Key Partnering Relationships and Communication

The biggest single partnership in the Freedman Center universe is between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Kelvin Smith Library.

For the College of Arts and Sciences the Freedman Center is evidence of the College's commitment to the evolution of education and the integration of information technologies in its curriculum. For KSL the Freedman Center is the culmination of a ten-year vision for a center that provides faculty, students, and staff with the ability to utilize both analog and hardcopy information sources in digital works and presentations.

Other key customer partnering relationships lie with the target markets ialready identified, with a primary focus on faculty and student activities. Primary partners for achieving the goals and objectives established for the Freedman Center are ITAC and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. These two groups are, by definition, partners in the process of fulfilling the mission of the Freedman Center. Key customer relationships include faculty and students, as already mentioned and discussed above. These target markets are the customers from which we expect to experience the most utilization and to receive the most benefit in terms of re-visioning learning at Case. It is the belief of the Freedman Center that multimedia resources offer faculty and students innovative ways of expressing themselves and exploring information sources and learning techniques. As this coincides with the primary mission of the Kelvin Smith Library and Case Western Reserve University it is the primary mission and goal of the Freedman Center. This is not to suggest that the Freedman Center does not value the other customer relationships: staff, alumni, and internal customers, for these groups offer the potential for fulfilling and certainly supporting the primary mission of the Freedman Center, KSL, and Case as well.

With a strong customer service focus and innovative programs such as the Freedman Fellows program it is hoped that one of the primary communication mechanisms for the Freedman Center will be word-of-mouth discussion and praise. However, it would be naïve to focus primarily on such a method and the Freedman Center will work with the Marketing and Communications Committee in the Kelvin Smith Library to create an organized, targeted campaign for marketing and communications. The primary focus at this point is the development of a message to communicate. The message should largely be inline with the mission, vision, and goals for the Center. In a formal capacity, communication methods will take advantage of extant communication technologies, including http, rss, and email, as well as interdepartmental print vehicles if deemed appropriate. Additional methods of communication include feedback functions: user feedback, surveys, observation techniques, and evaluations of formal programs and partnerships.