Library Office Notes

Present:  Paula Kaufman (chair), Margaret Chaplan, Tim Cole, Richard Griscom, Beth Sandore, Mary Stuart, Leslie Troutman

Absent:  Sue Searing, Beth Woodard

I.  Approval of the Past Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the December 20, 2000, meeting were approved.

II.  Question Time

Answers to questions asked during Question Time:

· An election will be held to fill Bill Brockman's position on the PTA Committee.

· Paula Kaufman will check on the status of the Emeritus papers for a retired faculty member.

· Paula Kaufman reported on the status of searches for the Engineering, Documents, Japanese Studies, Commerce, Preservation, AUL for Services, and Geology positions.

· Reference's request for the extension of the Visiting User Ed position has been approved for an academic year.

· A meeting is scheduled next week to interview the candidate for the spousal hire contacted last year.

· The candidate hired for the Afro Americana position will begin on February 12.

· Writing the search narratives has been taking a long time and delaying the search process.  It was suggested that the search committee chair draft the search narrative as the search is progressing so delays can be avoided.

· It was suggested that, until Cindy Kelly gets help in the Human Resources Office, the Search Committee chairs need to be more involved in making sure everything is on track and to offer assistance.

· Paula has asked Maria Porta to be the project coordinator for the ACES move to the new building in early July.  Materials will be moved out of Mumford and then out of Bevier.  The new ACES Library will open for service in Fall 2001, and the formal opening celebration will take place in October during Foundation Weekend.

· It was explained that Faculty members are being asked to turn in 10 copies of their Annual Report so all FRC members will have their own copy to use during discussions of the reports.

· A future agenda item will be "paperwork reduction."

III.  Old Business

A.  Procedures for the evaluation of administrators

The revised version of the letter soliciting faculty input for the evaluation of Library administrators was approved by EC.

B.  Draft of the budget document

Paula Kaufman and Tim Cole presented the draft of the budget document.

· Basically, priorities one through seven were accommodated.

· If faculty positions are approved after the budget is in effect, there will be internal money to fund them.

· Internal reallocation efforts need to be highlighted.

· All individual requests for equipment have been put into a set of recurring requests for the plant account fund.

· The AITG Lab is a separate item not related to our budget.  The Provost requested that the Library include it in our budget request so it can go through the CBOC budget process.  It has been approved by deans and other groups on campus and will be funded depending on tuition increases.

· There was concern about listing specific faculty positions in the spreadsheets.   Vacated faculty positions are being evaluated and may be replaced with new positions that will meet new needs.

· The graduate assistant positions are being lumped together.  Decisions on how many will be hired will depend on how much is allocated for the budget.

· $125,000 was added for faculty salary equity.  $50,000 was included for staff upgrades.  A student wage upgrade was also included.

· There was concern that $50,000 for monographs and new journals, a top priority item, seems disproportionate and vulnerable to cuts because of the size of the amount.  The Budget Group and the CDC budget subcommittee will be asked to reconsider this amount.

· The term "enhance services" should be reworded to make it more understandable to people outside the Library.

· A narrative is needed to clarify the need for operating budget support for Collections.  Decision makers need to be aware that acquisitions funding has to be coupled with funding of staff positions to process the materials.  If anyone has further comments, they should send them to Bart with a copy to Wendy and to Tim.  EC was warned that this may not be as good a budget year as last year.

IV.  New Business

A.  Appointment of interim librarians for the English Library and the Women and Gender Resources Library

Paula will invite interested faculty to apply to fill the interim positions of English Librarian and Women and Gender Resources Librarian.  EC strongly prefers someone who is tenured, and applicants should be able to serve for up to one year.

B.  Request to fill positions in the English Library and the History Library.

EC approved filling both of these positions, and names for search committee members and chairs were suggested.

C.  Replacement for a visiting committee

EC made a recommendation for a replacement on a visiting committee.  Margaret Chaplan will update the Visiting Committee list and forward it to the chair of FRC.

D.  Topics that need to be brought to the faculty for discussion, and scheduling of the discussions

Topics that need to be brought to the faculty for discussion and possible scheduling are as follows:

1.  Opening the Stacks to undergraduates.  An all-faculty discussion about opening the Stacks should wait until both EC and AC can discuss it.  If a document can be distributed to the faculty after prior discussion by EC and AC, it will be on the agenda for the February 16 Faculty meeting.

