Building A Cloud‐Based Onboarding Guide for New Academic Librarians

The authors evaluate the onboarding process at their academic library by testing a new onboarding manual that emphasizes building connections with colleagues at the institution and professional development. As a cloud-based document, all Library colleagues could comment and make suggestions, creating buy-in. Through further interviews and focus groups the authors discovered the some of the most difficult challenges of starting a new job in a new library. The study reveals what new Librarians want to see in an onboarding manual, and how they would like their introductions to their new institution to be structured. Introduction Onboarding, orienting, and training are essential to helping new employees effectively acclimate to their surroundings and perform to the best of their ability. In academic libraries, standardizing these practices is far from universal. Business literature covers these processes, but little research has been conducted on their implementation in an academic library. The University of Colorado Boulder University Libraries (henceforth “the Libraries”) has implemented some core aspects of training new employees, but the process has historically been inconsistent and at the discretion of individual supervisors. This article provides an overview of the literature on orienting and onboarding in academic libraries, and details the research findings based on a case study of the Libraries’ onboarding practices. The result has been a cloud-based, crowdsourced guide that allows all Libraries’ employees a voice in how to welcome new colleagues. By allowing anyone to comment on the guide, and through a series of focus groups and interviews it was possible to compare and contrast the Libraries’ previous onboarding efforts with the new guide, and assess if the guide solves problems and issues previous colleagues encountered during their own onboarding. Literature Review Several terms, such as “training” (Omidsalar & Young, 2001), “orientation” (Omidsalar & Young, 2001; Wallace, 2009; Chapman, 2009), “onboarding” (Graybill, Carpenter, Offord, Jr., Piorum, and Shaffer, 2013), and “organizational socialization” (Omidsalar & Young, 2001; Wallace, 2009; Chapman, 2009) have been used to describe the process of welcoming and


Introduction
Onboarding, orienting, and training are essential to helping new employees effectively acclimate to their surroundings and perform to the best of their ability.In academic libraries, standardizing these practices is far from universal.Business literature covers these processes, but little research has been conducted on their implementation in an academic library.
The University of Colorado Boulder University Libraries (henceforth "the Libraries") has implemented some core aspects of training new employees, but the process has historically been inconsistent and at the discretion of individual supervisors.This article provides an overview of the literature on orienting and onboarding in academic libraries, and details the research findings based on a case study of the Libraries' onboarding practices.
The result has been a cloud-based, crowdsourced guide that allows all Libraries' employees a voice in how to welcome new colleagues.By allowing anyone to comment on the guide, and through a series of focus groups and interviews it was possible to compare and contrast the Libraries' previous onboarding efforts with the new guide, and assess if the guide solves problems and issues previous colleagues encountered during their own onboarding.

