Our SignageAudit
Created signage committeeDocumentationSurveyed library staff and faculty to determine signage wants andneeds (First stage of buy-in)Created new signage draftsApproved by division council (Second stage of buy-in)Rolled out trials of new signs (Third stage of buy-in)Created and distributed a division-approved Signage BestPractices ManualFull installation of new signs
Our signage audit consisted of eight clearly defined steps:1.2.3.
4.5.6.7.
8. However, we realized between stages 6 and 7 that while newtemplates were being used, the language and tone of newlycreated signs was largely the same as before the audit.
Signage and Fear How can we develop thecourage to not hidebehind signs?
Library & Learning Resourceswww.elcamino.edu/l ibrary
We ran an activity during our spring 2020 professional developmentday where teams of four library employees (consisting of classifiedstaff and faculty) were given the text of currently exisiting harshsigns to reword in a more positive way.
A RevealingActivity
Emerging Fears
ProfessionalJudgement
See thecommentsbelow for
References
See thecommentsfor a link to
our new signs
See thecomments for
ourdocumentation
chart
We found from this activity that while everysurvey collected in step 3 had indicated astrong positive desire for signage changes, theactual act of rewording harsh signage broughtto the surface old fears. The root of these fears lay incommunication with students. Most signshad been erected to stave off difficultsituations, both one-time occurences andrepeat issues. Apprehension arose aboutfacing those situations again without beingable to point to a sign as backup.
Trust in our students' agency and growth in our spaceTrust in our own case-by-case professional judgement aslibrary classified staff and faculty
Our goal is to interrupt the cycle of using signs as replacementsfor conversations. Completing this goal will require trust to beradically shown in our spaces. The goal of our new signage is tocommunicate:
In de-tangling signage from policy, our library is deep in the excitingwork of reevaluating how we see our students, and how we seeourselves.
Interruptingthe Cycle
Camila Jenkin, Outreach LibrarianEl Camino College, Torrance [email protected]
*These imagesof signs aretaken directlyfrom ourdocumentationphase.
We now find ourselves taking a detour in our signage audit to de-tangle the enmeshment of policy, discipline, wayfinding, andsignage in the library space. Our guiding idea moving forward is tochampion each library employee's professional judgement, and tomove away from using signage as a replacement for conversationswith students.
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