Strategic Plan 2011-2013 · Diebold, a part-time administrative assistant, were laid off in 2009. As a result, the reading room hours were reduced by seven hours per week. The remaining

K i n g U n i v e r s i t y

D e p a r t m e n t o f A r c h i v e s a n d S p e c i a l

C o l l e c t i o n s

S L I M L I 8 0 5 X O

1 0 / 2 8 / 2 0 1 0

Heidi Hackenjos, Ellen Ast, Kirsten Himes, Emily Stockdale, Robert Schweiger

Vision and Mission: We contribute to the diffusion of knowledge while preserving and sharing our information and resources. We house and provide an extensive archive collection to stimulate individual creativity and the passion to learn and explore history.

Strategic Plan 2011-2013

King University Department of Archives and Special Collections Page 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary....……………………………………………………………….3

Profile...……………………….………………………………………………….…5

Planning…………………………………………………………………………….6

Current Realities...…………………………………………………………………...7

New priorities……………………………………………………………………....11

Action Plan………………………………………………………………………....13

Contingencies……………………………………………………………………....16

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………17

References………………………………………………………………………….18

Appendix…………………………………………….…………………………….19

Department of Archives and Special Collections

King University


440 University Ave.

Rangadale, WA, 99079

Executive Summary

The King University Department of Archives and Special Collections was

established in 1850 when the University was founded by Dr. Henry King, whose vision was a place of scholarly learning for young frontiersmen settling in the Pacific Northwest. King University is within city limits of Rangadale, Wash., located in King County and named after Dr. King. Called King College until 1904 when the institution started to admit women and its name was changed to King University, the archives department has served the needs of the university community. When the department started to acquire and house special collections in 1930, the department’s name changed to what it is today. Although the KU Department of Archives and Special Collections has a strong, dedicated staff, we have faced budget cuts that have affected the level of service for which we strive. Reading room hours have been shortened, access to resources is hindered by limited computers and staff assistance, and print holdings have not been digitized. In reaction to this reality, the department is putting forth the following goals in our 2011-2013 strategic plan:

Goal #1: Digitize collections and make finding aids available online. Objective: Increase accessibility and use through making our collections available online and providing effective finding aids that can easily be used by both remote and in-house users.

Strategy #1: Begin large scale digitization project for new and existing collections. Strategy #2: Create finding aids that can be accessed online through the library website.

Goal #2: Enhance learning spaces Objective: Make the archives easier to use and able to accommodate increased researcher traffic.

Strategy #1: Enhance the Reading Room to accommodate more users. Strategy #2: Create finding aids that can be accessed online through the library website.


When we are able to support these large projects our library will have a renowned and refined ability to process and diffuse much archived information. The King University Library, which houses the Department of Archives and Special Collections, will support us in these goals, using timetables and frequent reporting to ensure efficient work and effective communication toward fulfilling our vision.



Profile

Overview Although the King University Department of Archives and Special Collections and

the King University Library are separate entities under the same roof, both are governed by the King University Library Board of Directors. After King University approves its budget in June every two years, the board of directors approves bi-annual budgets for both the library and the archives and special collections.

Our department aims to better serve our students, professors, and community members by providing more access to our collections by making them digital. Digitization requires significant resources including staff time, funding, and modes of access. It is therefore time to develop a strategic plan through which to meet these goals. Our operations run on a set of guiding values which were written and approved in 1945 when the King University Library and the Department of Archives and Special Collections merged. These values shared by the library and our department, are:

• Service: to keep the user at the center. • Scholarship: to maintain integrity and actively explore higher levels of

scholarship. • Resources: digitizing and preserving archived resources in order to share

access. • Creativity: to embody and encourage creativity on every level of the library

as a place and entity. • Respect: to respect and value every individual patron and staff member.