Literature Review
Several terms, such as "training" (Omidsalar & Young, 2001), "orientation" (Omidsalar & Young, 2001;Wallace, 2009;Chapman, 2009), "onboarding" (Graybill, Carpenter, Offord, Jr., Piorum, and Shaffer, 2013), and "organizational socialization" (Omidsalar & Young, 2001;Wallace, 2009;Chapman, 2009) have been used to describe the process of welcoming and acclimating a new employee to an organization.This paper focuses on the processes of onboarding and organizational socialization, a more extensive and holistic processes compared with the task oriented "training" and "orientation" models of welcoming new employees into the organization.Graybill, et al. (2013) define onboarding as a "process by which a new employee is introduced to an organization and its vision, mission, and values" (p. 201).They clarify that onboarding is more than just orientation, which focuses on transactional tasks and basic information about the organization.Onboarding is more extensive, covers the employee's entire first year, addresses a wide range of employee needs, and is strategic (Graybill et al., 2013).
Organizational socialization is "the process that employees go through to learn about their new jobs and adapt to the roles and culture of the workplace" (Chapman, 2009).Oud (2008) writes that during this process, the new hire "acquires the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behavior" needed to participate in the organization.Omidsalar & Young (2001) explain that socialization is the "how" of becoming familiar with an organization and distinct from the "what" learned through training.How new employees acclimate and the content learned through socialization is specific to each organization since each institution has its own distinct culture.Wallace (2009) adds that organizational socialization helps the new employee to become familiar with both the spoken and unspoken components of an organization's culture.
Although orientation, onboarding, and organizational socialization are treated broadly in the business discipline, the literature specific to academic libraries is scant (Omidsalar & Young, 2001).Library related literature that does exist primarily consists of case studies (Hurst, 2005), literature reviews (Chapman, 2009;Wallace, 2009;Omidsalar & Young, 2001), and analyses of how the field in general addresses orienting new employees (Oud, 2008;Graybill et al., (2013).The literature documents the diverse ways in which institutions train new employees, yet some common themes also arise.
The first of these themes is the benefit of successful orientation and onboarding afforded to the institution and to the new employee, which are well-documented in the limited literature relating to libraries.Chapman (2009) and Wallace (2009) state that orientation programs decrease stress and Omidsalar and Young (2001) suggest that they reduce anxiety for the new employee.Orientation programs can also increase retention (Omidsalar & Young, 2001;Chapman, 2009;Wallace, 2009;Graybill et al., 2013) and help new employees commit to the new organization and increase job satisfaction (Omidsalar & Young, 2001).Further benefits are enhanced performance (Wallace, 2009;Graybill, 2013) motivation, productivity, and quality of work (Omidsalar & Young, 2001).Graybill et al. (2013) states that the new employee can become more engaged in the organization as a result of orientation and Wallace (2009) emphasizes the positive change new employees experience as they become more a part of the team.Omidsalar and Young (2001) explain how the new hire comes to identify with the organization, especially as they are made to feel that their work is important and "that they are making a valuable contribution to the organization" (p 23).Oud (2008) adds that orientation benefits new hires by exposing them to the realities of their job and the institution.This helps to reconcile their preconceived notions and expectations with their new position and workplace environment, alleviating disappointment and disillusionment.
Another recurrent theme in the literature is how orientation and onboarding programs are structured.Chapman (2009) proposes an orientation with three components: a checklist of tasks, supervisory support, and a peer buddy or mentor.Omidsalar and Young (2001) suggest a three-part modular system based off of IBM's orientation which focuses on "on-boarding (getting 'signed up'), competencies (job training), and foundation skills (values, norms and methodologies)".Other orientation programs are more self-paced (Hurst, 2005) and, yet, some institutions do not have formal programs at all.40% of academic library respondents in Oud's (2008) study were offered formal training upon beginning their new position.
Length of orientation programs also varies.Oud (2008), researching academic libraries in Canada, and Graybill et al. (2013), researching ACRL libraries, both demonstrate that structured, extended training for new librarians is not common.In Graybill et al.'s analysis, only one of the 17 participating ACRL libraries maintained an orientation program lasting a full year, three institutions had an orientation at least 3 months long, while the remaining institutions has programs lasting two weeks or less, or no data was provided.
Supervisor involvement is a critical component of successful orientation programs (Chapman, 2009).Additionally, administrative support in conjunction with direct supervisory support is critical for a program's success (Wallace, 2009, Omidsalar & Young, 2001).Support from supervisors and administration create institutional buy-in and a shared sense of investment in the program and, ultimately, in the new hire (Cassady, 1992).Additionally, Graybill et al. (2013) explains that "the organization's current employees must buy in and accept ownership by way of participation" (p.203).Hurst and her colleagues (2005) used previous training documents and crowd-sourced information from new and from veteran librarians to create an orientation guide.In this way, everyone in the library is invested in the new hire.
Of formal orientation programs that exist, many focus on job-related tasks and do not adequately address socialization or organizational culture, two factors that Oud (2008) found to be important to new librarians in her study.Research (Oud, 2008;Chapman, 2009;Wallace, 2009;Omidsalar & Young, 2001) suggests that mentors and peer buddies may be beneficial to facilitate socialization.A mentorship or buddy program reduces anxiety (Omidsalar & Young, 2001) and allows the new hire to ask questions about politics and culture, topics which may be sensitive and not incorporated into the rest of the orientation program (Graybill et al., 2013).Mentorship or buddy programs can also help facilitate Wallace's (2009) approach of teaching access, not satisfied by "letting the employee know where to go with questions." A variety of formats and methods of delivering orientation programs exist as well and, according to Graybill et al. (2013), not all libraries even use a tool to facilitate onboarding.Advancements in technology have transformed the potential for orientation materials, allowing for more instantaneous communication and the creation of digital resources.Graybill et al. (2013) found that the most common form of communication during onboarding was email, and printed handbooks were more common than online portals.Checklists are common tools (Graybill, et al. 2013;Chapman, 2009;Wallace, 2009) and Omidsalar and Young, (2001) advocate adding contact names in conjunction with tasks on checklists.Other useful tools include a cloud-based training guide (Spring, 2012), a web-based portal through which progress could be tracked and monitored (Graybill et al., 2013), an intranet (Wallace, 2009;Omidsalar & Young, 2001), and handbooks (Graybill et al., 2013) to name a few.Hurst (2005), with the help of her colleagues, compiled a web-based repository of training documents, showing a shift toward collaborative development of electronic orientation resources.She also mentions the ease of expanding and updating digital orientation materials as a benefit of using an electronic platform.
To some extent, different approaches to orientation programs are needed due to the individuality of library cultures and needs (Graybill et al., 2013).However, themes in the literature should inform general best practices.In summary, the literature recommends common components of the structure of orientation programs, namely: longer orientation programs, supervisor and administrative buy-in and involvement, collaborative development of the orientation program, and a mentorship and/or buddy system.Format of orientation programs and the method of delivery should be sustainable and should suit the needs of the new hire and the institution.

