What is the newest “techie” gadget that you have/would like to have, and how do/would you use it to improve the work relationship that you have with your primary clientele?
Stacey Greenwell, Candidate for Division Cabinet Chair-Elect
I have long enjoyed experimenting with gadgets/new technologies, whether it was my Atari 2600, countless Apple products, my first Palm Pilot or the many PalmOS devices that followed, not to mention my reliance on Evernote, Dropbox, Kindle, and dozens of other apps across all of my devices today. As much as I enjoy gadgets/new technologies, I am somewhat slower to adopt them in my work environment, as I feel strongly that a new gadget/technology needs to solve a problem, not that we need to find a problem for a new gadget to solve. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the cool factor of a new technology instead of thinking carefully about how the organization will benefit from its use.
Earlier this year I found a techology tool that solved a number of problems for the university library system where I work. As Associate Dean, I need to collect data from a large number of individuals and library locations: public service statistics, strategic plan progress, quarterly report items, specific information about our instruction and assessment efforts, etc. Others in the past had collected this information via paper forms, individual emails, a shared spreadsheet on the fileserver, a shared spreadsheet on SharePoint, a web-based survey, and all of these efforts were cumbersome, time-consuming, or problematic in some way. I wanted something that was easy to use, eliminated multiple inputting, and transparent enough to allow any library staff member to run a report if needed. Since January, I have been using Springshare's LibAnalytics to collect all of this data, and I am really pleased with the results.
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