The library intends to retire Counterculture eventually, in favour of the Library All Staff Team on Microsoft Teams. Some reasons for this include:

• Reducing the number of platforms we are using for communications
• All staff, including casuals, can be added to a Teams channels whereas currently casual staff are only able to access Counterculture on shared PCs.
• Instant communication for urgent messages (depending on people’s notification settings)
• The expected retirement of Counterculture’s WordPress platform at UC

However, the formal replacement of Counterculture with Teams is going to be delayed until after the Omicron surge. The reasons for this include:

• Continuity in communication channels during this period of uncertainty and change
• To give us all more time to get used to using Teams

Some staff have already started posting content to the General channel on the Team. This is a great channel for casual communications but will not be the replacement for Counterculture.

The plan is to use the Bulletin app on the Library All Staff Team and work is underway to ensure that posts will be archived/searchable, as well as develop some posting guidelines for staff who have not used this app before.

In the meantime, please keep posting to and regularly checking Counterculture for content that all library staff need to see. Casual content can continue to be shared on the Team’s general channel as this is a good opportunity to experiment with Teams. The ‘go live’ date for Teams and ‘retirement’ date for Counterculture will be announced on Counterculture in a few weeks. At that point, the expectation is all staff will post to and regularly check the All Library Staff Team.

Finally – we need a better name than “All Library Staff”! Please send your suggestions to Jenny Owens or myself by March 17. Following a staff poll, the person who suggests the winning name receives a chocolate fish and bragging rights.

Fiona