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Listening to Many Voices: Community Conversations at Rutgers University LibrariesbyNancy Kranich and Megan Lotts

Rutgers University Librariesnancy.kranich@rutgers.eduMegan.lotts@rutgers.edu

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From dialogue to action

What is the future role for library liaisons at Rutgers?

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What is the future role…

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From Dialogue to Action

Formed a Liaison Action Team Developed an Action Agenda Created a Vision for the future

of liaison relationships Convened Liaison Assembly

meetings Defined new roles for

liaisons

Planned and convened community conversations  

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Understand our campus communities better

Become more deeply rooted in the life of our communities

Create a narrative around shared community aspirations

Engaging our campus communities

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Generate constructive, inclusive discourse

Envision a greater sense of possibility

Increase relevance, significance, impact

Act with intentionality based on readiness

Achieve shared goals

Turning outward

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Starting Point

1. ID problems

2. Visioning

3. Aspirations

What we Get Rooted in

Complaints Blame

Wish lists Disconnected

from Reality

Based on reality Focus on

community

What it Creates

Problem lists No shared sense

of direction

False hope Not rooted in

people’s reality

Shared aspirations that roots work

Possibility

Stage 1: Starting points

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Listening to Many Voices

Understand and identify people’s shared aspirations

Authentic engagement that reflects people’s reality

Convened New Brunswick campus and library faculty, students and administrators for community conversations about the Undergraduate, Graduate, and International Experience from 2012-2014

Learned about shared community aspirations

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Identify Aspirations

1. What kind of Rutgers undergraduate/graduate/international community do you want?__________________________________________________

2. Why is that important to you? _______________________________________________________

3. How is that different from how you see things now? _______________________________________________________

4. What are some of the things that need to happen to create that kind of change?_______________________________________________________

Community conversation questions

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Undergraduates

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6 Community Conversations

Engaged a cross-section of the Rutgers community: 38 external in May 2012 26 librarians in November,

February Focused on the

Transformation of Undergraduate Education

Used tools from the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation --now in partnership with ALA

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Themes of external conversations

Build inclusive communities on campus that embrace diversity and engage across differences

Engage through informal relationships

Teach critical thinking/transliteracy skills for success in and out of school

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Themes of internal conversations

Eager to engage but uncertain how

Focus more on specific communities

Work in teams and build partnerships

Get in the flow of users Build connections, not

just collections Provide students a

comfort zone

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Graduate education community conversations

Met with the Graduate School before and after

Engaged a cross-section of Rutgers graduate students: 44 total—4 conversations

Shared the findings with a group of 8 faculty and administrators

Liaison Assembly open space discussion with 20 librarians and library staff

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Graduate community aspirations and concerns1. Interdisciplinary collaboration and

interaction in a comfortable setting 2. Acceptance and inclusion3. Access to information of interest to

graduate students 4. Creation of more of a graduate identity 5. Differing needs for different

communities

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Innovation spaces: Reflections from our conversations

What did you make of the conversations?

What are we learning? Why is this important? What are the implications for

our work? What possibilities are there for

moving ahead? What insights did this

conversation spark?

… A different conversation

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Stage 2: Executing strategies and actions that fit our COMMUNITY

Develop strategies that achieve results and also build community

Identify and act on specific pockets of change that align to local context

Focus on creating conditions necessary for community change

Determine “who to run with” as partners

Develop networks for innovation/learning

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Finding the sweet spot

SWEET SPOT

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Calibrating our work: community rhythms

How broad and deep is the community’s leadership?

How strong and constructive are the community norms?

How broad and deep are the informal networks and links?

How strong is the collection of catalytic organizations?

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Source: Working Together Project, Community-Led Libraries Toolkit, p. 16, http://www.librariesincommunities.ca/resources/Community-Led_Libraries_Toolkit.pdf

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Pockets of change

Engaged Events and ActivitiesRU Voting, Constitutional Café

and Learning CommunitiesHonors Program PartnershipCareer Readiness CurriculumExhibits and DialoguesRevised Position DescriptionsCreate Teams to build

Community

 

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Rutgers SAS Honors Program

Rutgers SAS Honors Summer Reading Committee chooses a book as their reader & theme for the colloquium course.

• Honors program invites the author to speak, engage with students, and sign books.