The Department of Archives and Special Collections staff:

Heidi Hackenjos, PhD., Head of Archives Robert Schweiger, PhD., Head University Archivist Kirsten Himes, PhD., University Archivist Emily Stockdale, PhD., Electronic Records Archivist Ellen Ast, PhD., Curator Matthew Hawthorne, Technician Clark Miller, Reference Specialist Judy Whitt, Administrative Assistant *Megan Draper, Student assistant *Saul Espinoza, Student assistant


*Unpaid positions

Planning

Factors Because the eight staff members are doing the work of 11 staff members after

recent layoffs, time constraints will set limits on the speed of the strategic planning process, but staff is determined to not let time affect the quality of the final product. The collaborative scheme of the planning process will make planning easier because the workload will be evenly distributed among the team instead of fewer people. Although the staff run on a team structure rather than a hierarchal one and consider each other friends as well as colleagues, there will be disagreements about how much effort to put toward the different elements of the strategic plan. Therefore, major disputes will be solved with a vote.

Planning Team

The strategic planning process for the 2011 – 2013 budget period has been a joint effort among the Department of Archives and Special Collections staff. Volunteers and paid and unpaid interns were updated on the process and invited to give input.

Although the archives department is fortunate to have adequate funds each year for most of its operations, recent economic strains have resulted in the loss of three full-time-equivalent staff. Missy Galloway, our technician, and Joan Crawford, one of our reference librarians, were laid off in 2008. Mark Ollsen, a part-time specialist, and Erin Diebold, a part-time administrative assistant, were laid off in 2009.

As a result, the reading room hours were reduced by seven hours per week. The remaining staff has had to rely on extensive collaboration and modifying their job descriptions to maintain the same level of service, which is why each staff member will exercise their right to be involved in the strategic planning process. Staff hopes the advocating of their collections by digitizing them and making them more usable and accessible will bring in more financial support from the university.

Each person was in charge of drafting parts of the strategic plan allocated to him or her. Mrs. Himes and Miss Bonifacio researched information about the institution upon which to build the rest of the strategic plan.

Current Realities

SWOT Analysis Strengths


Our library has a wealth of resources to offer our university community, and a dedicated staff to work with our users to find these resources. Weaknesses Although we have a passionate, dedicated staff, it is a constant challenge to offer the very best with the limited staff hours we have. Opportunities We have a strong university and local community who we see as partners in our endeavors. We have the opportunity for grants to fund exciting future projects. Threats The economy is not always predictable. It is quite possible that we could suffer from further cutbacks in our budgets and services.

Organizational Performance

Together with the King University Library, the Department of Archives and Special Collections addresses the learning needs of more than 30,000 undergraduate students and provides support for 80 internationally-recognized doctoral programs. The department manages five special collections and has served since 1850 as


the repository for historical records of all the university's activity, including records, faculty papers, university publications and records of student life and alumni.

Public programs of the department include regular exhibits, lectures, tours and online exhibits. The goal of these activities is to educate people about the archives and to promote the department as a learning tool for students, faculty and researchers. By giving people a glimpse of what's inside the archive, the importance of the work of the archival staff is understood by the university community and beyond, therefore increasing the chances for more funding.

The five collections are local theater, manuscripts, 20th century media graphics, native literature and the personal papers of Dr. Henry King, who established King County, the college and was the state’s first governor. The attention and publicity these materials have received has helped the overall reputation of the library for overall excellence. The library was commended in the university's 2003 accreditation review for its rich collections, well-qualified staff, and exceptional service to students, staff development, and a commitment to planning and assessment of service. In 2004, the library was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Libraries Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries.

By creating digital collections, the department expects to give more users access to what's inside the archives, especially since reading room hours were reduced and there are fewer staff members to help users on-site. Environmental Scan

The environmental scan of King University provides a broad overview of the archives’ service community, including faculty, staff, and students of the university as well as private researchers and members of the general public. In order to better achieve our stated vision and goals it is imperative that we examine not only the different populations that comprise the archives' users, but also the forces internal and external that affect our operation.

