This is from a slightly different angle, but I think about Derek Sivers' post about delegation at his company, CD Baby, and the creation of the company operating manual all the time: https://sive.rs/delegate I have shared it with my coworkers and talk about creating an operating manual pretty often. We do have some documentation but it's scattered all over the place, figuring out where/how to centralize it has been a challenge.


Marijane White, M.S.L.I.S. 
Data and Research Engagement Librarian, Assistant Professor 
Oregon Health & Science University Library 

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ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5059-4132 <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5059-4132> 



On 11/28/23, 8:14 AM, "Code for Libraries on behalf of Hammer, Erich F" <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> on behalf of [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:


Between administrative interfaces for internal and third-party Library service applications, IT/networking services, support services, etc., I have around 3 dozen bookmarks just to (barely) manage my responsibilities. That doesn't include the various forms for requesting other people do other things with their tools/utilities. The other departments like Access Services, Reference, Archives, Purchasing, HR etc. have their own utilities and services for their needs, and I've been wondering if anyone is actually keeping track of all of these internal needs in case someone else suddenly needs to take over any particular job. Because of reduced staffing, there is almost no redundancy, thus, I know unquestionably that should I get hit by the Lotto bus, there are lesser-used-but-still-vital systems/services that nobody else knows how to access. They might know of them and are probably smart enough to figure out at least some basics if plopped in front of them, but how to get to them has limited/no documentation.


I've been thinking that our fundamental function is keeping track of information, so shouldn't the Library also *collectively* keep track of all the tools/utilities necessary to keep the library functioning? I imagine that just a giant list would be too overwhelming when an individual employee might only need a small percentage of them, so some means of indexing/searching is probably required. Does anyone here do have a shared/collective solution, or does each department (or worse, individual) just keep that information separately and internally? Do you use a third-party product (what?), or have you constructed your own solution? Do you keep track of shared credentials or the individual staff members who hold credentials?


Thanks,
Erich




--
Erich Hammer Head of Library Systems
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518-442-3891 University @ Albany


The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum.