designed to be food for thought. Requested resources are then circulated through campus mail.

Since the services of the Reading Room have been in place for several years now, it is possible to take a look at the progress we have made, some of which has been unexpected. For instance, we do seem to have provided space and solitude. Most of the activities encouraged through the Reading Room are solitary, at least to begin with. People read alone and listen alone in their own space at work or home. Another unantici- pated way we have promoted these qualities has hinged on our professionals’ use of the automobile. Since we are a commuter institution and leaders are often on the road, a good number have begun to listen to Reading Room audiotapes in their cars—one of the few places where there may be an absence of demand and few intrusions. Specifications for institutional cars include a cassette deck as a standard feature, in part to encourage leaders to take advantage of this learning method.

Often after their perusal of Reading Room materials, these leaders will then talk to one another about what they have read or heard. Since they all have access to the same materials, common reference points seem to encourage the dialogue that is a necessary part of community. And as for rituals—well, we have begun some: back to school, holiday and summer Reading Room Bulletins, for example. We regularly showcase the “just published” writings of our own professionals. But more important, the materials provided through the Reading Room stress the importance of attending to our organization’s culture. They suggest ways for our DCCCD professionals to develop their own rituals and promote community.

We continue to explore the ways in which the Reading Room can provide help—simply and volun- tarily. Currently, some 200 of DCCCD employees receive our bulletins. Any staff member is added to our routing list upon request, and a number routinely route their copy to friends and associates. A typical issue describes perhaps 30 resources (books, tapes, articles) and, over a month or so, generates an average of 100 requests for resources. The majority of our resources fall in the following general categories: teaching and learning, creativity and innovation, and personal and professional growth.

Under these general headings, there is help with the nitty gritty—how to write, speak, save time, get organized, become more or less assertive. There is help with the difficult—how to supervise and evaluate more effectively, how to interview prospective employees,

how to deal with personnel problems. But the most popular selections deal with the profound—how to engender trust which builds community, how to structure and encourage organizational alignment, how to provide an undergirding vision and the neces- sary supporting values for a healthy organizational culture, how to maintain ethics and integrity, how to blend professional and personal goals.

This year we have freed up a niche in our district offices and have dubbed it the Reading Room Library, if you will. Now anyone so inclined can drop by, browse, think and write. On a very small scale, it’s my original image come to life. You can sit in a comfort- able chair—not leather—and enjoy indirect lighting, an uncluttered telephone-free work space, soft music, if you choose. This space will hopefully offer a place to get away from the day-to-day, even for an hour.

Although the Reading Room is only one effort to provide different rhythms and structures in the work environment through the sharing of resources, it appears to be effective and comparatively inexpensive. Through a “Readers’ Survey” and frequent, informal encounters, we have received much encouragement, as well as good suggestions. I suspect this success is not an aberration, but simply gives testimony to our collective hunger to establish more organizational processes that encourage different tempos, different dynamics—rhythms that seem more humane. The Reading Room buffers and encourages the occasionally overwhelming, always hectic process of working ina community college. It is an innovation designed to encourage the renewing inclinations within us.

Nancy Armes, Consultant to the Chancellor For further information, contact the author at Dallas

County Community College District, 701 Elm, Suite 518, Dallas, TX 75202-3299.

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

February 17, 1989, Vol. Xl, No. 6

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1989 Further depacenen 1s permitted by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel.

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