Present:  Mike Roy, Mark Backus, Shel Sax, Chris Norris, Carol Peddie Terry Simpkins and Doreen Bernier

The ADs discussed the timing of the Google/MS Live evaluation.  In order to take into consideration staff workloads, Mike asked the ADs to estimate project timelines/completion dates for major current projects to see when it would be feasible to complete this evaluation step. Continue reading →

Present:  Chris Norris, Terry Simpkins, Mary Backus, Doreen Bernier, Mike Roy, Carol Peddie, Shel Sax
Guests: Brenda Ellis, Pij Slater, Mack Roark

We reviewed the calendar for May.  Here are some highlights: Continue reading →

Present:  Mike Roy, Terry Simpkins, Carol Peddie, Mary Backus, Chris Norris and Doreen Bernier.
Web Team members: Jess Isler, Barbara Merz, Matt LaFrance, and Dan Frostman.
Digital Scholarship Group:  Rebekah Irwin, Ian McBride, Bryan Carson and Richard Jenkins

The Web Team presented their findings and recommendations from the User Needs Analysis (UNA)  and Usability Testing (UT) they performed on the LIS website to the ADs.  Using a combination of short pop-up surveys and focus groups comprised of faculty, staff and students, the Web Team performed a UNA in the Fall of 2011 to identify features that users most needed and/or expected from the LIS website.  The team also completed UT this spring in an attempt to gauge the usability of 3 high-level pages on the LIS website (the LIS home, library, and the helpdesk pages).

The UNA focus groups suffered from low turnout rates, but findings included a need to

• improve the site search
• relocate (or add additional links to) certain content
• restructure the quick links drop-down menus
• provide more detailed printer status data
• implement more alias for go-links.

This information was shared with content managers, and some changes (e.g. site search) have already been implemented.

The Team also recommended the following:

• LIS should conduct UNA prior to all major website redesigns.  This can be accomplished using the analytical tools the team used and/or by exploring current best practices
• LIS should conduct UT regularly (i.e., at least once a year), especially using less intrusive methods such as the brief pop-up surveys.
• Experiment to increase participation – find incentives that work, go to where the users are, etc.
• Minor enhancements and refreshments can and should be implemented as the need arises
• Encourage other stakeholders in the Middlebury web site to undertake UT relating to the College site as a whole

Possible next steps for the Web Team include:

• Evangelize for regular, ongoing UNA & UT
• Share info learned from analysis of Google Analytics data with content managers, possibly in combination with the development of a blueprint for content managers to use when undertaking UT
• Review and make changes to the team charge and suggest membership

The Digital Scholarship Committee presented a proposal for a digital scholarship (DS) support unit to be formed within LIS.  This group would provide direction, approval, and operational support for LIS projects, consultation services for faculty and students focused on the digital humanities, and research and development of new tools/trends within the field.

There are already several faculty projects underway, and the group has made good progress on creating an attractive and functional presentation layer for MiddHistory Online, which we hope to launch in time for class reunions later this spring.  Communications will be handling marketing and promotion.

The presentation, while well-received, raised some hard questions, especially around the issue of identifying staffing resources to support such projects.  Other issues include maintenance and storage needs, connections with (and possibly work resulting from) the various College Innovation Task Forces, and being sensitive to faculty and administrative issues that will arise as DS efforts slowly become more mainstream.

The committee identified a number of next steps, including:

• continued work on the projects currently in progress
• conversations with liaisons and digital media tutors to review current faculty DS work that may benefit from some interaction with or support from the group
• meeting with faculty members who have offered to work as liaisons as well as possibly Alison Byerly and Tim Spears.
• investigating grant opportunities and other collaborative methods of supporting DS work at Middlebury

Upcoming agenda items

• Apr. 26: budget fine-tuning
• Mar. 3:

1. Schedule Optional all LIS meetings
2. Meet with the Education and Training Team about recommendations for LIS orientation
3. Web & curricular technologies services & support

Thanks for reading,
Terry & Doreen

Present:  Mary Backus, Mike Roy, Shel Sax, Carol Peddie and Doreen Bernier
Absent: Simpkins, Norris

Tim Spears was scheduled to join the group and discuss the staff survey results, as he and Mike have done with all workgroups within LIS.  Because not all AD team members were available for today’s meeting, Tim decided that he will instead join the ADs at a future meeting, when everyone is available.

The shortened meeting was then dedicated to handling administrative tasks revolving around scheduling the optional all LIS staff meetings and preparing agendas for our monthly managers and regular all-staff meetings.

• February 9th – Manager’s meeting – staff survey themes, debrief
• February 15th All staff meeting will be rescheduled for March 2nd when Tim Spears will discuss staff survey themes.
• February 17th – Optional All Staff meeting – eBooks with Terry Simpkins and Rebekah Irwin (more info to follow)
• March 16 – Optional All Staff meeting – Alison Byerly will discuss digital humanities, (more info to follow)
• March 30 – Possible In-Service Day – more info to follow
• April 6 – Optional All Staff meeting – Chris Norris will address disaster recovery (more info to follow)

We had a brief discussion on the approval/implementation process for Service Level Agreements.

Thanks for reading,

Doreen & Terry

Present:  Mike Roy, Carol Peddie, Chris Norris, Mary Backus, Shel Sax, Terry Simpkins, Doreen Bernier. Guest: Fred Schmitt

Fred Schmitt joined us to discuss team training sessions.  Though we haven’t finalized the dates for training yet, Fred suggested Fridays during the HR-sponsored management training program.  Fred will also be working with the SLT.  We discussed questions such as the duration of Team membership, how we can create time in the day for Team work, and whether we should routinely revisit Team membership as Teams complete their charges. Mike will be sending out an email to LIS requesting input and suggestions for agenda items for these new training sessions.

We are about to start the annual performance evaluation process.  The timeline is as follows:

• Self-evaluations and Team 360 evaluations are due to managers by 2/17
• Managers need to make recommendations to their director by 2/29 – please note: this is a firm deadline
• SLT will discuss and identify staff exceeding expectations during the 3/1 weekly meeting, and communicate back to managers by 3/5
• Managers should meet with staff between 3/6-3/23.  Please do not begin meeting until after the directors have confirmed the managers recommendations regarding performance rating.
• Forms should be signed by staff and manager and returned to the director by 3/23.
• All evaluations will be delivered to HR by 3/31

We followed with a detailed discussion about the MSLive/Google evaluation, which will be continued at next week’s meeting.  We need to clarify the features we want to evaluate/compare, and receive feedback from managers/workgroups about involving staff in the process.evaluation.

Draft agenda for 1/26

• Liaison expectations for non-RCS liaisons (carried over from 1/19)
• Additional evaluation questions
• Google/MSLive continued
• Preview of upcoming discussion of on College strategic planning

Draft agenda for Feb. 2

• Tim Spears will join @ 11:00 am discuss the employee survey
• Set agendas for managers and all staff meetings
• SLAs – process for approval/implementation
• Calendar review
• Feb 1: LIS in-service day planning team formed
• Feb:15: Applications from workgroups for LIS interns due to LIS administration

Thanks for reading

Terry & Doreen