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September 26, 2005
MainKeep Naming the Baby!
We have received several suggestions for the newsletter, but will continue to take your names through October 15th. Put your thinking caps on -- the winning name will receive a gift from the Notre Dame Bookstore.
MainRecognition Review
As the Performance and Recognition Advisory Group wraps things up, I wanted to share with you some of the highlights and reminders of the many ways we can all take time to recognize one another’s efforts.
~Staff Survey conducted in September 2004
~Survey results led to the University Library’s new on-the-spot recognition program,PEEP (Privately Eyeing Excellent People) which has been embraced
~Recognition Toolkits for all staff, and supervisors – these toolkits give suggestions for rewards, different awards that are available to nominate staff for, and most importantly, they remind us to take the time to “just say thanks� to a co-worker or staff member for the work they do for the University Libraries
~Information on PEEP’s and the Toolkits can be found on UL@ND at: http://libstaff.library.nd.edu/recognition
~Speaking of rewards, it is time once again to start nominating employees throughout the University Libraries – all are invited to reflect on contributions made by their co-workers during the year and to help us bring these contributions to light.
Nominations will be accepted in the same manner as last year in two categories – individual employees and groups. The guidelines for nomination are:
• All individual library and staff are eligible to be nominated for these awards.
• Any employee may nominate any other employee, but no employee should nominate more than three individuals and two groups.
• No individual may win an individual award in two consecutive years, but a person can win and be part of a winning group at any time. This means that an individual may win an individual award in the same year that he/she is honored as part of a group or in the year preceding or following the group award.
• Group awards are for any formal or informal team of two or more people who worked on a common project or who achieved a shared accomplishment. Groups may include official committees, working groups, and teams (including those with non-library members), units, and unofficial groups of individuals who have worked together on a specific project or on resolving a recognized problem.
• Anyone who does not wish to be considered for an award, should notify Jo Bessler by October 17th and your wishes will be honored.
Please note that any library employee -- supervisor, co-worker, staff, faculty, colleague -- may submit a nomination. No form is required, although individual and group nomination forms are available on the Performance Recognition Awards website at:
http://libstaff.library.nd.edu/recognition/awards.shtml
Or, if you prefer to work offline, you can also send a brief note to Jo Bessler, c/o Library Annual Performance Awards Committee (221 Hesburgh Library or Bessler.1@nd.edu), by October 17, 2005.
• For individual nominees, the letter should name the nominee, the nominee’s department or unit, and describe the reason for the nomination.
• For group nominations, it is important to list all members of the group.
To help the reviewers evaluate the nomination, please offer some examples that illustrate the excellence of performance for which the individual or group is being nominated.
Nominations will be reviewed by a committee composed of one member of LEC (Jo Bessler), and last year’s individual award winners (Monica Crabtree, Rob Fox, Ken Kinslow, Joy Schosker, and Michelle Stenberg).
Some positions are not as visible or public as others. Some contributions may only be fully understood by co-workers in the same unit. This is why we urge each of you to alert the review committee to individual achievements that you have seen. We rely on each of you to help us acknowledge less visible, but equally important accomplishments.
This year the names of all nominators will again be placed in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate for lunch at the Morris Inn. Three certificates will be awarded. Any nominator, who wishes to opt out of this drawing, should notify Jo Bessler by October 17, 2005.
September 23, 2005
MainBob's 19th Hole
RESTAURANT REVIEW
With Diane Kennedy
Last month I recommended a family owned restaurant off the beat and path, well, this month, I am doing the same. Bob’s 19th Hole, is a small little restaurant/pub that has been around for over 20 years, located on the far West side of town. They just remodeled the outside and some of the inside of the restaurant, a huge improvement, it looks more modern now. This restaurant is nothing fancy so casual, casual is the best attire. Bob’s 19th Hole is located on the corner of U.S. 20 and Quince Road, just South of Elbel Golf Course, hence the name.
Everyone loves a great sandwich or a fantastic tasting pizza! This is a great little place to go enjoy a very tasty and reasonably priced meal. The 19th Hole is famous for their Philly sandwiches, I highly recommend the Chicken Philly, let’s just say you need a fork to eat it, forget about picking up this sandwich. My husband, Dave, almost always gets the Black & Blue Grilled Chicken sandwich, he loves it. With every entrée and sandwich you get two sides, try the twice baked potato; you won’t be sorry, I promise. They also have homemade soups, salads, burgers and ugly stixs (onion straws). Entrees include prime rib, chicken, chops, fish & shrimp.
If you are a fish lover, every Friday they have a Fish Fry, all you can eat Fried Pollack for $6.95. I suggest you go before 5:00 p.m. on Friday because after 5, they are lined up out the door!
