Library Committee Handbook

Executive Committee

Executive Committee Meeting

  Minutes - December 13, 2004

Main Library - Room 428


Present: Paula Kaufman (Chair), Bill Mischo (Vice-Chair), Lynne Rudasill (Secretary),

Kimberly Reynolds (Recording), Jane Block, Cindy Ingold, Janis Johnston, Kathleen Kluegel, William Maher, Lynn Wiley


1. Minutes of the December 1 meeting were approved with amendment.

2. Question Time - The newly revised announcement from the Faculty Review Committee regarding annual reports was accepted for discussion at the Faculty Meeting on Wednesday, December 15 with a correction to the date on the cover letter.

Lynn Wiley announced the final plans for a referral page for users to enable purchasing items from general and online booksellers. University legal counsel has okayed the agreement to host this site and Lynn is waiting for word from the Amazon legal counsel to finalize the deal. Notice of the new page can be provided through e-week announcements and messages to various faculty lists.

Paula Kaufman indicated the development of a “budding” relationship between UIUC and the University of Indiana. She and others will be meeting with representatives from IU tomorrow in Indianapolis to talk about further cooperation between the two institutions. We are already collaborating on projects such as AQUIFER and music sharing. Negotiations with the CIC journal archiving project have gone forward. The CIC Library Directors have accepted the proposal and will begin implementation.

The recently announced position opening for a Visiting Project Coordinator and Visiting Assistant Professor of Library Administration for the Illinois Digital Scholarship Repository is grant-funded and therefore does not have to be approved by the Executive Committee until and unless the position becomes permanent.

Personnel Matter - The permanent transfer of Gail Hueting to the Technical Services Division was approved.

3. Library Budget Process/Budget Priorities - In response to concerns expressed by Kathleen Kluegel, the Executive Committee will review the divisional priority statements prior to an assessment of the priorities by the Budget Sub-Committee. This will enable the Executive Committee to develop more informed opinions regarding budget priorities that can then guide the thinking of the Budget Sub-Committee. Rod Allen will be invited to the next Executive Committee meeting (January 4, 2005) for his input in the process. The general timeline for budget development was reviewed.

In the brief discussion concerning the Executive Committee’s responsibility for faculty hires, Paula Kaufman and Bill Mischo indicated a potential spousal hire had been on campus and met with the Screening Committee. Speculation was that the best fit for this individual was between acquisitions and cataloging, and that she had good experience with electronic resources. The candidate indicated a desire to be hired as an academic professional rather than a tenure track faculty member. In any case, she will not be moving to Champaign-Urbana until next fall due to contractual agreements on the part of her spouse.

5. Division Coordination - In answer to a question that Lisa German posed via e-mail, the By-Laws do not preclude an individual who is not a unit head from becoming a division coordinator. It was pointed out that some division by-laws make this requirement and basically, the question of who should be appointed Division Coordinator is decided by recommendation to the University Librarian who has the final decision in the matter. It is not recommended that a non- tenured faculty member by appointed Division Coordinator.

6. Strategic Plan/Administrative Council - The Executive Committee strongly concurred with the Administrative Council’s proposal that the AC be composed of Division Coordinators, Associate/Assistant University Librarians, and a representative of the LSSC. The Library By-Laws will have to be changed to amend the composition of the Administrative Council. The Executive Committee suggested that the By-Laws be changed, in effect, to read - Article VII - Committees, Section 1 - Standing Committees, Part 2 - Appointed Committees, 1) Administrative Council, b. - Membership. The Administrative Council shall be comprised of the Division Coordinators, the Associate
University Librarians, the Library Staff Support Committee Representative, and othersuch representatives as designated by the University Librarian in close consultation with the Executive Committee and the Administrative Council, and d. - Meetings. Meetings shall be held on a regular basis at the discretion of the University Librarian.

A discussion ensued concerning the burden of responsibility for implementation of the Strategic Plan. On one hand there is a top down model where oversight by the Administrative Council or some other body is in place to ensure implementation. On the other hand is a distributed model of responsibility which places the implementation of the plan in the hands of the individual librarian. The problems of assigning resources to priorities, as well as responsibility for implementation, were discussed. The value of keeping the goals of the plan in front of everyone was mentioned as well. The Committee will await the reorganization of the Administrative
Council and any suggestions that body might have prior to making a final decision.

7. CLIR fellow selection - Paula Kaufman will announce the opportunity to apply for a CLIR fellow position at the Faculty Meeting on December 15. Divisions will have until January 15th to submit applications for the position that will be available. The Executive Committee will vet the applications.

8. Unfinished Business - Bill Mischo indicated that the Faculty Review Committee rankings do not appear to favor unit heads over non-unit-heads in the ranking process for librarianship, with groups fairly evenly distributed. Paula Kaufman asked that scores be reviewed to see the ranges in the area of research.

Paula Kaufman will be speaking to the GSLIS faculty in February regarding affiliated faculty.

A brief discussion of 0% appointments ensued. Some of the Library faculty still do not understand the implications of such an appointment. Paula Kaufman will try to explain the
full impact of these appointments at the Faculty Meeting on December 15.