Posts by Terry Simpkins

 
 
 

Area 51 notes, July 26, 2012

August 17, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

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

Chris Tangora joined the meeting to discuss the proposed Curricular Technology Team charge:

  • The CTT is the LIS resource for investigating & implementing technology for enhanced teaching & learning.  The team monitors & researches technology trends that lead to this end, and act as the senior LIS resource for consultations with those who are investigating or experimenting with those technologies.

The new charge would shift the team’s responsibility to a primarily advisory role in the investigation of new curricular technologies, and would not be project oriented.  The conversation generation a number of questions, including:

  • How would the team make faculty aware of other technology trends happening elsewhere on campu?
  • How would the team relate to the Innovation Task Forces and the liaison group?
  • What would workflow processes look like for uncovering and evaluating new curricular technologies?
  • How will the team keep abreast of existing technology on campus? Should an inventory be made of already existing technologies and coordinating resources?

There seemed to be general agreement around the basic idea of the charge.  Mike suggested some changes, which we will look at and finalize.

We discussed the idea of participating at some level in the Wikipedia Loves Libraries events, many of which will be happening in October to coincide with Open Access Week.  Given the College’s past complicated history with Wikipedia, Mike felt as though this was worth discussing with Academic Affairs before we dived in.  Once he talks with that group, we will revisit the idea.

Chris distributed a draft memo on confidentiality policies for review.  This document will become the basis of language for the the College Handbook.  We made some suggestions and wording changes, and Chris will follow up with Drew Macan on any HR implications.

We reviewed and discussed the Data Classification Task Force’s proposed policy and procedures documents.

Thanks for reading,

Terry & Doreen

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Area 51 notes, July 19, 2012

August 17, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present: Shel Sax, Mary Backus, Mike Roy, Terry Simpkins, Carol Peddie, Chris Norris (remote) and Doreen Bernier

We discussed the agenda for the AD retreat on July 27. This meeting will be focused on the preparing goals and materials to send to the Office of Planning and Assessment, which is overseeing the goal-setting process for the College this year. We also discussed draft goals for the Senior Leadership Team, and will continue that discussion at the retreat as well.

We also reviewed the status of LIS projects to help Mike prepare his Dean’s Quarterly Report, which identifies some of the primary work LIS is focusing on for the next 3 months. Thanks for reading,

Terry & Doreen

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Area 51 notes, June 14, 2012

July 5, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present:  Mike Roy, Terry Simpkins, Chris Norris, Carol Peddie, Mary Backus and Doreen Bernier

This month’s all-LIS Staff meeting will be canceled.  Mike will talk with Sheila Andrus about holding a workshop allowing LIS staff to participate in exercises taken from management training sessions. The first will be on giving and receiving feedback.

We discussed creating a centralized location on the Area51 AD site for ready-access to certain types of heavily used data (i.e., benchmarking and analytical data, server level monitoring, etc.).  Mary, Carol, Chris and Terry will suggest what data to include.  We also agreed to share interesting or provocative data and readings from Gartner Research (or other sources) for discussion at meetings when possible.

Mike met with Tim Spears and Marna Whittington, the Board of Trustees’ new chairperson, for a general discussion of the kinds of library and technology issues the Board is interested in learning about from LIS.

Mike also discussed establishing a framework within the Academic Affairs group for discussion regarding the scope of activities LIS engages in, as well as how to further involve LIS in effecting change throughout the institution, and how LIS can align its work with the goals of the academic programs.  This might involve assessment efforts to ask questions such as:  What do we do about faculty development and student services?  Who are the faculty that are using technology?  How can this be done on both the department and college levels?  Mike will meet with Susan Baldridge to brainstorm further.

Thanks for reading,
Doreen & Terry

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Area 51 notes, June 7, 2012

July 5, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present:  Mike Roy, Terry Simpkins, Carol Peddie, Mary Backus, Chris Norris, Doreen Bernier

We discussed College-wide content management issues around with the website.  Carol will continue the discussion with the Web Editorial Group (through College Communications).

The first topic of discussion was how to move forward with 360 reviews for managers.  Mike and Terry will work together to create framing document for this pilot program.  They will gather information from Human Resources to see what services are already available and LIS workgroups who have already adopted this process, and work with managers to devise appropriate questions and format for receiving responses.  The SLT agreed that we do not think anonymous feedback fosters a healthy, candid atmosphere for conversation, and at this point are disinclined to allow anonymous comments in the 360 review process.

We had an animated discussion related to revising the draft LIS Priorities document, especially around the concept that serving the academic program is always a top priority, and of how best to convey the amount of resources are required to maintain those ongoing LIS services that our patrons and customers rely heavily on (e.g. helpdesk, library services, etc.). This is still a work in progress. We plan to post this as part of the July Quarterly Update. (Mike also reminded the group that updates to goals and the project directory will be due on July 1.)

Thanks for reading
Terry & Doreen

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Area 51 notes, May 31, 2012

July 5, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present:  Mike Roy, Carol Peddie, Mary Backus, Chris Norris and Doreen Bernier
Absent: Terry SImpkins

The ADs briefly discussed the LIS priorities list, which Mike has been working on.  When finished, Mike will distribute his modified list to the ADs for further discussion.

As noted in the email from the VP of Planning & Assessment earlier this week, their deadline for receiving goals is August 1st.  The ADs have decided to keep to our current schedule, requesting all work group goals be submitted to the ADs by July 1st.   The one-page summary needed for the annual report is due on August 1st.

