July 27, 2017 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Jim Cotter (Special Collections), Emily Kasak (Mortenson Center/Area Studies), Kyle McCafferty (Central Access Services), Debora Pfeiffer (Technical Services), Dani Postula (Central Access Services), Laura Poulosky (Residence Hall Libraries), Gennye Varvel (Social Sciences), Shoshana Vegh-Gaynor (Arts & Humanities)

Welcome, Emily Kasak!:

Following our call for nominations for new members, we had one nomination for a vacant slot and all currently-filled seats were uncontested, so elections were not required. Congratulations to our newest member, Emily Kasak, who will be serving as liaison for the Area Studies Division.  Emily is an Office Support Associate who has now finished her first six months at the Mortenson Center, where she works on event planning and makes arrangements for international librarians who visit the U of I Library as part of Mortenson Center programming.

 

Upcoming LSSC Executive Election:

At this first LSSC meeting following our summer elections, we elected Kyle McCafferty as the committee’s Chair, Dani Postula as Vice-Chair, and Laura Poulosky as Recording Secretary.

 

LSSC Google Calendar:

Dani has set up a Google calendar for LSSC, so that we can use it to keep track of our meetings, Library events, deadlines for things such as conference applications and reservations, etc.  Dani sent LSSC members invitations to view and edit the calendar.  She has added the dates of the next Reaching Forward South conference and the next ALA annual conference and will be adding deadlines for the steps we need to take prior to these conferences in order to give Library staff opportunities to attend.  Dani also plans to add the timeline for next summer’s LSSC elections.

 

Implications of Upcoming 1% Merit-Based Raises for Eligible Employees:

Following President Killeen’s email announcement that eligible U of I employees will receive 1% merit-based raises, we discussed what impact this might have on Library civil service staff, most of whose salaries are negotiated by collective bargaining.  After our meeting, Becky Burner clarified for us that since the Local Union 698 contract expires in August, it all depends on what is negotiated with the University.  The fact that the University is doing the merit raise for other employees implies that there  may be at least 1% raise for members of Local 698, but we do not know yet, because the negotiations are still in progress.

 

Job-Shadowing / Floating Substitutes for Smaller Units?:

We discussed whether it might be desirable to suggest to Library Unit heads setting up some staff (and/or graduate student?) job-shadowing, with a bit of cross-training, as was mentioned in the January All-Library Retreat.  This would not only increase communication and comprehension of what employees in other parts of the Library do in their jobs, but could also serve as a way of potentially preparing staff to be able to substitute in smaller units when these units are short-staffed and need help covering their circulation desks.  When the busy time of the beginning of the semester is over, we may see if Joanne Kaczmarek, the Division Chair of Special Collections, would like to visit an LSSC meeting to talk about this idea.

Division Reports:

Central Public Services:  Dani reported that Central Public Services met at the University High School Library with Librarian Dominique Arnold.  Dominique showed attendees around the library and told them about the work she does there, which includes teaching computer and information literacy courses and basic programming courses.  In these courses, students do special projects such as setting up their own websites, making films, etc.

Dani also reported that Tom Habing is building a list of Librarians and Academic Professionals with specialized reference skills in various areas, so that these individuals can serve as “Tier 1” and “Tier 2” contact people for patrons looking for help on advanced research projects.

The retirement party for Beth Woodard will be held on Aug. 31^st from 2-4 pm in the Main Library’s Reading Room.

Special Collections:  Jim reported that the main topic of the Special Collections meeting was the unit’s website and updates that might be made to it, including highlights of popular items in the collections.

Mortensen Center:  Emily reported that the Mortensen Center has recently hosted groups of international librarians here for summer programs, including a group from Moldova that was focused on citizen engagement.  The Center will soon be hosting author Viet Thanh Nyugen, whose novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016.  He will give a public talk on Thursday, Sept. 14^thfrom 1:00-2:30 pm, location to be decided.

Residence Hall Libraries:  The Ikenberry Library’s hours for the remainder of the summer are Monday through Friday 10 am to 4 pm. The Urbana Residence Hall Libraries (Allen, FAR, ISR) are closed for the summer.   Allen and FAR Libraries’ collections are currently unavailable, since these materials are boxed up while these spaces are being renovated.  We are retrieving call slip requests from ISR Library throughout the summer.  Anyone with an active I-Card is welcome to check out RHL materials.

Arts & Humanities, Technical Services, and Social Sciences have not held Division meetings since our last LSSC meeting at the end of June.

Next LSSC Meeting:  Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, Aug. 17^th, from 11 am to noon, in Main Library Room 428.