2CUL TSI Steering Committee Meeting Notes, July 22 2013
Present: Colleen, Jim, Kate, Robert
Plans for a 2CUL cultural assessment
Cornell is preparing to administer the ClimateQUAL test to assess its overall organizational climate, but Columbia has decided it will not able to take on a new initiative of this scale in addition to its current strategic planning activities. As a result, 2CUL cultural assessment will take the form of a smaller-scale, locally designed survey prepared by assessment staff at Columbia and Cornell. The survey instrument will be based on the TSI tech services operating principles. We expect to do the survey once this fall, and then again in two years.
The Steering Committee reviewed discussion to date and the current project description. Kate raised several specific issues that have come up in discussions with staff involved in Phase 1:
- concerns about jobs being lost or reassigned to other units as a result of 2CUL integration
- concerns about loss of institutional identity and traditions as a result of harmonization across 2CUL
We will ask assessment staff whether these issues can be addressed in the survey.
Jim will recommend Boaz to represent Cornell in future planning for the survey, and at the meeting Colleen volunteered to represent Columbia.
2CUL Steering Committee Meeting on July 31st
The TSI Steering Committee reviewed the agenda for the upcoming 2CUL Steering Committee meeting. Most of this meeting will be about non-Mellon-funded 2CUL activities. Issues we hope they will address include:
- ID/login problems (already on the agenda)
- Simplification and standardization of travel planning and funding: Cornell and Columbia have different procedures for funding 2CUL travel, and different staff members have received different answers (particularly regarding who makes and pays for hotel reservations) at different times. For 2CUL to function efficiently, we need to make this process as simple and as predictable as possible so everyone will know what to expect and manager intervention is no longer necessary.
- Time management for staff involved in 2CUL, ALMA (if we agree to implement), and other activities: People involved in Phase 1 are spending a lot of time on the process and may become overextended if they are assigned other, non-2CUL responsibilities as well going forward. If we decide to implement ALMA, that will require a major time investment from many of the same people currently involved in 2CUL, and non-ALMA-related 2CUL activities could come to a halt for some time before and after an implementation date. We need to make sure that management is aware of conflicting demands on staff time and sets clear priorities.
Other
The most recent overall 2CUL update sent to all staff included sections on collection development and public services and a link to our most recent update on tech services. Should these general updates include a paragraph or two on tech services developments rather than just a link? If so the TSI Steering Committee is willing to write it. Jim will discuss this with Xin.
The Steering Committee agreed to extend the due date for the Troubleshooting Team report to September 15th.
Colleen mentioned a possible contact at NYPL who could tell us more about the NYPL/Brooklyn integration from the perspective of a union representative; she will share this information with HR.
Robert will contact a colleague at MIT for another perspective on the MIT reorganization after our conference with MIT managers next week.