Annual Evaluation

I had my meeting with the library director about my annual reflection yesterday and got her summary today. It went well. I was only a little concerned because I have defined my position in a totally different way than what she had in mind when she hired me, but that was a bit inevitable when I swapped archives responsibilities for the Web site last summer. I've gone farther with technology than is required, but she didn't have any complaints and overall I got a very good review.

Things I need to work on include bringing more active learning activities into the classroom, (though that was very difficult to work on this past year when I was teaching way more than anyone expected me to), and formalizing the faculty office visit program. I don't have to do all of the office visits anymore, the librarians are sharing that responsibility, but I will need to organize a meeting each semester and set a goal of how many office visits we'll do. This seems like a good plan. I also have projects to coordinate with the Writing Center. That won't be hard as I get along with the Writing Center director and we have lots of good ideas for projects.

I will also work closely with two biology professors to improve a class we teach for them in the spring. Each librarian that has taught this class has had a terrible experience with it. Furthermore, it's one of our biggest majors, with almost 60 graduates each year, yet this is the only class we have contact with. So it is a strategic move and I believe will give me a chance to do some creative work with integrating instructional technologies into their coursework.

Of course, we'll also be doing LibQUAL next year. I'm not looking forward to that, I was completely unimpressed with the training I went through at the annual meeting last June. They know they monopolize their market, they don't seem to care about the libraries, and they might as well be on Pluto (formerly known as the ninth planet) when it comes to understanding a small library. But it has to be done and while I'm to shy to enjoy doing assessment, I LOVE results (I'm the same way with taking photos).

Those are my big projects and goals for the upcoming year. I hate evaluations since I'm paranoid that people aren't happy with my work but won't tell me, but I know I do a good job and that came out in my review. I am very happy with it.