August 23, 2018 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

1. Jake MacGregor will speak about ClimateQual
1. 30 minutes have been allotted for this. It could go longer should our guest’s schedules allow and we find it beneficial.
2. Approve Meeting Minutes
3. Unit Updates
4. AUL Candidates
1. LSSC Representative
2. Questions
1. See document re. previous LSSC questions for AUL candidates.
5. Travel Opportunities for Employees (Excluding ALA)
1. Cristina (lead)
2. Diverting Reaching Forward South funding…?
6. Field Trip to Staff Lounge
1. Greg Knott will meet us there at 12:10
2. Evaluate Current Furniture
3. Plan for Going Forward
7. Other Questions / Comments / New Items

Erik Chapman (Life Sciences)
Lonnie Clark (Central Public Services)
Angie Gruendl (Physical Sciences & Engineering)
Cristina Kuhn (Technical Services)
Laura Poulosky (Residence Hall Libraries)
Ben Riegler (Central Public Services)
Gennye Varvel (Social Sciences)
Shoshona Vegh-Gaynor (Arts & Humanities)

Guest: Jake MacGregor (Organizational Development & Training Coordinator)

Visit from Jake MacGregor: Jake MacGregor, who began his position as the Library’s Organizational Development & Training Coordinator in June, came to talk with us about the next steps for follow-up to the Library-wide ClimQual survey that was conducted in 2015. Cindy Ingold, who led the effort, was also invited to the meeting, but was, unfortunately unable to attend. The results of the ClimQual survey can be found here:
https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/assessment/climatequal/

Jake has read several reports about ClimQual, including the initial analysis of the survey results. Initially, it was recommended that the Library form a new ClimQual Committee to work on follow-up actions based on the survey results, but Executive Council determined that the Staff Development & Training Committee should take on this responsibility. Now that Jake has started in his new role, he will also be serving as the head of the Staff Training & Development Committee. He wants to have the committee discuss and determine a few specific goals to focus on for the coming year, and anticipates that ideas stemming from ClimQual reports are likely to come up from committee members (Cindy Ingold & Angie Gruendl are both on the committee). Angie (LSSC liaison from Physical Sciences & Engineering) will report back to LSSC following the Staff Development & Training Committee’s next meeting.

Jake has been attending various Library Division, Unit, and Staff meetings in order to meet people throughout the Library and hear what their concerns, suggestions, and needs may be. People’s current concerns seem to be mostly about upcoming changes such as the Library Project (reconfiguration of the Main Library) and the new version of the Integrated Library System. Jake is looking into the possibility of bringing in a change management specialist to discuss how to best handle large transitions at work. Jake would appreciate having LSSC’s help in determining specifically what staff’s concerns and needs are.

Next week, the BHRSC (Greg, Skye, Aneitre, Jake, etc.) will be attending training for departmental HR staff by Illinois Human Resources (which is the newly reorganized Staff and Academic Human Resources) about the Civil Service reclassification. Hopefully this training will provide more information and clarity around these changes.

We mentioned to Jake that a staff member had suggested to one of the LSSC liaisons that we conduct an updated morale survey of civil service employees, since the last time that LSSC conducted a morale survey was in 2007. We suggested that Jake might also look at the results of that morale survey and compare them with ClimQual results to see which concerns may have changed and which may be recurring. Ben also suggested that LSSC spend some time at an upcoming meeting looking together at the results of both ClimQual and the 2007 morale survey, in order to review specific suggestions and concerns. We’re not sure whether we should undertake a new morale survey right now, while so much is up in the air about the Library Project, but we will look more at the data we have so far before deciding that.

Approval of July LSSC Minutes: We approved the minutes from the July 26, 2018, LSSC meeting.

Division Updates:

There were no Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, Central Public Services, Faculty, or Administrative Council meetings to report on since our last LSSC meeting, but liaisons shared relevant news from their Divisions.

Social Sciences News: Gennye reported that the Social Sciences, Health & Education Library (SSHEL) is still in the process of interviewing candidates for the Library Specialist closing shift.

Central Public Services News: Ben reported that interviews start tomorrow for a new Patron Services Manager, which is an Academic Profession position and had been Richard Stokes’ job.

Life Sciences Division Meeting: Erik reported that the Life Sciences meeting focused on journal subscriptions. There were some concerns about a package subscription that had been purchased because it had a couple of specific titles that Division librarians had requested. They fear it might be problematic to maintain all of these titles if the package price increases significantly within a few years, which sometimes seems to happen with such packages. There was also some discussion of the upcoming version of the Library catalog. Materials for the College of Medicine & Bioengineering Library collection have started arriving at Grainger. The new Medical and Bioengineering Librarian is Alex Cabada.

Residence Hall Libraries: The position for a new Residence Hall Librarian was recently posted, with a closing date of August 17th. The Search Committee has been formed. We at the RHLs are eager to have a new librarian ASAP! We’ll start our fall hours on Monday, Aug. 27th:

Ikenberry Library
Mon.-Thurs. 10 am-midnight
Fri. 10am-9pm
Sat. 5-9pm
Sun. 2 pm-midnight

Allen, FAR, and ISR Libraries
Sun.-Thurs. 2pm-1am
Fri. & Sat. 4-10pm

Remember that anyone with an active I-card can check out Res Hall Library materials, so feel free to come browse our great collections of books, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, video games, board games, and magazines!

Undergraduate Library (Central Public Services): Lonnie reported that there has been a reconfiguration of the circulation and technology desks at the UGL. The tech desk has moved to the Media Commons. The UGL will be hosting a Tabletop Game event this Saturday, August 25th, from 1-4 pm.

Possibility of Break Room Furniture Upgrade: We met with Greg Knott in the Main Library fourth-floor employee lounge (Rooms 404-405) to look at the condition of the furniture there and assess what we’d need if we’re able to upgrade the furniture. It was recommended that we first look at Campus Surplus to see if we can find anything that looks nice and is comfortable for this lounge. Via LIB-staff and LIB-news, we are now soliciting suggestions from Library employees about what types of furniture they would (or would not) like to have in the lounge. Suggestions may be sent to LSSC’s email account: lssc@library.illinois.edu
LSSC members who have the time will go to Campus Surplus on a treasure hunt there soon. We will have to request a time for our visit by sending a request to Library Facilities, to Lesli Lundquist’s attention.

Associate University Librarian (AUL) Candidates: The following candidates for AUL will be giving presentation in Room 66 of the Main Library on these dates:
Heidi Imker—Sept. 6th
Chris Prom—Sept. 7th
Lynne Rudasill—Sept. 11th

Erik will draft an email to Kim Matherly to see about the possibility of LSSC meeting with the candidates as part of their interview days. If we are given a little time in their schedules, we will prepare questions (consulting via email) that we’d like to ask the candidates.

Travel Opportunities for Employees (Excluding ALA): Tabled

Next LSSC Meeting: Our next regular monthly meeting will be at 11 am on Thursday, Sept. 27th, in Main Library Room 225B.