Librarians Have Departmental Retreat

The librarians of the Weinberg Memorial Library participated in their first departmental retreat on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Bonnie Oldham, Coordinator of Information Literacy and Kristin Yarmey-Tylutki, Digital Services Librarian initiated the retreat to help the various departments in the library integrate their individual activities and projects with the overall strategic plan of the library and the University. Library administration, library faculty and adjunct librarians met in Collegiate Hall for a day-long workshop, which was facilitated by Terry Wolford, President of the Wolford Group from Blue Bell, PA. Ms. Wolford is well know to both the library and higher education community for her staff development workshops, having presented to the Pennsylvania Library Association and a number of colleges and universities in the Northeast region of the state on various human resource issues. Part of the day's activities included preparing a SWOT analysis, envisioning what the Weinberg Library should and could look like in three, five, and ten year increments, as well as developing a series of goals and objectives for putting our plans into action. Key issues which surfaced during the retreat included technology, budgets, demographic trends for both students and staff, and service to distance learners, now a growing segment of the graduate school population.