ACQNET v3n028 (March 18, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v3n028 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 28, March 18, 1993 ====================================== (1) FROM: Maggie Rioux SUBJECT: Blizzard of '93 (37 lines) (2) FROM: Richard Jasper SUBJECT: Staff morale (18 lines) (3) FROM: Marsha Hamilton SUBJECT: Staff morale (23 lines) (4) FROM: Richard Jasper SUBJECT: Staff morale (48 lines) (5) FROM: Dan Evans SUBJECT: Gift books, book plating (17 lines) (6) FROM: Laurie Musgrove SUBJECT: Value of ALA Summer 1993 conference (16 lines) (1)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 08:22:31 -0500 From: Maggie Rioux (Wood Hole Oceanographic Inst.) Subject: The Blizzard of '93 - report from Cape Cod I'll add to the storm reports with one from Falmouth/Woods Hole on Cape Cod. We really lucked out here. The snow started Saturday about noon and got up to 6" before changing to rain. We had heavy rain most of the night, which did away with about half of the snow (the rest froze solid as the temperature dropped again). There were strong winds, but the direction switched around so that it seemed to be offshore at high tide. This was especially important out at Chatham, which has a major problem with strong northeast winds - the wind was south west at high tide. One of our buildings lost a couple of shingles & we had a tree go down over a driveway - quickly taken care of - but that was it. The power was off for an hour here at WHOI & we didn't lose it at all at home. I spent several hours both days logged in from home to the computer at work doing data entry with nary a problem, although I did shut down on Saturday when I heard a loud thunder clap. We spent all weekend cozy and warm at home except for about 1/2 hour shoveling the deck in the rain Saturday night so we could clear it before it froze (didn't even have to do anything to the driveway). We were actually warmer than usual because we had turned up the thermostat to give us a few extra degrees in case we did lose power. You may also recall reading about the heavy snow on Cape Cod a few weeks ago in mid-February. We here in Woods Hole had absolutely no snow that day. At our house, 9 miles away, we had about 1/2". They had 8" in Hyannis (another 15 miles down Cape), over a foot in Chatham and Orleans, and 2 feet in Provincetown. Talk about New England microclimates! Anyway, to all of those still shoveling, good luck & watch your backs. Ours is melting. [Ours too, so we'll close the discussion on this subject. -- C.] (2)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 09:22:48 EST From: Richard Jasper (Emory University) Subject: STAFF SIZE/MORALE If you haven't seen it, take a look at the recent issue of _Time_ magazine which contains an article on "dumbsizing," which is the derogatory term for the manic "downsizing" that has been going on the past couple of years. The bottom line(s): A lot of companies are doing it as a result of peer pressure, even though their profits have been going up; a lot of places that did it earlier are finding that their profits haven't been keeping pace; it shoots staff morale to hell; it can result in companies becoming LESS efficient and LESS competitive because the remaining employees are overloaded, stressed out, and afraid to make mistakes. I'm not sure whether it is this week's or last week's issue. Among other things, the blizzard played havoc with mail delivery in Atlanta Saturday and Monday. (3)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Mar 93 15:38 EST From: Marsha Hamilton (Ohio State University) Subject: Staff morale These are difficult times for staff and professionals in libraries. On one hand, times are hard; on the other, hard times often cause people to work better together against the common foe (lack of salary increases, increased workload, etc.) Giving staff the authority to actually do the responsibilities in their job descriptions (like the Total Quality Management books tell us) is a wonderful morale booster because it demonstrates our trust and respect for our staff's abilities. Being of Middle Eastern ancestry, throwing food at a problem was a wonderful solution (not literally of course) until the evil FOOD AND DRINK policy was instituted due to preservation concerns system-wide. Up until then, we had fabulous birthday, holiday, and just-because-we-wanted-to parties. Now my division tries to use humor. We have a small library of humor books (personally donated) which we can use to find the perfect comic strip or drawing to summarize a particularly bad situation/day. Despite the dumb title, may I recommend _Building A Better Life By Stealing Office Supplies: Dogbert's Big Book Of Business_ by Scott Adams. He must have been an acquisition librarian in a previous life. (4)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Mar 93 15:46:30 EST From: Richard Jasper (Emory University) Subject: Staff morale I stay perpetually in awe of Joe Barker--the intensity of commitment to his staff and the inventiveness he brings to maintaining that commitment is quite astounding. At Emory, we're not quite so zany as Joe and his cohorts at Berkeley, although this discounts my staff members' opinions of my numerous public renditions of "Thumbelina" and any other tune, usually from childhood, that strikes my fancy. Even so, the Library and the University have some specific traditions regarding the recognizing of staff performance that I believe are quite worthwhile. In the General Libraries, for example, we have a Staff Recognition Day each spring, during which all members of the staff, both librarians and general staff, are noted for (a) having achieved significant milestones in length of service, e.g., 5, 10, 15 years and up; (b) for having performed special tasks or projects for libraries; and (c) for their publications (we have several authors of books, found at all levels of staff). The notables each get a plaque or a pin or a savings bond (depending on how long they've been around) and everyone enjoys the nice food (catered) and flowers. Likewise, the University has a program for staff across campus called the "Award of Distinction." Individual units are allowed to nominate a member of their staff who has made particularly important contributions not only to that unit but also to Emory at large and the community in general. The Libraries have had at least five winners of this award in the last five years; this year Anita Collins, who supervises the Serials Receiving Unit of the Acquisitions Department, was a recipient of the award, which goes to no more than 10 people in a given year. In our nomination letter, we noted Anita's exemplary spirit of volunterism, which extends beyond the library to having started the first neighborhood watch program in her Atlanta suburb and in serving as recording secretary of the Georgia Mineral Society... Then, too, the University has a mammoth, annual Staff Day celebration on the Quad, with free food, games, prizes, etc., for all staff, which is very highly regarded. It's all part of a conscious effort to recognize the fact that Emory is a community and that everyone has an important role to play in it. And even though we haven't had the mega-death kind of problems that Joe has had at Berkeley, all these efforts help assuage the ill temper that can result from the growing pains that afflict Emory from time to time. (5)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 15:59:16 EDT From: Dan Evans (Lafayette Coll.) Subject: Book plating & gift books We are in the process of rethinking some of our old policies concerning the way in which we handle the plating of rebound books and how we dispose of unwanted titles. 1.) Is it necessary to re-plate a book that has been rebound, with the original restricted fund bookplate? 2.) What are the legal and ethical requirements for disposing of duplicate/ out-of-scope materials (particularly gifts)? We are looking at a situation where faculty and staff are interested in receiving/buying unwanted gifts and some conflict of interests may exist. In the past we have created lists and offered these titles to sister institutions and sold the remainder at our book sale. We would like to know what policies have been established by other institutions with regards to these issues. (6)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 93 12:02:08 +0200 (SAST) From: Laurie Musgrove (University of Natal) Subject: HELP!!!!!! I am hoping that someone reading this will be able to help me. In order to apply for a travel bursary to visit ALA, I must have a full motivation, on the University Librarians' desk by next week. While I have put together some very good reasons (well I think so, as they increase efficiency and save money) for attending the conference, I still am working on "The value of the proposed travel programme to the South African library profession." This is rather difficult as I do not have an ALA programme and therefore do not know what papers are being presented, those pertaining to Acquisitions in particular. Can anyone help me, fax me the programme perhaps? ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 28 ****** END OF FILE ******