Best Committee/Group Collaboration Nominees
Group collaboration, whether it is part of the Libraries' formal committee structure, a formally organized work group or team or an informal group, is a vital part of the participative decision-making process in the Libraries. Commitment given by individuals throughout the Libraries to committee work and other forms of group collaboration is considerable. Recipients for this award will be chosen based on the effectiveness of the committee or group's process, the communication of its progress, the timeliness of its recommendations, and its task and effectiveness for the mission of the Libraries.
Please Note: This nomination was originally submitted for Extra Mile Above and Beyond, but reclassified by the ASSET Awards Committee
What is the nominee's position and what is the nature of his/her job? What are the normal expectations?
I like to call this group the "2nd Floor Fire Recovery Decision Makers."
They weren't in all cases "first responders," but they comprise the principal
group of people who assessed damage to the collections, began the arduous
process of triage and finding appropriate solutions, and saw the whole thing
through to a successful conclusion in which a very high percentage of valuable
information resources were saved for future use.
Please describe how has the nominee frequently and consistently surpasses normal expectations.
Despite occasionally-conflicting individual priorities, the heavy
demands of ongoing regular duties in their respective departments, and the need
for constant, consistent communication with DSi and the Libraries
administration, this group pulled together and met seemingly-impossible
deadlines with aplomb, panache, and dogged determination. Each of them worked
with one another and with myriad volunteers over a period of several months,
consulting, deferring to one another's various expertises without apparent
rancour, and all with the understanding that getting the Libraries back to 100%
of its pre-fire level of customer service was the overriding priority. If I've
ever seen a case of teamwork, this was it!
How has the nominee's hard work affected your unit and/or department? How has his/her hard work affected the Libraries?
To its credit, this group's work has affected my department very little.
Several of us put in some hours on the 2nd floor as volunteers in what Nan came
to call the "Dirty Hands Group" (which she notes, tongue-in-cheek, has the same
initials as Department Heads Group), but we have had no difficulty getting to
those 2nd-floor materials that are still exist and have been rebound and/or
cleaned, thanks to the efficient work of this group together with Access
Services and the "Robo."
What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?
It's people like these folks who make me glad to come to work at this
place every day.
(Excerpts from Nomination)
What is the function/charge of the group?
The staff of the Music Cataloging Section are responsible for the cataloging and physical processing of all manifestations of actual musical works (as opposed to works "about" music, which are handled by other sections in Cataloging), whether printed music, audio recordings, video recordings, or electronic resources such as printed music on CD-ROM, or audio or video files on the Web. All positions in the section require a working knowledge of and the ability to read Western classical music, in order to be able to interpret data as it presents on the items cataloged, to make that data coherent and useful to Libraries patrons.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
By steadily maintaining an extremely high production level over the past two fiscal years, the section has eliminated a backlog of more than 3,000 audio compact discs and over 1,500 printed music titles that built up during the reorganization and change of integrated library system that occurred in FY 2000--and all that in addition to keeping up with the steady influx of new materials that has arrived every year since. The section's ability to produce at such a high rate has been aided by their willingness to adapt to new workflows introduced by management, and their own imaginative experiments with macros, batching of technical processes, and flexibility as patterns of receipts from Acquisitions change naturally during the course of the work year. Last year the section as a whole cataloged over 5,000 titles for the first time and they are on track to do the same again this year. By eliminating these backlogs, the section has moved to a position of being able to at least consider taking on other projects, such as processing of gifts that have been received by the Head of Music Collections. The most obvious result of their work, though, is the large number of recent titles now fully accessible to faculty, students, and staff who use music materials from the Libraries.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
Focus, focus, and focus! They have remained cognizant of and concerned about the backlogs for said backlogs' entire five-year existence, and have always gone beyond their minimum production requirements in order to help whittle away at the "old" (i.e. not from this fiscal year) stuff on the shelves that line the section. They have consulted with one another and with their supervisor, and have been proactive about suggesting to the Head of Music Cataloging ways to improve productivity without sacrificing accessibility.
What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?
I am very proud to work as part of a team with Jimmy, Ken, and Greg, and count myself privileged as a member of the Libraries staff to call them my closest colleagues. They take pride in their work and in the slightly arcane knowledge and skills they have that are required to do it. They inspire me to work harder myself, and their concerns become my concerns.
Please Note: This nomination was originally submitted for Other Duties as Assigned, but reclassified by the ASSET Awards Committee
Please describe the specific situation in which an employee was asked to complete an unusual task.
