This document summarizes notes from a staff meeting of the TRL (Technical Resources Library). The meeting included mini-presentations on reflection and healthy organizations, breakout groups to discuss organizational principles, and a proposal for improved communications across departments using Confluence, a content creation platform. Next steps include logging into Confluence, voting on principles from the breakout activity, and signing up for a communications pilot.

1. TRL Staff Meeting
April 16, 2014
1st ever

2. Today
• Mini-presentation
• Reflection: healthy organizations
• Carousel (‘walkabout”)
• Communications proposal
• Next steps…

3. WIC/EC
Biomed
Dent & Vet
Courseware
Fine Arts
Museum
MusicRIS
Sciences
Chem & MPA
Selected
Pub Svcs
Who are we?

4. WIC/EC
Biomed
Dent & Vet
Courseware
Fine Arts
Museum
Music
Sciences
Chem & MPA
Selected
Pub Svcs
RIS
InsideVanPelt-Dietrich
OutsideVanPelt-Dietrich

5. WIC/ECCourseware
Museum Music
Sciences
Chem & MPA
Selected
Pub Svcs
RIS
Biomed
Dent & Vet
Fine Arts
Physical SpacesVirtual Spaces

6. Consultations
Workshops
Systematic
Reviews
Reference
services
Administer
Canvas
Provide
study spaces
Research
services Manage & grow
collections
Instructional
services Posters
Guides &
documentation
Market
resources
Classrooms
& support
Events
Services

7. Consultations
Workshops
Systematic
Reviews
Reference
services
Administer
Canvas
Provide
study spaces
Research
services Manage & grow
collections
Instructional
services Posters
Guides &
documentation
Market
resources
Classrooms
& support
We help Penn
fulfill its mission.

8. 2.5months
Kim’s been @ Penn for

9. Things move rapidly here!

10. A snapshot of happenings in 2.5 months

11. 1
Observation: Bureaucracy & hierarchy helps us get
routine tasks completed efficiently. In a rapidly
changing environment, it gets in the way.

12. The mismatch causes frustration.

13. And before you know it, you’ve
opened a whole can of worms.

14. Today (and in TRL generally), let’s agree to
level the field when it comes to generating
ideas & solving complex problems. We all
have something to contribute, regardless
of position classification and experience.

15. Today is about blue-sky thinking &
getting your ideas out of your head
and out into the world where we
can discuss & act upon them.

16. Today is about you.

17. Well, you, plural.

18. Thinking about metaphors, today could be
about planting seeds of ideas….

19. …in preparation for harvest.

20. But that metaphor falls flat.
!
We are anything but monoculture…

21. We are (or should aspire to be) more like rain forests.

22. Diversity per square foot leads to innovation, specialization,
multiple perspectives — allows us to represent our community.

23. Each is unique with important contributions to make.

24. As an organization, we will
be the best we can be
when everyone
participates constructively
by contributing ideas,
listening actively, &
providing constructive
feedback.

25. We have started the journey. No turning back now…

26. My role: Facilitator

27. Think about a high
point in your career.
What was it about
the situation that
made it memorable?
What were the
organizational
dynamics?

28. Together, come up
with one guiding
principle that we
should adopt to
create our own
healthy organization.

29. Groups of 5-ish
No one from your immediate team

30. We did a carousel activity to answer some key questions.
Info transcribed & available in our Confluence site.

31. Debrief

32. Modest Proposal

33. 2
Observation: Communications across groups, time,
and space can be challenging.

34. Confluence will be home to our meeting notes & reports

35. Everyone has read/write access.
I’ll use the blog for agendas.

36. Weekly Reports: Footprints

37. Weekly Reports
Accomplishments
Interactions
Issues, misc.
On the horizon…

38. Weekly Reports: Example
Accomplishments
Interactions
Issues, misc.
On the horizon…
RIS
Biomed Library
Museum Library
Courseware
WIC
Dental Library
Going away party!
Omeka growing by leaps & bounds
Blackboard shut down

39. Weekly reports not
intended to replace
MetriDoc. Continue to
use as normal.

40. You Me
Weekly reports (15 mins.)
Metridoc
Publish reports:
weekly & metridoc
Tickets
Chat
Others?

41. Timeline
• May: Invitation only, VIPs
• June: Open to all TRL
• July: Operational

42. Comms Summary
Confluence Footprints
Private: TRL info Private: Your contributions
project.library.upenn.edu

43. Next steps…
• Kim posts slides, notes, pix to
Confluence blog & sends
follow-up note to group.
• You log into Confluence with
your Active Directory
(computer) login & password.
• You vote on the top 3
principles/guidelines.
• You tell Kim if you want to be
a VIP for Weekly Reports.

44. Thank you!

45. Photo credits
Slide 8: http://www.flickr.com/photos/92132559@N00/304526237/
Slide 11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87434398@N00/113152393/
Slide 11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87434398@N00/113152393/
Slide 18: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63974928@N00/110600527/
Slide 19: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31246066@N04/8525780041/
Slide 21: http://www.flickr.com/photos/91256982@N00/1401605646/
Slide 22: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56611644@N00/10385628015/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22399204@N08/3186417260/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59392555@N00/1534848906/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/119579943@N04/12971791535/
Slide 23: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18392254@N08/11989443073/
Slide 23: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11556508@N00/9945566274/

46. Photo credits (continued)
Slide 25: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95819651@N00/2191989608/
Slide 26: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61507502@N00/1459190458/
Slide 29: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27632962@N04/3395123753/
Slide 33: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26811962@N05/9469687306/
Slide 43: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23196822@N00/6573324043/
Slide 44: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15426517@N07/9282519821/