Category: Units

New Brunswick Libraries Reorganization
After more than a year of collaborative planning, visioning and modeling, the New Brunswick Libraries have launched our new organizational structure. Three departments—Experience, Learning & Engagement, and Research & Content—were created to focus our efforts, amplify our voices, and align our work more closely with organizational priorities.

Within the departments, ten teams (listed below) have been tasked with identifying opportunities for shared work and setting goals. All teams include faculty and staff in an effort to create a sense of shared purpose and to improve communication. The teams will focus on local needs but will also coordinate work with other Libraries units, committees and groups to ensure we are working effectively within and across the system.

Departments and Teams

Experience Department (Melissa Just, department head)
- Service Points Team
Learning & Engagement Department (Melissa Gasparotto, department head)
- Instruction & Information Literacy Team
- Undergraduate Experience Team
- Global Experience Team
Research & Content Department (Ryan Womack, department head)
- Content Team
- Graduate and Faculty Services Team
- Research Collaborations Team
- Research Data Outreach Team
- Scholarly Communication & Open Access Team
- Research Spaces Team
The New Brunswick Libraries Steering Team sets the overall priorities for the unit and facilitates communication across departments and teams. Membership includes the NBL director, the department heads, the chair of the NBL faculty (Karen Hartman) and a staff representative (Meghan Lord). Two immediate projects of the steering team include setting up NBL ALL meetings to launch the work of the teams, and identifying a mechanism for sharing documents, progress reports and other information.

Stay tuned for future Agenda articles from NBL departments and teams as our work gets underway!
March 31, 2016
University Librarian Report: Update on Master Space Plan
Krisellen Maloney, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian

Hello all –

I hope everyone who was able to attend the presentation by CannonDesign on March 4, 2016 enjoyed their early analysis of our library spaces. This is an exciting process and the architects are going to great effort to understand what is unique about Rutgers University Libraries and how we fit into the overall strategic plan of the University.

Hover over the image at the top of this post and use the arrows to review CannonDesign’s presentation.

As many of you know, the architects spent time in nearly all of the libraries—counting seats, bookshelves, meeting rooms, faculty and staff space, etc—during the months of January and February. They are now transitioning to meeting with focus groups and conducting interviews with students and faculty about the libraries. We are also sharing the results from the LibQUAL+ survey with CannonDesign. The next phase will be to come up with some initial recommendations, followed by the creation of a “roadmap,” or the list of priorities and a plan for how best to make these improvements.

Currently, there is no funding attached to any of the projects that will be proposed in the master space plan, so there is no firm timeline of when these improvements may be made. However, the plan and priorities that are developed will inform our decisions and planning. For example, requests for modifications in buildings or collections might be weighed against the overall plan created by CannonDesign to make sure we aren’t making a short-sighted decision that impacts our long-term plan.

CannonDesign will return to make a second presentation of their research and findings at the Town Hall meeting on May 24. In the meantime, thank you to the faculty and staff who have made time to meet with and tour CannonDesign around the buildings. I am also grateful for the thoughtful questions and comments people made at the initial presentation.

We want this process to be as transparent and inclusive as possible. If you have concerns, questions, or suggestions, please speak with your supervisor or Director.

Thank you,

Kris
March 31, 2016