Five Overarching Goals, Action Plans, and Next Steps with Strategic Planning

By BETH McNEIL on behalf of Planning and Operations Council

POC has continued working on strategic planning since the mid-June INSIDE update, refining Libraries-wide objectives in each of the five ‘pillar’ goals: Campus-wide Information Literacy, New Relationships To/With Disciplinary Faculty, Robust Research and Scholarship Program, Robust Local Collections (Digital and Print), and Reconfigured, Relevant, Strategic Space. In early July POC discussed infrastructure issues, and created a new 6th pillar, Infrastructure, on the Strategic Planning chart.

Infrastructure priorities include:

• Prepare staff for new roles through training, development opportunities
• Assess staffing needs and reallocate resources as appropriate
• Implement revised performance management systems
• Use evidence-based decision-making to prioritize activities
• Raise awareness of Purdue Libraries achievements
• Identify IT resources

Another recent update to the Strategic Plan chart is the addition of “Provide excellent customer service” to the Guiding Principles foundation. These changes reflect POC’s focus on ensuring all Purdue Libraries staff and faculty see their place and/or role in the strategic plan. FY10 priorities, as determined by POC discussions, are now in red font and in italics.

On July 9th, POC charged small working groups made up of POC members to draft action plans to achieve the major goals in each of the five goal areas. Action plans include examples of staff roles, involvement, and responsibilities; resources needed – both human resources and financial resources; sequencing; and assessment.

Draft action plans were discussed at POC on July 23 and are now posted on the POC intranet. Please note—action plans will be updated as POC continues to discuss details.

Next steps for POC include a discussion about skills and staff roles needed to carry out each action plan.

For the new roles action plan, POC is considering two perspectives: immediate needs for this year’s action plans and longer-term efforts and initiatives. Projects are already underway or continuing for some of our immediate needs, including barcoding efforts, ILL decentralization, etc. Watch for open houses and announcement of other new efforts in INSIDE and via e-mail to liball. For longer-term efforts, POC discussions will continue.

Please visit the POC site on the intranet, for links to planning documents and minutes and agendas for POC meetings. POC agendas and minutes will be distributed via e-mail to liball.

Ergonomics is a quality of life issue for each of us, as well as an efficiency and productivity issue in our work. Understanding and applying the principles of ergonomics helps to prevent repetitive stress injuries, rather than waiting to address problems after they arise. The proactive approach to ergonomics taken by the University and the Libraries is part of the larger process of moving health from “sickness support” to wellness.

It’s important to refresh our understanding of ergonomics now, at a time when many of us are moving to reconfigured spaces and/or changing the tasks that we regularly perform. It’s equally important for all of us, on an ongoing basis, to apply ergonomics on the job and outside of work. We all have a critical role to play: as individuals, as supervisors, and as staff with assigned responsibilities to support the ergonomics program. 

Effective August 1st, the Libraries Safety Committee will become the Libraries Safety and Ergonomics Committee (SEC), with the members taking on an expanded role for ergonomics in each of their units. (For more information, see the next article in this issue of INSIDE.) Supervisors will make sure that these responsibilities are included in the performance plans and annual evaluations of SEC members, and will support their work by fostering a positive climate for ergonomics in all of our Libraries units.

In addition to providing training and guidance to the Libraries Safety and Ergonomics Committee, Purdue Radiologic and Environmental Management (REM) has agreed to provide ergonomic awareness training, which will be required for all Libraries employees. Multiple training sessions are now being set up to make it possible for every one of us to attend.

The Libraries’ proactive approach to creating and maintaining ergonomic workplaces for our faculty and staff goes back to the mid-1990’s, when a Libraries ergonomics group (originally an action team and later, a committee) began partnering with Radiologic and Environmental Management (REM) to provide training, workstation assessment, and workstation improvement to prevent ergonomics-related injuries. Earlier this year, the Libraries Safety Committee began an important role in our ergonomics program, becoming the point people for staff in their units regarding ergonomic questions and issues. This role is now being expanded and, effective August 1st, the Safety Committee will become the Safety and Ergonomics Committee (SEC). 

The membership of the SEC will be the same as that of the present Safety Committee, with representatives from each Libraries unit plus a staff member from REM. In addition to continuing to serve as first point of contact for employees in their units, SEC members have received training from REM to enable them to advise and assist on a wide range of aspects of workplace setup and use -- including but not limited to chair adjustment -- and on ergonomic practices for lifting, carrying, and bending. In addition to hands-on training with an office mock-up, each SEC member will shadow REM staff on several assessment visits within the Libraries, with prior agreement of the employee whose workstation is being assessed. 

