Staff Profile - June 2015

Sharon Kirkes has managed Webb Wesconnett Branch since 2009 and has been with JPL 13 years. She is married to a retired JPL librarian and they have two daughters.    

Sharon is not one to toot her own horn; however, she was chosen to head up the team to develop the Economic Success exercises, rounds 1 and 2, and recently made a presentation concerning the results of those exercises at the Library Round Table (LRT) meeting.  (If you are not familiar with LRT, that is a JPL meeting held bimonthly where senior administrative staffs and department and branch managers share their initiatives, get updates and future plans for JPL's direction and budget.)  We thought it would be of interest to you to know a little more about Sharon Kirkes' adventure with Economic Success exercises, which is part of JPL's Strategic Plan.

Q: What necessitated the Economic Success exercises, rounds 1 and 2, and when were they held?

A: Basically, Objective 6.2.2 stipulates that, by the end of FY 15 all adult reference staff will demonstrate knowledge of economic success resources. Round 1 was held over several weeks going into the Summer of 2014; Round 2 was shorter, and covered many of the same resources in a different format. My focus for these exercises was to ensure that staffs had some exposure to, and an increased comfort level with, a variety of resources. It was personally a challenge for me as well—I was not comfortable at first navigating through some of these areas and using them appropriately.

Q: What improvements have you observed since these exercises were implemented--in employees and customer service?

A: It’s hard to quantify—I would say it’s more of an increased awareness of the resources that are out there, including some we didn’t originally have listed; and possibly getting more confident in using the resources that were initially intimidating.

Q: Will these exercises, or modified versions, continue to be used?

A: The exercise phase of this objective should be pretty much over.  The next phase should probably involve getting or designing training to enhance staff skills in using the resources.  The training that is coming up in August for some of the Gale databases is a good example.

Q: What did you and management learn from this process?

A: One thing that was encouraging was how well many of the Library Associates did with these exercises. We also learned not to initiate an exercise in late spring or early summer. Moving from a precise Q & A exercise to a more flexible format was part of the learning process as well.

Q:  What is one of the funniest stories you can tell about an experience in JPL?

A: When it comes to the Dress Code, I am more of a stickler regarding footwear than anything else. So one day several Webb staffers gathered in the workroom and held my attention until I noticed they were all wearing flip-flops. After my initial coronary, they changed and wore their “real” shoes.