SC Orientation and Training Team

Minutes:

May 18, 2005, 2:00-3:30 pm

Venue: East Asia Conference Room

Present: Eiko Sakaguchi, Allan Rough (facilitator), Tom Connors, Kevin Hammett, Suzanne Linebaugh (notetaker)

1.  Minutes from April 13, 2005, meeting. 

Allan reported that he has not yet finished the minutes from the last meeting (April 13, 2005) but will complete and send them out as soon as he can.

2.  Orientation and training needs of each Special Collections unit

Tom presented “Notes on a vision for the Orientation and Training Team,” copies of which he handed out to the committee.  Tom will revise this document to explicitly include East Asia .  Highlights include:

• Ask in-house experts to provide training (e.g., catalogers, Rebecca on exhibit production)
• When Learning Services announces a class that pertains to Special Collections, send a follow-up e-mail to Special Collections staff
• Consider training offered by the university (e.g., OIT classes)
• Consider training offered outside the university (e.g., DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard)

Tom recommended that we produce a document stating our mission and plan.  He also suggested that we circulate a list of training topics and ask Special Collections staff to identify training priorities.

Allan proposed arranging a tour of Hornbake for new/recent employees as a prototype orientation activity.  Newly hired SC employees include Shiho Peko (Prange), Ying Guo (Nonprint), Joanne Archer (NTL), and Liz McAllister (University Archives).  The committee agreed that curators should give tours of and introductions to their specific areas.  After some discussion, the committee decided to postpone the tour until July so we could use our next meeting for further planning.  The committee also considered organizing this event as an open house at which curators would do tours every 15 minutes, but ultimately decided to limit to it Special Collections staff for now and expand to all library staff later.  Allan and Tom will consult with Lauren Brown at the next Facilities Meeting about arranging a tour.  Kevin noted that the next step is to determine what will be covered in the tour; he suggested going over each area's history, special holdings, special procedures, etc. 

Kevin recommended that we develop an overview of Special Collections, i.e., a written document that discusses the whole realm of Special Collections.  He proposed that orientation should involve a tour and meeting as many staff as possible and noted the importance of having as much standardization as possible so that all new employees receive the same training/information.  The committee might compile a packet of information including an organizational chart (Lauren Brown is working on one), a directory of Special Collections staff, and a list of pertinent e-mail reflectors.

Suzanne passed around a printout from the University of Utah library's orientation website as an example of what we might do.  She also referred to the training table being developed by the Maryland Room staff, which includes a detailed list of topics to be covered when training new employees.

At the end of the meeting, Eiko and Amy Wasserstrom provided excellent tours and overviews of the East Asia and Prange collections, respectively.

3.  Outcomes:

• Allan will send out minutes from last meeting
• The committee will plan a prototype tour in July in collaboration with the Facilities Team.  Each committee member will bring a list of tour stops and topics for his/her area to the next meeting
• Each committee member will prepare a list of topics to include in basic orientation for his/her area
• Everyone will review the Library Personnel and Budget Office website to consider how we can incorporate the orientation materials provided there
• The committee will meet again on June 15, from 2 to 3 pm, in the 3^rd-floor conference room in Hornbake

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Linebaugh

return to top