About 17 months
ago I joined a new community, one that I had only ever imagined myself joining
about a dozen times before. But the entrance was barred, I believed, by the
lack of a degree. Specifically, I became a part of the library community, and I
did it without an MLIS degree. Much to my surprise, I was not alone, though I
still refrain from calling myself a “librarian.” Librarians, after all, have
earned the title through years of study, practice and/or a combination of both.
Nevertheless, I was welcomed to the community and am quite happy to be here. Of
course, it helped that the library staff and administration here at Dartmouth
College Library made my transition a smooth one.
Before I go into
how they managed that, allow me to provide a little background. I have been
bouncing, albeit slowly, between technology positions (computers, multimedia)
and teaching positions (Japanese, English, technology) for a number of years,
ultimately bringing the two together as an academic technologist. I came to Dartmouth
four years ago to head up the Arts & Humanities Resource Center (AHRC),
which provided technology and teaching support to A&H faculty. During the
economic crisis of the past few years, Dartmouth saw a lot of reorganization
and the AHRC as it existed was no more. I applied for and was hired as the Head
of Digital Media and Library Technologies in the spring of 2011. That’s how I joined one of the biggest
organizations on campus, with close to 150 staff members and probably the
largest population of student employees, too. Despite having heard some rumors
about the library community here from friends who work there, I still didn’t
know what to expect. I have since learned that our library takes “community” very
seriously. Here are some of the things we do to promote that:
Orientation
Two or three
times a year we run new employees through a library orientation process. Over
the course of six weeks, the group spends up to an hour in each of the
library’s departments (e.g. cataloging/metadata, acquisitions, interlibrary
loan) and affiliate locations (e.g. special collections library, biomedical
library, storage library), getting to know the staff in each location as well
as gaining an understanding of the work done there and the role that department
plays in the overall library organization. The orientation begins and ends with
sessions with library administration. While the immediate benefits seem
obvious, there is an additional benefit, too. The group of new hires is itself
comprised of staff from around the library, which helps you make personal
connections beyond your own department.
Candidate
Presentations and Hiring
As you may
expect, we do a fair amount of hiring throughout the library. For all
professional positions, the candidates are expected to do a presentation. What is
unusual is that the presentations are open to the entire library staff. Having
gone through the experience myself, you can imagine the surprise on candidate’s
faces when they have an audience of 50 people. What’s more, all staff members are
invited to weigh in on the candidates through an open online feedback form. You
may be a library programmer, but your opinion of the biomedical librarian
candidate is just as valued. We’ve talked to candidates who have commented that
the audience for the presentation was not only memorable in comparison to other
interviews, but also that the diverse audience sent a strong message of library
community. Oh, and once hired, there is almost always a welcoming event that is
open to all staff.
All-Staff Meetings
Twice a year we
have all-staff meetings. But if everyone’s in a meeting, who’s taking care of
the Library? On all-staff meeting days, the program is run twice, with a
morning session and an afternoon session. This allows staff to come at a time
that is most convenient, while still keeping our service desks open. The
meetings usually begin with introduction of new staff (sensing a theme here?)
before launching into programs that are designed to inform the community of
projects or changes, and may also include invited guests from other parts of
campus. One all-staff meeting also becomes our annual “Inspiring Ideas
Conference.” After opening comments and introductions, a keynote session is
followed by break-out sessions where staff present to other staff on
activities, tools, and services provided throughout the library. Past sessions
have included coping with collection disasters (work, home, community),
personal finance tools available through library resources, an insider’s look
at the University Press of New England (UPNE), and hardware and software
available for personal use through the media center.
DCLSA
Our organization
also maintains a social support group known as the Dartmouth College Library
Staff Association. You can see on the DCLSA home page
that the purpose of the group is
three-fold:
- Promote
communication and cooperation among staff in the library through membership and
participation in the DCLSA;
- Provide
a scholarship fund that offers members partial tuition reimbursement for
continuing education courses or programs;
- Promote
staff morale and social relationships by welcoming new staff, administering
staff welfare funds and sponsoring social or educational events
The events
throughout the year are well-attended.
Taken
altogether, I honestly can say that there is not another department or
organization on campus that I’d rather be a part of. I’m glad to be a staff
member of the library, and I do feel the initiation pain level was just about
zero, without even a spoonful of sugar.
Anthony Helm is the Head of Digital Media
and Library Technologies at Dartmouth College. Once in a great while, he tweets
@kajiai, but you can contact him more
easily by emailing him at anthony.helm@dartmouth.edu.
