Congratulations to Coral Black who has just been appointed University Librarian  at University of Newcastle from March 2019.

Coral worked here from 2011-2014 first as Manager, Branch Libraries and Learning Hub.   She became the Customer Services Manager when Joan moved to LAC.   She was subsequently appointed Associate University Librarian, Research and Information Services  and  Co-University Librarian.  She left in 2014 to take a new role in  Customer Services at the University of Sydney.   We wish her well in her new position.

Congratulations to staff who were successful in this year’s GSRR round.

Staff who received a step progression, accelerated progression below the merit, progression above the merit or bonus will have received a letter from their manager.

A summary of the GSSR outcome by band is available from the link below.  The number of staff getting a progression or bonus above the normal step progression was similar to the last few years.

K:\LIBR-Library\Operations\HR\Planning\GSRR-for-staff\GSRR-by-band-2012-2018.xlsx

I appreciate that the GSRR only touches the surface of all the great work being done in the Library by all staff.

Ngā mihi nui, Anne

The Library Management Team has been working on a visual management board which is located on Level 5 in the space between the staff room and the offices.    The aim of the board is to get a better understanding of the workload and priorities across the Library, to monitor progress and celebrate what we have done.

We are meeting Wednesday mornings at 9.00am for 15 min to review the board.    You are most welcome to observe if you wish and please feel free to walk through the area any time we are there.    Ask a manager if you would like to know more about the board or items on it.

We are already seeing  benefits in regular brief meetings that are providing better oversight of what we are going, and increasing conversations across teams.

It is a work in progress as we continue to refine how the board is working for us.    This morning we talked about how best to prioritise tasks and decide what to drop, particularly when big unexpected tasks come from left field.   We are not good at “just saying no” to some things and we tend to load ourselves up to capacity.    We are also working on refining ways to chunk tasks into appropriate sizes.

There are other groups inside and outside the Library  working on visual management boards.   Each board works a different way depending on needs and purpose of the group .   LAC staff have just done some visual management training.  If you are interested ask your manager.

It was nice to see Lyndsay today.  She is joining us electronically for these sessions.

Ngā mihi nui, Anne

The CoEHHD Office has closed at Dovedale.      All UC vehicle pickups will now be from the Security Office on the Ilam campus as there is no longer a secure open place to provide the keys at Dovedale.    From Michael Oliver.

Kia ora.   It was nice to see everyone at breakfast.   There is plenty of food left on the bench and in the fridge so feel free to use for morning tea.   The uncooked croissants can go in oven for 20 mins at 180 C.    Some photos will appear later.     Anne

Would the person who borrowed the bag of resources for group work from my office please return it.   The one with all the pens, sticky notes, etc.    It has been missing at least a week.  Happy for people to borrow it but please remember to return as other people also want to use it 🙂    Many thanks, Anne

Learning Resources, including the Library, has two dedicated HR Advisors, Michel Fivet and Fiona Bain.    Fiona has replaced Tracey Hooper while she is on parental leave.    Please contact Fiona in the first instance for standard HR advice.  This can include leave, position descriptions, Bob, GSRR, superannuation etc.    Michel, as the senior HR Advisor, tends to get involved in the more complex HR issues, and in organisational culture, development and leadership.  He can also help when Fiona is away.   Both Michel and Fiona mentor staff, often through LSI, and work to support managers.    They are located partly at Dovedale and partly on the 5th floor Matariki.

I have a free ticket to the rugby tonight at 6.30 AMI All Blacks v Cantabrians v Otago.    Email me if you would like it and I will forward it to you.   Anne

The Library provides some limited support for staff who wish to join LIANZA. The Library will reimburse the LIANZA professional registration fee part of your LIANZA subscription to encourage professional registration.

If you training to be a librarian and are eligible for the LIANZA student membership the Library will pay for a membership for one year.

We also investigated paying for some SIG memberships for staff but found that there was a high administrative cost so it could not be justified in the current climate.

Please contact Janette Winks for the details on how to be reimbursed.

From David Wong in Capital Works.

The Leighs team are planning to undertake some concrete cutting and minor concrete demolition just outside the James Hight library where the bike stands are. (A 2x2m square) This is at the end of their trench where we need to connect into the services tunnels underneath.

This was only fully confirmed today as the way forward and I apologize for the late notice! But in order to complete the works we need to keep moving forward.

This is a heads up that it will start either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. It will be very noisy and a little dusty for a period of 2-3 working days. Appropriate site protection will be in place as per BAU process.

Appreciate the understanding and please let me know if there are any major issues.

[I think it has already started 🙂 Anne]