Cheat Sheets: Capturing, Documenting, and Sharing Institutional Memory - Webinar (09/28/21)

Imagine that you are going to be leaving your library for a week, and the person taking your place is bright and capable, but knows nothing about your job or working in a library. What would be the top 20 things they would need to know to get through the week? The most common question customers ask? The location of the fire door key? The cell phone number of the maintenance office? Your favorite all-purpose reference site for local history? Your print-out of favorite graphic novels and their summaries? 

Or, what if your whole department was going to be absent in a perfect overlap of vacation time? What would you and your co-workers come up with as a short guide, starting with 20 items, to help the willing but inexperienced team of substitutes?

Or what if your beloved assistant director, who has worked at your library since she was a 16-year-old page and is now retiring to the lovely community of La Veta, Colorado. Everyone from new teen volunteers to the president of the library board turn to her for advice. She knows the “bones” of the library: all the important facts, figures, and unwritten rules, the history of obscure policies, why the bookmobile is painted yellow, and why the library only has to pay $1 a year in rent to the city. When she leaves, it will leave a big hole in the soul of the library, not to mention in her memorized archive of crucial data. How do you plan to capture that information before she moves hundreds of miles away, where cell phone reception is not very reliable?

Cheat sheets are collections of practical information about running the library, created by individuals, teams, and sometimes an entire branch or building. The process can be as valuable as the result: clarifying policies, uncovering myths about procedures, and bringing groups together regarding issues such as quality standards and priorities. Topics include models for conducting cheat sheet sessions and creating documents, where to start, what cheat sheets typically include, and how to create how-to manuals one bite at a time.