Greetings!Below is a document that outlines the various charges for the task forces I intend to form to carry out the redefinition of our public services roles and responsibilities. As you'll see, I've done my best to estimate the timing for each task force, but please don't take these as absolute commitments. The dates at least should give you some idea of the sequence and relative timing of each of these groups.
I've also included some general statements about the purpose of the task forces and how they'll work. In each case we'll need to spend some time at the first task force meeting to figure out how the work will get done and how often the task force will meet.
If you wish to volunteer, please let me know by the end of the day on Wednesday, February 18th, and please be sure to indicate which task force(s) you'd like to serve on.
Thanks in advance for your participation!
Ginny
Basic functions of all task forces
- decide how often to meet and how long meetings should last; set schedule
- decide whether or not to keep minutes and, if so, to whom to distribute them
- decide how to carry out the specific charge of the task force by figuring out answers to the following questions:
- how should other public services staff be included in the work of the task force?
- what techniques should be used to gather input—large group meetings, discussion in department meetings, surveys, focus groups, etc.
- how can we reach consensus if there are widely differing opinions about any of these processes?
- decide how drafts of the final documents will be sharedTask force organization:
- Ginny will do a call for volunteers and will select the final list of participants for each task force. Care will be taken to mix up staff from a variety of units and to have participants representing all levels of the organization. Before volunteering, please look at your calendar to make sure you won’t be overcommitted and please consult with your supervisor to make sure your participation won’t hinder the workflow in your unit.
- Ginny will either call for a volunteer convener or will ask someone to convene each of the task forces.
- Task force members will not be official representatives of their units, so, unless specified during the task force process, these individuals will not be responsible for acting as communication conduits between the task force and their home units.
- It is possible that one person may serve on more than one task force. This will depend in large part on the number of volunteers for each task force and the level of interest. To the extent possible, everyone who is interested in serving on one of the task forces will have that opportunity.
- Task force membership will generally range from 6 to 8 people.
- Ginny will participate in the work of each task force and will act as a liaison between the various groups.
- Participation in some of the work of the task forces may include carrying out some clerical work, such as scheduling meeting rooms, photocopying, etc.Draft charges for the various task forces
Redefinition Process Communication Task Force likely duration: mid-February through July (note the longer timeframe for this group!)
charge: To share information about the redefinition process, documents created, and news with other staff in the Libraries and, as appropriate, with users. To also suggest milestones and achievements that can be celebrated as we move through this redefinition process. This task force will focus on the process we are going through whereas the Internal Communication Task Force listed below will focus on recommending strategies we can use in the future to enhance communication among our various public service units.Service Priorities Task Force
likely duration: mid-March through April
charge: To gather feedback and guide public services staff through the process of determining our priorities for our various services based on the values we identify during February and March. Using whatever information is available about our own priorities plus information from our users, determine what services should be categorized as high priority, high payoff or low priority, low payoff or somewhere in between.Organizational Issues Task Force
likely duration: mid-April through May or possibly longer
charge: To help public services staff raise organizational issues for general discussion and consideration for change. Once a list of issues is created, the task force will work with Ginny to group similar issues, to decide who should discuss these issues and make recommendations, and to determine the timetable for review of these issues. This task force will not be responsible for actually handling each organizational issue itself but will plan the process and schedule that will allow us to consider all high-priority issues.Internal Communication Plan Task Force
likely duration: May
charge: To gather feedback and ideas from public services staff on ways to manage communication among the various public services units to enhance our ability to share information and to develop a framework for timely and effective communication.Performance Measurement Task Force
likely duration: June and possibly July
charge: To review our current practices for measuring our organizational efficiency and effectiveness and to make recommendations on any changes needed in light of new priorities or to measure work that has heretofore not been measured.