“I’m so excited to meet an author, I hope to write a book one day”

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Informing and educating

Visiting honors students in their space

Creating a libguide for book & colloquium course

Providing library brochures, and contact information

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Listening and consulting

Joined the SAS Honors Reading Committee comprised of students, faculty & staff

Heard more aspirations and concerns of honors students, faculty, and staff

Began teaching a section of the SAS Honors Colloquium

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Discussing and debating

Engaged with students, faculty, and staff of the SAS Honors Colloquium

Learned more about the needs of facilitators and their roles on campus

Listened to students talk more about the libraries, how they use them, and what they would like to see

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Engaging and collaborating

Continued to create libguides for book & colloquium

Brainstormed on how the libraries can be involved in organizational changes

Staged Amazing Race event for all SAS honors programs

Amazing Race Library Exploration for Rutgers Transfer Students

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Scarlet Knight Days 2013

Photo credits John Brennan

Caricatures Open Mic Night

Music & snacks in the Scarlet Latte

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Scarlet Knight Days 2014

Snack Carts, Library giveaways, the Sam Tobias Quartet, Meet the Scarlet Knight, Block Party, Polynomiography, and the popcorn machine Engaged with approximately 1127 students.

“the libraries are uplifting & fun as well as thoughtful & generous”“I received confirmation that the libraries are great for trying to

engage students”“I liked meeting librarians and eating cookies”

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Geek Week 2015

Coordinated Geek Week by UE Team

Advertised on RUL social media & Geek Week schedule

11 attendees

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RU Game? 2015

Partnered w/ RUPA, Super Smash Club (SSC), RU athletics, & RUL

Convened panel of 1 prof, grad students, and freshman

120 attendees Catalyst for future

collaborations w/ SSC & Select Start

Started a conversation

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Stage 3: Embedding and sustaining change

Cultivate a can-do community narrative

Build a shared capacity to strengthen our community together

Recalibrate our efforts Apply practice across our organization Align our organization outward facing Adopt outward facing performance

measures

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Shift our thinking to turn outward Recognize new opportunities and

connections Uncover a sense of common purpose Set realistic goals Engage more deeply with students Act intentionally to reflect aspirations Align our strategies with others on campus Partner with the Rutgers community in

meaningful and significant ways

Develop new orientation, approaches and capacities for libraries through this work

Examples: turning outward toward communities stronger emphasis on authentic engagement increased capacity to engage with the

community stronger set of relationships for moving ahead

and acting upon community priorities

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Measure Organizational Impact

Increase community capacity to concert—to work together to solve problems

Identify and train a pool of conveners, moderators, recorders, and issue framers

Develop connections34

Build Community Capacity

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For further reading:

Brown, Karen and Kara Malefant. (2012). Connect, Collaborate, and Communicate: A Report from the Value of Academic Libraries Summit (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries).

Covert-Vail, Lucinda and Scott Collard, (2012). New Roles for New Times: Research Library Services for Graduate Students (Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries.

Dewey, Barbara. (2004). “The Embedded Librarian: Strategic Campus Collaborations,” Resource Sharing & Information Networks 17 (2004): 5-17.

The Harwood Institute. (2014). Public Innovators Workbook. Chicago, IL: ALA.

The Harwood Institute and American Library Association. Libraries Transforming Communities. (2014). Tools for Community Engagement and Innovation.

Jaguszewski, Janice M. and Karen Williams. (2013). New Roles for New Times: Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries. Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries.

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For further reading (cont) Kenney, Anne. (2014). Leveraging the Liaison Model: From Designing 21st

Century Research Libraries to Implementing 21st Century. (NY: Ithaka S+R).

Kranich, Nancy, Megan Lotts, and Gene Springs. (2014). “The Promise of Academic Libraries Transforming Campus Communities,” College and Research Libraries News. 75 #4 (April): 182-186.

Lougee, Wendy. (2002). Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research Library in the Digital Age (Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources).

Mack, Daniel C. and Gary W. White, eds. (2015). Assessing Liaison Librarians: Documenting Impact for Positive Change. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries (PIL #67).

Shumaker, David. (2012). The Embedded Librarian: Innovative Strategies for Taking Knowledge Where It’s Needed (Medford, NJ: Information Today).

Williams, Karen. (2009). “A Framework for Articulating New Library Roles” in Karla Hahn, Research Library Issues, Special Issue on Liaison Librarian Roles, no. 265 (Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries).

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Listening to many voicesRutgers University Libraries

Thanks!

Nancy Kranich, nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu

Megan Lotts, megan.lotts@rutgers.edu