April 10, 2014 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Skye Arseneau, Becky Burner, Jim Cotter, Lisa Renee Kemplin, Debora Pfeiffer, Dani Postula, Laura Poulosky, Barb Trumpinski, Julie Watkins, Sandy Wolf

Link to Library Office Notes via Staff Page:  Thanks to Sandy for putting a link to the new UIUC Library monthly newsletter, Library Office Notes, under the “Current” news on the left sidebar of the staff web page.  The staff web page can be found at http://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/ and the direct link to the Library Office Notes is http://publish.illinois.edu/libraryofficenotes/

ClimateQual survey:  The Diversity Committee is preparing to make a formal proposal to Dean John Wilkin that the Library conduct a ClimateQual survey of Library faculty and staff in the spring of 2015.  The last time ClimateQual was conducted was in 2007.  The survey can be customized and this time there would be a special focus on issues related to diversity.  The cost of the software and training tools, etc. would total about $5,000.  It would take about 45 minutes for an individual to complete the survey, and there would probably be small financial incentives involved to encourage participation.  Dean Wilkin has talked about wanting to have quarterly meetings with all Library staff, and the results of a ClimateQual survey could help generate specific discussion topics for these meetings.

Reaching Forward South / Reaching Forward Conferences:

In recent years, the Library has sent staff members to the Reaching Forward South conference in Springfield each fall.  This conference will not be held in 2014, however, and has been postponed to September 2015.  Since funding has already been allocated to conference registration fees and travel for Reaching Forward South, it has been suggested that these funds be used to send up to 5 or 6 staff members to this spring’s Reaching Forward conference in Rosemont (in the west suburbs of Chicago, near O’Hare) on Friday, May 9th.  A link to information about to the conference can be found at www.reachingforward.net
Jim will send out an announcement to LIBstaff inviting civil service staff to apply to attend Reaching Forward.  Preference will be given to staff who have not had the opportunity to attend Reaching Forward South in the past.  If more people apply than the Library is able to send, names for attendance will be drawn in the Human Resources office.  We will need to get the list of attendees to Beth Woodard no later than Thursday, April 24th.

Division Reports:

There were no division meetings in International Area Studies, Life & Physical Sciences, Technical Services, or Central Public Services since our last LSSC meeting.  We still need a new liaison from the Arts & Humanities division, since Laura has moved from the Architecture & Art Library to the Residence Hall Libraries.

Social Sciences:  At the Social Sciences division meeting, there was a discussion of the possibility of conducting ClimateQual next spring.  While Beth Woodard is on her upcoming sabbatical, Cindy Ingold will head Staff Development & Training.  There was discussion of the “G.R.E.A.T.” customer service standards (G – Greet all customers and make them feel welcomed; R – Respect cultural and other personal differences; E – Evaluate and clarify customer’s expectations; A – Address and respond to customer’s needs; T – Thank and verify that needs have been met ).
Special Collections:  The Special Collections division is preparing kid- and family-friendly activities for the Sweet Corn Festival, such as craft projects.  The division also discussed the Special Collections online, specifically the need to revise the text of the description of what Special Collections include.  There was also mention of the LibQual survey that is currently underway.

Working with International Students Workshop:  Sandy attended “Working with International Students: A Workshop for Staff” on April 9th.  She found it helpful to hear international students’ experiences, positive and negative, at UIUC.  She will share the hand-out from the workshop with Staff Training & Development.

Next Meeting:

The next LSSC meeting will take place on Thursday, May 8th, at the Ikenberry Student Dining and Residential Programs building (301 E. Gregory Dr.) for lunch and a tour of the Ikenberry Library.  We will meet downstairs at 11:30 a.m. and plan to wrap up our tour at 1:00 p.m.  Please bring your I-Card in case you’d like to check out any materials from the Ike!