Communications Committee Progress Report--March 2006

The Communications Committee focused attention on assessing and improving internal communications during the first six months of the strategic planning process to enable new committees, councils and teams to better communicate new policies and procedures established within the library. We worked with LITS to create a Skills and Interests Survey that identifies staff who might be interested in project team work. This promotes staff empowerment at all levels by putting forth names of staff who might otherwise be overlooked for team work.

The Committee, again in conjunction with LITS, kicked off the Staff News Feed, which allows us to make important decisions and action items known quickly. The News Feed, along with a series of “donuts & coffee” open discussions and other communications channels, were assessed in February with a survey instrument distributed to all staff. Sixty-five staff members responded to the survey and their responses were summarized in a report. A subcommittee chaired by Suellen Stringer-Hye was formed to review suggestions and make changes to the News Feed.

Our priority in the next six months will be on external communication. We took over management of the web ticker, we are conducting a survey of communication vehicles used throughout the library, and have created a project team to identify key talking points for the library for the next school year. We plan to launch a faculty news feed and will continue to write communications policies for library staff to encourage information exchange between all of our libraries and departments.