Background
The Libraries supports a campus of about 30,000 students and includes five branch libraries and approximately 170 professional Libraries employees.New hires work with a variety of colleagues across various units to perform their jobs effectively.The Libraries also have tenure requirements for the its librarians, adding a layer of complexity.The size of the Libraries system resulted in a various training materials that were neither comprehensive nor accessible through a central point.Because there was no formal process for training, not all employees received the same information or training across various units and branches.
Realizing the potential to use their experiences as a basis for filling in these gaps, the authors created a new, comprehensive, accessible, and interactive cloud-based training guide to help new librarians adjust and socialize to their new work environment.This guide grew from a set of tasks established by the authors, to a more robust document containing feedback from all Libraries employees gathered through interviews, focus groups, and comments on the prototype guide itself, allowing all colleagues across library units to contribute relevant information beneficial for new employees.Based upon feedback gathered from colleagues and the literature, the guide continues to improve and grow through institutional changes.A copy of this guide is available through the CU Boulder Institutional Repository as an MS Word document and cloud based GoogleDoc.

Objective of Research/ Research Questions
Based on the literature and the authors' own onboarding experiences, the authors created a document that would serve as a comprehensive introduction to the tasks, processes, culture, and colleagues within the University Libraries.This research was designed to collect as much feedback on the guide as possible and answer three primary questions: 1. How effective is the New Libraries Faculty Guide assisting new Libraries' Faculty in transitioning to the University Libraries?
2. What are faculty and staff attitudes toward having a formal guide?
3. What do Libraries' Faculty members think about the orientation and onboarding practices at CU-Boulder?