University enrollment, 2009-2010 academic year:

• Undergraduate Students 30,013 • Graduate Students 9,236 • Total 39,249 • Teaching Faculty and Researchers 3,924

King University has seen a marked upswing in enrollment in the past 10 years,

bringing the total of students very near 40,000. Of particular note is the increase in the number of distance students who will need access to the collections that the archives preserves and maintains. And, in order to meet the needs of an increased on-campus student population, the university libraries, and among them the archives, have


significantly increased the number of computer workstations and the availability of wireless Internet access. The university archives have long been a resource used by professors and students of the many undergraduate and graduate programs. We pride ourselves on working with individual departments in developing portions of the curricula that emphasize research with primary source documents. Many professors have shown a willingness to continue this cooperation and have expressed interest in the planned digitization effort, which should allow them to bring the archives collection directly into the classroom via the Internet. In addition to the university community, our services are in demand by the public, both in person and over the Internet. We see a large number of archives users on a weekly basis. There are usually researchers on site at all hours of operation. King University has been proactive in its promotion of the collections in the archives, which has lead to an apparent rise in the number of such visits. Unfortunately, the expansion of our services and hours has been checked by the down economic climate both within the state and throughout the country. Budget cuts imposed by the state government in the past few years have led to the reallocation and redefinition of archivist duties as well as a delay in the long-planned digitization of the archive's collections. Consequently, the archives have begun to apply more strenuously for grant monies available for its current projects. We anticipate that the downturn in the economy will have a sustained effect on the archives for the foreseeable future. Finally, until the digitization project is complete, the archives have had to curtail access to some of its collections, which has understandably prompted some concern from regular researchers. We are doing our best to both preserve and display the archives' collections, with the sincere expectation that the digitization of our collections will ameliorate the situation on both fronts. Gap Analysis

The primary gap in archives service is the current unavailability of the collections to users who cannot come in person to examine the materials we preserve and maintain. The digitization of the archives collections over the coming years will help to bridge that gap. To that end, we will this year begin an ongoing project to capture and present the bulk of our holdings in a digital format.

Additionally, in conjunction with the digitization project, we are planning an upgrade of our existing finding aids, which will allow on-site users quicker and more accurate access to the materials relevant to their individual research. Finally, with the rise in enrollment at King University and the increase in interest from the larger community in the collections housed at the archives, we have proposed certain enhancements to the reading room, which will allow us to accommodate more users and to more swiftly get them the information and materials they need. The purchase of more computers for general use will help meet the demand created by greater archives use and the need for access to the collections in the digital realm.


New Priorities

Future Vision:


Our vision contains the same ideas as the current one with some new additions. We want to be able to continue to digitalize archive collections that we have and will acquire. We want to be able to acquire the funding and aid in order to fully support each project opportunity. When we are able to support these large projects our department will have a renowned and refined ability to process and diffuse much archived information. This will create easier access for our users and will hopefully stimulate and increase our involvement with other academic libraries and researchers. The ability to provide an extensive amount of information will create more traffic within the library building which we will address by enhancing our learning space. Our vision to support and share historical information will enrich the understanding of the relationships between past, present and future. Goal #1: Digitize collections and make finding aids available online.

Objective: Increase accessibility and use through making our collections available online and providing effective finding aids that can easily be used by both remote and in-house users.

Strategy #1: Begin large scale digitization project for new and existing collections.

Initial Action Steps: • Purchase additional scanners for archives • Hire interns to process new collections to prepare them for

digitization Measurable Outcomes: • Increased use of collections in-house • Increased visibility of collections to users outside the

library Strategy #2: Create finding aids that can be accessed online through the library website.

Initial Action Steps:

• Purchase software to aid in creating finding aids • Hire part-time staff member to focus on finding aid

creation and converting existing aids to digital format Measurable Outcomes: • Patron satisfaction regarding ease of use and

convenience of new finding aids • Increased website traffic due to finding aid use


Goal #2: Enhance learning spaces and promote use. Objective: Make the archives easier to use and able to accommodate increased researcher traffic.

Strategy #1: Enhance the reading room to accommodate more users. Initial Action Steps:

• Purchase three additional computers for reading room use • Extend reading room hours by one hour each day Measurable Outcomes: • Increased reading room traffic • More researchers can use the reading room resources at one

time • Increased user satisfaction due to new equipment and

decreased wait time Strategy #2: Collaborate with professors to create reference courses in database navigation and archives usage.

Initial Action Steps: • Survey professors to see which resources students use most

and/or need help with learning to use. • The archives reference librarian will work with other library staff

members and professors to create and implement new reference courses for students.

