Library Gazette

Person Recognized

Judy Simmons

Given By

Mary Horton

Reason

Thanks to Judy for rushing a book thru cataloging so that a student I was helping could check it out.

Person Recognized

Susan Smith

Given By

Mary Horton

Reason

Thanks to Susan for teaching my LIB100 class when I was out at a conference and for helping one of my LIB100 students with submitting an assignment when I was out of town

Person Recognized

Lauren Pressley

Given By

Mary Horton

Reason

Thanks to Lauren for helping one of my LIB100 groups while I was out of town.

Person Recognized

Susan Smith

Given By

Carol Cramer

Reason

Susan rescued me when I had a last-minute crisis involving the speaker phone.

Person Recognized

Erik Mitchell

Given By

Carol Cramer

Reason

Erik rescued me when I had a last-minute crisis involving the speaker phone.

Person Recognized

Scott Adair

Given By

Craig

Reason

Scott helped me sort through and make sense of, water damaged materials in the recent water disaster.

Person Recognized

Joe Harrington

Given By

Craig

Reason

Joe and his student quickly responded to the recent water disaster on Wilson 6. Thanks for your prompt action Joe!

Person Recognized

Scott Adair

Given By

Mary Beth Lock

Reason

Thanks to Scott for giving me so much information, being patient with my endless questions and making my first days here a real joy.

Person Recognized

Tim Mitchell Dedicated Deacon Winner

Given By

Susan

Reason

Tim, thanks for setting up one of the new Digital Forsyth printers in the multimedia lab so that we could train the other libraries on how it works. And for getting all four libraries’ printers configured and testing them to be sure they work!

Person Recognized

Craig Fansler

Given By

Susan

Reason

Thanks to Craig for leading the printer operation training for Digital Forsyth libraries. With Craig’s hands on experience with the Epson printer in Preservation, he was able to focus on the exact features and functionality of the printers to make the training effective.

Person Recognized

Elise Anderson

Given By

Bobbie Collins

Reason

Elise provided some important information for Counseling’s program review.

Person Recognized

Carol Cramer

Given By

Bobbie Collins

Reason

Carol provided some important information for Counseling’s program review.

Person Recognized

Erik Mitchell

Given By

Bobbie Collins

Reason

Erik provided some important information for Counseling’s program review.

Person Recognized

Craig Fansler

Given By

Joe Harrington

Reason

Thanks to Craig for his help in sorting out the water-logged stacks on Wilson 6!

The Marketing Committee is pleased to announce the purchase of a new tablecloth that can be used for ZSR events and outreach. Renate has worked with the Bookstore to borrow their tablecloth for various events and it was decided that purchasing a tablecloth of our own would be a good investment. Linda Early did some online research for companies that sold tablecloths with brands or logos on them, and received excellent customer service from Chris Rupert and branders.com. They gave Linda several mock-ups and quotes with various sizes of both the tablecloth and the logo. Rather than the plasticized iron-on “WF” of the Bookstore tablecloth, which was difficult to clean and was subject to peeling off, our logo was affixed using a “Full Bleed (Dye Sublimation)” which (I think!) means that the logo was dyed into the cloth, so the logo will not peel or tear off and the tablecloth is washable. The final product is an eight-foot oval tablecloth with the cupola and “Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University” on one side. Our tablecloth will live at Circulation and anyone interesting in using it for an event will need to contact Renate. Thanks to Linda and Renate for their work on this project!

We all are too aware that the holiday season is barreling down upon us all. In addition to family plans, we all enjoy the various celebrations that take place here at the Library. Traditionally, as part of its holiday party, the Tech Team has done a “Secret Santa” gift exchange between team members. As the years have gone by and the season seems to get more hectic, the exchange has become more of a “gift card” exchange. It dawned on us that we are simply exchanging money.

So, this year we all decided to put the money to better use and to donate what we would normally spend to a worthy cause. The team voted to pool our money and donate a bike and helmet to a child through the local cycling group’s “Bikes for Kids for Christmas” annual program (done in conjunction with WXII). All five local bicycle shops support the program by making the bicycles and helmets available at cost and then donating their time and expertise to assemble the bikes for the children. Last year the group was able to donate 50 bicycles to children in Forsyth and surrounding counties. Their goal this year is 75 bikes. I’m sure nobody in the library would be surprised at our choice of this particular program as the team is full of cycling enthusiasts (Caroline, your inner cyclist just hasn’t emerged yet!). But how many of us received our first bicycle under the Christmas tree, and still remember that year as one of the best ever? So, we hope to give one child that same excitement, plus an introduction into a fun and active lifestyle.

What are other teams doing this holiday season?

