Connecting MCPL Staff through “Did You Miss This?”
Montgomery County Public Libraries, Md.
Innovation Synopsis
“Did You Miss This?” is an innovative and effective tool to enhance internal communication via email among Montgomery County Public Libraries’ (MCPL) staff with the goal of keeping employees informed about the most recent issues and developments within the Department to provide efficient and effective customer service to County residents.
Challenge/Opportunity
MCPL is a large organization that employs more than 500 staff members. This highly diverse staff, comprised of full-time, part-time and substitute employees and distributed in 21 different locations within the County, hold a range of very different schedules to serve the community at libraries open to the public seven days a week, many of them ten hours a day. With hectic calendars and shifts, with different roles and responsibilities, keeping up with changing information via the intranet and through numerous emails and sorting out the most relevant news can be challenging for staff. In order to help staff summarize the most important information in one location each week, MCPL launched “Did You Miss This?”, a weekly brief compilation of news, in October 2013.
Key Elements of Innovation
“Did You Miss This?” is an original, effective, low-cost and forward thinking tool to keep MCPL staff regularly knowledgeable regarding relevant information about County and library resources in order to provide the best service to the community. Its content enhances general awareness about MCPL, facilitates communication among staff, propels staff professional development and improves the delivery of customer service. “Did You Miss This?” is delivered via email using the Constant Contact email software to all MCPL staff every Friday afternoon. Past issues are archived on the MCPL intranet. All MCPL staff have access to current and past issues.
Achieved Outcomes
“Did You Miss This?” has been highly successful since its implementation in October 2013. Staff has welcomed this venue for obtaining the highlights of the week and for being kept informed about on-going issues. Part of its success is due to its brief and clean format. Fresh to the eye and easy to read, “Did You Miss This?” provides relevant information in a succinct manner. Divided in to categories to make the materials more easily identified and found, “Did You Miss This?” includes news and issues regarding the County and all sections of the library system. “Did You Miss This?” uses colors and pictures to make its reading attractive as well as practical and always improves its techniques to deliver weekly news.