SPARC

Surveys and such

Please join us next Thursday, the 16th to discuss the spring survey that targeted short-term users of the library.
We'll be discussing the survey results, as well as looking at the survey itself and gathering input on how the survey may be tweaked for future use.

Where: SIL Conference Room
When: Thursday, July 16 @ 12 noon - bring a lunch!
What: survey discussion
Who: Polly L, Claire C., Richard N., AND YOU.

An email with a link to the survey results will be forthcoming (again - Claire did send it out a month ago!) See you there.

-keri on behalf of everybody

Strategic Planning Update

SIL Planning Retreat:

Wednesday July16, 2008 12n to Thursday July 17, 5:30 pm.

National Museum of American Indian Board Room.

Attendees:Mary Augusta Thomas, Martin Kalfatovic, Alvin Hutchinson, Ann Speyer, Anne VanCamp, Carole Neves, Daria Wingreen, Frank Quirk, Gil Taylor, Hope Furth, Jennifer Cohlman, Julianne Bailey, Kathy Hill, Leah Smith, Lucien Rossignol, Marcia Adams, Mary Falvey, Melanie Hall, Nancy Gwinn, Polly Khater, Richard Naples, Robin Everly, Ron Monark, Susan Frampton, Suzanne Pilsk, Yue Shue, Lou Wetherbee, Susan Loving.

Reflections of the day and a half from attendees:

 “That experience motivated me, as a board member, to seek out [a] more interaction with the staff to deepen my understanding of the issues and [b] opportunities to stay involved in the development of this strategic plan.”

 “The cooperative generation of meaningful ideas, with everyone contributing and no one to dominating, was truly amazing. We are on our way to producing a document which enable the libraries to move in new directions, utilizing evolving technology, improved communication and our outstanding staff. I believe that we are going to produce a useful and realistic plan that will enable us to realize both short and longer term goals. This is a rare achievement.”

 
“I also enjoyed meeting the other SI representatives from OCIO, OP&A, and SI Archives – it’s reassuring to know we have such strong allies within the institution.”

 
“The well prepared background materials triggered a process of thinking about current and future influences; the participation of the library staff, board members, and other SI staff provided the critical ingredients to what is needed to write the plan. All of the participants moved between passion and business spheres to focus on the benefits the libraries now deliver, as well as, to what they hope the libraries will evolve into, and how they plan to achieve such a vision.”

 

Words for the future: 

 

Our first challenge for the retreat was to find some words that might help to define a vision of SIL in the future. Here is a selection of words that resonated most with us as we developed our thoughts and ideas about the future throughout the retreat.: knowledge, questioning, analyzing, managing resources, anticipation, access, space, beta(everything is…)evaluating, morph, learning, testing, collaboration, cutting edge, outreach, customer-focused, fluid, creative, innovative, leadership, indispensable, document, exchanging, treasure, diverse, global…

 

Based on the environmental scans prepared by SIL staff that were developed from the two all staff meetings, we divided into four groups and created the first draft of core strategies to help SIL in the next few years. These will need a lot more refining and thinking through as the draft plan is created.

 

First draft strategies:

o Provide customer-centric suite of dynamic value-added services

o Develop in-depth understanding of our customers internally and externally

o Provide highly skilled and knowledgeable staff to meet the research needs of the Institution and its external audiences.

o Continue to offer the highest level of service, using the most appropriate technologies to communicate knowledge to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

o Increase understanding (awareness and access) of SIL existing and web 2.0 services, content and expertise internally and externally.

o Strive to create an environment that fosters collaboration across disciplines and departments through openness to new ideas and new approaches

o Give and receive information freely and multi-directionally, spans boundaries, fosters interdisciplinary research and makes new connections, nationally and internationally.

o Develop financial stability in order to be able to meet challenges and take on new opportunities

 

At the end of the retreat, each group began to brainstorm initiatives for the next three to five years.

We are seeking volunteers to help in the next steps. 

