The Library FedEx event is on next week. Register now to take part – https://canterbury.libcal.com/event/3757057
You can register as a team, as an individual (or a team of one) or as an individual who’d like to join a team.

last week there was a call for ideas. See them here use the code 76 57 78
The registration form asks which idea you’d like to work on. Or you can bring your own idea.

If you’d like to include someone in your team who isn’t on the Library staff then send me an email message so that I can see if that can be arranged. There’s a pretty good chance it can.

An enthusiastic group of Library staff met this morning to make plans for a Library FedEx Day. The big idea with the FedEx Day concept is that participants decide for themselves what they will be working on, who they are going to work with, and how they are going to do it.

It’s not too late to join in for anyone else who is keen.

Here’s the plan: –
This week (13th – 16th November) Gather ideas for Library problems or innovations

Next week (20th – 24th November) Reflect on ideas, register teams and the innovation they’ll work on

The week after – The FedEx Day Pt. 1 Monday morning 27th November; Reflection and refocus then The FedEx Day Pt. 2 Wednesday afternoon 29th November

The week after that – Library report back – What the teams did : What the teams learned

If you’ve got an idea or a problem you can add it here use the code 765778
Managers will be asked to sponsor the innovations in their area of Library responsibility

The FedEx event is strictly contained within the 2 half days after which the work will be handed back to the Library

We discussed how teams would be formed and agreed that: –
Participants can register as a team of one, as a team or as an individual wanting to join with others to form a team.
Managers will be consulted after registration to check for any issues with work that might need to be covered
Teams may include participants who are not library staff but this is subject to agreement by the senior sponsor and must be negotiated in advance

If you think you might be interested and would like to mentally prepare you can read about the experience of the LR FedEx day here

I really enjoyed the presentations made by Shanton Chang last month and have been applying a couple of his frameworks in my thinking at work. You might find them useful too.

1. On Information needs: -From Alzougool, Chang and Gray (2013)
   Definition: Information that is essential to individuals as a result of the context in which they act.
   Four states of information need:
   1. Recognised-demanded state
      Aware of information needs and ready to take actions to obtain the information to meet these needs
   2. Recognised-undemanded state
      Aware of information needs but do not desire to have information to fulfil these needs
   3. Unrecognised-demanded state
      Not aware of their specific information needs, but they have the desire to have information
   4. Unrecognised-undemanded state
      Not aware of their specific information needs, nor do they desire information

2. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions  – For an introduction and further reading there’s a pretty good Wikipedia entry

• Power distance index
• Individualism vs collectivism
• Uncertainty avoidance index
• Masculinity vs femininity
• Long-term orientation
• Indulgence vs restraint

Kia ora koutou,

One of my classmates Wei Zhong would be grateful if you’d complete the survey for her research project. It takes 10 minutes and you can exit at any point during the survey if you change your mind. The survey is here

A FedEx Day is a one day event (in our case 2 half days) in which staff deliver innovation to the organisation they work for. It is called FedEx Day because the original concept was that the project would be delivered overnight, like the parcel delivery company.

Library managers have agreed to support a FedEx Day so that interested staff can take time out of their busyness to work on projects they are enthusiastic about. It is proposed to hold the FedEx  day(s) during the week beginning 27th November. The parameters are –

• Participants will have 2 half days to work on a project
• Projects must be managed within existing resources
• Participants must report back on what they did and what they learned

To find out more and to register your interest come along to an information session –

Monday 13th November 11.00 – 12.00
in Poutama, Level 3 Puaka-James Hight

Kia ora koutou,

If you’d like to know more about THETA the videos and presentations from keynote and featured speakers and sessions at the 2017 conference are available from the CAUDIT website here

Tonight Aotahi are hosting a fun te reo quiz night.

Jeanette King says – “Don’t worry if you don’t have a team – we can find you one! Spread the word.”

Check out Deirdre Hart’s message for students about sorting information to get to the good stuff. Deirdre is a senior lecturer in Geography and Proctor for the College of Science.,

Max’s wife Clare has been in touch with Sara to let us know that a funeral service will be held for Max on Wednesday 26th July from 10.00am at the Lamb and Hayward, Westpark Chapel, 467 Wairakei Rd. Burnside. There will be a death notice in The Press tomorrow.

Remember that good idea  at the OCI brainstorming session about a bright ideas space? Or the ones you posted on the UCIdeas Generator? Or your idea for improving the online suggestion box?

You can find these ideas and ideas about what to do with them in a  Review of the UC Library Ideas Generator

The review drew on information from a survey of Library staff.  Methods for collecting and collating the ideas and for acting on them were analysed. It was found that –

• Library staff have lots of good ideas
• The Padlet platform wasn’t ideal for gathering ideas. Perhaps SharePoint might be better
• It’s quite hard to track what happens with ideas. They influence thinking over time which gives them a life of their own
• It takes time and energy to give proper consideration to ideas and to prioritise and resource actions that result from them

Library managers discussed the review and endorsed the recommendations which were –

• The UC Library Ideas Generator be decommissioned
• Ideas from the UC Library Ideas Generator be fed into Library operational planning for 2018 – 2020
• The UC Library Ideas Generator review report be shared with the LR Empowerment team to contribute the learning from this experiment to their work
• That the Library take part in the trial of UCIdea

To learn more about UCIdea and the work of the LR Empowerment team head along to the Thursday culture meeting tomorrow at 2pm (Dovedale DD02-101) – Opportunities for Improvement Online Ideas Tool – direction and progress so far – led by Fran Hilton.

Your thoughts about the recommendations are welcomed. You can comment here or email me if you’d prefer.

Alison McIntyre