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Library Managers

University of Waterloo
Library Managers, March 20, 2013
9:30 a.m., LIB 428

Present: Annie Bélanger, Pascal Calarco (Chair), Nancy Collins, Betty Graf, Jennifer Haas, Sharon Lamont, Wish Leonard, Susan Mavor, Alex McCulloch, Carl Nagel, Annette Dandyk (Recorder)

Regrets: Mark Haslett, Michele Laing, Susan Routliffe

1. Chair’s Remarks
• Recognition and Commendation
Anniversaries:
March 21: Michael Holmes, Systems, 30 years

A retirement coffee break will be held for Susan Routliffe on April 17. The Managers farewell luncheon will also be held that day.

2. Business Arising from February 6
#3 Micro Desk Proposal: Alex and Annie will put announcements about the micro desk closure in news @ your library and on the Library home page.

#5 Laptops as Desktops Proposal: Sharon received a query about the proposal. Jennifer will respond to the staff member.
Action: Jennifer

3. Campus risk Management Project and Safety Inspections - Update
Carl reported on the campus plan to implement a risk management program:
• Each job’s functions and the tools used to do it will be reviewed and assessed for risk.
• The number of risks in the library are anticipated to be low.
• Risk assessments in all academic support units are anticipated to be completed by the end of this calendar year.
• A committee will be created to move ahead with this.
• There are also plans to implement monthly unit inspections at the supervisory level. Carl is investigating the possibility of completing the checklists online – currently only in paper format.
Action: Carl
• Three training sessions will be offered:
o Hazard Assessment – for committee members looking at hazard assessment for all job types (tentatively May or June)
o Inspection Training
 
o Accident Investigator
o The latter two will likely be offered in the fall.

4. Upcoming Service Desk Pilot
Annie, Jennifer and Alex have been exploring the feasibility of combining service desks to:
• Offer better service
• Create efficiencies
• Reallocate staff time more strategically.

Still in early stages, but:
• Circulation staff will receive enhanced directional training
• Will add patron lookup training for virtual providers
• Davis and Porter will proceed with different approaches
• Porter will remain status quo, i.e. service models will remain the same.
• Porter will be using the year to conduct user needs assessment, service quality assessment, and an ethnographic study of the desks.

The Davis Library will pilot a single service desk:
• Will be similar to the on-call service
• Still developing how it will work
• Will assess with frequent checks and milestones, and may be quite different when the pilot finishes
• Will look at parallel information desk service, and find opportunities to provide reference service where the students are
• Will solicit student feedback (LibQuest, surveys, focus groups)
• Will begin in May.

5. WebOps: Web Accessibility Compliance Plan
• The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)’s Information & Communications Standards includes a requirement for public websites to be accessible.
• The University’s websites are required to be WCAG 2.0 Level A compliance effective January 1, 2014.
• This requirement applies to all content published since January 1, 2012.
• This requirement affects the Library’s public webpages and the pages of the Staff Web that are publicly accessible (not password-protected).
• To date, close to 2,000 pages have been edited since January 1, 2012.

Annie outlined plans about how WebOps plans to proceed.
• A phased approach with lots of support for web maintainers to be ready by early November for the January deadline
• Communications with web maintainers
• Training
• Ongoing support
• WebOps led content audits
• WebOps led quality assurance audit

Annie will send an announcement and training schedule to staff the last week of March.
Action: Annie

6. Staff Life Cycle Project
Sharon and Annette have been meeting with staff interested in contributing in the Staff Life Cycle project. Managers discussed the four themes:
• Attracting the best
• Careers at Waterloo
• USG System
• Compensation System

7. Around the Table Updates
Pascal
The interview team for the Head, Digital Initiatives recruit has been populated. He will send a message to staff this afternoon.

Sharon
We anticipate having three upcoming temporary reassignment opportunities: Circulation Services - 16 months; Special Collection - 1 year; and Library Office - 1 year.

Next meeting: Thursday, April 4


 


 
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May 7, 2013