One of the committees that prepared for the opening of the SLC was an
education committee. The members of this group from EITS were not convinced
that the campus needed assistance with software. Once the contract with Element
K was signed I was concerned that EITS would not sell the product. Therefore, I
asked Deborah and Diane to help EITS promote Element K on campus.
What was the nominee asked to do that fell outside of his/her job description?
Working for another unit on campus in this capacity was not part of
either person's position description. Diane designed the geek bulldog that
graced the promotional bus cards, table tents, and literature promoting Element
- K. The image of the dog was eye-catching and endearing. Deborah presented
information sessions all over campus and beyond for UGA staff, students and
faculty. In these sessions she described the tutorials, the certification
programs and other features of Element-K for EITS.
How did the nominees overcome/complete the task?
Collaborative efforts with another campus entity are always tricky.
Both Diane and Deborah listened carefully to their EITS colleagues and
incorporated their wishes for the publicity while combining their own artistic
and public speaking expertise. The results have been truly astounding. Even the
company can hardly believe the University's use of their product. Please see
attachment for statistics.
(Optional) How bad was the situation/task?
The Libraries had tried teaching software in our Software for Students
program, but we had no way to compensate instructors. The EITS staff declined
to teach. Scheduling sessions was difficult.
What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominees?
These two nominees are leading the way in outreach to campus support
units. For too long each unit has been a dominion unto itself. Collaboration
with EITS outside the Student Learning Center is a great beginning to building
stronger ties among units.
What is the function/charge of the group?
GALILEO and Database Support provide all the programming necessary to
keep GALILEO running and to support the new functionalities desired by the
GALILEO community. Additionally, they provide programming support to the
Digital Library of Georgia.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
Down two employees most of the year, Brad and Mike have continued to
support GALILEO and to develop new applications for use by member libraries.
They developed the GALILEO Local Resources Integration and provided new ways on
gathering and providing GALILEO related statistics. Additionally, they
developed the interfaces and functionality of several DLG products including
Vanishing Georgia and Georgia Aerial Photographs. They are currently developing
a state-wide metadata catalog and the interface to the Arts of the United
States collection.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
Both Brad and Mike are very dedicated to their work and seek to create products that serve the needs of GALILEO's varying constituency. They are very responsive to programming requests and seek to meet users' needs fully. Both are extremely flexible and communicate effectively with non-programmers. They cheerfully advise and make excellent suggestions for innovations.What is the function/charge of the group?
Create the Georgia Aerial Photographs database, a resource that provides access to 50,000 images held by the UGA Libraries' Map Collection.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
The Georgia Aerial Photographs database is the largest photograph imaging project that the Digital Library of Georgia has completed, with more than 50,000 images representing the changing Georgia landscape over a 50-year period. The database offers index photos--generated by the United States Department of Agriculture—for the entire state, as well as individual photographs for 47 Georgia counties. Index photographs produced as a part of the United States Geological Survey also are included. The database features a geographical interface and makes use of server-side image software that allows users to enlarge portions of photographs and USGS indexes for close-in examination.
The Georgia Aerial Photographs database serves the UGA Libraries' research and teaching mission by delivering a key library collection to users at UGA, throughout Georgia, and across the globe.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
Katie, Brad, and Johnnie worked as a team, bringing together their respective skill sets (digital imaging, programming, and map librarianship) to envision and create a new and innovative resource of intellectual and educational merit. They provide a sound example of forging creative partnerships to achieve shared objectives.
What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?
Katie Gentilello was project manager for the Aerial Photographs effort. In this capacity, she collaborated with GALILEO programmers to develop an interface and workflow, coordinated with the vendor that conducted a portion of the imaging, and supervised in-house preparation and scanning of photos. Also, Katie oversaw a complex process of mapping index photos and forging connections among the many images that comprise the database.
Brad Baxter served as technical coordinator for the project. The Georgia Aerial Photographs resource is different and largely new in terms of managing data and providing public access. It required new thinking and new methods. Brad led the way in building a database that addresses a number of difficult questions, including: 1) how DLG can best deliver images that are more closely tied to their geographic position than to standard image metadata, 2) how to build a system that incorporates two seemingly incompatible image sets (ASCS and USGS), and 3) how to manage the image mapping data generated through Katie’s efforts.
