INCU-VL Sharing

I attended and joined for the first time in INCU-VL( Indonesian Christian Univeristy- Virtual Library) gathering initiated by Petra Christian University Library. The main reason for this gathering was to share about any progress in each library representatives in INCU-VL. Last year they talked about Six-Sigma, a model to identify problems and how to resolve them.
The participants presented their implementation of six-sigma and any progress they achieved in their library. Some progress are budget based, but the interesting progresses are non-budgeted ones. I 'm especially interested in how the members openly share their progress in management, policy, resolving library service problems, and meeting the users' need within their limitations.

Some interesting discussion are :
1. involving students for part time jobs in the library. They may be placed in different positions beside shelving the stacks. They can help in circulation desk, collecting data survey, data entry and simple administration tasks.
2. the usage of repository data to figure the library's performance out.
3. spreading questionnaire to gain users need in the library. They can be replace by having the par timers asked the users directly for any feedback for the library
4. knowing what is the strong point in one's library due to the collection or to the facilities or to the people in the library.
5. how to empower each other through this forum by proposing a new empowering projects like information literacy, by enhancing the existing project, and by visiting each other or holding a training together.

The discussions might not produce any clear steps the next forum meeting, but the openness was a big step to empower others and self. Sharing may be done through a mailing list or a blog report so that every member can keep updated about others progress.

The key point of this forum is the openness about their library condition and progress: the willingnes to share experience with and to care about others.

What a Forum is For

I join a library forum. It is a forum for higher education library or academic library. I found that the forum program more tend to hold events on new updates in the library's world. When we hold a meeting together the discussion points are about the next programs.

The forum long to embrace all the academic libraries in its region, but many academic libraries are not interested to join it because they question the benefit of joining in it. I can agree more with them . If the benefit is to attend events of new updates in the libraries, they can only watch and dream. Most the academic libraries in my region are struggling to be exist, to be known as libraries. Limited budget, space and support from the university keep them away from IT for Library let alone the newest updates that mostly come along with the IT.

I think the forum has not used the opportunity to embrace them in essence of empowering them to grow based on what they have and their limitations. When we want to embrace others, it is crucial to know their needs and then what we do can meet their needs.
A simple way and low cost event to hold to entice them to make progress in the library service is holding a sharing session about library management, library collection development, human resources in the library , library instruction class, or information literacy.

For each subject some ideas to share are:
1. Library management
- how to identify the users' need in order to enhance or add library services
- how to evaluate the library program/services
- how to manage knowledge
2. library collection development
- how to compose library collection development policy
- how to communicate with program departments or faculties about collections
3. human resources in the library
- how to circulate staff
- how to empower library staff in low cost
- what to learn to upgrade the library service
- how to do research together and what to research in the library
4. library instruction class
- what need to share with new students about the library
- how to conduct a library instruction class
5. information literacy
- how to teach information literacy to the librarians, and then to the students

Those topics above are common things to academic libraries. They seems so simple, yet many of the academic libraries do not know that they are important and worth to be in their library.
Through sharing knowledge and experiences the members of the forum may get benefit and a hope that they can apply those in their libraries in their limitations.

It is crucial to encourage the members of the forum to keep progressing in their work in the library. When they have progress, the libraries are getting better, when they are better the univ. and their users feel the existence of the library.

That's what a forum is for...

Reorganize!

I realized that for these 3 years since becoming the library director, I was caught in the daily operational too much, so that most of the library matters got me involved to manage or decide. For the first year, it was necessary due to the transition, but it went on to the next years up till now.
For example, administration stuff are routines but since we used part-timer to handle those, she had limited responsibilities and decision making. Moreover, I had no chance to upgrade or empower them more because their part time position.
Daily policy such as paying the late check-in books penalty becomes my responsibility too whereas the circulation supervisor is enough to deal with it. I am tired, not because it is too much, but because I could not go further for the next progress in the library. While the province govt is leading the online catalog integration and other national group is preparing a digital library network, I got trapped in daily activities in the library.
So, a new resolution is needed for this new year. We need to reorganize our human resources, responsibilities and roles!!

The reorganizing here is distributing the operational decision making to the staff according to their position and having them collaborate in any situation which needs more than a person to decide based on library's basic rules and policies.
Achieving this stage, each staff is required to write down their standard operational procedures of their tasks. By having all SOP, they are going to share their skill and knowledge in order to equip other staff in making decisions.
We are aware that communication and report procedure are very important. Immediate report or flash news from new situation or ideas are worth to share. Therefore we are going to implement a groupware application called e-groupware to communicate ideas and information to each other every single day. Everyone is obligated to access to this application and has the same right to share ideas, report and information.

However, this application is not to replace meetings. Meetings are important for evaluating, planning and fellowship. The information shared through the e-groupware will prepare each to every discussion point in the meeting.

Having this plan, I, as the Library Director, will have more time and concentration to focus on where this library will go, and what is new in the library world that we can apply in the library. Moving toward is a must do. Therefore this changing cannot wait to show!