Measurable Outcomes:

• Students research capabilities will be enhanced • Students will demonstrate greater ease of use with archival

resources • Archives usage will increase

Action Plan

Budget for the 2011 – 2013 strategic plan: 2011-2012 2012-2013

Salaries and Wages $320,000 $320,000 Employee Benefits $72,000 $72,000 Software $2,000 $1,000


Acquisitions $10,000 $10,000 Digitization Process $93,000 $41,000 Equipment and other operating expenses $12,000 $5,000 Supplies $3,000 $3,000 Utilities $9,000 $9,000 Other related expenses $5,000 $4,000 Given the budget the King University Department of Archives and Special

Collections staff has for the next year to meets its goals and maintain current service levels and operations, here is a breakdown, measured in five numbered action steps, of how our initiatives will be implemented:

One: Mr. Hawthorne, the technician, and Mrs. Whitt, the administrative assistant, will oversee purchasing additional scanners for archives and software for finding aid conversion. Purchasing is to be completed by the end of winter break so equipment is on-site and ready to be installed before spring break. Mr. Hawthorne and Dr. Himes will oversee installation/hookup of these resources and will have these systems tested and in working order by the end of spring semester for usage over the summer. Dr. Hackenjos will help finalize deadlines and oversee the process to offer guidance and support. The King University Department of Information Technology is aware of these actions and ready to help should technical difficulties arise.

Two: Dr. Hackenjos and Dr. Stockdale will oversee recruiting of staff person and student interns to be hired next spring with start dates in May. Dr. Stockdale will also manage staff and interns over the summer next year as they process new collections to prepare them for digitization. Digitized materials to be unveiled by end of the summer.

Three: Mr. Hawthorne and Mrs. Whitt will oversee purchasing of three additional computers for use in the reading room. Purchasing of these materials is to be completed by spring break so equipment is on-site and ready to be installed during the summer. Mr. Hawthorne will oversee installation/hookup of these resources and will have these systems tested and in working order for usage by end of summer. Again, Dr. Hackenjos will help finalize deadlines and oversee the process to offer guidance and support. The IT department is aware of these actions and ready to help should technical difficulties arise.

Four: By the start of fall semester next year, the reading room hours will be extended by one hour each day, therefore restoring service levels to what they were prior to budget cuts. However, this will mean some scheduling changes but with the help of work-study students and a new part-time employee, staff is committed to making this happen. Dr. Hackenjos will oversee this change and work with each staff member to help make the changes work for them, too.

Five: In the second year of the strategic plan, archives staff will embark on a rigorous communications campaign led by Curator Dr. Ast to promote the new digitized collections and services to the King University community and beyond. This step will


depend on how much money is left over for this two-year strategic plan from the budget forecast for the first year. Performance Management

In order to ensure the due commitment required for scanning documents, a part-time employee will be hired. Archives staff will stay informed on updates regarding the project through regular staff meetings. Student assistants and interns will be utilized to complete the goal of digitization.

In the occasion of technical difficulties with scanners, software, or computers, there will be added responsibilities required of Mr. Hawthorne and relevant training will be provided if needed. With a strong base rooted in King University’s missions and goals, however, it will remain the focus to best serve our students and educators in a reasonable manner. Updates will be given at our monthly staff meetings regarding workload and happenings. Technical issues will be recorded in an electronic spreadsheet.

A weekly timetable will be established by Head University Archivist Dr. Schweiger. This timetable will include: A brief description of goals for the week, hours worked, and completion statistics. Monthly reports will be communicated in the monthly staff meetings.

If these timetables are delayed, Dr. Schweiger will make appropriate adjustments. Quarterly completion goals will be set. At the end of year one, Dr. Schweiger and participating staff will convene for a full day retreat to look at the process and revise plans if needed. User Satisfaction

User surveys will be widely distributed at the beginning and end of each fiscal year. The survey will include both Likert scales and open questioning. The results will be closely analyzed, and project plans will be revisited/revised as needed. This analysis will occur during the full-day retreat.



