UTA Libraries Guiding Principles

The Guiding Principles are representative of how we work, and this is the beginning of a series in which we, the Guiding Principles Committee, challenge you to think critically about the way your actions support the Guiding Principles.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the guiding principles of UTA Libraries are:

• We Care.
  
   
• We Empower.
  
   
• We Take Ownership.
  
   
• We Are Extraordinary.

The first three are action items, and if we are intentional about how we carry them out, the fourth becomes true.

We know that the last couple of years have been tough, and a lot of us have had to take on additional duties. In an effort to expedite the hiring process and relieve pressure off of current employees, we are currently evaluating two trial hiring processes.

Vanessa Pham and Margaret Samson managed hiring for the initial two positions in these trial hiring processes. Margaret is trying out hiring for a position without a hiring committee; this should allow for quicker scheduling of interviews.

Vanessa still has the support of a hiring committee, but they are forgoing the initial phone interview and making decisions based on one round of interviews. Of course, any changes to the hiring process will still allow for input from critical stakeholders.

Thank you to Margaret, Vanessa, and the departmental stakeholders meeting with these candidates for showing you care about your colleagues by being flexible and trying something new that may help the whole organization.

Take two minutes to reflect on the following:

• What are ways you can remain flexible to meet the needs of others and show that you care throughout the workday?
  
   
• Is there a time recently when you saw a colleague go out of their way to show they care?

Maybe you can even spot an example elsewhere in this newsletter. Tell the guiding principles committee about it by emailing Kelly.dill@uta.edu.