Writing it all down: the evolution of future-proofing library workflows

With resource sharing staff staying an average of 3-5 years, capturing policies and procedures to facilitate onboarding and strengthen institutional memory is key in building consistent workflows. Creating documentation was a multi-stage process executed over several years. Initially, the staff supe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of access services 2024-04, Vol.21 (2), p.118-129
Main Author: DeVet, Katherine E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Documentation
institutional memory
interlibrary loan
onboarding
resource sharing
staff training
Workflow documentation
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Summary:With resource sharing staff staying an average of 3-5 years, capturing policies and procedures to facilitate onboarding and strengthen institutional memory is key in building consistent workflows. Creating documentation was a multi-stage process executed over several years. Initially, the staff supervisor wrote office policies and assigned staff to write step-by-step guides for common workflows. These were kept in shared storage and evaluated and updated periodically. During pandemic closures, mind-mapping in MindManager aided gap analysis to prioritize areas of the workflow not yet documented. Most recently, this documentation moved into Microsoft Teams which both limits inadvertent alteration and facilitates searchability.
ISSN:1536-7967
1536-7975
DOI:10.1080/15367967.2024.2340479