Contingencies

In the event that the digitization project is not successfully funded, the King University Department of Archives and Special Collections will act strategically to fulfill our goals. Goal #1: Digitize collections and make finding aids available online.

If budget cannot cover additional scanners, existing scanners will be used until additional ones can be purchased. The entire budget will be examined to ensure at least one scanner can be purchased, as this is an inexpensive cost.

In the event of a shortage of assistance, timeline will be extended. Software is a minimal requirement and should be purchased. If there is a

budgetary shortfall, budget will be examined. If a part-time staff member cannot be hired, student assistants and volunteers will

scan documents. This will extend the timeline significantly and add managerial duties for Dr. Stockdale. If a part-time staff member cannot be hired, Dr. Stockdale will also contribute a maximum of five hours per week on this project. Goal #2: Enhance learning spaces

In the event that additional computers cannot be purchased, staff will closely monitor reading room use and determine if a time limit need be set for patrons. Mr. Hawthorne will also work with the IT department in obtaining used computers from campus on a temporary basis until funds are available.

Regardless of funding, students and faculty will be surveyed regarding opinions on existing hours and ideal hours. The Department of Archives and Special Collections staff will communicate these needs to the budget advisors.

Conclusion

King University‘s Department of Archives and Special Collections contain a wealth of resources that can enrich and benefit not only the students and faculty within our university, but also our community and researchers around the world. The


implementation of our strategic plan is critical to achieving our future vision to make our collections more visible, accessible and user-centered. Collaboration of the staff within the archives as well as with our esteemed faculty members will allow us to successfully perform the work necessary to digitize our collections, create electronically accessible finding aids and new user-based programs.

Digitization is a major priority as it will help to bridge the gap for those who cannot travel to access our collections in person. Allocated funds would also ensure that we can enhance our facility to accommodate greater researcher traffic with new equipment, additional staff members and extended hours of operation. We are committed to using our resources to the fullest and demonstrating excellence within the academic community.

References

Carleton University Library. (2008, March). Carleton university library and archives strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.library.carleton.ca/


Indiana University Bloomington. (2008-2009). Libraries annual report. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~libevent/annual09/lib_annual_08-09/index.html

McCloud, J. & Wade, H. (2010, April 12-17). Virtual field trip forum [msgs 1-7]. Messages posted to http://elearning.emporia.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp

Penn State University. (2008). The penn state strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.psu.edu/

Smithsonian Institution. (2009). Strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.si.edu/

UCLA Library. (2005, November 15). Strategic plan 2006-09. Retrieved from http://www2.library.ucla.edu/

UW Libraries. (2009, March 10). Vision 2010: the libraries’ 2006-2010 strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.lib.washington.edu/about/vision2010/


Appendix

Summary Report of Team Project Activities

Strategic Plan 2011 - 2013

Heidi Hackenjos, Ellen Ast, Kirsten Himes, Emily Stockdale, Robert Schweiger

K i n g U n i v e r s i t y

D e p a r t m e n t o f A r c h i v e s a n d S p e c i a l C o l l e c t i o n s

S L I M L I 8 0 5 X O

1 0 / 2 8 / 2 0 1 0

Meeting Minutes

September 22, 2010

Location: Adobe Connect Prepared by: Ellen Ast Members present: Emily Stockdale, Robert Schweiger, Kirsten Himes, Heidi Hackenjos and Ellen Ast Start time: 6 p.m. PST

Team decided on to call itself Archaic Updated, to represent itself as an academic

archival institution that will use technology to get updated.

Team agreed to be an academic archives. Team members will find actual institutions to

use as models and post ideas to wiki. Ellen suggested using one institution as a model,

Robert suggested using bits and pieces of multiple institutions as models. Group


decided to post examples over the weekend and have a rough idea of how to approach

modeling by next meeting.

Heidi Hackenjos was nominated as team leader for her prior strategic planning

experience at Pacific University. Heidi agreed and will set deadlines for team work.

Heidi also agreed to get Wiki set up for team to use.

Team agreed to meet in one week on Sept. 29 to delegate work and to get ready to

choose our institution by Friday, Oct. 1.

Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. PST.

Meeting Minutes

October 4, 2010


Note: Group was unable to meet Oct. 1 as scheduled during last meeting but email was used to arrange this meeting.

