Scott Walter
Associate University Librarian for Services and Associate Dean of Libraries
Annual Report 2008 and Goals for 2009
I Introduction
In my 2007 annual report, I identified a number of core areas of responsibility around which my annual goals for 2008 were constructed:
1) providing leadership for Library service programs;
2) providing leadership for identified New Service Models proposals;
3) contributing to strategic planning and budgeting activities; and
4) facilitating the further development of new service program priorities.
Below, I will review the highlights of my work in each of these areas during 2008, and identify how this work (and new work) will continue in 2009.
II Status of 2008 Goals
1. Provide Leadership for Library Service Programs
I met a number of goals in this area in 2008, although the actual goals met did not always mesh with the goals proposed.
Among the specific goals met in this area were:
· providing leadership for service program areas in Library Assessment and Public Engagement [see II.4 (below)]; and
· facilitating discussions of collaborative approaches to service development among campus partners including ATLAS, CITES, and I3 [chiefly as part of the Scholarly Commons project; see II.2 (below)].
Among the proposed goals related to collaboration with the Graduate College, I provided support for efforts by Central Reference and Scholarly Communications in their development of programs such as The Savvy Researcher series, and the Electronic Theses and Dissertations project, but other proposed projects, e.g., collaboration with the Council of Graduate Schools, did not come to fruition.
Finally, the proposed focus on the identification of new human resources dedicated to operational leadership of various service programs resulted in limited success owing to dramatic changes in the budget outlook for the Library and the University in FY09.
2. Provide Leadership for Identified New Service Model Proposals
I met all my goals for this area in 2008, although the actual goals met did not always mesh with the goals proposed owing to the emergent nature of this process.
Among the specific goals met in this area were:
· submitting the “Final Report” of the Budget Group Plus;
· completing the CPLA-ACES NSM program (for which I served as administrative liaison);
· submitting the Scholarly Commons Team report (for which I served a Team Leader); and
· submitting the Technical Services Coordination and Consolidation Team report (for which I served as administrative liaison).
Following the appointment of JoAnn Jacoby as New Service Models Coordinator, I began collaborating with her on the establishment and ongoing review of additional NSM teams, including the International and Area Studies Team (for which I serve as administrative liaison).
3. Contribute to Strategic Planning and Budgeting Activities
I met the majority of my goals in this area in 2008, including:
· establishing a new calendar for the appointment of Graduate Assistants;
· establishing, conducting, and reviewing a new policy on GA evaluation; and
· planning and providing the Library Forum on GA Evaluation.
I also met new goals, including delivering a number of proposals to the Provost for distribution of the Library/IT Fee as the first Chair of the Provost’s Library/IT Fee Advisory Committee.
As a member of Budget Group, I spent the first half of 2008 completing a number of plans and reports related to the annual strategic planning and budgeting process, as well as the substantial and time-consuming review of Graduate Assistant and Student Assistant allocations for FY09. As 2008 concluded, I developed a new rubric for the evaluation of FY10 GA proposals that I hope will allow this process to be both more streamlined and more transparent during a challenging budget year.
Of the goals articulated in this area for 2008, the only one on which I failed to make significant progress was “to contribute more directly to Advancement activities in the University Library.”
4. Facilitate the Further Development of New Service Program Priorities
I met a number of goals in this area in 2008, including providing support for the Library Assessment, Web Content, and Public Engagement programs.
For Assessment, I facilitated the transition of leadership in the Library Assessment Working Group following the conclusion of the term of the founding Chair, collaborated with Budget Group colleagues to allocate a Graduate Assistant to support LAWG activities, and met regularly with the LAWG Chair to discuss the conduct and analysis of the LibQUAL+ implementation. Also in the area of assessment, I led the review of the Library’s strategic metrics as part of the Provost’s 2008-09 strategic planning process. A review of our internal approach to assessment also led to a number of specific activities in 2008, including the implementation of the Graduate Assistant Evaluation process, and a greater degree of engagement with unit heads in regard to Unit Annual Reports, in which the common theme was support for more robust assessment at the unit level.
For Web Content, I continued to provide routine support for Robert Slater, as he settled into his new position as Web Content Coordinator, and facilitated the integration of WC activities with other Office of Services programs, e.g., the planning between Web Content and Staff Training & Development on the “Illinois Library Web 2.0” program <http://www.library.uiuc.edu/administration/services/wtcc/projects/ilw2_schedule.html>.