1. A draft of the work done at the retreat is in process and will be posted soon.

2 Some of the retreat participants with more volunteers will be working on fleshing out strategies, refining initiatives from the retreat and seeking additional initiatives in the month to come. More information will be available on the web site to help you decide which initiatives interest you.

Last spring, Marcia Adams bravely volunteered to lead the team that is writing the first draft of the strategic plan. We are looking for more staff to participate. If you said you were interested, you will be hearing from us soon. Any of the steering committee or other retreat attendees is available to give you more details on the process to date. Staff, board and SI partners will have opportunities to comment as the draft is finished.

 

Strategic Planning: a Message from Lou Wetherbee

As you know from Nancy's messages about the SIL strategic planning process, Lou Wetherbee & Associates will be working with SIL staff on strategic planning. Lou will be using the SIL SPARC blog as one outlet for her communications to SIL staff on the process. Here's an introduction that Lou asked me to pass along:

- Martin

Dear SIL Colleagues:

This is the first in a series of update briefings about the SIL strategic planning process that began in March with the Town Hall Meeting attended by over 70 staff members and my visit with the SIL Advisory Board. I want to let you know what is occurring and to invite your continued participation and involvement.

I appreciated the excellent input we received at the Town Hall meeting. The Steering Committee appointed by Nancy to work with me and my colleague, Susan Loving, has reviewed the input and used it to identify initial topics for the environmental scan.  That scanning project is now underway with four main areas of focus at present:

1. Communication and Outreach
2. Current and Emerging Discovery Tools
3. Customer Review
4. Training and Staff Development

If you have volunteered to participate in the planning effort, you may be asked to help with one of the scans. Other topics will also be selected as they surface from the staff and stakeholder input we are receiving. We intend to do the scan in a streamlined way and we are committed to taking advantage of all the data which is available from LibQual or other surveys and reports to avoid duplicate effort.  If you know of specific reports or user data that is available from your unit, please let a Steering Committee member know of it so that we can use it.

As your consultant and facilitator of the planning effort, I have conducted a series interviews with various board members and representatives of different units at the Institution. I was fortunate to be able to spend an hour with Dr. Samper, as well as Dr. Carole M.P. Neves, Director, Policy and Analysis, and Ann Speyer, the Chief Information Officer. The interviews were useful in helping me better understand the role of the Libraries at The Institution and how the Libraries support research and other programs. I also was able to interview the members of the SIL Board Strategy Committee to seek their advice and input.  I spent time with senior leaders of the Libraries including Nancy to hear their perspectives.

Susan and I now meet on a regular basis with the Steering Committee by conference call to stay closely connected to the planning effort.  In addition to beginning the scanning project, the Committee has launched an online staff input survey so that anyone who wishes to do so may comment in writing on the issues facing the Libraries and offer ideas or suggestions for the new strategic plan. The Committee will compile and review the staff input and use it in planning a second town hall meeting for staff members. At the next Town Hall on May 6, we will also report early progress on the environmental scans and discuss their implications for the Libraries. Later in the summer there will be a planning retreat with participants from a cross section of the SIL staff, participants from the Board and other stakeholders at the Institution.

In any strategic planning process, change can often overtake planning. Our best hope for a vital and successful plan is to ground it in both a good knowledge of the current behaviors of the customers of the Libraries and a keen understanding of the powerful external forces, -- social, technological and demographic --affecting the library and information world.

I encourage each of you to check the new Sparc blog and to read the entries in the Strategic Planning Wiki from time to time. I will write to you periodically during the planning process to brief you on our progress. I also hope you will take the time to participate in a scan if you wish and/or attend the next Town Hall. 

I realize that each person on the SIL staff is pressed for time so we have identified various ways that you can contribute to the plan, from attending Town Halls to sending input via online surveys or working on a topical scan. I invite you to stay interested and engaged. Your ideas, your energy and your interests are key to the success of this planning effort. Please let me hear from you with suggestions or questions.

Lou Wetherbee
17 April 2008