August 18, 2014 Meeting of Administrative Council

1. AC rep on Budget Group – 2 yr. term
2. AC Agenda Committee
3. IT Laptops – Beth Namachchivaya
4. Changes for Academic Hourly Hiring – Cindy Kelly

John Wilkin, chair; Melody Allison, Susan Avery, Cindy Ingold (for Lisa Romero), Cindy Kelly, Greg, Knott, Mary Laskowski, Joanne Kaczmarek, Beth Namachchivaya, Chris Quinn, Mara Thacker (for Lynne Rudasill), Sandy Wolf

1.      Organizational Structure – John

The AULs are working on a document covering issues of reporting lines for librarians and other issues. EC has discussed the initial document with the AULs giving good feedback and the AULs are close to finishing a document that can be shared broadly with faculty and staff. John feels the most important thing is to get this right and he feels no urgency in getting the document finished. This document will be about things we can do to make us more functional. Nothing is broken; there are no secrets.

2.      AC rep on Budget Group – 2 yr. term

Greg gave a brief overview of the Budget Group. Joanne Kaczmarek volunteered to serve for the next two years.

3.      AC Agenda Committee

Susan Avery and Sandy Wolf have agreed to share this responsibility.

4.      IT Laptops – Beth Namachchivaya

Library IT is investigating ways to work pro-actively with Faculty and staff to identify technology that effectively meets the needs of their primary responsibilities and research in an increasingly mobile environment. IT’s responsibility is to support Library staff productivity with technology. Laptops may be allocated to faculty and APs with the support of their supervisor. Library IT will provide a web request form to support this and will work with AP’s and faculty to identify the technology best fills the individual’s work-related needs.

IT intends to provide a draft policy for review at the September 15 Administrative Council meeting.

Some questions were asked regarding:

Is there a way for laptops to get updates?

IT currently has a schedule to update and reconfigure laptops yearly. If yours has not been updated in the past year, log an OTRS. If IT needs your laptop for any length of time, they can issue you a loaner until yours is finished.

Who is the supervisor for a faculty member?

The unit head. If you are the unit head, the AUL responsible for your area would be the person to ask. Otherwise, Beth is always happy to talk with you about your needs.

Does a laptop replace a desktop?

Library IT will support one computing device (laptop or desktop) for each permanent AP and faculty member. If you are issued a laptop, you will not be eligible to also have a desktop computer.

Is it ok to communicate this info to the divisions?

Yes, supervisors can begin talking with their faculty and APs and can log an OTRS request for now if they need to make changes.

In September, Beth will bring a document, with guidelines to help people determine whether they need a laptop or desktop, back to AC for approval.

5.      Changes for Academic Hourly Hiring – Cindy Kelly

There will now be an increase in the amount of time it takes for supervisors to hire Academic Hourly (AH) employees. Position descriptions must now be approved by Academic Human Resources (AHR) before an individual can start work. There will now be a 2-3 day turnaround from AHR, which means approximately five business days from the time the position description comes through JOYCE, until the individual can begin work. This is the result of the Civil Service audit and ongoing issues.

• Might AHR stop approving AH positions?

AHR is committed to retaining the AH category.

• Can we proactively send in job descriptions for a pool of hires?

Yes.

• How many AHs do we have?

The Library has approximately 80-100 AHs, 300 students and up to 100 Grad assistants.

John suggests that we be thoughtful about these positons considering if the position can best be filled with Civil Service, APs or AHs.

6.      Announcements

Greg Knott announced that if you travel in Champaign County, you don’t have to fill out a travel authorization form.

Joanne Kaczmarek asked when is it acceptable to purchase food or bring food in when you are asking students to participate in workshops.

John would like to have more information about what we have been doing and what is allowable by campus.