The expansion of responsibilities for the committee and its members was recommended by the present Libraries Ergonomics Committee, in consultation with the chair of the Libraries Safety Committee, Dianna Deputy; the committee’s REM advisor, Kristi Evans; Brad Heiss, facilities coordinator; and Nancy Hewison, associate dean for planning and information. Identifying the need for an approach to ergonomics that is closer to the employee, the group explored a number of ways to make this happen, and recommended the linked safety/ergonomics approach which is typical for safety committees on the Purdue campus. The present Ergonomics Committee will be dissolved, with Dan Yeoman joining the SEC as an advisor. The other Ergonomics Committee members will continue to support ergonomics through their job responsibilities -- Connie Farris (who will take on responsibility for ordering ergonomic equipment), Tom Haworth, Betty Kroll, Rebecca Richardson, and Candy Scott. These individuals will also continue to advise the Infrastructure Council as it performs oversight for ergonomics in the Libraries. Administrative responsibility for the SEC rests with Nancy Hewison.

New Staff

Jennifer Scruggs
Business Office/Account Clerk IV

I started working in the Libraries on June 15, 2009. I am new to the University. I came from a company called Long Electric where I was a secretary for several  years. 

I am currently doing Bi-Weekly payroll, Credit Card Reconciliation, and helping others out where needed.

My husband and I are from Brookston, we currently live in Attica.  I have a 9 year old stepson Taylor. I like spending my free time with family and friends. I also enjoy gardening, reading (especially John Grisham books), and  relaxing  out on the patio.

My office is located in STEW 267 and I can be reached at 494-1149 or jlscrugg@purdue.edu.

Dave Stotler
ITD /Systems Administrator
 
I started working for the libraries on May 1, 2009 as a network systems administrator providing server support for the libraries. I previously worked for three years in the horticulture landscape architecture department as a systems administrator/desktop support. I graduated from Purdue in computer technology in May 2005.

I live near Francesville, Indiana in a house near my parent’s farm.

My office is currently located in G50 STEW and I can be reached at 496-3067 or dstotle1@purdue.edu.

Training for supervisors and employees related to a revised approach to C/S and A/P performance management for 2010 was due to begin in August. The training has been delayed until fall semester as a result of meetings between Purdue Human Resources Training and Development (HRTD) staff and Infrastructure Council (IC) representatives (Tom Haworth, Nancy Hewison, and Rebecca Richardson). We learned that HRTD staff members are now available as consultants on performance management, along with other areas of organizational development. This is a service which they were unable to provide during the time that IC has been working on performance management, due to the assignment of HRTD staff to the OnePurdue implementation project over the past several years.

IC has requested advice from the HRTD consultants and provided them with information about the work that has been done in the Libraries regarding performance management, as well as the input gathered from staff by the Performance Management Recommendation Task Force and, more recently in response to the IC-developed process and forms. In mid-August, the consultants will present their recommendations to IC. The three former members of IC whose terms ended June 30 will join the present IC members for this meeting and subsequent discussion. Following an IC recommendation to Dean’s Council, information on the approved process and forms will be shared in September, and training dates will be announced.

Binding:  A Reminder About Spring 2009 Changes to Commercial Binding Policy and Practice

The binding budget allocation is part of the overall library materials budget. During spring 2009 much effort went into reviewing our library materials purchases to reduce expenditures in the FY10 library materials budget, including greatly reducing the binding budget. For immediate cost-savings in the FY09 budget, in early February 2009 the following changes were made to binding:

For journals –commercial binding (through HF Group, formerly Heckman bindery) was limited to 'print only' titles. If a title is also received electronically, the print copies are not bound. 

For books – commercial binding of books was put on hold through August 31, 2009. 

Any exceptions to the above situations were to be approved by the Information Resources Council. As of July 1, 2009, two requests for exemptions had been received by IRC and were both approved. 

The change in policy to bind ‘print only’ journal titles is a permanent change. For books, the Information Resources Council will discuss the moratorium on book binding during August.

For more information, please contact Beth McNeil or any member of Information Resources Council.

One Great Read Discussion Group

On Wednesday, July 22nd, a group of Libraries’ faculty and staff met in UnderGrounds to enjoy each other’s company, some Middle Eastern food, and a thought-provoking discussion on Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis, an autobiography that tells the story of a young girl’s life forever changed by the Islamic Revolution, is the book chosen for Lafayette/West Lafayette’s One Great Read this year. Check out http://tiny.cc/onegreatread for more info about One Great Read and upcoming events in the community.

MLS Grants Highlighted at Open Repositories Conference

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grantees showcased innovative repository-based projects at the Fourth International Open Repositories Conference (OR2009) in Atlanta May 18-21. The meeting focuses on open-source repository platforms to manage and archive digital data from a variety of environments (education, research, science, cultural heritage) and contexts (national, regional, institutional, project, lab, personal). Ultimately, the goal of these repositories is to support the creation and management of digital content, to enable its use and re-use, to interconnect information, and to ensure its long-term preservation and archiving.

Michael Witt, from Purdue University presented an IMLS National Leadership Grant (NLG) project, “Investigating Data Curation Profiles Across Multiple Research Disciplines.” He shared preliminary findings of this investigation, with a focus on scholars’ data curation needs and how these could help shape the functional requirements for a data repository. To view Michael's presentation click here.