VALA2022 Lightning Talk Salopek

How our community of practice survived (and thrived) in 2020

VALA2022 Lightning Talk

Christina Salopek
Kyra Thomsen
  • University of Wollongong

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Abstract

What does a community of practice look like if they don’t practice anything? How do you operate a community of practice if the community changes with every meeting? What’s the point of a community of practice, anyway?

In February 2020 when a group of library staff met at a café on campus to talk about starting a community of practice (CoP) about user experience (UX), none of us could have imagined that we would experience a year of such rapid growth and innovation in the middle of a global pandemic. Surrounded by disruption, our CoP had to change and adapt before it had even taken shape. In the spirit of experimentation and with growth mindsets, we disregarded the idea of what a community of practice should be and made our own path.

The University of Wollongong (UOW) Library enables a flexible, skilled workforce through professional development activities outlined in the Future Ready Library Strategy. In 2020, UOW Library’s digital dexterity program initiated several internal communities of practice, including the UX CoP. There was growing staff interest in UX as we realised all library services have an impact on user experience. While many of us worked from home, these CoPs operated online through Microsoft Teams.  Through this digital environment, rather than face-to-face, we were able to transcend geographic locations and include our diverse staff profile at all organisational levels.

The field of UX embraces human-centredness and inclusivity (valuable practices pre- and post-pandemic) and this became a foundation for the how the UX CoP would operate in the digital environment. The group was diverse, with people from all teams dropping in and out of discussions. We were agile with asynchronous conversations. We were collaborative and creative, with likeminded and curious people upskilling and reskilling in core skills such as critical and analytical thinking, public speaking, planning, collaboration, networking and using new technologies.

The UX CoP became an open forum for sharing, exploring, listening, unpacking, understanding, and reflecting; we made connections during a time that was incredibly isolating, and it was a safe place to learn new things during a time that was stressful.

While the community of practice was strategic we didn’t focus on creating tangible outputs, meeting KPIs or tracking metrics. Our goal was to learn something new, and this resulted in a range of complementary benefits to our staff and UOW Library. Staff anecdotally said they felt more confident, more empathetic, and more aware of biases, perspectives and UX due to their involvement in the CoP. This positively impacted their everyday work, from interactions with clients to how we think about our collections.

The CoP gave our people a purpose, and this learning process was reciprocal; the more we learned, the more our staff shared knowledge, evolved in our roles and became multidisciplinary, human-centred individuals. We keep the user in mind in all that we do for UOW Library and this UX focus will position us well as knowledge workers of the future.

Biography

Christina Salopek is a Resource Sharing Officer at the University of Wollongong Library. Her team is responsible for Subject Readings, Document Delivery, and supplying Inter Library Loans for its clients and reciprocal suppliers. Christina has a background in heritage and the cultural arts sector and has a keen interest in content development and learning about new ways of learning and engaging in the online environment for the user. You can find her on Twitter: @ChristinaSalop1

 

Kyra Thomsen (she/her) is the University of Wollongong Library’s Digital User Experience Lead; her team’s goal in the Library is to improve client experiences by understanding, anticipating and meeting user needs. With a background in content strategy and creative writing, Kyra is fascinated by the user story behind every mouse click and mobile swipe. You can find her on Twitter: @ContentWithKyra

 

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VALA2020 Session 3 Organ

Really real and virtually real: celebrating the works of Bert Flugelman

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 3
Tuesday 11 February 2020, 11:25 – 11:55

Michael Organ
  • Manager Repository Services
  • University of Wollongong
Grant White
  • Manager University Archives
  • University of Wollongong
Karen Illesca
  • Communication & Events Co-ordinator, Library
  • University of Wollongong
Nathan Riggir
  • Maker/MediaSpace Co-ordinator, Library
  • University of Wollongong
Phillippa Webb
  • Exhibitions Curator, Library
  • University of Wollongong

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Abstract

The University of Wollongong Library’s Wry ARTificer exhibition, featuring the work of Bert Flugelman, blended physical and virtual environments as a practical showcase of the organisation’s digital capabilities. A range of technologies were utilised, including the Microsoft Hololens augmented reality platform and 3D digitisation and modelling techniques. The exhibition stimulated collaboration between diverse communities of practice, including curators, archivists, learning technologists, software developers and librarians, to deliver an exciting and innovative interpretation of Flugelman’s life and work.

 

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VALA1993 Alcock

Preparing for the Electronic Library: fourth year and masters students’ responses to a course on Online Information Services.

Carole Alcock, University of Wollongong

Abstract

Read the paper HERE.

This paper examines the responses of students to the Online Information Services course presented as part of the Bachelor (fourth year)and Master of Information Technology Degrees at the University of Wollongong.

