A collaborative effort by several Miami University departments will soon allow university staff to have access to a program that will make sharing resources easier.
The Classified Personnel Advisory Committee (CPAC) initially proposed the program called "Share Your Stuff," according to Senior Director of Strategic Communications and Planning Cathy McVey.
The program will be similar to Craigslist. Departments within the university will be able to post unneeded office supplies like paper, envelopes and toner cartridges onto a digital database, which will then be available at no cost to other departments in need of the items McVey said.
Once a match has been made, the two parties will negotiate transportation of the items.
The program allows staff and faculty to transfer unwanted supplies to other departments in need of the items, thus freeing up storage space and reducing clutter McVey said.
In addition to reducing budgetary constraints by giving university departments access to free supplies, the program has been developed at virtually no cost.
"There were no hard costs; it was just [the cost of] our staff," McVey said.
Senior Communication and Web Coordinator Randy Hollowell has been involved in creating the module that embodies the vision of "Share Your Stuff."
He expects a link for the module to be included on the MyMiami page after the transition from Blackboard later this semester.
The program will initially be available to staff only but if the program is successful it is possible it would be expanded to include student organizations, Hollowell said.
Vice President of Student Organizations for Associated Student Government (ASG) Meghan Wadsworth said she immediately saw an opportunity to expand the program after learning of the "Share Your Stuff" program.
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She said she hopes to not only allow student organizations to participate in the program but also to expand the scope of the program to include larger value items like printers and other electronics.
Additionally, she said she hopes to include everyday items student organizations either lack the storage capacity for or need to own themselves.
Wadsworth said she thinks the program will allow Miami to make better use of its budget and will allow for better utilization of existing resources.
ASG Treasurer Michael Trivelli described his vision of the program as a resource library for student organizations.
"We are being more frugal and fiscally responsible and at the same time organizations will have access to more resources than they would have independently," Trivelli said.
McVey said the "Share Your Stuff" program could be available to faculty and administrators as early as May and is currently waiting for the campus portal transition expected at the end of this semester.
"The module has been built for the new CampusEAI version of the portal, not Blackboard," McVey said.
Trivelli and Wadsworth hope to realize ASG's vision for the program by next year.
"I would like to have a framework up and running by next year so the resource library can continue to grow into the future," Trivelli said.
Sophomore Cuyler Brewer said he liked ASG's idea to develop a resource library for student organizations.
"If organizations have unused resources just sitting there, you might as well have another organization take advantage of them," Brewer said.
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