Jasmine Shumaker: Crisis with a side of New Job: Onboarding During COVID-19

Jasmine Shumaker (she/her) is a Reference & Instruction Librarian at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a Master in Library and Information Studies from the University of Oklahoma. In her current position, Jasmine supports Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Public Policy students, faculty, and staff with research needs. Jasmine’s research interests include dismantling white supremacy in librarianship and retaining Black librarians in the field. Prior to joining academic librarianship, she worked as an Adult Services Librarian with the District of Columbia Public Library, and was the Business Librarian for the Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center in Baltimore, Maryland. In her spare time, Jasmine enjoys listening to podcasts, playing the Sims, and traveling.

Sunshine before the storm…

When I received the email that I got the job, I was ecstatic! Questions soon began to take over my mind, like “When will I be starting my new job?” and “How soon should I notify my current employer?” I was also excited to be moving from a public to an academic library; I was looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities ahead of me. 

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash

As the world abruptly plunged itself knee-deep into a still ongoing pandemic, my excitement unexpectedly morphed into anxiety and uncertainty. I had to completely reformat my priorities and expectations. Questions that I’d asked myself and my new employer soon after accepting the position now seemed pointless, as we really weren’t certain how long this predicament would last. It was comforting to be onboarding with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), who responded by promptly shutting down campus operations on March 12th. The library was and remains closed to all faculty, students, and staff for the fall semester. 

As the weeks flew by, I was told that the UMBC had enforced a hiring freeze for all staff positions. I was fortunately spared from this freeze due to my position not being a part of the freeze. However, all new faculty had to wait until July 1st to start - almost four months later. I found myself battling the usual stress of starting a new job, which only seemed to drag along during the delay.  These apprehensions were further compounded by the anxieties of navigating already unfamiliar territory through the unpredictability of the pandemic. At the time, I didn’t know anyone else going through a job change.  This left me churning along in changing jobs during a pandemic and feeling isolated outside of the same feelings felt due to quarantine. While these anxieties were eased once I started working, the combination of regular and new confusion mixed with the omnipresent isolation of quarantine did prompt feelings of hopelessness that had to be overcome.

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Victories

My biggest fear when approaching a completely virtual onboarding was the idea of the sheer colossal number of technological issues that could (and likely would) occur! When we’re setting up home internet services, we never question if our speeds will be sufficient enough to handle personal and work needs. I was immediately struck by worries about this unknown. Will my home internet speeds be fast enough to accomplish what I need to in a given workday?! 

I have since then been pleasantly surprised by the lack of technological issues faced. After a quick trip to the library to pick up a work laptop and adequate equipment, I was all set! Thankfully, my library and department were already using cloud-based storage such as Google Drive and Box for housing important documents. This gave us an advantage when adapting to a technology-dependent workload. 

I also consider the decision made by UMBC to prolong the start date of all faculty a victory, especially now that the problems encountered by other schools are apparent. All in-person onboarding had moved to a virtual setting, mainly using the WebEx platform. Important documents such as benefits and timesheet how-tos were sent to us ahead of time, allowing faculty to make notes and ask questions. In addition, networking opportunities remain active, garnering a robust virtual turnout of new and returning faculty members. Though these gatherings are for professional development, it has also been seen as a way for faculty to share online instructional ideas, and commiserate with one another during these unsettling times.

Photo by Tahiti Spears on Unsplash

Challenges

I have again been pleasantly surprised with the lack of significant challenges.  Truthfully, most of my challenges revolved around anticipating what this new environment would be like.  With virtual onboarding still being a new experience for everyone, there are bound to be some challenges that arise. The most impactful challenge that I experienced during the onboarding process (and still, months later) is relationship building. Though the power of Google came in handy (particularly its Meet and Hangout features), I still feel that I lack the ability to connect with colleagues and other members of the university as effectively as I could in-person. I have been fortunate enough to connect with a few colleagues through scheduled virtual coffee meet-ups, which is a positive! I’m just hopeful these can transfer to in-person hang out sessions in the future when we’re back on campus.

Looking Ahead

I think it’s safe (and logical!) to say that things will never go back to the “before times.” (and let’s be honest - should they?!). The customary introductory handshakes and farewells to parting colleagues have evolved to look like bumping elbows and pixelated waves goodbye via a computer screen. The overall health and safety of all library workers, no matter how front-facing they are, will also need to be considered as we transition back to campus full-time. Personally, I have thought about how telework opportunities will expand, and how institutions can continue to support this through effective policies. 

As for our services offered, I hope to see more of it having an online component, along with being more self-reliant. For example: all of our course reserves have moved to e-reserves only. I see this as a positive as we move back to in-person services. With a transition to more teleworking opportunities, I also see a decrease in in-person instruction only options. The in-person option should definitely remain on the table, but it should not, nor has it ever should have been, the only option for students, faculty, and staff.

Lastly, I want to touch on professional development and how this may evolve as we transition back into more in-person settings. Like so many of you reading this, I have found myself seeing more all-virtual conferences, specifically library-related conferences. Virtual conferences allow us to attend more sessions without worrying about if our institutions will foot the bill for our registration, transportation, AND lodging. To go a step further, it’s no secret that budgets are and will continue to be affected by COVID-19. Having virtual options for conferences would prove to be beneficial, possibly more than ever. Because I am new to academic librarianship, I have taken advantage of attending as many conferences/sessions as possible. Let’s be honest: it would be foolish to return to only in-person conferences. Though we’ve hit some technological snags along the way (sadly, I was in a conference that got Zoom-bombed), I truly believe having in-person and virtual options for conferences would do us all some good. We are already learning to embrace these lasting effects gifted to us from COVID-19...why not add this to the list?