Renee is on sabbatical leave from February through July. During February, Stephen M. Roberts, Associate Director of University Libraries and to whom SEL reports, will oversee SEL matters until Marilyn arrives. Service Excellence Assembly Assesses Libraries Needs and Directions One hundred thirty members of the Libraries' staff and faculty joined together on Thursday, January 12, at the Center for Tomorrow for the first major, system-wide Service Excellence Assembly designed to set Libraries priorities. We were entertained and challenged to action by keynote speaker, Jerry Campbell, University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs and Computing at Duke University, who discussed library quality service programs and quality circles that have been instituted at Duke. Dr. Campbell's program took us through the processes necessary to accommodate the change to new organizational structures and work methods - from hierarchical, rigid structures to environments characterized by empowered staff and flexibility to meet new and different needs.
Training is key to change.
Well-trained teams, with the proper tools, are empowered to face change, to adapt, and to thrive. One way of assessing which ones to slaughter is by evaluating active and passive customer feedback. Passive feedback may be obtained by observing such internal and available information as the number of rush-catalog books and repeated reference inquiries. How the Libraries can empower staff. How to humanize the Libraries.