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Infinite Mile Awards, 2008Individual | Team
Results, Outcome and Productivity: Barker Storage Team
Any team must communicate, strategize and coordinate actions in order to maximize its impact. Whether on the volleyball court or in the MIT Libraries arena, a successful team pulls together to excel under pressure. This team was not intimidated by the challenge of storing thousands of journal volumes in a very short timeframe. When the decision was made to store all print journals with an electronic copy in this library, hundreds of titles were affected, including "dead" titles. Rather than complaining about the magnitude of the assignment, this threesome "jumped right into the task." And they didn’t back down when they learned that the library’s elevator was going to be serviced in just a fortnight, which added a greater sense of urgency to the project. A storage project of this scale requires detailed planning and organization. This team had to determine how many total volumes were being stored, how many shelf feet were required, and which storage site was appropriate for each title. Those who were unfamiliar with storage projects quickly learned new skills in order to be more versatile members of the team. They processed the volumes in two passes, since items going to the Annex stacks needed to be maintained alphabetically in numbered boxes. When they finished processing the items for Annex, they moved on to items for the Off Campus Collection. This library’s journal collection posed an additional challenge: "With a slew of society acronyms, transliterated titles and the like, it is not unusual for a title to be mislaid. At the 11th hour, while doing a last minute walk-through of the collection, the storage team discovered a dozen titles that had been missed. With Stimpsons coming the next day to move the boxes to the Annex, the team had no time to lose. They worked well into the night to update the holdings, interweave the journal boxes alphabetically and re-label every box of material. All three worked tirelessly to pull volumes from the shelf, update holdings and re-barcode all the journals for storage. "With this heroic final push, the team completed their task, moving in excess of 7500 volumes in just 13 business days, which cleared 1200 linear shelf feet. The new shelf space not only creates room for monographic growth but also facilitates browsing of the collection. For their herculean efforts in moving mountains of materials to create shelf space, and their ability to remain calm and cool under pressure, the Libraries’ 2008 Infinite Mile Award, for a Team, in the category of Results, Outcome and Productivity, goes to the Barker Storage Team: Diana Daigle, Jeremiah Graves and Laura McWilliams.Community: Distance Education Acquisition and Delivery Group
The interlocking rings on the Olympic flag signify that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world. This award honors a team that demonstrates a commitment to global inclusion through its effort to extend the MIT community around the world. These team members work behind the scenes in support of several high profile academic programs, such as the Singapore-MIT Alliance and the System Design & Management distance education programs. Both programs extend the academic influence of MIT beyond the boundaries of the physical campus to a global community of learning. Because the SMA distance program has a synchronous, real-time, interactive component as well as asynchronous access, this group works odd hours across many time zones. Even during off hours, they are available to colleagues in Singapore via phone, chat and email to assure that the MIT students' academic experience is a satisfactory one. Through the use of innovative design and planning, this team also supplies tools that enhance the MIT student experience. In addition to the live video conferencing component of the actual class, each session is captured for asynchronous referral – an important capability for students who are not native speakers of English. Classes are posted to the course website within 12 hours, allowing students on campus, as well as those at Nanyang Technical University and the National University of Singapore, to watch lectures and replay them as often as needed. This team provides fundamental support for other groups in reaching beyond the MIT campus. Via webcasting, people can be part of MIT activities without being on campus. This service enables parents to become a part of their children's education (in the form of the 2.007 year-end contest), and for families who are unable to travel, to watch their loved one graduate from MIT. On-demand videostreaming is a service that reaches around the world as well. With MITWorld and OpenCourseware, professors and lecturers attain a global reach. These services require that equipment be running and available every day around the clock. While there is an academic calendar for the distance programs, the webcast and streaming demands are constant, often last minute, and with tight deadlines. Each dedicated team member has made and continues to make personal sacrifices in supporting these programs. Communication and Collaboration: R2 Implementation Team
To win a curling match, a team must have a skip, or captain, who sets strategies and goals for success. During each throw, the skip communicates to teammates how and when to sweep in order to properly direct the rock, and at the same time gathers and processes input from those same teammates about the conditions of the ice and of the rock itself that could alter the strategy. This library team was given a very large and complex project that involved the implementation of sweeping changes to library workflows. As "skip", this team set the strategies for success and guided the Libraries toward them, all the while gathering input from staff. Despite the daunting nature of their charge, this group successfully met the challenge of communicating on multiple levels with numerous stakeholders. One nominator praised them for their ability to provide context and background for each proposed change: "I always felt like I had enough information to make thoughtful comments on the relevant topics and was given appropriate venues…to voice my opinion." Another nominator appreciated their ability to speak honestly and directly about the benefits and drawbacks of the changes. "Big changes like this can be scary," they said. "In this context, many people might avoid face to face meetings that had the potential of being awkward or uncomfortable but not this group." The team’s collaborative process led to efficient and effective results. One nominator noted, "This group of individuals quickly became a team, relying on each other’s expertise and creativity to address the enormous task given to them." The vast set of recommendations was organized into categories and each category was assigned a "shepherd" who identified stakeholders, discussed changes with them, and guided affected staff through the implementation process. This group process proved to be very successful as it established an effective division of labor within the group and it gave those outside of the group a clear point of contact for each change being implemented. "They did an incredible job of updating us on their progress…, one nominator said. "I think the result of this was that people felt connected to what was being done. I have never seen a group at MIT or anywhere else do a better job of working together and communicating with others on their work." For creating open and effective lines of communication across the Libraries on all facets of their charge, and for developing and fostering a productive and efficient work strategy, the Libraries’ 2008 Infinite Mile Award, for a Team, in the category of Communication and Collaboration, goes to the R2 Implementation Team: Jennifer Banks, Charlene Follett, Millicent Gaskell, Rebecca Lubas, Marlene Manoff, Kim Maxwell, and Maria Rodrigues. Innovation and Creativity: Document Delivery Task Force and BookPage Implementation Team
In sports, victory is often achieved by a coaching staff that creates a strategic vision and game plan, which is then successfully implemented through the talents and drive of the athletes. Success was achieved in a similar manner by this team, which consisted of a planning task force paired with an implementation group. The Libraries’ service for delivering books from one library to another by request had been in existence for quite some time but was not well-integrated into other library services and systems. Many patrons were not even aware of this service, and if they were, the process for using it was clunky and it had significant limitations. The planning task force recognized that integrating this underutilized service into our OPAC would lower the barriers to its use, and that expanding the amount of materials that could be requested, would offer users an improved service that more closely met their needs. The group created a well thought-out proposal and passed it on to the implementation team who quickly translated it into action. This was no small task though, as staff workflows had to be adjusted and technical complications resolved. However, the expertise and attention to detail that the implementation team brought to the project ensured that the improved service was put into place in record time, with the added benefit of improving staff workflows in the process. The improved BookPage service was an instant success. Patrons are using it extensively and library staff have been able to meet the demand without undue strain on our resources. The Libraries’ strategic plan exhorts us to "enhance the usefulness of the Libraries’ significant physical collections as an asset in the digital age". This improvement to our book delivery service does just that. It is also provides us with a shining example of a successful implementation process for future service improvements. In the words of one nominator, "this kind of creative thinking significantly enhances customer service and the customer experience, and drives the improvement of all kinds of services." For their ability to envision and quickly implement a service improvement that has had an immediate, significant and positive impact on our users, the Libraries’ 2008 Infinite Mile Award, for a Team, in the category of Innovation and Creativity, goes to the Document Delivery Task Force and the BookPage Implementation Team: Elissa Derby, Melissa Feiden, Cassandra Fox, Jeremiah Graves, Pat Page, Anita Perkins, Christine Quirion, Carol Robinson, Matthew VanSleet, and Selina Wang. |
(back row - left to right): Millicent Gaskell, Charlene Follett, Maria Rodrigues | (front row – left to right): Ann Wolpert, Kim Maxwell, Rebecca Lubas, Marlene Manoff, Jennifer Banks | (missing from photo): Selina Wang