Growing Together: Legitimizing creativity through cross-departmental collaboration

Abstract

Technical Services (TS) Staff have been interested in learning more about other departments and using the tools the library has to offer, but can lack the freedom to engage during their scheduled hours. TS has scheduled quite a few meet & greets and departments have been invited to TS meetings to share what their teams are working on. Unfortunately this has not fulfilled the goal of connecting TS staff to their colleagues across the library. So we took another approach by reaching out to the department we are closest to physically. The TS librarians spoke to Creation & Innovation Services Librarian, who routinely develops programming and classes to engage and empower patrons to use their space. Our idea was to plan necessary, but potentially mundane work interspersed with training on Makerspace tools. We wanted to empower our staff to engage with the space and their colleagues, bring the department closer together, & generally improve TS work. As a by-product we could facilitate increased buy-in for the Makerspace and their work. Through this collaboration we were able to reorganize internal documentation ahead of a new hire’s arrival and start a cyclical review process for our procedures. We will discuss best practices for developing maker-related staff enrichment opportunities. This type of alternative training involving creative activities is beneficial by bridging the divide between departments and building a culture of creativity.