In the wake of the chancellor’s retreat two weeks ago, we’ve begun the process of renewing the strategic plan for the Library. At Wednesday’s Management Council meeting, I gave a presentation on key points I took away from the retreat about campus priorities under the leadership of our new chancellor and about changing realities within the UC system, both in terms of the new president’s plans for the Office of the President and the California economy’s impact on state funding. We’re just in the initial stages of deciding on how the process will move forward, but as before, we will actively involve Library staff and extensively utilize information about user needs and experiences in the substance of it.
The campus has changed its process of calling for strategic plans somewhat from what it was three years ago. Now they are asking all campus units for a one-year academic or business plan, due early next year, with more extensive, multi-year strategic plans due from the units on a rotating basis. The Library doesn’t come up in that rotation until 2010, but we need to move forward now nevertheless. We will incorporate the process of creating our one-year academic/business plan (since the Library in fact spans those categories) into the process of creating the multi-year strategic plan so that they build on each other.
Just as we created an inclusive process for generating our current strategic plan, we will do so again. So what happens next? We plan to have all-staff open sessions to discuss topics for inclusion. Some of our progress on fundamentals, such as the YRL renovation, will be reflected in the new plan. Working groups will collaborate to create a draft plan. Management Council will review and take responsibility for the final product.
Your suggestions are welcome now, and as we move forward.
On 9/11
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008I spent 9/11/2008 at the Chancellor’s Retreat and was struck by the fact that no mention was made of the significance of the date until almost the end of the meeting. I had begun the morning with thoughts and memories of that fateful day in New York City.
I was in my office at Queens Library being interviewed by a reporter from Newsweek having delayed my planned trip to Washington, D.C. that day until around noon. My head of security, Mike Daly, rushed into my office, turned on the television to NY1, turned and said that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I was sure Mike was kidding. The reporter, Mike, and I sat there glued to the images flashing before us and the uncertainty of the reporter’s voice on air.
The reporter rushed off hoping to get back to Manhattan, and we immediately went into crisis mode and began contacting branches to attempt to calm folks and make sure that our 63 facilities remained open as long as people needed to be there. The city transportation came to a standstill. Internet in 23 of our branches was down because their lines ran through the Verizon center at the World Trade Cente. Cell phones were still working for the most part. By late afternoon, most were making their way to their homes or had arrangements of places to stay. A number of our staff who lived in lower Manhattan close to the site (thankfully all were at work that day) had made arrangements for places to stay. A number walked from their work back across bridges into Manhattan.
As I gathered senior managers into our control center, we decided we would open all branches the next day. The city had closed schools and other facilities, but we felt it important that we be open and ready to have people come in and they did. Thousands came to their branches as a place of connection and to get information.
The rest of the story would unfold, and I have many thoughts about how we handled it all. But those thoughts are too numerous for this. But I did want to make note of the anniversary, and that it impacted so many people’s lives for so long. As I sat at home that evening and watched from my terrace balcony the funnel of smoke and ash still rising from ground zero, I felt the world was a different place. And it certainly has been.
Do pause and reflect a moment.
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