Finally, I provided leadership for the development of a Library-wide view of public engagement through the establishment of the Public Engagement Working Group <http://www.library.uiuc.edu/committee/public/charge.html>, and the appointment of Scott Schwartz as its first Chair. Meeting for the first time in Fall 2008, the WG has already served as a valuable resource for public engagement activities in the Library, and is currently preparing its first grant proposal to host a “Big Read” program in collaboration with campus and community partners in 2009.
The only area
in which I would have liked to have made greater progress in 2008 is in the
establishment of an Awards and Recognition program. Originally identified as a
goal in 2007, I made progress this year in establishing an Awards Working Group
charged by the Advisory Committee to the Associate University Librarian for
Services, the identification of various facets for an awards programs designed
to be inclusive of faculty, staff, and students, and the support of the
provision of an award for “Best Poster” prepared by an undergraduate student as
part of the Ethnography of the University program. I hope to have a broader set
of proposals available for consideration by the University Librarian in 2009.
III Goals for Professional Performance – 2009
My goals for professional performance in 2009 revolve around many of the same issues as they did in 2008: 1) providing leadership for Library service programs; 2) providing leadership for the New Service Models program; and 3) providing leadership for strategic planning and budgeting activities.
In providing leadership for Library service programs, I will provide support for service program coordinators in established areas, now including Information Literacy and Instruction, Staff Training and Development, Multicultural Outreach, Library Assessment, Public Engagement, and Library Facilities. In addition, I will continue to provide support for those providing leadership for the re-envisioning of technical services programs, including Content Access Management and Acquisitions, as articulated in the Technical Services Coordination and Consolidation report accepted as part of the New Service Models program.
I will collaborate with JoAnn Jacoby and others on the establishment of the Scholarly Commons service program, including the articulation of a campus-wide and collaborative approach to the design, delivery, and assessment of scholar services, and the establishment of space for allied academic and service programs in the Library, including I3, and ATLAS. As part of these efforts, I will provide leadership for discussion of the future of e-science and e-scholarship programs in the Library, including digital humanities, data curation, and innovations in scholarly publishing.
I will provide support for the transition in leadership for undergraduate library services that will occur in Summer 2009 with the appointment of a new Head of the Undergraduate Library.
Finally, I will continue to provide leadership for the work of the Awards Working Group, and will engage the Advisory Committee to the Associate University Librarian for Services in a discussion of how to promote a Library-wide approach to leadership in reference and consulting services, and in the further development of “embedded librarian” programs.
In providing leadership for the New Service Models program, I will provide support to the New Service Models Coordinator, and collaborate with the Associate University Librarians and the Assistant Dean of Libraries for Facilities on the establishment of service programs, timelines for project completion, identification of necessary resources, etc.
I will provide support in Spring 2009 to the International and Area Studies Team in my role as liaison to that group, and will provide leadership, as appropriate, to the ongoing discussion of the future of core service program areas currently under discussion, including Government Information Services, and Library support for teaching, learning, and research related to International and Area Studies.
I will collaborate with colleagues in Library Administration in the development of the “Action Plan” to be submitted to the Provost in Spring 2009, and will provide leadership and support to specific project proposals identified in that plan.
In providing leadership for strategic planning and budgeting activities, I will continue to serve as one of the primary Library contacts for campus activities in these areas. I will contribute to preparing the Action Plan (above), and to coordinating efforts that will arise as additional information regarding the FY09 and FY10 budgets becomes available.
I will continue re-assessment of the Unit Annual Review process begun last year in an effort to ensure that information reported at all levels of the organization can be incorporated into Library-wide planning and budgeting activities.
I will conduct
a review of Library contributions to GSLIS educational programs, including
Library faculty involvement in teaching credit courses and supervising field
experiences and independent study projects, as part of a study of direct Library
contributions to graduate and professional education at Illinois.
IV Research Activities
The following peer-reviewed articles were published in 2008:
Johnson, C. M., Lindsay, E. B., & Walter, S. (2008). Learning more about how they think: Information literacy instruction in a campus-wide critical thinking project. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 15 (1/2), 231-254.
Walter, S. (2008). Librarians as teachers: A qualitative inquiry into professional identity. College & Research Libraries, 69 (1), 51-71.
