Building the foundation: connections between archivists and library staff

Abstract:

This chapter discusses the value of strong internal communication in building relationships between the archives and other departments within the Library.

Key words

internal communication

staff engagement

training

marketing

Many large organizations struggle with internal communication, and universities are no different. The issue of poor internal communication in universities has been linked to various infl uences, from the dependence on e-mail to the disappearance of informal meeting places1. The problem seems to be growing, particularly as campuses expand in size while time seems to shrink.

It is advantageous for a library to have strong internal communication. First, an ongoing dialogue between employees and managers allows for an open working environment. The vision and plans of the library are shared across all levels of the organization, and issues may be raised and resolved. Beyond the advantages of open dialogue, an effective internal communication network engages all members of the organization. Through this sense of engagement, connections are made between departments, potential collaborations are explored, and the library can better serve its patrons. Strong internal communication ensures that, for example, a reference session with a frustrated Classics professor is shared with the Classics liaison librarian who might then follow up and resolve the problem.

Certainly, building and nurturing internal communication is a time-consuming task that many libraries (particularly large university libraries) find challenging. We may use intranets, staff newsletters, and monthly meetings to stay in touch with our colleagues, but, overall, it is difficult to keep track of one another and the projects taking place across the library. This challenge is similar to the ongoing struggle to stay on top of the multitude of new journal articles, books, blog posts and more that join the professional literature each week. Often, the desire is there to stay on top of the flood of information, but there is not enough time to conquer it alone.

We might add the challenge of the general lack of awareness, among library staff, as to what exactly is held in the archives and what the role of the archivist is. The underuse of archival records may ultimately come down to the fact that the archivists have not made their work fully understood within their own organizations. The connections have not been made between the secondary resources and the primary. Because the nature of archival administration is different than library science, it is easy for an archives department to become a silo within the library - one that is understood for its purpose, but misunderstood for its ability to be integrated with the rest of the library collection and, most importantly, with expanding digital resources.

How then do we face the challenge of internal communication and draw connections between archival materials and library resources within our libraries, among librarians and library staff? This chapter will feature a number of ideas for engaging staff and setting the foundation for further connections with faculty and students.

Staff engagement and training

One of the first steps in promoting a new digital resource should be an internal marketing effort. Generally, when an academic library acquires an expensive new resource, efforts are made to make a splash for students and faculty. A marketing campaign might include an article in a campus publication, a mention in the library's newsletter, and a poster to encourage users to try out the new database. To a certain degree, these tactics are effective in terms of announcing the new purchase to our users. To make an even deeper impact in promoting the new resource, however, internal promotion is an essential first step. Further, the internal promotion should go beyond a simple e-mail communication to become a call to action, encouraging staff members to share the news with students and faculty, where appropriate. Catherine Baird, Marketing Librarian at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, is convinced of the value of internal marketing: 'You need to be able to harness the energy of all library employees, convince them that there is a message that's worth communicating to patrons.'2 Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful techniques for spreading information and yet it is often overlooked, particularly when promoting library and archival resources.

There are many ways to engage library staff members in the active promotion of library collections. Hands-on workshops are an effective tool for library staff to learn a new resource and understand the potential applications for research. At Brock, we encourage staff members to attend our faculty workshops, where space permits. This offers our colleagues the opportunity to experiment with resources and better understand research that faculty members are involved in. Having library staff members present at our workshops has also been beneficial to answer faculty questions that may arise (e.g. enquiries about course reserves and interlibrary loans).

Workshops may also be designed specifically for staff members or may be incorporated into existing meetings. At the end of a departmental meeting, for example, a liaison librarian might demonstrate a new database and share three key ideas for staff to remember. Fostering a welcoming climate for sharing new knowledge encourages others to do the same. Eventually, these demonstrations can become ingrained into the normal culture of such meetings making the effort self-sustaining and a consistent benefit to the library staff.

Many librarians have a soft spot for archives and the way in which the leather-bound books and quiet reading rooms conjure up libraries of the past. At the same time, librarians may be out of touch with the daily life of an archivist in the 21st century. Library staff members working in other departments may also lack understanding of the role and the potential that special collections and archives have in the university. One method to engage staff members is to host an open house in the archives department. Without a need to visit, staff may feel reluctant to enter the department. After sparking some curiosity, a follow-up strategy could be to promote cross-training opportunities within the archives for the library staff. There is always an abundance of work to be done in an archive and not all of it requires a post-secondary degree to have it done well. Tasks such as creating inventories, encapsulating, scanning, and rehousing records can be taught in a short period of time and requires little follow-up supervision once the skill is learned. The key is ensuring that the individual has the right demeanour and respect for the records before entrusting them with the work. The benefits of such an arrangement are threefold: first, working with these unique documents can become a welcome change in the daily routines of library personnel; second, the increased familiarity with the archives department will increase staff's ability to promote the archives more effectively; and third, important work that can make the record collections more accessible gets completed.

By displaying highlights of the collection and encouraging questions with library staff, an archivist may set the groundwork for future interactions that can drive students and faculty members to use the collection. The archivist can also use the opportunity to showcase how archives have changed by demonstrating digitized collections that have been created in-house and offering examples of how the collections have been used most recently. At Brock, for example, a large number of books that either are or potentially will be heavily consulted from the Special Collections and Archives have been digitized by the Internet Archive project. This project is an example of digitized local collections that have the potential to impact researchers across the world. Further, an interesting demonstration of how these archival materials are being used in novel ways is when researchers take historic maps and photographs and apply GIS (Geospatial Information Systems) and three-dimensional technologies to bring to life a model landscape from the past. Exhibiting these modern spins on archival research to co-workers will help them see the wider potential for the records beyond that of the traditional archives researcher.

Involving staff from across the library in the planning and assessment of promotional campaigns is another important way to encourage word-of-mouth marketing. This might be as simple as an informal survey to ask for input on a new library video or as complex as inviting staff members to join marketing and promotion committees.3 Staff from across the library can offer unique perspectives based on their interactions with patrons. In addition, those involved in sharing ideas might carry information about, and enthusiasm for, a new resource back to their respective departments.

How might this work in practice? Imagine that an academic library purchases an important collection of digitized magazines that have been requested by the history department, but that have the potential to be used across the disciplines. If there is one or more liaison/subject librarian(s), the promotion of this resource might begin in-house. The librarian might introduce the resource at a...