Humanities Hub Minutes November 07, 2012

Main Library Humanities Hub Team
Minutes
 Wednesday, November 07, 2012


Present: Marek Sroka, Dianne Harris, J-P Mathy, Robert Cagle, Kirk Sanders, Mark Wardecker, Charlie Wright, Paula Carns, JoAnn Jacoby, Sue Searing, John Wagstaff

John began by reporting that he had had a meeting with Classics Faculty on October 31, facilitated by Mark. One of the things to come out of this meeting was that Classics Faculty were strongly in favour of moving the Classics Library from 4th to 2nd floors.

John also thanked Team members for their work in getting the Classics Librarian position request finalized at short notice. This had been submitted to Paula Kaufman on November 5.

Mark reported that the total linear footage for shelving in the current Classics Library is 7,641. He will work on supplying the team with figures for how much of this shelving is occupied by periodicals/reference material, and so on.

John proposed two main subjects for today’s meeting:

  1. to discuss the name of the new unit that would be created by moving Classics to 2nd floor
  2. to discuss what we want in the new Classics space besides shelving – for instance, what collaborative study space(s) should be included?

 Under item (i) the Team was unanimous in selecting “Humanities Library” as the name for the new aggregation of library collections and services on 2nd floor. A suggestion of “Classics, History, Literatures and Languages Library” was not popular. The name “Humanities Library” will therefore go forward under section 7 of our Team charge.

Under (ii), Paula reported on the space currently available in the Literatures and Languages Library. This is an 8-seat seminar room, including computer and wall-mounted monitor, that can be used by student groups using a booking system. It is also made available to individual patrons under certain circumstances (for example, if they are using language-learning software for individual study). The room can also be used for more confidential discussions among LLL library staff.

Mark noted that Classics does currently have what he described as a “tiny” seminar room on 4th floor that would take around 8 people. However, it is not well equipped and is too small for their purposes (its sole advantage currently seems to be its proximity to the Classics collections).

Room 225B (which the Team meets in) seems a good size for small classes, seminars, and group study, as does room 323C (the IAS conference room).

It was suggested that the Team recommend consulting with a focus group concerning the requirements for group study space in the revamped room 220. Dianne/IPRH should be able to help with this. John will note this as a recommendation in the Team’s report.

Also on the subject of space, JoAnn suggested that the Team turn its attention towards rooms on the 2nd floor that are currently office space – for example, the rooms around 230 (University Librarian’s Office) and 227 (Library Advancement). *If* the Team’s plan could include use of these offices as office space for Humanities Library staff, that would clearly take some pressure off the space in room 220, which currently includes one very small office (Michael Norman’s office) and one larger one, used by Wendy Shelburne. Having the offices around room 230, in particular, would make logical sense since it would form a physical connection between room 220 and the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library. It is very important to “open up” the space in this area.

Finally, John asked again for suggestions regarding other groups we should consult about our plans. Dianne suggested the ethnic studies groups around campus (and maybe able to help with contacts); and Charlie suggested English – in particular, their library committee. Kirk already has connections with religious studies, so we may already be covered in that area. Charlie also suggested the Medieval Studies Advisory Committee. John will make the appropriate contacts.

 

John Wagstaff

November 7, 2012