VALA2016 Session 14 Newton

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Michelle Riggs
Michelle Riggs
Kristy Newton
Kristy Newton

Everybody’s talking but who’s listening? Hearing the user’s voice above the noise, with content strategy and design thinking

VALA2016 CONCURRENT SESSION 14: Design
Thursday 11 February 2016, 11:25 – 11:55
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2016-proceedings/vala2016-session-14-newton

Kristy Newton and Michelle Riggs

University of Wollongong Library, NSW

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Abstract

Targeted, consistent content encourages library users to engage with our services and resources. As the user experience, particularly offshore, is largely defined by interactions with our virtual services, it is more important than ever to listen to the user and craft content that forms part of an ongoing conversation. This paper shares the University of Wollongong Library’s experience of developing a content strategy and using personas with design thinking to firmly place user experience at the heart of content and service delivery.

 

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VALA2016 Session 4 Pepper

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A textbook example: the academic library and Cengage Learning eTextbook pilot

VALA2016 CONCURRENT SESSION 4: Working Together
Tuesday 9 February 2016, 15:20 – 15:50
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2016-proceedings/vala2016-session-4-pepper

Alison Pepper

University of Wollongong, NSW

Maryce Johnstone

Cengage Learning, Vic

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  •  VALA2016-Session-4-Pepper-Paper not yet available

Abstract

This paper shares both publisher and library perspectives and findings from a 2014/2015 Cengage-Learning eTextbook pilot project, an Australia and New Zealand first for institutional elending and region-specific eTextbooks for the academic library. In mid-2014, seven eTextbooks were released via established aggregator platform, EBL, with a three-concurrent-user model. An additional twenty titles were added for first semester 2015. Preliminary results are presented in this paper. The benefits of integrating and experiencing eTexts in new Teaching and Learning paradigms has yet to be fully realised across stakeholders, posing both risk and opportunity for both library and publisher.

 

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VALA2016 Session 13 Ross

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vala peer reviewed

Kerry Ross
Kerry Ross
Susan Jones
Susan Jones

UOW History Archives Portal: collaboration between the University of Wollongong Library and the History Program to deliver innovative access to digital archives

VALA2016 CONCURRENT SESSION 13: Digitisation Adventures
Thursday 11 February 2016, 10:50 – 11:20
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2016-proceedings/vala2016-session-13-ross

Kerry Ross, Glenn Mitchell, Fiona Macdonald and Susan Jones

University of Wollongong, NSW

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Abstract

There are clear indications that online access to digital archival material is transforming historical scholarship. To date, the role of libraries and archives is primarily in the production and dissemination of this resource. Closer collaboration between historians and the creators and administrators of digital archives is an emerging area of interest for those seeking to contribute to future developments in methodologies around the use of digital archives in teaching and research. The case study in this paper reports on a work-in-progress collaboration to enhance the discovery of digital archival materials in teaching and research at the University of Wollongong.

 

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VALA2016 Session 16 Organ

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Christopher Moore
Christopher Moore
Michael Organ
Michael Organ
Rebecca Daly
Rebecca Daly

3D immersive collection and teaching environments: the Yellow House project at UOW

VALA2016 CONCURRENT SESSION 16: Virtual Travels
Thursday 11 February 2016, 15:20 – 15:50
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2016-proceedings/vala2016-session-16-organ

Michael Organ, Christopher Moore, Rebecca Daly and Neil Cairns

University of Wollongong, NSW

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Abstract

This paper discusses the Yellow House VR project at the University of Wollongong. Innovative virtual reality technologies such as Oculus Rift are being utilised to recreate the 1970s Sydney artist community space known as the Yellow House, as both an historic replication and openly accessible, immersive teaching and learning environment for use and adaptation by teachers, students, researchers and the general community. The paper considers the role of the library in the enhanced presentation of digitised collections through new and evolving technologies which provide opportunities for knowledge enhancement and support the development of student e-portfolios.

 

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VALA2014 Session 11 Organ

What’s on the telly? Streaming the archives to new audiences

VALA2014 CONCURRENT SESSION 11: Crossing the Stream
Thursday 6 February 2014, 10:30 – 11:00
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2014-proceedings/vala2014-session-11-organ

Michael Organ and Rebecca Daly

University of Wollongong Library, NSW

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VALA Peer Reviewed

Abstract

University libraries face an increasingly diverse digital world in which tablet and mobile devices are the preferred access platforms for research, teaching and learning. The University of Wollongong Library has responded by digitising its unique archival collections, embedding digitisation processes, developing a digitisation program and providing a Digital Collections portal to material held within its repositories. The Library has also embarked on digitisation of the nationally significant WIN4 television news collection 1964-84. Comprising over 1,000 reels of 16mm black and white film and associated scripts, the project entails significant technological, copyright and logistical hurdles in providing streamed access to content.

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