2.  User Ed Coordinator.  Even though the User Ed Coordinator position is part of the Strategic Plan, faculty members would like the opportunity to express their ideas regarding the position.  It will be put on the agenda for the March Faculty Meeting.  The AUL for Services should have been appointed by then and can be present for the discussion.

3.  Paula will lead a continuing discussion of recruitment issues at the January 19 Faculty Meeting.  The report of the task force on recruiting was sent out by Griscom via e-mail.

4.  The Division Coordinator Job Description will be on the agenda at a future Faculty Meeting.  This will be on the next EC Agenda.

5.  EC's role in the process of recommending that a faculty position be filled will be an agenda item at the February Faculty Meeting.  Tim Cole will lead the discussion and will bring his ideas to the next EC meeting for a preview.

6.  Both EC and AC need to discuss the issue of changing the division affiliation for the Women and Gender Resources Library.

V.  Pending Items (waiting to move up to active agenda)

There are currently no pending items waiting to move up to the active agenda.

The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Present:  A. Conrad, L. Carroll, J. Gammon, R. Jahr, H. J. Kim, P. Lindell, L. Roberts, E. Schroeder, G. Witte

Guest:  Bob Burger, Cindy Kelly

I.  Minutes of the January 10, 2001, meeting were revised and approved.

II.  Reports

A.  Admin. Council - no meeting.

B.  Faculty  Meeting - minutes have been posted.  Highlights are:

- Lyn Jones spoke about the Library Campus Campaign

- Mary Ellen O'Shaughnessey spoke about the Campus Conduct Program

C.  Library Reconfig. - no meeting.  Check out the Budget & Planning Office web site for the plans of the Oak Street facility.

http//www.library.uiuc.edu/administration/planningbudget/storage/default.htm

III.  Updates/Discussions

A.  Annual report - continue to review and update.

B.  Opening the Stacks - following discussion at Admin Council, it will be returned to divisions for discussion as well as Executive Committee and the campus Senate Library Committee.

C.  Staff lounge - Committee members reported on feedback from staff of their division.  To permit more staff input on the issue, members of LSSC will be in the staff lounge over their lunch hours on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001, from 11:30-1:30.

IV.  New Business

A.  A talk with Cindy and Bob re:  staff training, meetings, ...

-- C. Kelly wants to establish supervisory training meetings on issues of civil service rules, Union contracts, University rules, and other issues to supervisors at all levels so that we are all operating on the same information.  These would include:   make-up time,  overtime, flex-time, and timesheets among others.

-- G. Witte suggested some of the training issues identified in previous meetings such as:   classification forums for members of levels to get together and discuss common issues, task exchanges wherein all serial check-in staff would meet to discuss solutions or student supervisor would meet to discuss training methods.

-- there was a general discussion regarding low turnout at planned events and probable causes.  B. Burger spoke about how everyone needs to be convinced that the events are equally important to staff's job responsibilities.  C. Kelly stated that the Library is in a changing culture, that each staff member needs to return from meetings and stress their importance.

-- anyone still needing introductory Word training should notify the HR Office, so that their name can be added to a list.  Higher level training is being investigated to determine direction and content.  The primary goal of the classes is to improve staff members' job performance and not to aid them in personal pursuits.

B.  ALA Staff Scholarships

Discussed the idea of two staff scholarships instead of  one.  Discussed the time table for ALA scholarship selection and the expenses.  Pam Lindell will inquire about these issues.

C.  Student Training Manuals

Cindy Kelly needs examples of any manuals or training methods that supervisors employ to train student staff.

D.  Cindy Kelly announced the creation of a Library civil service employee list-serve.  An announcement will be sent out shortly.   LIBSTAFF-L@listserv.uiuc.edu

E.  All Library Staff Retreat - There will be an all Library permanent staff (faculty, academic professionals, and civil service employees) retreat to be held on May 14, 2001, from

9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  A planning committee (to be formed) will be in charge of the arrangements.  More announcements will be forthcoming later as details become available.

Respectfully submitted,

Jane Gammon
Transcriber