---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2000 10:27:32 -0600
From: "Belisle, Earl M." <EMBELISLE@stthomas.edu>
Subject: FW: Reference Teams

        We are a ten member reference department team at the  undergraduate
library of  the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.  The team structure
was adopted when the former Head of Reference became Library Director.  One
reference position was eliminated with the move so that we had three
options: select a new Head of Reference from the remaining people, fire
someone and use their position to hire a new Head of Reference from outside,
or adopt the team structure.  We were unable to agree on the first, did not
want to do the second so adopted the team structure.

        Team management is completely dependent on  team members.  Adding or
losing a team member results in a totally new team structure and dynamics.
We had a consultant sit in on team meetings for the first six months.  She
reviewed meeting procedures and participation at the end of each meeting.
Our big project was to write new position descriptions for each position and
agree on meeting procedures.  There were rocky times during the first six
months but things have stabilized and people who were reluctant to speak up
at meetings or volunteer for projects now contribute freely to discussions
and feel empowered  enough to volunteer and lead projects .

Administrative duties are rotated on an annual basis so that each team
member has a percentage of their position devoted to administrative duties
but no one can dominate a particular administrative position since they
have the assignment for only one year.  Once the structure is set up and
team members become comfortable with their roles team management works very
well for us.  The big drawback would be losing and adding a team member
since the whole team is much more affected by turnover than in the
hierarchal structure.

Earl Belisle
University of St. Thomas                    Voice 651-962-5004
Mail # 4258                                         Fax   651-962-5406
St. Paul,  MN.  55105
mailto:embelisle@stthomas.edu

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 14:53:38 -0600
> From: Cheryl Riley <riley@LIBSERV.CMSU.EDU>
> Subject: Team management
>
> Colleagues,
>
> Our Dean is proposing that we migrate to team management for the
> following functions:  reference, instructional services, bibliographic
> instruction, systems, and collection development.  I would appreciate it
> if some of you who already accepted the team approach would share your
> experiences.  We're primarily interested at the advantages and
> disadvantages to the approach.  We would be especially interested in any
> medium sized academic institutions that have implemented teams.
>
> FYI there doesn't seem to be a need for a team in Technical Services. It
> appears that one librarian is all that is necessary for acquisitions and
> cataloging.
>
> Thanks in advance.  Any and all input will be appreciated.
> *************************************
> Cheryl Riley, A.A., B.B.A., M.L.S., M.B.A., Ed. Spec.
> Associate Professor
> Central Missouri State University
> Warrensburg, MO  64093
> Http://library.cmsu.edu/car/cheryl.htm
> 660-543-8810 (work)
> 660-543-8001 (fax)
> Email:  riley@libserv.cmsu.edu (work)
>  criley101@home.com (home)
>
>
> RFC-822-headers:
>
>
> Greg Bull
> Serials Librarian
> O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library #5004
> University of St. Thomas
> 2115 Summit Avenue
> St. Paul, MN  55105
> (651) 962-5408    Fax: (651) 962-5406
> E-mail:  gdbull@stthomas.edu
>