Library Office Notes

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

Absent:  Beth Woodard

I.  Approval of the Past Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the February 5, 2001, meeting were approved as distributed.

II.  Question Time

The materials soliciting faculty input into the evaluation of library administrators did not indicate a deadline, and Paula indicated that comments should be submitted by the end of the month.

With the recent balloting, the question of voting rights of visiting faculty members arose.  The University Statutes, which supersede the Library's Bylaws, do not automatically extend voting rights to visiting faculty.  The Library's Bylaws imply this, but do not directly say that.  In the past, voting rights have been extended to individuals in the library by means of a vote at a faculty meeting.  Paula will instruct the By-laws Committee to clarify our By-laws in light of the University Statutes regarding voting rights of visiting faculty.  In the interim, visiting faculty cannot vote unless voting rights have been specifically extended to them.

Paula agreed to check on the progress of two Emeritus Status recommendations.

II.  New Business

A.  Visiting Committee Appointment

A visiting committee appointment was discussed. Paula will contact the people involved.

B.  Position announcement for the History and Philosophy Librarian

Leslie Troutman, chair of the Search Committee for the History and Philosophy Librarian, presented a draft position description and search time line for the search.   Questions about the inclusion of a minimum salary, the faculty rank, and the contents of the "required" and "preferred" sections of the qualifications were resolved.

C.  Request from PSED for lapsing salary money

PSED submitted a proposal to the EC to use the lapsing salary money from Tim Cole's former position in the Engineering Library to fund additional graduate assistant positions in Division libraries and to fund fully a research programmer position and computer lab support.  After an EC detailed discussed of the proposal, EC decided to support the proposal as presented by the division.  Paula will notify the PSED Division Coordinator of the results of the discussion.

D.  Interim Systems Director, Interim English Librarian, and Interim Women and Gender Resources Librarian

The candidates for the position of Interim Systems Director were discussed, and the EC made a recommendation for an appointment.  A discussion about the Systems Director position will be on the next agenda, and the search process will begin as quickly as possible.

EC considered several options and recommended a person to act as Interim English Librarian.  Paula will follow up on the recommendation.

Several names and suggestions came forth for consideration for Interim Women and Gender Resources Librarian.  Paula will follow up on the recommendations proposed.

The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

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

Absent:  Beth Sandore, Beth Woodard

I.  Approval of the Past Meeting Minutes

Approval of the minutes of the February 12, 2001, meeting was deferred to the next meeting.

II.  Question Time

A.  EC approved a request from the Fire Services Institute Librarian to be on the LIBFac-l List, even though she is not a member of the faculty, since the list is not used for official business.

B.  A question about the agenda for the next faculty meeting was resolved by deciding that the User Ed Committee will make a report at the March faculty meeting as will the new Associate University Librarian for Services, Bob Burger.

C.  The Library budget hearing was last Monday.  Hearings will continue for five or six weeks, and there is nothing more for the Library to do at this stage of the process.

D.  Paula Kaufman will not be in town March 12.  Because of pressing issues to be discussed, the EC meeting on that date will be rescheduled.

E.  Paula reported on the status of the CRL search.  An offer has been extended and negotiations are taking place.

III.  Old Business

A.  Visiting Committee

Appointment of a Visiting Committee for a new faculty member was discussed.   Because several visiting committee changes are likely and the person will be 0Y until August, it was decided to table the decision until summer.

B.  Emerita Status

EC voted unanimously to recommend Emerita Status for a retired faculty member.

C.  Interim Head of Slavic

The Area Studies Division has requested that Larry Miller continue in the Slavic Library as Interim Head.  Since he is already in place as Acting Head until August 21, 2001, EC approved his continuing as Interim Head.  The EC agreed to make an exception to its normal procedure in this case and not issue a call for applications or nominations for the position.

D.  Request to Fill Vacancy of Head of Slavic Library

EC approved filling the vacancy and made recommendations for a search committee.   Paula will follow through on the recommendations.

E.  Process for Appointing Acting Unit Heads

EC discussed the process for appointing acting unit heads.  The first question at issue was whether a person who was nominated, but has not applied, should be asked to apply.  EC agreed that the University Librarian should approach a person who is nominated and ask them to apply.  The second question was whether a person who applied should notify his or her unit head of their application.  EC decided to amend the procedures so that the University Librarian will consult with their unit head concerning unit coverage and distribution of responsibilities.  EC also asked that the University Librarian communicate with unsuccessful applicants before an announcement is made in LIBNews.

