Library Office Notes

Present:  L. Carroll, A. Conrad, J. Gammon, P. Lindell, E. Schroeder, G. Witte

I.  Minutes of the November 8, 2000, meeting were revised and approved.

II.  Reports

A.  Admin. Council -- Job description for unit heads was discussed.  The document is still being revised.

-- a Library civil service staff list-serve has been requested by Cindy Kelly.

-- Paula Kaufman wants feedback on what general priorities should be in the Library.   Staff upgrades were suggested as a high priority.

-- Paula Kaufman spoke about creating a 'swat'/trouble-solving team for the Library.

-- Cindy Kelly reported on the Library Clerk series civil service review to date.

B.  Faculty Meeting -- Discussion about the current faculty position vacancies/searches.

C.  Library Reconfig. -- Information on the main Library reconfiguration can be found on the Planning & Budget web page.  Listed starting date for construction is April 30 with an end of project date of July 2002.

III.  Updates/Discussions

A.  A draft of the annual report was distributed for members to read and discuss at the next meeting.

B.  MS Word class -- Scheduling difficulties have delayed the class.  Work is still progressing on getting a class scheduled before the Spring semester.

C.  Soaring to Excellence Teleconference -- The session at the Lincoln Trail site was canceled due to technical difficulties.

D.  Administrative liaison -- Bob Burger has postponed starting of his sabbatical so he will continue as liaison.  Who will fill in during his sabbatical has not yet been determined.

IV.  New Business

A.  Election of division representatives.  After a discussion, it was decided to continue last year's idea of having the nomination process via e-mail and use paper only for the actual ballots.  The timetable of the election was set as follows:

-- response to nomination e-mail message by Dec. 15, followed by phone/personal confirmation of non-respondees.
-- voting ballots to be distributed the second week of January 2001 with a deadline of January 31.
-- February 7, the new Library Staff Steering Committee meets and elects officers.

Members volunteered to serve as election coordinators for the various divisions.   We discussed a draft of the announcement to be sent out by each coordinator to their division with finalization of the document to be done by e-mail.

B.  Gil Witte reported on the proposal to open the Bookstacks to the undergraduate students.  The committee discussed issues/concerns including the actual date of opening.

C.  Food issue -- concern had been brought to the attention of the Arts & Humanities rep regarding the lack of eating establishments during the intercession.   Recent closing of restaurants in Campustown, the orientation of the Union food court to the undergraduate population, and lack of  restocking of vending machines on the 4th floor and the tunnel were all mentioned.  The information that committee members were able to determine was as follows
-- concerns regarding the closing of restaurants in campustown should be addressed to the Campustown 2000 project.
-- staff members concerned about the food court were recommended to contact the campus staff group to determine if there was anything to be done to convince campus administration that staff still need to eat over the break.  Also, it was recommended that staff get confirmation that the Union food court would indeed be closed over the intersession.
-- on a positive note, the matter of the vending machines on the 4th floor and the tunnel; the Business Office will contact the vendors to determine what can be done to keep stocks on non-perishable foods in the machines over intersession.  Gil Witte will speak to Bob Burger about additional ideas and to get an update regarding the proposed coffee court for the lobby.

D.  Discussion regarding staff attendance at Library information events was tabled until the next meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Jane Gammon
Transcriber