Group narrowed down scope of institution and agreed to base it off a large academic

institution like University of Washington. Ellen agreed to get information about UW’s

strategic plan.

Kirsten agreed to write the mission statement and open it up for suggestions/edits from

the group. She also agreed to start working on the vision statement. Kirsten will post

material to wiki for group to review by next meeting.


Group decided breaking up the work into sections and delegating them to us would be

the best approach for this assignment. Heidi agreed to manage that. Group decided

each member will sign up to each manage around 2-3 different sections of the wiki and

write and edit content.

Heidi agreed to break work up into sections with deadlines, and have those sections

posted on wiki with deadlines by next meeting. She encouraged group members to

have an idea of what sections they will sign up for by next meeting.

Robert and Heidi agreed to make PowerPoint slides for presentation. Team agreed to

meet again Oct. 11 and go over tasks and mission statement and hammer out details

about institution. Emily asked meetings to begin earlier because later meetings cut into

evening time for newborn. Other team members agreed earlier meeting times work best

also.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. PST.

Meeting Minutes

October 11, 2010

Location: Adobe Connect Prepared by: Ellen Ast Members present: Emily Stockdale, Robert Schweiger, Kirsten Himes, Heidi Hackenjos and Ellen Ast Start time: 5 p.m. PST Heidi led group as team members took turns updating the others about their progress

since the last meeting. Team reviewed Kirsten’s mission statement draft and said it

looks good. Robert suggested students and professors would be primary users, but

other people and institutions would want to use the collections.


Ellen said information from University of Washington, which she mentioned in last

meeting she would get, is pending.

Kirsten mentioned including historical society library/archives users in the mission

statement but others said academic libraries don’t have a lot of association with them

unless they belong to the same aggregator. Ellen suggested leave our users to students

and professors and maybe add researchers to cover other users who aren’t in those two

user groups.

For her strategic profile and initiative, Emily asked if she should make up goals and

objectives based on a plan, or if we should decide them as a group. Kirsten suggested

look at what she posed and make them up but make sure they all correlate.

Heidi led discussion about what kind of archive we are. Ellen suggested that digitizing

collections and making them accessible online will be our archive’s biggest and most

expensive undertaking because of manpower, storage and adding computers in the

reading room. Kirsten already wrote this in her goals. Robert said preserving the

integrity of the collection, what makes it worth archiving, should be an important goal.

Kirsten suggested she and Emily put up full rough drafts of goals and make sure that

they coincide.

Emily said she is getting an idea in another class of what processing collections and

creating finding aids involves.

Kirsten posted what she has written roughly for values. Heidi responded by saying goal

#1 could be ''increase access'' with digitization as the action, then goal #2 ''enrich and


provide new services'' …could include those computers Ellen mentioned, more finding

aids as Emily mentioned, and adding a particular new collection.

Emily said large universities tend to have the most money to dedicate to archival

projects. Kirsten said that’s good because she based our mission off UW and

Smithsonian.

Group went on to decide how many employees and interns work at the archives and

what their most famous collections will be. Emily said a major university houses at least

three major collections. Group decided one will be papers donated by a famous fictional

person. Group threw in other ideas for collections, such as cartoons, theater history or

WWII pin-up posters. For staff size and make-up, Heidi suggested a couple general

archivists, one specialist, a tech person, reference librarian, and admin. asst., then the

head/director.

Group talked about other tasks they will help with. Heidi asked to try to get drafts in the

wiki by Sunday night/Monday so we can review them by the next meeting. Group

decided to meet at same time in one week.

Meeting adjourned at 6 p.m. PST.

Meeting Minutes

October 18, 2010



Group talked about what to name our university, and whether the name of it should be

the same the same or different from the archives/library. Kirsten suggested King U,

group agreed was good.

Heidi led group as team members took turns updating the others about their progress

since the last meeting. Each team member briefed group on what they did in the last

week and what challenges they faced.

Ellen asked whether to use same strategic initiatives from Emily's section. Ellen will

expand upon Emily's initiatives. Ellen then asked about budget info.; Group cleared up

confusion about who is getting that info. and where it goes. Robert said he is getting

budget info. Ellen will wait for that info. and start composing strategic initiatives-action

plan section.