Johnnie Sutherland conceived and championed the idea of a Georgia Aerial Photographs database. He assembled the descriptive data and holdings information that are the foundation for the metadata records in the database. He made the initial contact with the vendor used in the project. Johnnie also worked with Brad and Katie in designing the interface, applying his knowledge of the collection and how it is used by patrons to make suggestions that enhanced the usability of the resource.
What is the function/charge of the group?
I'd like to nominate the people in the Libraries who worked on the
conversion of approx. 1,400 titles from print to electronic format. This
project crossed departmental lines.
Due to budget cuts, the print versions of 1,400 titles published by Elsevier, Blackwell, Wiley, Kluwer and Springer, have been cancelled in favor of the online version. This involved a huge amount of work in the Serials Department and Serials Cataloging.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
Payment issues have been dealt with, print orders have been cancelled and each electronic title has an order. As the last print issue came in a note was added to the print record stating that the print was cancelled in favor of the online. Binding worked fast and furiously, giving priority to pulling and binding the last print issues for these titles. This in turn created a mountain of binding slips for Melissa, who among other things inputs holdings from binding slips. Cataloging of these titles should be completed by August 2004 (we're almost finished...). This is an amazing amount of work.
I think the accomplished goals greatly benefit the UGA libraries. Journals are very important, especially in the sciences. Thanks to the efforts of the print to electronic conversion folks, what UGA holds and in which format a user can find it, will be accurately reflected in GIL. A secondary benefit to the Libraries is that Serials Cataloging has generated many credits with OCLC--we get a $$ credit for each serial record we enhance. Since we have been enhancing so many records, we have been generating a lot of credits!
What makes this group effective as a whole?
Three things made the group effective. Mainly it was each person's willingness to work hard. Also, a lot of cooperation happened. Serials Cataloging, for example, imported records so that Lisa in the Serials Dept. could use them for her orders. Finally, communication was very effective. From the beginning, Serials Cataloging and the Serials Department worked together on documenting our respective procedures. Thereafter, periodic meetings were held to discuss issues and problems.
What is the function/charge of the group?
This group is not actually a standing group at the Libraries. It is a loose collection of people. In order to avoid constant shifting of second-level material at the Repo, it was necessary to have a firm configuration of where books would be shelved before they got to the Repo. These people all helped to lay out the Repo by counting shelves at Main, Science, and the Repository and by determining how many shelves books at Main and Science would occupy at the Repository.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
This grouping of people counted all the shelves in the Libraries and configured the Repository's second level so that books can be shelved more efficiently. This process has allowed Bibliographers to send books to the Repo so that there is more room at the Libraries for new books.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
The effectiveness of this group is due, in large part, to their understanding that space is a precious commodity for the Libraries. Knowing that creating space (by weeding) to shelve new and existing books--thus, making their jobs somewhat easier--was good incentive to finish this project correctly.What is the function/charge of the group?
This group of people has been, in some way, integral to preparing
the second floor of the Main Library for re-habitation.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
This group has accomplished several goals. One was plotting the
Roberd's site so that books could move there after the fire. A second goal that
this group accomplished was preparing the second floor annex for the return of
the books from Roberd's. A third achievement was the calculation the linear
feet occupied by various collections of books at the Main Library, which helped
in achieving the second goal.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
Although these people work in different departments, they were all
unified under one compelling vision of a second floor opened to the public.
Their effectiveness is attributable to their desire to see this task
accomplished in their lifetimes.
What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?
They rocked!
What is the function/charge of the group?
The Main Libraries Security unit, part of the Access Services
Department, is responsible for ensuring the security and safety of Main Library
patrons and materials at all times. They open and close the buildings, make
routine walk-throughs looking for irregularities of any sort that indicate a
security breach, and they work closely with UGA and Athens police, fire, and
medical emergency personnel as needed.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
One thing, pure & simple: on July 23rd, 2003, the day the
arsonist set the fire on the 2nd floor at Main, Security successfully and
efficiently cleared the building of all staff and patrons, the result of which
was that no one was killed or injured in what could have been an unmitigated
disaster for the Libraries, and for the University of Georgia. We might still
be mourning our dead were it not for their rapid, effective response. I can
think of nothing else that has been done here in the entire 17+ years that I
have worked at the Libraries that is as important as this.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
Good supervision; evident camaraderie and _esprit de corps_; knowing
their job and taking it seriously despite having to take all kinds of flak from
surly patrons and staff; and the ability to prioritize tasks under extreme
pressure.
Other information
They're still humble!
