Tags » Area Directors Notes

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

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

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:
May 4 – Optional All LIS Staff meeting – Mike Roy will be sharing his presentation given to the Board of Trustees at their February meeting in Monterey.
May 10 – Managers Meeting – Education and Training Team will lead a discussion about New LIS Employee Orientation.  A follow-up to management training will be discussed
May 16 – All LIS Staff meeting –  Tim Spears will join us to discuss College Strategic Planning and Directions
May 17 – Optional All LIS Staff meeting – Chris Norris will present an update on mission continuity planning efforts.
Memorial Day – the Library will be closed, including the helpdesk

The Education and Training Team joined the group to present their draft orientation document for new LIS employees. This document provides a checklist to assist LIS managers in orienting new staff to LIS and includes links to relevant resources.  The document is thorough and well-thought-out, which didn’t prevent the ADs from offering suggestions, including:

• Include confidentiality and handbook/policy information
• Include copyright and intellectual property information
• Incorporate the style guide for “watermark” information, provided by Communications
• Possibly modify the policies webpage to incorporate basic information for new employees
• The team should talk with Susan Baldridge and H/R to link with their higher level strategic alignment work
• The team should present this to the managers’ meeting for further discussion (e.g., is it complete? Where should this document reside (wiki, web)? etc.)
• The AD group also suggested that the language for job descriptions outlining the minimal required technical skills/expectations for new employees should be crafted more generally, with a link to a document or web page with specific details.  This would streamline the process of keeping the requirements current (i.e., we could change language in one location on the web, rather than in each individual job description).

ADs approved name change for Telephone Services, which will henceforth be known as Telephone Services and Printer Management.  This will need to go to HR to make the necessary changes in Banner.

Thanks for reading
Terry & Doreen

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