Committee Communication Responsibility Guidelines

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON LIBRARIES

COMMITTEE COMMUNICATION RESPONSIBILITY GUIDELINES

The following guidelines are intended for interdepartmental groups, such as standing committees, task forces and other appropriate groups.  As new groups are formed or appointed, Chairpersons will receive the guidelines from the Organization Development and Training office.  The guidelines are posted on the Libraries Staffweb at: https://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/units/ODT/communication-enhancement-initiative .

Active committees

It is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that the work of the group is consistently communicated and available to Libraries staff.  The communication steps include the following:

• The Chair should contact Information Technology Services at help@uw.edu to request that a folder be created in the “Committees & Groups” folder on Staffweb, the Libraries intranet.  The request should include:
  • The name and UW NetID of the person who will be responsible for managing the content of the folder.  The person may be the Chair or another member of the group.
  • The full name of the committee.  Abbreviations or acronyms maybe included in parentheses at the end of the name, e.g., Information Resources Council (IRC).
  • The Staffweb folder created in “Committees & Groups” should include the following:

(See instructions at https://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/ploneDocs/committees for details.)

• Committee charge.
• Membership list.
• Meeting notes, including agendas, minutes, reports and documentation of deliberations or actions.
• Other documents as needed.  Document drafts not ready for distribution may be kept “private”.
• Follow Best Practices, Guidelines, and Requirements for Staffweb Editors located at https://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/ploneDocs/best-practices.
• For Staffweb editing/content management training or consultation, contact Carolyn Aamot, Coordinator, Web-based Content Management Support, at caamot@uw.edu.

Retention schedule for long term committees

If the committee is permanent or long term, the chair should check the UW General Records Retention schedule annually at http://www.washington.edu/admin/recmgt/retention.schedule.html to determine the appropriate disposition of records and documents.  If the retention schedule is unclear, the Chair should consult John Bolcer, University Archivist.

Charge completed or inactive committees

• When the committee’s charge has been completed and/or the group is no longer active, the Chair should:
  • Check the UW General Records Retention Schedule to determine how long records should be kept and disposition of those records.
  • Contact Carolyn Aamot, Coordinator, Web-based Content Management Support at caamot@uw.edu for assistance with archiving the Staffweb folder and its contents.

Communication and maintenance

Once or twice per year, an announcement will appear in the Libraries online newsletter reminding staff how and where to find information about the work of committees, task forces and other groups.  Libraries Organization Development and Training will be responsible for making the announcement.  Periodically, the committee folders will be reviewed by the Coordinator, Web-based Content Management Support who will confer with the committee Chairs for folders that are not up-to-date.

Exceptions

Search committees, personnel committees and other groups where confidentiality is paramount are not required to create folders on the intranet or post meeting notes.  In some cases, a secure folder in SharedDocs may be an acceptable alternative to Staffweb for documents where confidentiality is an issue.  It is strongly suggested, however, that search committees report periodically in the Libraries online newsletter about general progress and timelines on searches.

Using technology for meetings

Each group/committee should consider the use of technology when there are members who are unable to attend a meeting so that the absent members may contribute virtually (e,g, UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, telecommuting, etc.).  The use of the OUGL Videoconference Studio is free for Libraries groups. Refer to the following website to locate other meeting rooms that have possibilities for remote connections: https://staffweb.lib.washington.edu/units/information-services/Info-Index/m/Meeting-Instruction-Rooms/?searchterm=rooms

Address questions or comments regarding these guidelines to Libraries Organization Development and Training at staffdev@lib.washington.edu.

Rev.  Oct. 2010.   E. Jennerich, Director, Organization Development and Training