I am not a big franchise pizza lover, when I was a kid, we used to get Luigi’s Pizza, I loved it! The 19th Hole has a fantastic tasting pizza, the cheese, sauce and crust are simply the best! The pizza is one of my favorite things to get, we often order pizza for carry out, which I have to go out of my way to pick up, so you know it’s good!
Enjoy.
Diane Kennedy
Amateur Food Critic
"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients."
Julia Child
Bob's 19th Hole
26582 U.S. 20
South Bend, IN
574-233-0297
September 22, 2005
MainMaking Communication Easier: Templates!
By Liz Dube for the Communications Working Group (Jo Bessler, Jean Cane, Dan Marmion, Jayne Schlutt, and Sandy Stellema)
If you’ve ever had to put a policy or procedure in writing, or if you’ve ever been tasked with preparing a charge for a committee or task force, you know that accomplishing such tasks can sometimes feel like reinventing the wheel. Instead of simply focusing on what you want to convey in your policy or charge document, you may find yourself faced with pesky details such as what should a policy look like?, or, is this task force charge missing some key detail? No doubt, it can be difficult to anticipate the types of information others might want to know about your policy or committee, and it can be difficult to determine the best way to arrange the information. You may also have found that once a policy or charge is written, it can be difficult to provide ready access to everyone who will need access—today, tomorrow, or even five years down the road. Finally, as policies and groups evolve over time, such changes can become increasingly difficult to document and communicate to others.
To assist with these challenges, the Communications Working Group (CWG) worked with Tom Lehman and Team Intranet to develop two electronic templates intended to simplify the process of preparing, communicating, and updating policies and team charges. As you put these templates to use, we ask that you please let Jo Bessler know what you think (jbessler@nd.edu or 1-6680). We hope the templates are useful and we look forward to making them even better, with your help!
Policy Template
What’s it for?
All new library policies and procedures affecting multiple departments are to be formatted according to the team charge template. All updated policies affecting multiple departments should also be formatted according to the policy template. All are welcome to voluntarily convert any existing policies and procedures to the policy template, if desired.
The policy template helps insure a transparent process whereby written policies are drafted in a consistent manner, shared publicly in a central location, and easily revised and shared.
Once a policy or procedure is written using the template and has received approval, email a copy to Elaine Savely (savely.1@nd.edu) so that it can be mounted in the “Policies and Procedures� section of UL@ND. Remember to alert/remind folks about the policies’ existence and location. Have a policy that’s not quite ready for prime time that you’d like input on? Drafts may also be submitted to Elaine; these will be posted in the “Draft Policy� section of the “Policies and Procedures� page of UL@ND. Again, don’t forget to alert folks about the draft policies’ existence and location.
Where is it?
In UL@ND, under “Forms� > “Library Related Forms�. Or, go directly to: http://libstaff.library.nd.edu/policies/policy_template.shtml
Team Charge Template
What’s it for?
All new formally-charged groups (committees, task forces, etc.) are to use the template to prepare their charge. The committee chair and LEC liaison share the responsibility for completing the charge template.
Once the charge is finalized, mount it prominently on your committee’s web page (or ask Elaine Savely to do that it you, if are unable). Don’t forget to publicize its availability.
Where is it?
In UL@ND, under “Forms� > “Library Related Forms�. Or, go directly to: http://libstaff.library.nd.edu/policies/committee_template.shtml
September's Scoop
Certain questions seem to surface every season. Others hover – waiting indefinitely for some definitive response. From time to time, I hope to use this space to capture these questions and to document answers. Below are two puzzlers. You are welcome to submit your own queries.
Are funds available for programs offered by the Office of Information Technologies or Human Resources?
Yes. Each Division has some money set aside to support faculty and staff development. An individual who identifies an appealing program should work through his/her supervisor and department head to request funding. Although no one person can attend every class every time, support is often available . This is especially true for programs that relate to one’s position or to one’s job-related learning goals as stated in the Development section of the annual review. Some support is also available for more general programs.
When a Library or University employee is applying for a position in the Library, may the interviewing supervisor see recent evaluations for that employee and speak with that employee’s current supervisor?
Yes. Before the interviewing supervisor determines which candidate to hire, he or she should check the references for that candidate and any other candidate in the final pool The supervisor may contact 221 staff (or HR) to review recent (usually the last 3) performance reviews. As a general courtesy, the interviewing supervisor should inform the candidate before contacting his or her current supervisor – since the applicant may not have yet told that supervisor about the application.
Jo Bessler
September 14, 2005
MainChanges in the University Libraries
Changes in the University Libraries
You may have noticed some not so familiar faces belonging to the UL staff lately, as well as some change in positions for current staff -- just to help you put a face with a name:
Joy Schosker is the Library Assistant in Chem/Physics
Lisa Stienbarger is the Supervisor in Serials Cataloging
Kurt Morris joins Current Periodicals/LL Microtext
Leslie Morgan and Felicia Smith are Librarians-in-Residence
Pete Reimers joins Architecture