One of the things I was hoping to achieve when I started my full-time position at TWU was to collaborate with other parts of our organization. While it didn’t happen right away, taking over as the manager of our campus library (which did in fact become permanent in February) has allowed for so many possibilities with a variety of groups.
Facilities, campus administration and TWU archives
I worked with facilities and our new campus president to give a face lift to our study spaces (the whiteboard walls had become greyboard walls). I even worked with SCUA, our special collections group, and marketing, to get prints of historical photos of the Dallas campus. This has led to other people in our building asking how to do the same, underscoring our campus history as well as our history as part of Texas Woman’s.
Mike A. Myers Stroke Center
I first met with the head of the stroke center the week my predecessor left, in September 2023. Our first conversation was about having patients do therapeutic work in the library, like shelving books. But patients were hesitant or not at the right point in their recovery, so we were patient. We continued to talk. In September 2024, I talked to them about adding to their lending library, doing a targeted book drive and planning to apply for a grant for books for their population on recovery from stroke and relearning how to read after brain injury. In October I connected them with a local public library to hopefully have the public librarian speak to stroke patients and family members about programs and volunteer opportunities.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
We’ve been talking about the placement of a computer game/analysis to help students measure how well they react to anxiety and stress, but we worry about HIPAA and how to protect their privacy, so it’s an ongoing debate and discussion. In the meantime, we collaborated on table tents that gave library visitors tips on protecting their mental health, with a QR code to contact CAPS if they need help.
Nursing department
While we were working on the improvements to our library, we learned that our nursing department was trying to repurpose several unused offices as study rooms for students. They would do most of the work, coordinating with facilities to clear out unused furniture and IT to clean out unnecessary tech. But they needed a way to reserve the study rooms, like we do in the library. With the encouragement of our dean, I reached out to our access services group to create a reservation block in SpringShare, asked marketing to order clings similar to those in the library that point students via QR code to the reservation system, and made sure the nursing department had everything they needed to help the students use the space. Within a week, the rooms were full and students were happy to have another space to use for studying between classes.
Student Life
I was lucky that we got a new Assistant Director of Student Life just as I was stepping into my manager position. I love working with their team, and we have put on a variety of events together. Sometimes we step into their space and represent the library at their student organization fair. Sometimes they work with us to schedule therapy dogs and make sure they come to visit with students in the library. And sometimes we plan a big to-do together in order to allow 150 students, faculty and staff enjoy an eclipse as a campus. I love what we have been able to do as a team.
Overall, it’s been an incredible first year as the manager of our campus library. I feel like we’ve accomplished so much through these collaborations across campus. And in October 2024, we had our first patient visit from the stroke center.
Sometimes, you just have to be patient.