The following editor-reviewed article was published in 2008:
Walter, S. (2008). The library as ecosystem. Library Journal, 133 (16). Retrieved January 26, 2009, from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6598103.html
Work in Progress
In 2008, I began work on an invited book chapter on public engagement in academic libraries to be included in a collection to be published by the Association of College & Research Libraries. I plan to submit this chapter in early 2009.
Also in 2008, I completed the design (with Lori Goetsch, Kansas State University) of an ARL SPEC survey on public engagement programs that will be published as part of the 2009 SPEC Kit series by the Association of Research Libraries. Data collection for the survey will take place in February 2009, and I plan to submit the complete Kit to ARL by Summer 2009.
I have been invited to contribute an essay on information literacy assessment for a special issue of the open-access journal Communications in Information Literacy <http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php/cil> to be published in Fall 2009. I plan to complete this essay during Spring 2009.
V Service Activities
Service to the Library
I continued to engage in a number of Library service activities in 2008, including my ongoing involvement in various groups on which I serve, ex officio, including Budget Group and Administrative Council.
I spent considerable time and effort in 2008 on service activities related to the New Service Models program. In addition to my service on the Budget Group Plus (January – May), I served as administrative liaison to 3 NSM planning teams, including the CPLA-ACES Team, the Technical Services Coordination and Consolidation Team, and the International and Area Studies Team. I also served as Chair of the Scholarly Commons Team.
2008 also saw the establishment of two new areas of Library service activity that I sponsored in collaboration with the Advisory Committee to the Associate University Librarian for Services: the Public Engagement Working Group, and an ad hoc working group focused on the development of a Library-wide Awards and Recognition program.
Finally, I served as Paper Preparer for one Promotion and Tenure dossier submitted in 2008, and as Chair of 2 search committees (Planning, Landscape Architecture & Design Librarian, and Head, Undergraduate Library) whose work was halted in late 2008 by budgetary concerns. With the decision to continue the Head, Undergraduate Library search as an internal recruitment, my work on that committee will continue in 2009.
Service to the University
I completed my service on a curriculum review committee for the Department of Educational Organization and Leadership (EOL) in the College of Education in 2008, and began my service on the Provost’s Library/IT Fee Advisory Committee (for which I served as Chair), and on sub-committees of the Chancellor’s Task Force on Civic Commitment. I also continued to serve as an advisor to Master’s degree students in the College of Education’s Higher Education Program.
In 2009, I will deepen my involvement with the Graduate School of Library & Information Science by returning to the classroom. In Spring 2009, I will teach LIS 502 (Libraries, Information, & Society).
Service to the Profession
In 2008, I continued to serve as Chair of the ACRL Research Coordinating Committee (for which I prepared the “Annual Assumptions” report for the Board of Directors) and as Co-Chair of the ACRL Seattle National Conference Virtual Conference Committee (for which I prepared 2 podcasts). As Chair of the Research Coordinating Committee, I was invited to present a talk at the Library and Information Research Group summer seminar in London, and served both as one of the selectors for the inaugural “Juried Papers” competition for the 2008 American Library Association Annual Conference, and as a member of the Research Evidence in Action (REAL) Advisory Board.
In 2008, I began a 3-year term on the editorial board of College & Research Libraries, and continued to serve as a member of the editorial boards of Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, Collection Building, and Public Services Quarterly. I concluded my term on the Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian board in 2008, and will begin a term as Associate Editor of Evidence-Based Library & Information Practice <https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP> in 2009.
In 2008, I collaborated with Paula Kaufman to prepare and present a series of invited talks given as part of the Elsevier “LibraryConnect Asia” seminars in Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Thailand. Versions of these talks were also given to colleagues from abroad who visited Illinois during 2008 as part of programming sponsored through the Mortenson Center.
Finally, I contributed book reviews in 2008 to College & Research Libraries and to portal: Libraries and the Academy, and continued work on a collection that I am co-editing (with Karen Williams, University of Minnesota, and Vicki Coleman, Arizona State University) for the Association of College & Research Libraries on the future of professional staffing in academic libraries (scheduled for publication in 2009).
VI Conclusion
2008 was another busy year, and another year in which unexpected challenges were matched by unexpected opportunities. I have especially appreciated the opportunity to work with colleagues to direct new attention to the experience of Graduate Assistants in the University Library, to move forward on a variety of New Service Models projects, to launch our Public Engagement initiative, and to broaden my experience of international librarianship. I look forward to continuing work on these fronts in 2009, and to helping to lead our ongoing discussion of the future of the University Library.