“Flip This House”: “Back of the House” Library Staff Engaging the Wider Campus Community

Abstract

Procuring and describing content for discoverability are as important now as they ever have been, but we suggest that a successful organization should expect more from faculty and staff members. As technical skill sets become more in demand, “back of the house” staff need to step to the front. In this article we explore how two Grand Valley State University Libraries back of the house departments have partnered with other organizations on campus. Collaboration has reenergized the staff, raised the Libraries’s profile, and contributed to the Libraries’s overall success. Traditionally “back of the house” staff work exclusively behind the scenes to grow and support the collections of the library. Even the term itself indicates, “back of the house” staff should remain behind closed doors, working on tasks that, while important, are not easily identifiable to library users. Procuring and describing content for discoverability are as important now as it they ever have been, but a successful organization should expect faculty and staff to do more. As technical skill sets become more in demand campus‐wide, the “back of the house” staff are presented with opportunities to step to the front. Two Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries departments typically considered back of the house have partnered with other entities on campus, providing services that are otherwise unavailable. The experiences of these staff members have demonstrated a growing need for back of the house staff to engage with the campus community. Flipping the house by getting these staff members more widely involved has reenergized the staff, raised the Libraries’s profile, and contributed to the Libraries’s overall success. Having back of the house staff spend time on outreach isn’t a new idea. A 2011 article from Toce and Schofield discusses the value of all library departments providing services that integrate them into the wider campus community and help make the library indispensable. They point out that outreach is traditionally the responsibility of public services departments and instruction librarians, but that technical services departments have unique skills that can lend themselves to other areas on campus. GVSU Libraries firmly believe that Toce and Schofield were correct in their thinking that all library departments can provide service. Through both deliberate partnerships and chance encounters the GVSU Libraries have taken advantage of outreach opportunities. At the GVSU Libraries the Research and Instruction division is primarily responsible for outreach to both faculty and students. They do an excellent job working with the campus community and have done noteworthy work in showcasing the importance of the Libraries. The Knowledge Access and Resource Management Department (KARMS; formerly the Technical Services Department) and the Systems and Technology Department have also begun reaching out and providing services to the campus. This not only has increased the profile of the Libraries, but also has provided additional support around campus for library‐provided services. If Toce and Schofield got it right in 2011, why, in 2015, are so many back of the house departments still solely focused on library‐centric tasks? GVSU Libraries found themselves asking these questions in 2012. This thinking led the entire Technology and Information Services (TIS) division to rethink its workflows and approach to providing services. Carlos Rodriquez, Associate Dean of TIS, challenged every staff member in the division to Copyright of this contribution remains in the name of the author(s). http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284316297 Management and Administration 438 reexamine their workloads, shifting the focus from task to reason. Why do we catalog material? Why do we have circulation limits. Who is the primary user of our library tools? The resulting changes weren’t sweeping, and the division is still responsible for all traditional back of the house functions. The impact was a shift in focus from the task to the patron. Through this focus on the patron it began to become clear that TIS had some services they could offer to other departments at GVSU. One of the early attempts at tweaking the KARMS team was to add more direct contact with the University community. This was accomplished by a cross‐training program with the Operations and User Services team. GVSU Libraries have one service point in the library, handling circulation, reference, and general questions of all kinds. The service point is primarily staffed by student workers, but at all times there is a staff member at the “perching station.” This station is within sightline of the service point, and the staff person there is responsible for overseeing the service point and stepping in for more complex requests. The staff member at the perching station also answers chat questions as they come into the library. Six members of the KARMS team began working the service point between two and four hours each week. There are quite a few benefits to this arrangement. The main benefit has been allowing back of the house staff direct contact with our patrons. When you spend the majority of your time cataloging books, tracking down rush acquisitions, and maintaining and troubleshooting electronic resources, it can be easy to forget the why behind any of those tasks. You can easily begin to focus on the task at hand and lose sight of the reason we do any of that work: supporting the needs of our patrons. Interacting with the patrons just a few hours a week keeps the “why” fresh in their minds. Dealing with patrons face to face and seeing how KARMS work impacts these patrons and keeps the staff motivated to do the best job they can. Quite a few other benefits also come from this arrangement. While the KARMS team covers between 10 and 20 hours a week of perch station time, the operations team is able to get some work of their own done, further removed from the hustle and bustle, focusing on jobs that require less distraction to do well. The KARMS team members get a change of pace for that little bit of time each day. We have worked really hard for our teams to not be isolated, but still the majority of our work is behind closed doors, focused intently on the computer. Benefits that we didn’t anticipate became clear early on. Two of the KARMS team members working the service point are responsible for electronic resource management. While working, they quickly realized as electronic resource questions came to the desk that student employees around would hear them answer questions and frequently say things like “Oh . . . I didn’t know that.” The same is true for our cataloger, government document specialist, and journal specialist. There are questions that come up where the KARMS team is the most qualified in the organization to answer. We have learned that having them at the service desk creates teachable moments for the student workers. Other examples of encouraging the KARMS staff to get involved follow similar lines. Two members of the teams are inclusion advocates at GVSU. This roll requires training from Human Resources, and every search committee on campus must have an inclusion advocate. Inclusion advocates are part of a search committee with the added roll of making sure that GVSU creates an environment that values differences across all dimensions of diversity. The KARMS inclusion advocates are therefore on multiple search committees, bringing that expertise to the process, but also exposing them to all types of jobs that the Libraries hire for. GVSU has received a lot of press in recent years for the Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons, which opened in June 2013. This state of the art library is beautiful and unique. Over two years into the new building we still have requests for tours on a regular basis. Several members of the KARMS team have undergone our internal training and serve as tour guides at special events. This is yet another opportunity to get out of the back of the house and interact directly with patrons of the Libraries.