Description
With the abundance of platforms available today for communicating and managing knowledge internally among library staff, this can lead to over-communication and important information being lost in the noise. Effective knowledge-sharing and meaningful engagement is the cornerstone of a healthy, highly-skilled library team. At Walden University Library, this is particularly challenging because our librarians work remotely around the country in different time zones over a wide range of hours. Using two product suites—LibApps and O365—we've decreased the number of platforms we use and improved our internal communication and operations. A feedback loop with staff helps us learn what works best for them and has led to continual improvements to these internal platforms and a better informed, more engaged staff. In this session, we'll talk about the problems Walden librarians faced with internal communication and knowledge management and how these platforms provided a solution, why certain design decisions were made, and lessons learned. Specific examples covered will include, how a LibGuides intranet is facilitating our knowledge management, how Yammer has increased staff engagement and knowledge-sharing, how asynchronous training with videos and tutorials has improved operational efficiency, and more. Many of these examples can be applied to similar platforms like Google Apps. By reducing the noise, Walden librarians are more able to focus on what matters most: assisting our students with their research needs and promoting information literacy.
Start Date
15-3-2017 3:30 PM
End Date
15-3-2017 4:30 PM
Reducing the Noise: Improving Library Staff Communication, Knowledge-Sharing, and Engagement with Common Platforms
With the abundance of platforms available today for communicating and managing knowledge internally among library staff, this can lead to over-communication and important information being lost in the noise. Effective knowledge-sharing and meaningful engagement is the cornerstone of a healthy, highly-skilled library team. At Walden University Library, this is particularly challenging because our librarians work remotely around the country in different time zones over a wide range of hours. Using two product suites—LibApps and O365—we've decreased the number of platforms we use and improved our internal communication and operations. A feedback loop with staff helps us learn what works best for them and has led to continual improvements to these internal platforms and a better informed, more engaged staff. In this session, we'll talk about the problems Walden librarians faced with internal communication and knowledge management and how these platforms provided a solution, why certain design decisions were made, and lessons learned. Specific examples covered will include, how a LibGuides intranet is facilitating our knowledge management, how Yammer has increased staff engagement and knowledge-sharing, how asynchronous training with videos and tutorials has improved operational efficiency, and more. Many of these examples can be applied to similar platforms like Google Apps. By reducing the noise, Walden librarians are more able to focus on what matters most: assisting our students with their research needs and promoting information literacy.