Chapter 5 of Library Technology Reports (vol. 57, no. 7), “The Things No One Seems to Talk About,” concludes the technology report with a discussion about a few useful topics relating to crisis management that the author has seldom, if ever, heard discussed among his peers.
Chapter 3 of Library Technology Reports (vol. 57, no. 8), “Using the Toward Gigabit Libraries Toolkit,” covers a few different approaches for how to use the toolkit (as a whole or in pieces). It also uses anecdotes from the pilot process to illustrate how the toolkit can be utilized (e.g., to discuss connection speed problems with an internet service provider beyond describing the connection as “slow”).
Chapter 3, “Transcripts,” of Library Technology Reports (vol. 57, no. 3) introduces the concept of transcripts and specifically delves into the reasons that transcripts can be of use even if videos are already captioned, including not only how they expand access but also how they facilitate other ways of using and navigating video content. The chapter also explains other advantages of offering descriptive transcripts for all audio content. It concludes with best practices for transcripts that will improve access to video content.
Managing IT in a library crisis means managing the crisis. Be flexible—in approach, with staff, and with yourself. Understand going in that you aren’t going to be able to cover every base and no one expects you to. If you’re an IT manager you have a whole team that you’re leading. If you have been as fortunate in your career as I have been, that means that you have a team of colleagues with great skills and great ideas. They’ll be relying on you to make difficult decisions (and take responsibility for them), keep organizational communication active (both vertically and laterally), and coordinate their efforts, as well as enacting ideas of your own. The organization will be relying on you to project confidence, make yourself as available as possible, and react in an agile fashion as conditions change.
