Sunday, February 8, 2009

Table 1 comment cards

  • make the shared development team happen (find shared space)
  • How to reduce cost of developing new technology?
  • How can we be agile yet inclusive/communicative?
  • Data Driven Decision Making
  • Statistics that run themselves and never break
  • Multi media support
  • "sound bite" expectations
  • Effective priority setting for our scarce resources
  • Better educate Admin on tech issues
  • Web graphic design
  • Single search
  • Is latest tech the greatest tech?
  • Time for R&D professional development for all of us
  • Prioritization Model
  • Time to play/experiment
  • Site search and efacs integration, particularly in searching
  • Extensible Infrastructure: build an infrastructure that supports a continuous evolution of our bread'n butter services
  • Singe Search Box
  • How do we facilitate resource discovery search (me Google-like box?) browse cool library site of the day? Random collection?
  • A better, more innovative and easier to update catalog interface.
  • Clearly define relationships for different units within the libraries
  • Build social connections (opportunities to share etc.) with it.
  • Strengthen our inter-group connections
  • Insure open communications between all of us
  • IT-library Cross-competence
  • I Tech are clannish
  • More coordination, better communication between our 3 groups
  • How to stop tweaking the old tech?
  • Complete wisccal syncing all years. (okay I'll admit this is a not, but I'm full of nots.)
  • Talk to end users, customers
  • What do students want? Do they care about lib services?
  • What are high schoolers using now?
  • Advance the cause of open access, open data, open software
  • Support for data management/curation for researchers.
  • How can library and IT support researchers needs?
  • Provide shared services to the Arts and Humanities community
  • Bring academic technology into the scholarly communications and publishing effort
  • What can we contribute to the "national scene" in library IT?
  • Align our work with campus strategic plans
Excel file listing all comments

Table 2 comment cards

  • Build instead of buy
  • How can new ideas be spread?
  • Support
  • Cross-Training
  • Actually does what they say it does
  • Data Integrity
  • Version control
  • Better standards
  • Systems that can safely fail (think threading)
  • Asynchronous workflow
  • User centered design (and someone who knows how to do it)
  • More contact between groups
  • Influence thinking in non-IT depts. In library system.
  • Better browsing
  • Service definition vs. org structure
  • Integrate service offerings
  • How do we know if we're doing a good job?
  • Communication-Spreading ideas between IT groups, influencing thinking in non-IT groups
  • Integrated system (modular, Customizable, flexible, stable, specialized) Build or buy?
  • System should have: version control, data integrity, deep support, less ambiguous standards, multiple independent environments
  • Modular system (integrated)
  • Customizable
  • Humanities research support
  • Parallel vs. Interdependent work flows per circumstances
  • Don’t fear specialization and it's inevitable consequences.
  • Balance flexibility with stability
Excel file listing all comments

Table 3 comment cards

  • Cluster 4 work group communication
  • More awareness of bigger context
  • Shorter, succint communication in sync for that day
  • We don’t know what we do
  • Too many meetings but not enough communication. Freedom to talk?
  • Moderately sized interest clusters
  • Do we really work together? It seems like there are many reports about production what are the reports about other projects/processes?
  • Expertise Diffusion: among ourselves, to other librarians and IT folks, to the rest of the institution, how do we get attention? Skills to the masses!
  • Meetings, we have too many. Unproductive.
  • Communication: among ourselves, with other lib units, with out wasting time, with lib administration, with the rest of the university
  • Communications between units. Collaboration across boundaries
  • Isolation: feeling unsupported, mission unclear, performance unclear, morale-busting
  • Cluster:6 Organizational Issues. Rank: 2
  • Administration management of resources
  • Reactive Vs. Proactive: is our job to do what comes down to us from our fearless leaders? Or are we supposed to set the agenda? Lead?
  • I'd like to see less top=down direction and more TRUST in the intelligence, skills and ideas coming up from the grass roots
  • Making our case to those who hold the purse strings
  • Other campus stakeholders territoriality exclusion
  • What does it take to obtain trust?
  • No direction. Authority to select direction. NO more vetoes
  • Cluster: 3 Experimentation and innovation rank:3
  • I like seeing interesting and informative presentations at conferences. I like it more when the speaker is someone with whom I work.
  • Can we generate ideas? Then "hire" a tech person to make them viable?
  • Experimentation: permission? Time? Materials? Priorities?
  • What happened to our agility?
  • INNOVATION
  • Embracing risk
  • Cluster: 1 Workspace and Software rank: 5
  • In the future...a CLEAR, uncluttered workspace that feels good to get to
  • Can we please stop paying top-dollar for lousy crap? This is probably bigger in scope than this discussion and this room.
  • Our high end equipment=2 better light cameras. Can we scan more difficult, complex, beautiful material.
  • Physical Space: what is happening to small campus libraries? (Purdue), can we put a space bid in if some close?, much time wasted in travel
  • Efficiency: no drudge work for people (give it to the computers) Automation of common processes
  • Cluster:5 assessment and usability Rank:6
  • Improve usability
  • Assessment Ranking User focus HCL info arch
  • Since we are state university, can we connect to needs of smaller groups in state? Do they need to be university-affiliated before we help?
  • How do we find most interesting most exploratory material to scan?
  • Cluster:2 Services rank:4
  • Libraries and the research process: scholarly communications, data curation, collection, embedding libraries, us or IT?
  • Archive analog and digital
  • Build community spaces around the (digital) collections
  • Reformat to provide remote access to content to end user. (analog books, serials, microfilm, glass negatives, etc.)
  • Address the needs of future users (aka preservation)
  • Continue work in traditional analog preservation work to assure access to printed materials.
Excel file listing all comments