Research Methods
Based on the research questions this research was conducted as a within site case study, approved by CU's Institutional Review Board (IRB), the authors gathered data through individual interviews and focus groups, including follow up surveys provided to interviewees; a survey provided to supervisors; the opportunity for participants to leave anonymous or public comments on an electronic copy of the Libraries' Faculty Guide ("Guide"); and an open call for additional comments.Populations for interviews and focus groups were chosen based upon length of employment.Subjects involved in this study opted into interviews after receiving invitations to participate.Through the ability to leave comments on the guide, all University Libraries faculty and staff had the opportunity to participate in this research and some of those involved in interviews also may have contributed to the research in this way.
The first group of subjects were the three tenure stream, faculty librarians who began working at the Libraries between November 1, 2013 and April 1, 2014.This group is referred to as the "New Hires" and were the first to use the completed iteration of the new Guide upon their arrival.Through individual interviews, these three subjects responded to eighteen predetermined questions over the course of an hour, with the opportunity to provide additional comments post-interview via an online form.
Two focus groups were also conducted.Subjects were drawn from two populations: "New Librarians" were employed at the Libraries for three years or less and "Veteran Librarians" were employed for over three years.These parameters allowed for comparison between less and more experienced librarians.Eleven eligible new librarians (including the three newest librarians who were interviewed individually) were identified as potential participants.The authors hypothesized that the new librarians could speak to their more recent onboarding experiences at CU and possibly of onboarding experiences at previous workplaces that may have impacted their expectations for onboarding at the University Libraries.Acclimating to a new workplace can take a fairly long time (Graybill, et al., 2013).Some of these new librarians could still be in that adjustment period.Of eleven possible subjects, five participated in the new librarian focus group in which 13 questions were asked over the course of an hour.
The authors believed Veteran librarians were a valuable population, being more removed from their own orientation process.These subjects have witnessed and could speak to the changes in the onboarding process for new librarians during their own employment.This population consisted of 29 eligible subjects, 5 of whom volunteered to participate.
Comments from all interviews and focus groups were transcribed and anonymized.Coding discussions held during interviews and focus groups required careful analysis of the transcriptions.Statements were coded as positive (containing adjectives indicating praise), negative (containing negative adjectives), constructive (suggesting changes), or neutral (statements devoid of positive, negative, or constructive feedback).Additionally, rules for counting when a participant was stating a single concept for coding had to be considered and applied consistently.Comments were also coded by whether subjects were speaking about the libraries, the guide, or the larger university.
Further coding became possible as new themes were pulled from the data.Three additional themes were identified: logistics, communication, and training.All comments discussing the libraries previous onboarding were given additional coding to reflect these categories.Logistics were defined as any task or action a new employee would need to do in order to do their job: getting a key to their office, obtaining a parking permit, or setting up essential accounts.These actions are typically performed once and do not improve over time.Coding for Communication occurred whenever participants talked about interacting with colleagues, whether spoken or written, digitally or otherwise.Comments were coded for addressing training whenever a participant talked about learning a skill that would be done repeatedly over time with the intent to improve.Examples include skills like teaching, collection development, and outreach.
After referring to the University Libraries' organization chart, the authors compiled a list of supervisors who are either on the Libraries' Management Team or supervise librarians with faculty status.The authors targeted questions specific to being a supervisor to gain feedback about the Guide and onboarding.This population totaled fourteen subjects who received a link to a Google form questionnaire.The questionnaire contained six Likert scale questions asking the participants to respond to statements on a scale of "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" and three open ended questions.Eight of the fourteen subjects participated in this component of the research.
To gain the maximum amount of feedback from faculty and staff and be as inclusive as possible, the authors made the Guide, hosted on Google Drive, available to all employees of the Libraries.This process gathered the collective knowledge, experiences, and opinions of the whole organization.The authors sent an email with instructions to all libraries faculty and staff, inviting them to comment either anonymously or with their names attached to their comments.At the time the Guide was opened for commenting there were 175 University Libraries' employees on the listserv which distributes emails to all faculty and staff.Since some comments were posted anonymously, the authors are unable to determine an exact number of participants in this portion of the data collection.Commenting was open for a three-week period.
After each phase of data collection, participants were could leave additional comments in a feedback form linked in a thank you email after collecting data.The authors included this open call for comments as a means to gather any afterthoughts that participants either forgot to mention or may have felt uncomfortable mentioning (especially in a focus group setting).

Findings
Interviews and focus groups with Libraries faculty showed that generally, participants had a positive view of the draft guide, and a negative view of the Libraries' previous onboarding efforts.In figure one, the number of negative vs. positive comments regarding the Libraries indicates general dissatisfaction with onboarding.While the draft guide received few negative comments, it was not immune to a constructive criticism.