As a follow-up to the commencement video concerns, the ADs discussed how video recording for important events could be improved.  Focus should be put on workflow, testing and communications.  A meeting will be scheduled with LIS and communications staff next week.

Thanks for reading
Doreen

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Manager’s Meeting Notes, May 10, 2012

May 29, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Present:  Mike Roy, Carrie Macfarlane, Peggy Fischel, Joe Antonioli, Mary Backus, Jess Isler, Dan Frostman, Ian Burke, Rachel Manning, Joe Durante, Chris Norris, Carol Peddie, Pij Slater, Terry Simpkins, David Ludwig, Petar Mitrevski and Jim Stuart (via phone).

Pij Slater presented the Education and Training Team’s Orientation Checklist for New LIS Staff for discussion.  Some suggestions for inclusion or revision were:

  • Expand the list of “systems” to include all in current use (i.e., Millenium, Subsplus, Heat, Hyperion, etc.
  • Information on locating documents in Middfiles
  • Reserving library rooms
  • Information map (“What info is where” — Middfiles v. Googledocs v. wiki)
  • Shift the information security section above BannerWeb
  • Include information on keys and card access
  • Ordering supplies
  • Garbage and recycling
  • Information on printing/copying for office and personal use
  • Management of personal Drupal profiles (Main directory & workgroup page)
  • BannerWeb overview (not covered by H/R in their orientation sessions)
  • Add mission statement to document
  • Under platforms – add portal
  • Portal customization – add link
  • Various web platforms (Joe Antonioli will provide this information)
  • Be sure to define abbreviations for those who might not understand them

The managers also discussed the idea of presenting this at an LIS all-staff meeting,  possibly as an exercise where staff would actually go through the checklist document in detail.  Managers also felt that this should be discussed on the workgroup level.  Finally, we talked a bit about maintaining the document.  Who will do this and how will be kept up to date?  Should this be made into an “LIS portal?”

Next steps will include:

  • Pij (or the Team) will make changes and incorporate the group’s suggestions
  • Redistribute to the managers
  • Joe A. will consult with the Web Team about maintaining this in Drupal vs. Wiki (Ed & Training Team prefers a Drupal page for easier formatting, with links to the underlying content on wiki or elswhere.)
  • Present at All Staff meeting

Mike then led a discussion of a number of ideas to improve “how we do our work” that we generated several meetings ago.  These ideas include:

  • Topics from management training
    • Effective meetings
    • Prioritization
    • Effective communication
    • Feedback
    • Planning and decision making
    • Delegation
    • DiSC
    • Shared values: trust, respect (this item was moved up on the list because of importance)
  • Consolidate places to find and share information – Mike asked for volunteers to work on this, and Ian Burke, Chris Norris, Terry Simpkins, David Ludwig, Pij Slater, Joe Durante, and Joe Antonioli were foolish enough to suddenly blink, twitch, scratch themselves, or otherwise attract Mike’s attention.  Therefore, this group will meet to develop make recommendations regarding internal communication once we have a charge.
  • SLAs and ticketing system
  • Policy summit and policy overrides (this should be done AFTER the SLA process is complete.  Consider handbook update schedule.  Carol Peddie will work on this, possibly in June)
  • Focus on technical training

Other ideas that are worth pursuing but potentially more complex to implement include:

  • Team assessment: new charges, membership, protocols
  • 360 reviews for managers (do not do this during the annual evaluation time)
  • Career ladders
  • Adding staff
  • Values – have we articulated the right values for LIS and how do we hold people accountable to them.  Mike will present values at an All-Staff meeting for discussion, but it should also be discussed on an area/workgroup level.

Thanks for reading,
Terry & Doreen

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Area 51 notes, May 10, 2012

May 22, 2012 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

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.

In anticipation of an upcoming discussion with the Web Team, Terry asked the ADs for input on elements of a new charge for Web Team III.  The ADs suggested a number of topics, which Terry will bring to the team for discussion.  Among the initial ideas we discussed were these:

  • assessing the “extended” web presence (blogs, wikis, etc.)
  • research into new features and functionality that we may want to implement
  • improving the “self-service” aspect of the site
  • modifying design, features, etc., of the site to bring highly sought-after pages closer to the forefront
  • working with content managers to review analytics, etc., in an effort to keep site content relevant and prune obsolete information/pages/etc.

On a related note, Chris presented a draft of a team charge for the Security Team to the ADs for approval.  Rather than a list of specific tasks, this charge serves as a sort of “statement of purpose,” which the Team can use on a continuing basis to set goals each year.  This approach might also benefit other teams as well.  After some discussion, the ADs approved the charge and are happy to meet with Team members for follow-up, if desired.

Mary Backus presented a proposal for printer consolidation to review and discuss prior to presenting it to President’s Staff.  ADs were interested in learning more about the money saved and time gained from supporting fewer printers, as well as the criteria for deciding which printers to remove (e.g., distance or easy access to printers, no. of pages printed, etc.)  Mary will provide more information on this.

Chris provide a system level monitoring & availability update, sharing the data compiled in the last 3 months on how College systems are performing.  Over this period of time, systems were performing at 99.81% and not the preferred 99.9%, due to downtimes on systems for a variety of reasons (migration, Middfiles affects, scheduled upgrades, and other planned outages). Some systems of concern are iGreentree, Frontrush, Segue and the MIIS Drupal site. Systems working at 100% were Google, Rave, Cybersource and Blackberry.

Thanks for reading,
Terry & Doreen

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