Library and Information Science Commons^™

Building Community: Synergy And Empowerment Through Staff Development And Marketing In A Small Rural Academic Library, Bethany Wilkes, Jennifer Ward

Collaborative Librarianship

This paper presents two collaborative programs at a small academic library that leverage the insights, engagement, and interests of our most important asset: our staff. Two new library committees, the Staff Training Advisory Group and the Marketing Team, extended planning, accountability, and partnerships to paraprofessional staff members. The onset and associated activities of these two committees yielded not only direct results in terms of staff training programs and marketing initiatives, but also resulted in creating a more collaborative culture and shared purpose in our library. This paper examines how the overlap of these two committees created a convergence that …