F.  Academic Searches and Vacancies

In preparation for leading a discussion at the March Faculty Meeting, Tim Cole distributed the document, "Summary Outline of EC Role in How We Handle Academic Vacancies."  After a brief discussion of some editorial changes, EC endorsed the discussion outline.

Note:  From 2:00 to 2:30, the EC suspended business to interview a candidate for Biotechnology Librarian.

Absent:  Barbara Henigman

Paula Kaufman welcomed Richard Griscom who is replacing Bill Brockman; Bill Maher, proxy for Barbara Jones; and Karen Wei who is returning from sabbatical.

1.  Minutes of February 19, 2001, Meeting

There are two additions/corrections to the February 19 minutes.  They will be corrected and resent to AC.

2.  Round Robin Report

Everyone was asked to give a brief report and update on his/her unit.

Marianna Tax Choldin reported that the Mortenson Center is in the midst of moving to space in the Undergraduate Library.  The Center will host two sets of visitors soon:   (1) in two weeks, seven people are coming from seven countries of Eastern Europe for a six-week course focusing on intellectual freedom and access and on management, (2) five pairs of people (a government official and the director of the public library) from five smaller Russian cities are coming for two weeks in May for a program that will include a three-day program in Springfield with government and library people.  The Mortenson Center received a grant from the Mellon Foundation for a three-year project with South Africa.  They hope to have a project with people from Colombia, South America, next fall.  The Library, Mortenson Center, and GSLIS were successful in nominating two of the Honorary Degree candidates.

Cindy Kelly reported that Human Resources will be working on seven current searches between now and March 26 with four more opening up.  She has been answering many questions about the Performance Evaluation process.

Joyce Wright reported that the Reference and Undergrad live reference is still up and can be accessed from their web page.  The E-reserve project is very successful; they will have a report at the end of June.  Term Paper Research Counseling will be available March 19 through April 19.

Diane Schmidt reported that ACES is getting ready for their move.  Progress is being made on recruiting a Bio Tech Librarian under the Faculty Excellence Program.   They are working with other departments on a CCMP grant.

Karen Wei reported that their division is in transition.  There is a reception for the new African American Studies Librarian today.  Beth Stafford retired from Women and Gender Resources; Sue Searing is filling in half time.  Bob Burger is stepping down from Slavic Librarian, and a search is beginning.  The Japanese Librarian search is over; the person  accepted and needs 4-6 months to obtain a visa.  The South and West Asian Librarian position is open.  Fung Simpson is moving to half-time status; she’s been assigned to the Newspaper Library.

Karen Schmidt reported that the Preservations Search Committee is still working.   The LASC draft will be out soon, and there will be an open forum to discuss it.   She is continuing her one-on-one meetings.  They are working on launching LibQual+ in early April.

Bill Maher reported that Barbara Jones and others are working on the Spring event to celebrate the gift of Shana Alexander’s papers.  John Hoffman is working on the Lincoln Collection.  Phyllis Danner is recovering from surgery, and a graduate student is keeping the Sousa Archives in operation.

Betsy Kruger reported that Fung Simpson joined the Newspaper staff.  IRRC is testing software for seamless electronic transfers; it will enable users to request information regarding their status.  The Lending Office now has a directory of articles for CIC borrowers.  Circulation is doing extensive shifting and barcoding to prepare for the move to storage.  The two permanent faculty positions in Government Documents have been filled.  The Remote Users Task Force has worked out an 800 number.  They have also worked out the details of distributing materials to Beckwith.

John Weible reported that Systems is in transition.  One position went from half time to full time, and a search for a research programmer will open soon.  He has not yet had a lot of direct contact with the units and invited everyone to contact him.   Current projects include ILLIAD, E-Reserves, Gateway redesign, and the ILCSO evaluation process.

Dick Griscom reported that the Arts and Humanities Division is wishing Bill Brockman a fond farewell.  There are three searches underway in the division.

Tina Chrzastowski reported that PSED is working on the Geology Librarian search; Greg Youngen is still Acting Head.  Tim and Greg spoke Saturday at a LEEP class.   There are two faculty in their division up for tenure.  They are getting Sci Finder Scholar up at every public terminal where it is requested.  The large Chem 110 class is being trained to access Chem abstracts online.  Tina is working on the Faculty Excellence hire with Diane Schmidt.  Bill Mischo is in Japan where he will be giving some talks.

Paula Watson is working on another counterproposal to Elsevier; funding has been lined up.  She is hosting a meeting tomorrow for anyone interested in Elsevier or electronic journals.  She will be looking at adding other journals and considering new projects and will need to discuss priorities.  The Electronic Information Resources Committee is working on drafts for policies and procedures.  Donna Keleher is adding Blackwell titles to the E-Journal list; these titles are accessed through Ingenta.