Gulf Coast Recovery Summit

On September 24th and 25th at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta, SOLINET held a disaster recovery summit entitled “The Business Side of Recovery.” The summit was an invitation-only event attended by representatives from southeastern academic libraries. The topics included: Emergency Training and Communication, Business Continuity Planning for Libraries, First Responder Preparedness, and Risk Assessment Strategies for Libraries. Speakers included representatives from libraries directly affected by Hurricane Katrina or similar disasters, the Library of Congress Collections Care Division, archivists, preservation specialists, FEMA personnel, firefighters, and risk managers. Overall, the speakers were informative and several very emotional for some who spoke on the Katrina aftermath.

After listening to the various presentations, the following questions came to mind for our Disaster Team to consider:

• Do we have relationships established with the first responders both on our campus and from our community long before a disaster happens? Have we taken a firefighter to lunch?
• Do our first responders on campus have a copy of our disaster plan? Does our disaster plan include a blueprint of the building with floor plans, room names and room numbers?
• Would our library disaster team be allowed on campus? Are any disaster team members certified in Community Emergency Response Training (CERT)? (Persons with this training are often the first and sometimes only ones allowed in the building or on the campus.)
• Do we maintain an inventory of our collection somewhere off campus?
• Do we have a memorandum of understanding with emergency responders that spells out the chain of command? (library contacts for who to call first, second, etc.?)
• Do we have photos of all staff that may be used to identify those who may be missing or injured?
• Does our plan address the business continuity side of recovery? (This includes strategies for continuing to meet patron needs, tactics for meeting contractual obligations and a plan for providing administrative services- I know several people are working on parts of this.)
• Do we have a low tech way to keep essential contact information and basic recovery plans with us at all times? (Consider the Pocket Response Plan, or PReP).

I have a notebook from the conference which includes a “Field Guide to Emergency Response” that I plan to pass along to our Disaster Team. If anyone would like more information concerning the summit you may visit the SOLINET homepage.

North Carolina Library Association Biennial Conference

Like many others from ZSR, I attended our state association’s 57^th biennial conference held in Hickory last week. I attended three programs sponsored by the Library Administration and Management Section (LAMS). The first was a pre-conference called “Planning for Library Excellence: How to Tell Your Strategic Story.” Mark Livingston, president of Strategic Management Systems, served as the facilitator for this session. Ideas were shared on how to create a one page strategic plan designed to communicate library priorities and align key stakeholders with both the mission and vision statements. The audience was introduced to the concepts of strategy maps which create a long range vision for personal excellence within the library and balanced scorecards that translate the library’s strategic priorities into measurable and actionable outcomes. Attendees viewed examples of strategic plans generated by other libraries. The afternoon portion focused on an actual case study where breakout groups created strategy statements and priorities of their own.

LAMS also featured Dr. Larry White of East Carolina University in a session titled “Contenders or Pretenders: Competing for your Library’s Customers.” White informed the audience that we are not the only providers of information resources and we are certainly not the best. We all compete for staffing, resources and collaborative partners. He warned librarians that if we study something to death, death was not our original goal: don’t spend too much time planning, exploring and deciding, just do it. Call in the cavalry: our customers and our stakeholders, along with the customers and ideas from our competitors. Consider joint ventures with Amazon, with Barnes and Noble, and others. While working in a library’s access services department, White threw away much of the current circulation policies except for two items: take all the library resources you like as long as you agree to be financially responsible for any you don’t return, and renew as many times as you like as long as someone else is not waiting. One marketing suggestion White offered was to set up stations in the campus community and survey potential customers, asking questions such as ‘how frequently do you visit the library’ and ‘what can we do to get you there?’ to possible users. Simple rewards of candy or five minutes of play time on a popular gaming system were thrown out as possible hooks to have a large pool of responses.

“Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace” was the final LAMS-sponsored session in which Lynn Unsworth, Third Region Manager for Capital Associated Industries (CAI), addressed issues with having four generations converging on the workplace. Comments solicited from the audience included such statements as ‘I’m supervising my mother’, ‘you’re wired, I’m not’ and ‘what’s up with that dress?’ I felt that the presenter spent way too much time talking about generational differences and too little on how to actually manage across those generations. Finally, she offered the M.E.E.T. approach that suggested strategies which most of us are familiar:

• Making time to discuss.
• Exploring and appreciating differences.
• Encouraging mutual respect.
• Taking individual responsibility.

I have two copies of the CAI brochure on “Four Generations Working Together” that I would be happy to share with anyone who would be interested.

Representation at the conference by ZSR staff was great. Steve managed the NCLA conference store and several staff members including Caroline, Susan, Carolyn and Cristina gave presentations during the conference. (My apologies if I have accidentally omitted someone from this list.) Heather received a travel grant and momentarily represented UNC-G. The ZSR staff is a spectacular group, one of the finest in the state, so I applaud you all for sharing your expertise and your experiences with the rest of North Carolina. Go DEACS!