What do Libraries' Faculty members think about the orientation and onboarding practices at CU-Boulder?
By analyzing statements coded as about the Libraries previous onboarding from interviews and focus groups transcripts, three themes became apparent: logistics, communication, and training.Figure 2 shows a breakdown of these three themes.Because comments were already coded for positive, negative, or constructive themes, it was possible to visualize participants' attitudes for each theme.
Logistics were defined as any task or action a new employee would need to do in order to do their job: getting a key to their office, obtaining a parking permit, or setting up essential accounts.These actions are typically performed once and do not improve over time.Coding for Communication occurred whenever participants talked about interacting with colleagues, whether spoken or written, digitally or otherwise.Comment were coded for addressing training whenever a participant talked about learning a skill that would be done repeatedly over time with the intent to improve.Examples include skills like teaching, collection development, and outreach.

Fig. 2
These themes reveal negative attitudes toward how the library handles logistics and communication, even before the first day of work.One participant pointed out "I just feel like there's things that should have gotten sent to me maybe a couple of days before my first day" to address matters like parking, keys, and getting a university ID card.Another expressed their frustration, explaining "I also wasn't told what documents I needed to bring on the first day so I didn't have the proper paperwork to fill out all of my forms." Other issues included not having a mailbox set up, not receiving a tour of the main library, nor login information for web services and tools, no information for who to contact about specific matters.The general attitude by participants was "I just found it really surprising starting here how much time it took to figure out the mechanics of doing stuff I already knew how to do." Positive feedback on logistics was somewhat isolated, similar positive experiences were not reported by multiple participants.One participant explained how helpful it was having their university account and email address setup in advance so that they could update their contacts.Another reported that they had business cards waiting for them when they arrived, which surprised the other participants in the veteran focus group.
In fact, the veteran focus group was the most positive about the libraries' onboarding, and the only group to have more positive than negative comments.This group reported having access to checklists when they started.There was even a manual some of them had used.One participant recalled "I remember doing a lot of things with [the checklist] in particular."The authors were surprised to learn there was previously some kind of documentation for new employees.
Communication was another consistent theme.The general sentiment was exemplified by "you feel kind of lost, that first week," and the more explicit "You just don't know where you're going.Maps, parking, transportation, and basic communication.I expected all of those things, and pretty much none of those happened." The connection between logistics and communication does not appear to be a coincidence.Participants pointed out that they were unable to do something because they didn't know who to talk to."There are lots of people in the libraries I still haven't met, there were lots of things that I didn't know that I just had to figure out 'who is the person that I ask?'" Another explained "I have a book, I want to transfer it, or I want it sent somewhere else; I don't know who to go to.I know a lot of us don't know the people who work downstairs, or at the front desk.Instead it's me wandering down there being like 'I want this, help me!' " Graybill, et al. (2013) explains how important it is to help a new employee identify preferred and acceptable forms of communication, and that this process continues passed the initial introduction to the institution.
One common theme brought up was for supervisors to take a more active role in helping new employees prioritize their tasks, and help them communicate with colleagues.One participant explained "I felt like my supervisor made it very comfortable to ask question" while another explained "It would have been nice if my supervisor had said 'I want you to go down to circulation and hang out with them for half an hour and find out what they do.'"It was clear that a formal structure for introductions was desired, while an ad hoc approach resulted in awkward moments.As one participant explained, "I feel like I got introduced to some people who were like 'Who are you and why are you here?'And didn't get any suggestions to go out and introduce myself.It was not super well laid out."There were a few comments that revealed that communication issues continued past the "being new" phase of employment.One veteran librarian noted, "It was shamefully long before I could confidently say I knew all of the faculty" and several participants pointed out that lack of communication was more exacerbated if they worked in a branch library.
The veteran librarians spoke at length about the need to incorporate socialization as a part of onboarding.One simply stated, "Yeah, social interaction.We don't have enough of that."Another Veteran reasoned that socializing "takes away some of the anxiety and fear.I think the first day something social, something warm, as well as some clarity about what you can expect on your first day or your first week." Positive comments, while fewer than negative ones, did share a common aspect.Each participant who made a positive comment said they felt they could reach out to their supervisor or primary unit to ask questions when they needed help.
Comments on training were surprisingly few, with no positive comments.The few comments mentioned included learning to use ILS software "I expected training on the different systems that we use, like Sierra and Oasis.I found some of those materials a little difficult to come by."One participant pointed out "I think having a little more formal plan for orientation over time would be helpful."