Bob Burger reported that Sue Searing, the User Ed Committee, and he will discuss the User Ed position at the next Faculty meeting and, following the meeting, will bring a recommendation to EC.  The LIT Committee is dealing with electronic sources and access to them; Bob and Karen were delegated to look at their proposal and will have suggestions soon.  He has had some Unit Head orientations, and is working on LibQual+ with Karen and Sue.

Alan Conrad reported that new people on the Library Staff Steering Committee have been oriented and have attended their first meeting.  Alan will continue as representative to AC, and Gil Witte will continue as Chair.  They are working on goals and looking at staff training and the structure of LSSC.  Two people are going to ALA in San Francisco.

Janis Johnston reported that Law’s theme this year is marketing -- to reintroduce themselves to the faculty and students.  They are acclimating their new librarians.   LEXIS training for new students has been a big hit.  They put together a brochure on services to faculty that includes who to contact for which activity and describes how the library can support them.  In April, they will talk to students who will be interning this summer in Chicago law libraries; they will follow up with brown bag lunch refresher sessions.  They are in the midst of reviewing their State and Federal repository of materials.

Nancy O’Brien reported that a Commerce Librarian has been appointed to begin May 1.   There were many users here for the LEEP weekend, Thursday through Monday.   The Education and Social Science Library is developing a new look for their home page.  CPLA is developing a web page for some recent Illinois city planning documents that were donated to them.

Deloris Holiman reported that the Business Office is moving quickly toward the fiscal year end and beginning of the new budget.  They are also readying for implementation of Triple I.  Edith Wade is retiring March 30; she has been there since the inception of the Business Office.  Under Edith’s capable leadership, library vouchers totaling millions of dollars have successfully left the Business Office.  Her absence from the office will leave quite a void.

Lyn Jones followed up her Faculty Meeting presentation on the Library Campaign.   Misty will call to set up meetings with heads of libraries and Lyn’s development counterpart of the department they serve.  They want to know what the libraries do and what kinds of things they would like to have funded, and make the college development staffs aware of library needs that they can take to alums and donors.   They will create a number of new gift accounts; ultimately each library will each have a gift account.  Lyn asked everyone to take a look at their endowments and let her know what they are doing with those funds; she will send out an updated endowment list.  She is working on the April 17 Shana Alexander event.

Bart Clark reported that the ACES movers have to be contracted soon.  A finalized document for reconfiguration and city approval of the Oak Street facility are expected soon.  They are working with Systems on Undergrad wiring.  A salary analysis of librarians and academic professional staff is underway.  There are many job offers being made, and updates are being run on the web at least every other week; the Web is the primary source of communication for the office.  His office has started visiting units to access needs and will chart a time table for getting things done.

Paula Kaufman reported that Duane Webster will pay his first visit to the campus April 13; he will give an open talk about ARL.  While she was at a conference in Oklahoma, it occurred to her that we should have an international strategy; let her know if you have ideas.  Campus-wide issues include two dean searches in the interview stages:   Engineering and Vet. Med.  A search for the Dean of Social Work is going on and a GSLIS dean search will be coming.  There are changes in the Provost’s Office with a faculty member from Psychology taking Susan Gonzo’s place for a while.   Paula and two ILCSO Board members helped draft a white paper to form a federation of academic library consortium for electronic resources; the three met with Jean Wilkins in Springfield.  Six proposals for new systems have been received; ILCSO is narrowing it down to a short list.  The Triple I Millenium Serials Module will be ready in the next few weeks.  A database bill was introduced in Georgia last week whereby State law would usurp Federal copyright laws; be on the alert for similar bills in Illinois which would place restrictions on access to works now not copyrightable.  CIC Library Directors have a two-day meeting at the end of March and will meet with the president of Elsevier and the CIC University Press directors.  A small group will meet in early April to discuss the Brian Hawkins paper on realizing the vision of having all scholarly information universally and perpetually available on the Internet.

3.  Question Time

The coffee kiosk will be in operation within approximately seven weeks.

Grad assistants who are renewing for Fall in their current department should declare officially by March 19.  Departments must be careful to follow policies and be more stringent on forms, letters of offer, letters of acceptance, and job descriptions for new and returning GAs.  The data base on available candidates will be on the web soon.   Applications can be turned in to the departments, but they need to be referred to Human Resources, too.  The GEO is still negotiating; it is too early to tell if Library students will be in the bargaining unit.

The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.