Table 4 comment cards

  • Library overhaul: management commit to new development. Replace old outdated systems- madcat, first search, 11 digit. User assessment of service, stop designing for librarians design for patrons.
  • Change structure: combine support structure. Economy at scale on physical and personal resources (full and student). Combo of info lab, library, computing services. Improve customer service streamline structure.
  • Teaching and sharing knowledge: improve base computer knowledge, expect base common knowledge. Improve training to reduce intimidation, and resistance to change. Increase transfer of knowledge with in office and depts.
  • Stop designing interfaces for library staff. Start designing for patrons.
  • Get rid of II digit login to madcat- Net ID instead.
  • Library management needs to enable and commit to new development.
  • Develop a long term plan for using real user assessment of our environment. (resource discovery, web site)
  • Replace madcat, metalib, firstsearch, sitesearct, etc. with a modern integrated resource discovery environment.
  • More campus feedback fro beta projects. Main patrons are students, see what they want and then give it to them.
  • Resistance to change, scared of the unknown, lack of training with new tech or procedure.
  • Transfer of knowledge, people learn differently, also making assumptions on what is common knowledge.
  • Improve user training and base computer knowledge
  • How to make patrons not afraid of new technology
  • More collaboration with campus/DoIT
  • Combine DoIt Infolab and library "terminals"
  • Combine all student staff into one group
  • Combine common functions in all three areas (e.g. student mgmt, production support) why are we separate?
  • Isolation of groups leading to poor working relations
  • Troubleshooting is universal- combine duplicative efforts between groups.
  • Share infrastructure and systems between our departments.
  • share technical expertise between departments
  • improve communication between departments
  • Focus, digression, on task
  • Specialization vs. Generalization in support and development
  • Improve customer service
  • Bigger, more announced campus presence (marketing). How do we do this? Is it even important for people to know who we are and what we do? Do other library entities even know about us? Ties into customer service?
  • work on projects that staff really appreciate
Excel file listing all comments

Table 5 comment cards

  • Focus on core mission, providing access to library resources. Clearly define support expectations, SLA's, ect. Commitment to DR plan.
  • We need high profile projects that could generate income.
  • Uw Madison to run a statewide library system
  • Work toward large scale efficient textual analysis (a la Saxton et. al) Leaning toward cataloging matching.
  • More emphasis on cost/benefit (fewer toys and less push for the "latest thing")
  • Turn off computers at night- Try to be more green
  • More outreach and cooperation (with system and CIC and locally)
  • To make working together more efficient have people in the same group have offices closer together.
  • Administrative dysfunction delaying implementation
  • define mission and scope
  • don’t be distracted by new technology, but rather figure out what's relevant to our mission
  • DR plan with a budget
  • SLA's
  • We need a better procedure to get everything in place for a new employee
  • when there is an issue, the on call phone should be called first...NOT individuals on the team.
  • Promote personalization
  • Break from "techie" perspective
  • Bad vendor support- application
  • Lack of institutional focus reprioritize
Excel file listing all comments

Table 6 comment cards

  • How do end users interact with our stuff?
  • We all need to be in the same space to collaborate.
  • Top-down mandates should be vetted, approved/rejected/below modified.
  • end users/search
  • need a way to see how content is used, specifically in classrooms
  • need better mechanisms to get and respond to user feedback specifically about search needs
  • Improve our search interface Patrons don’t understand
  • sociality
  • Cocktails in the afternoon
  • Let's all be drunk
  • outreach and communication
  • More LTG/UWDCC/LIRA socializing mixing
  • more cooperation outreach outside the university (conferences, presentation, campus visits..)
  • Improve relationships with library stats- integration?
  • Space issues
  • Space! We should all be closer together ( and have windows) and doors and walls!
  • Tech/ Infrastructure
  • Shared development tools, website
  • refocus on existing systems and platforms some need updating
  • emphasis on infrastructure support- for new and future systems
  • replace voyager with open-source ils packages
  • need stable systems in UWDC since we are production oriented
  • Staffing issues
  • Equitable salaries value skills!
  • sense that all skills are important and valued
  • more permanent staff
  • Internal communication
  • we don’t really know what each other do a lot of the time
  • I don’t understand how to improve communication about our services/tools *** the library for libra********
  • ownership of problems--better response to internal questions and problems
  • clarify relationship between UWDC and other tech units
  • Clarify responsibilities/duties- who do I bug about what?
  • flexible procedures
Excel file listing all comments

Friday, January 9, 2009

Thanks!

I just wanted to drop a quick line thanking those who planned and carried out yesterday's meeting. The subject matter wasn't entirely what I was expecting, but in all honesty, I think what happened was more useful than what I was thinking would happen.

I really enjoyed talking to colleagues I rarely have a chance to see, and I was deeply impressed with the insights generated, as well as the straightforward, honest, optimistic manner in which they were communicated and received.

I am proud to work with all of you.