What are faculty attitudes toward having a formal guide?
As one veteran librarian summarized "This will go a long way to making people feel welcome." Figure 3 shows the group that was most positive about the manual were the three interviewees who used it as part of their actual onboarding process.Two of the interviewees gave praise directly, saying, "What I love about the new faculty guide is that it provides all of this information in one place," and simply "Your guide is great."The other interviewee pointed out that the guide was the only place they were able to find out how to complete several tasks.

Fig. 3
However, the guide did not escape criticism.While negative comments were extremely low, only seven total, there were still a substantial number of suggestions to make improvements.Participants like the chronological order, but also thought that certain topics should be separated by theme: instruction, reference, collection development, outreach, etc.
Another criticism of the guide was that it put too much onus on the new employee, and expected too little of the supervisor: "It seems inefficient.It takes a lot more cognitive effort for the new person to figure out how to make an appointment with [head of important department] than it does for the supervisor." Participants suggested adding a "before you arrive" section as well as a "Supervisor's Checklist" to ensure new colleagues were well informed about housing, commuting, key paperwork, what to expect the first day, and that their office was properly set up.As figure 2 showed, addressing logistical and communication issues will be key to creating a welcoming environment for new faculty to adapt quickly and be productive.If these issues can be overcome, new colleagues could better invest their time and energy in professional development.
Supervisors were unanimously positive about the guide.As Casady (1992) and Graybill et al. (2013) explain, institutional buy-in at all levels is essential to having a successful orientation and onboarding program.Figure 4 shows that of the eight supervisors who participated, there was unanimous agreement that a formal guide was needed, and will make supervising easier and more effective.

Fig. 4 -Supervisor's Survey Results
The CU Libraries need a formal New Faculty Guide."It should help us make new employees more effective more quickly; it should help new employees to feel more a part of the community (and more cared for); it says we [sic] want those employees to succeed and to stay (hopefully helping with retention).To rephrase that it says we are here to nurture you and to try and help you succeed, rather than throwing you in the water and hoping you will learn how to swim" As one participant from the new faculty focus group pointed out "I feel like I was left to the wolves."Both supervisors and the New Librarians appear to acknowledge that stronger support is necessary.

This guide makes
Speaking directly to a supervisor's obligation to train new faculty, one participant stated: "It will help me make sure that things don't fall through the cracks when bringing new faculty into the department, since it's easy to forget things.It also provides a roadmap for new faculty to structure their time when they are new, since I can't always provide sufficient structure on my own." As one focus group member observed "I think [onboarding] is ad hoc.Whatever seems like a good idea to the supervisor is what happens."There appears to be an informal acknowledgement that the Libraries' could improve its onboarding and orienting both from supervisors and their supervisees.

How effective is the Guide assisting new Libraries' Faculty in transitioning to the University Libraries?
As one participant summarized "[The guide] definitely makes strides to getting there.I would say, and I had the guide when I started, so that definitely helped, some of the links and places to go to." Figure 3 previously showed new hires who used the guide as part of their onboarding were far more positive about it.The new hires group had twice the positive comments compared to the new librarians and veteran librarians.
Most importantly, the guide provides a central place for colleagues to look for the information they needed.Subjects appreciated the links to online resources, as well as being given a definitive person to talk to.The manual also received praise for being clean and well designed.When asked what they expected an onboarding manual to contain, one faculty member simply stated "What's here."referring to the content of the guide.The chronological order was also well received.The checklist, an abbreviated version of the guide simply listing all the tasks to be completed, was also very popular with respondents.
One final logistical hurdle in the guide was that much of the content in the later guide was considered useful, but participants reported not looking at the guide much after the first "three or four weeks."Another participant suggested structured reminders to new faculty to make sure they addressed the more complex tasks the come later in the guide's chronologically organized tasks.As one participant pointed out "I like the idea of having some kind of reminder, these are long term things to be thinking about now that you're here."