I will remain grateful to them all for as long as I live. My hats are off to them, and if I've ever given any of them so much as an impatient glance when they asked to check my bag for that Blockbuster video that I forgot was in there when I went through the gate, I apologize.
What is the function/charge of the group?
Quite simply, the charge of this group was to make a success out of the SLC Library. This group of Libraries and EITS staff were the personnel who put into action all the hours of planning that went into providing research and computer support functions at the SLC. This group’s function was to open a brand new facility offering a new kind of integrated information “commons” (library and computer lab). This work has involved each and every person demonstrating flexibility, creativity, and a real desire to make this “new kind of information provision” be a success. It has been exhilarating, exhausting, thought provoking, fun, frustrating - - but never boring! It has involved being willing to toss our normal assumptions about our work aside and to develop new guidelines, new paradigms, and new work habits.
The year has been filled with developing policies, constantly responding to issues and questions, changing directions on the run, living through technical problems that have threatened our success (can you spell PRINTING?) and have added unwanted grey to our collective heads of hair.
What goals has this group accomplished, and how have the accomplished goals benefited the UGA Libraries?
The group has accomplished the ultimate goal. Making a real success of the SLC Library. Students and Faculty have used the facility in droves. Average hourly usage in the building ranges from 700 – 1000 at peak times (between 2-3 p.m. and 9 – 10 p.m.). During spring finals, over 15,000 patrons used the 2nd floor or higher in the SLC. Most afternoons and evenings, all of the 96 Group Study Rooms are in use, with other groups of students waiting to use them.
Surveys were distributed for one week in April at the Student Learning Center with a total of 974 surveys completed. Two focus groups were held two weeks after the survey distribution. Statements from these findings of provide excellent commentary – straight from the horses mouths -- to support the accomplishments of this group:
Among much recognition, the SLC was praised by President Adams in his state of the University speech as “The opening of the Student Learning Center may have had the greatest impact on the intellectual climate of this institution since Old College was constructed....I am in the Student Learning Center several times a month, and every time I am there the place is alive with academic activity. The study rooms are full, the computer carrels are full, the lounge areas are full, the classrooms are relieving schedule and class-availability problems, faculty and student groups are meeting, students are studying and reading and talking and, occasionally, napping. I do not know of another facility on this or any other campus where design so fully meshes with function....For decades to come, the Student Learning Center, with its combination of electronic library and classroom spaces, will be a defining experience for almost all UGA students."
To view some of the other press about the SLC, please visit the excellent SLC webpage at http://www.slc.uga.edu/press/newpress.html.
What makes this group effective as a whole?
This group is made up of current employees of the Reference Department, new employees hired in Reference, current Libraries Admin employee, new employees hired for the SLC facility operations in SLC Administration, current employee of EITS and a new employees for EITS. Some people had a good deal of background or knowledge in the SLC, others were brand new. This is a diverse group from not only different Library departments, but from different University Departments. We are effective because we are willing to listen to each other, ask questions of each other, think about things differently, compromise, try new things and laugh about it all.
The year has not been without stress. Not knowing what any day (or night) will bring can cause short fuses, frustration, and anxiety. The building was not officially released until January 6. Until that time, things weren’t finished, certain parts of the facility weren’t available or had construction employees trying to work amidst offering services. Because of the fire, we moved in and opened for the public immediately. That meant that we didn’t have policies or procedures in place for some of our services and had to operate using our best judgment. Everything had to be developed from scratch. Some people dream of this situation, we lived it – it isn’t always a dream, sometimes more like a nightmare!
Everyone was aware of this and provided support for each other and a "shoulder to cry on” when needed. Most of all, people listened to each other and really thought about what this particular service point required; they didn’t jump to using a traditional solution to a problem, they considered this unique building before doing it “just like we do in the Libraries”, or “just like we do in our other EITS labs”. That approach has served us well but took much effort and energy.
What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?
What has happened over this last year is an incredible occurrence. A new library facility has opened and has prospered. Each and every staff member who has been part of that story should be congratulated. Each person should take great pride in the work that has been accomplished here. And now, for year 2: “How to Evaluate and Build on our Success”!
N.B. Please note that the focus of this nomination is on the Libraries and EITS regular staff who provide the SLC Library services. It should be noted that our building colleagues from the Office of Instructional Support and Design (OISD) who support the classrooms and the Physical Plant Custodial Team who supports the maintenance and cleaning programs for the building are also an integral part to our success. There are also many, many other people in the Libraries and in EITS who have supported and provided advice, resources, and knowledge for this new program without whom we could not have functioned.