the door to entrepreneurial opportunity and small business ownership to disabled veterans of the military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bootcamp is taught by experienced faculty and successful entrepreneurs, providing a fun, interactive, and informative experience while creating and developing competencies for building a successful business venture.

The program is conducted in three phases: a self-study session in which the veterans complete courses through online discussions moderated by university faculty, a nine day residency where veterans learn to develop their own business concepts and understand the basic elements of small business management, and a 12 month mentorship with faculty experts at the EBV universities.

George will be teaching on Monday, August 31 in MEL’s newly created Learn Lab.

Library Hours: Changes for 2009 - 10

Library hours approved by POC for the 2009-2010 academic year reflect some changes from last year, in response to usage patterns and a desire to best utilize our student wage allocations. Changes include most libraries closing at 5 p.m. on Fridays*, reduced hours during October break and Thanksgiving break, and some libraries being closed Monday – Wednesday, December 28 – 30, 2009.    

Libraries open the last week of December are Engineering, HSSE, and Veterinary Medical, as well as Interlibrary Loan, all of which will be open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on those days. HKRP will be closed to the public but open to staff. Staff members who normally work in one of the libraries that will be closed December 28 – 30 may work in another library to staff a service point, on special projects in HKRP, or may take vacation time.    

Questions raised recently about this change include:

QUESTION: Why is POC making these changes?

ANSWER: Usage patterns, including lower foot traffic overall and the increasing number of e- resources to which we can provide access, allow us to open fewer of our physical facilities during this low-use time and to make better use of our student wage allocations. Additionally, in past years, the Purdue Libraries has had to pay hourly wages plus overtime for Physical Facilities staff to open and close buildings that would normally be locked during the week between the holidays. With reduced traffic to some of our locations, it doesn’t make good financial sense to staff a library and pay to open and close a building when very few visitors come to those libraries. Therefore, POC approved this recommendation from division heads, Interlibrary Loan, and HKRP.

QUESTION: Must I take vacation if my library is closed? 

ANSWER: No, no one is forced to take vacation during this time. Staff who typically work in a library that will be closed (ASC, AVTE, CHEM, EAS, LIFE, MATH, PHYS, PNHS, and UGRL) and who plan to work December 28 – 30 should work with their supervisor to determine where they are most needed during that time. Supervisors will work with Division Heads to be sure service points in libraries that are open are covered.  

QUESTION: Even though my library is closed, I have work I could do. Why can’t I work in my regular library? 

ANSWER: Working alone in an empty campus building raises concerns for safety as well as for meeting Purdue requirements for certification of hours worked. Therefore, work in another Libraries location will be arranged as explained above.

If you have questions or concerns please contact your division head or Beth Mc Neil.

*Veterinary Medical Library remains open until 6 p.m.

PSET Libraries Help Tent

Lil Conarroe, PHYS, gives directions to a student at the Libraries Help Tent outside Hovde Hall. Staff members answer a variety of questions from students and visitors trying to maneuver their way around campus during the first three days of fall classes. Campus maps highlighting library locations are available as well as sweet treats. Lil said, "We get great positive feedback from the folks we help. It's especially rewarding when they make the effort to come back and tell us what they learned so that we can pass that information on to others."

Best Practices in Collection Development - Highlighting Information Resources

Two new efforts have been launched to promote our e-resources to campus: the Mellon Library of Chemistry’s e-book of the week and the Management and Economics Library’s new database of the week.

The Chemistry Library highlights a new ebook on the library Web site each week, and includes a link to the full text of the featured e-book as well as a link to the archive for the eBook of the week series. This week’s highlight showcases “Structure and Bonding: Tutorial Chemistry Texts” by J. Barrett.

New this fall for MEL are e-mail announcements to Krannert Faculty and PhD students highlighting MEL’s Database of the Week. The first database highlighted was Global Market Information Database, aka GMID, from Euromonitor International. The Database of the Week announcements include the database name, a link to the database, description/focus, a section on why one should know about this database, how to integrate the database into the curriculum, and annual cost and funding source. The announcement concludes with information about how to find out more or to request a demonstration of the database, as well as an invitation to suggest databases to promote. Database of the Week announcements are archived at http://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/MGMT/.  So far, responses from faculty to the e-mail announcements have been very positive!

For more information about the Chemistry Library e-book of the week, please contact Jeremy Garritano.  For information about MEL’s database of the week, please contact Mary Dugan.

Libraries Staff Participate in BGR