Limitations of the Study
Recruiting focus group participants generally brought out faculty who felt very dissatisfied with the beginning of their tenure.The researchers acknowledge that negative attitudes may be exaggerated.Additionally, our method of analyzing faculty comments on onboarding, whether they be positive, negative, or constructive is a subjective process that has the potential for bias.The authors tried to avoid this by setting clear rubrics to follow.

Conclusion
It is clear from our interviews and focus groups that the guide is perceived favorably.Interestingly, the new hires interviewees were most positive about the new guide, and the veteran librarians focus groups were the positive when referring to the old structured materials they once had, which correlated with a less negative opinion of the Libraries onboarding process.While New Librarians were the most negative about the libraries as well as the most critical of the new guide.These attitudes demonstrate a correlation between structure onboarding processes and a general sense of satisfaction.
Thematic analysis shows that logistics and communication are two areas the Libraries needs to make improvements.In other words, new hires want to quickly finish tasks related to their initial arrival at the university, and they want to know who to communicate with to do their jobs most effectively.The broad conclusions are fairly logical: adding structure to a previously unstructured process generally improves attitudes because it fixes a known issue.Running this study this study at different institutions to see if similar themes emerge could help identify if this is common in academic libraries or if institutions have truly unique issues.
The most interesting findings from the study came from two subsets of data.First, how Libraries employees interacted with the new faculty guide in the cloud.Second, the key trends and themes that emerged from the constructive comments given throughout the interviews and focus groups.Both processes provided an enormous amount of feedback about changes librarians would like to see.
Cloud-based feedback proved to be very diverse.Ten different departments ranging from Social Sciences, Metadata, and even Maintenance offered suggestion to improve the guide.This approach also highlighted several misconceptions about certain processes like mandatory trainings and software licensing.Using Google Drive's interface to host the guide allows people to chat directly with each other to clarify details.Colleagues also volunteered to be the point of contact for certain tasks, or offered to help during very specific situations that may only apply to special subsets of new hires.In one case a colleague pointed out that they could help new hires who weren't American citizens.
One major issue that arose during focus groups was how to keep the guide up to date.The veteran librarians pointed to this as one of the issues the old documentation eventually atrophied.The Google Drive interface has a notifications feature that helps tackle this issue.By subscribing to all comments in a document, emails are automatically generated that link back to the document.This is useful when new librarians notice a link doesn't work, or the information provided references retired colleagues, old names, and other kinds of outdated information.The process relies on a shared understanding that new employees comment on outdated information, and guide maintainers fix the information quickly and efficiently.
Analyzing constructive comments about the guide, a key theme arose: the guide places much of the onus on the new employee.Focus group participants wanted to see a balance between self-administered tasks and guidance from their supervisors.More communication from the supervisor was most desired pre-arrival, and after arriving participants wanted their supervisor's help with introductions to upper management, and how and when to communicate with them.
The other emergent theme was balancing the chronological arrangement with a thematic one.Libraries' employees perform a diverse range of jobs and not all will need the same kinds of information.Suggested themes included collection development, instruction, outreach, reference, research and tenure, professional development.How these thematic tracks will be developed is not yet clear, but by developing more cloud based modules all Libraries' employees will be able to contribute their ideas.
To manage future developments of the guide, a committee is being proposed to manage its maintenance, collect feedback, and investigate technologies that could further advance the onboarding process.By specifying a diverse task force that includes faculty librarians, professional staff, supervisors, human resource professionals, and supervisors, a richer set of talent can help develop the guide.Such a committee would also transform the documents ownership, from a project by two researchers to document owned and managed by the institution at large.The guide will always be a work in progress.One of the keys to its development has been involvement of all library employees.That sense of buy in, where all employees can have their voice heard through a cloud document solution, generated awareness of the new onboarding guide.While this study examines the local situation at CU Boulder, it would be interesting to conduct a follow up cross-institutional study to investigate what kinds of issues are most common in Academic libraries in general.

Figure 4
Figure 4 only diagrams the multiple choice Likert scale questions used in the study.There were also several open ended questions.These open ended comments all pertained specifically to the draft guide, and all were positive.The following comment in response to the question "What institutional values do you feel this guide promotes?"touches on many of the themes the were also brought up in the focus groups: