Engaging faculty in the New Directions Initiative process:  what are your suggestions?

Input and reactions from the UCB faculty to our new directions thinking is an important aspect of the process being designed and implemented by the NDCC. Finding the most appropriate and effective way to do this, and at what stage in the process, is a big challenge the committee faces.

Faculty are busy teaching, doing research, and publishing, and thus do not have much time left to consult with the Library. Often their library experience is limited and they do not have a broad understanding of the services the Library offers, nor do they have much knowledge of the larger challenges and opportunities of the library organization. In more recent times, many faculty have little experience with, or interest in,  services or collections beyond what they can access at their desktop.

The Library has tried various efforts in the past to engage faculty in conversations and to have them present their thoughts on issues. These efforts have included discussions with faculty committees, selected faculty have been invited to participate in panel discussions for the library staff, the subject councils have engaged faculty speakers at their meetings, and individual subject selectors have had conversations and reported their findings. These faculty interactions have most often resulted in useful input regarding specific experiences with the collections and catalogs, but have not provided us with visionary thinking about how the Library needs to position itself for the future.

The NDCC is requesting some assistance from the Library staff in helping us to design one or more effective strategies for getting significant and forward thinking input from our faculty. In particular, we need younger faculty who can address how traditional uses of the Library's collections and services may be changing and how the Library needs to respond to remain relevant to them. What are your ideas?

For example, we need the faculty to tell us:

- their preferred means of accessing and utilizing information resources and what they see as the library's role in this.

- if there are better methods for integrating library content, resources, and services into their classroom teaching.

- their thoughts on whether or not a major change in journal publishing channels is really going to occur, of if we should be preparing for the status quo.

- if the Library is dealing effectively with new and changing academic trends (new subject fields, integration of existing fields, fields no longer served by traditional resources the library offers, new types of information content, etc.).

- their thoughts on the need for print collections in their departments/buildings, or close to their departments/offices.

- how services might be improved or changed and what kinds of new services should be made available to the campus community.

- their greatest problems in finding and accessing the intellectual resources required to keep UCB on the cutting edge of research in their fields.

The NDCC looks forward to your suggestions. Please send them to the ND blog.