Many academic libraries have a librarian whose responsibilities include open education. This position may look different depending on the needs of each institution but in many cases, this librarian begins providing these services in a solo capacity. As the open education programs at institutions evolve, the workload expectations for these solo librarians should also grow in order to support sustainability. Sometimes, this growth means hiring additional personnel. While it is exciting to have more help, it can also lead to a number of questions. How can I adjust workflows to include this employee? How can I determine what is “librarian level” vs “non-librarian level” work within open education? How can I ensure that processes make sense to someone else? During this presentation, the presenters will share their stories and discuss how their open education departments have grown from one librarian to additional personnel, and how they have begun to tackle the above questions.
Attendees of this session will be able to:- Understand how the presenters advocated for additional help at their institutions.
- Think about how they can better prepare documentation for workflows and procedures that will be useful in future training or succession planning.
- Formulate questions to think about if they are hoping to train someone to help with open education work in the future.
