Every Wall Is A Door: Turning Challenges Into Shared Opportunities
Abstract
This presentation will share how members of the UC San Diego Library Special Collections & Archives staff responded to California’s sudden work from home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including remote project development, management tools, and collaborator involvement. Presenters will provide a brief timeline of events leading up to the work from home order, the development of a list of remote projects, and the assignment of priorities and responsibilities. They will describe examples of these projects and discuss how they progressed from ideation to execution, including workflow development and management tools. They will also examine the opportunities and obstacles of rapid project development, as well as training and managing the work of staff and student employees from other library units who volunteered to assist in archives-related tasks.
Presenters will further discuss reopening, highlighting the need for flexibility and acknowledging seemingly competing priorities as they balanced remote and onsite projects. Presenters will celebrate accomplishments, and address the challenges they faced while transitioning between remote and onsite priorities.