Emily came up with a rough set of strategic initiatives with goals and objectives but they

can be expanded upon. She was having difficulty with the Strategic Profile part because

it seems like everything there is already covered in another section. Heidi suggested we

can reword it and the group could add their two cents to the wiki.

Issue of repetitive material was discussed. Heidi remembers repetition from working on

a strategic plan in the real world and encouraged group to feel confident about answers

we give to questions in the assignment doc and to take a look at everything in the wiki.

Heidi's report said she's working on her sections and having a little trouble finding

examples in both Rajesh's PDF's and elsewhere to find examples. Kirsten will help

Heidi with this. Robert will send links he's seen, including University of Arizona.

Kirsten wrote up official mission, vision and values and created new priorities and future


vision, and asked group to let her know what they think.

Robert working on his sections and will post as soon as he can. Had difficulty with

repetition but ignoring it for now. Not sure how deep to go with his scan. Asked about

format of wiki content. Group talked about text formatting for wiki, such as bullet points

and paper-style. May start PowerPoint this week since some info is available.

Heidi suggested to try and finish postings this week and run through a PowerPoint she

and Robert work on over the weekend. Group talked about running through

presentation before class meets. Group will meet at same time again on 10/25.

Ellen agreed to make table of contents.

Meeting adjourned at 5:54 p.m. PST

Meeting Minutes

October 25, 2010

Location: Adobe Connect Prepared by: Ellen Ast Members present: Emily Stockdale, Robert Schweiger, Kirsten Himes, Heidi Hackenjos and Ellen Ast Start time: 5 p.m. PST Heidi led group as team members took turns updating the others about their progress

since the last meeting. Group updated on how everyone is doing with their segments:

Kirsten will email Ellen documents; those will go into compiling which Ellen will finish

after meeting.

Emily talked about coming up with a second strategy. Kirsten suggested database

navigation classes. Emily will add classes and collaboration with professors to wiki.

Heidi posted executive summary and put together PowerPoint to start from. Kirsten


went through assignment doc and compiled table of contents. Group agreed to add

visuals to PP as needed.

Kirsten finished mission, values, vision, future vision and reference page. Group talked

about assembling of the document and PP. Robert will provide the narrative.

Heidi posted table for who wants to say what during the presentation and filled in names

for what people worked on.

Robert addressed conflict with budget info. and whether span is one or two years, and

conflict with what Ellen wrote - two years.

Emily offered to do presentation for sections if people are uncomfortable with speaking

in front of class. She will also be the first to take questions when it opens up to the

group.

Group talked about when to plan to go over the presentation. It will be Wed. afternoon

at 5:30 and Friday after class. Kirsten cannot attend Wed. meeting due to prior

commitment but will keep in touch with group.

Meeting adjourned at 6 p.m. PST

Meeting Minutes

October 27, 2010

Location: Adobe Connect Prepared by: Ellen Ast Members present: Emily Stockdale, Robert Schweiger, Heidi Hackenjos and Ellen Ast


Start time: 5:30 p.m. PST note: Kirsten Himes not present due to prior commitment.

Robert is writing the narrative which will go in the summary report at the end. Only a

conclusion needs to be written. Emily offered to write conclusion. She will add it to wiki

tonight.

Due to Connect issues PP slides weren't reviewed. Heidi will email updated PP slides

for group to review by Friday. Minor edits expected Friday.

Ellen will submit strategic plan doc by Thursday due date.

Group agreed all else is covered.

Meeting adjourned at 5:56 p.m. PST

Archaic Updated summary report narrative

The strategic planning process is not an easy one. It proved very difficult to plan for a non-existent university archives, communicate with team members living in different cities, and complete a report assembled in chunks from the several individual contributions. The early going was very slow, but we picked up steam and coalesced as a group in the final few weeks of the project. It is possible we went through all of stages in Tuckman's group development model (examples will follow). It proved a useful guideline in directing the activity of both the group and its members.

We began the process very much in the forming stage. We had no identity as a group and we did not even have a clear idea of precisely what was required or the best course of action. Our first meeting took place on September 22nd and was a showcase


of the mild indecision that marked our first steps in the planning process. We decided on a type of library for the project-an archives at a large public university. Even this simple decision showed signs of the forming stage-some members had a preference about what kind of library to focus on, but were quick to add that they would be open to other types that might interest others.

The selection of archives allowed us to add two more important pieces- a strategic goal and a group name. We decided to center our plan around the digitization of the archives collection; this led to the selection of the name “Archaic Updated,” an appealing and useful identifier. We unanimously chose Heidi, who had previous strategic planning experience, as our leader and decided to meet more or less weekly from that point until the project's completion. Despite some small sense of accomplishment, it was hard to feel we had done much with only about a month to finish the work.

The storming stage was only briefly evident in our planning. The early confusion about directions to proceed prompted several different philosophies about how often and how long to discuss our progress. Robert was concerned that we had accomplished too little and had too short a supply of Monday meetings to properly cover the topic. Others were understandably less enthusiastic about extended meetings and felt that we had an appropriate grasp on the project for a relatively early state. There were no real disagreements between the team members throughout the course of the project, and any slight difference in ideas about how to proceed only helped propel the group forward.

Archaic Updated met again (all meetings were conducted in Adobe Connect) on October 4th to discuss a timeline and group member responsibilities. Heidi fully embraced her role as the group leader, posting the timeline before the meeting and developing the topics of discussion. The tenor of the discussion was still fairly calm and non-committal. Kirsten decided to work on the Mission and Values statement. We agreed to choose sections, but didn't really choose any then. Rereading the minutes of our second meeting was very similar to rereading the minutes from our first. We were still in a relatively nascent stage.

October 11th brought our third meeting and the start of some noticeable progress. Our meeting became a little longer and all members began to actively contribute. We discussed the strategic plans we had read and the responsibilities that we were each going to take on to make sure that we had a clear understanding of the tasks involved in putting together a successful report and presentation. This was the beginning of our group's norming stage. Each group member was clearly attached to different aspects of the plan and each was contributing valuable information. All agreed on the importance of sticking to the timeline.


Our meeting on the 18th was even more focused than the last. We each took time to report on individual progress made and noted how that progress could tie into the progress of the strategic plan as a whole. Some members had difficulties which they openly discussed with the group. Other members volunteered to step in and help with references, suggestions, links, and advice. Since many of the parts of the assignment had at this stage been completed, we were all able to provide some feedback on what we had seen so far.

The last of our pre-presentation meetings was the following week and took up right where we left off. It's possible we entered the performing stage at this point, though it's possible we we're still in a norming pattern. As an example of the individual initiative, Emily was eager to volunteer her services as a good public speaker and assume the responsibility for presenting a good chunk of the in-class presentation. We had all completed our sections and were well on our way to a complete report and presentation. All members were quick to provide areas in which we could fine-tune the project without any particular prompting from Heidi or anyone else. We parceled out the final few areas of improvement and agreed to meet for a presentation walkthrough before class.

There were several keys to our success in this assignment. One was the general familiarity and congeniality of the group members. There were no tense moments. Part of this might have been due to the lack of face to face meetings, but regardless the dialogue was always supportive and usually constructive. Heidi was well chosen as a leader and provided the needed structure and impetus for at least our earliest meetings. She was always asking probing questions to move our group discussions along. Another important factor was the presence of Ellen's minutes both during and after the meeting. It was easy to see at a glance what we had decided was integral.

The process was very helpful to all group members. It was easy to write this narrative in retrospect with the excellent notes and memory of productive discussions The forming-storming-norming-performing model fairly accurately reflected the sort of discussion we had. The fact that we only met once a week made this an atypical way to draft a strategic plan, an ostensibly crucial document for an archives, such as ours, undergoing significant change in the coming years. We are proud of the way we cooperated with one another, and we feel we have achieved something with our strategic plan.


Documents

Strategic Plan 2011-2013 · Diebold, a part-time administrative assistant, were laid off in 2009. As a result, the reading room hours were reduced by seven hours per week. The remaining