March 26, 2020 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

LSSC Meeting Agenda and Updates 3/26/20
LSSC meeting cancelled on 3/25/20.  Asking for liaison reports via email

1. Approve minutes
2. Liaison reports and updates

• ALA Scholarships

-Reviewed by Skye, Brian and Diana Eynon
-Awarded to Karen Huck of Literatures and Languages and Jennifer Vargo Hauser of ACES
-But the ALA Conference has been canceled

-Talk to Library Admin about deferring their attendance to next year and sending 4 people then instead?

1. Diversity Committee/LSSC Potluck for June

-No updates

1. Reaching Forward South

-Library Admin agreed to send 12 staff members to the conference

-We had at least 5 respondents

-But it was canceled

1. Dean Wilkin will attend all/part of our May 28^th meeting to take questions and discuss staff issues with us

• COVID-19 updates
• Other questions/topics?

Kim Hutcherson (Administration)
Sarah Bial (Arts & Humanities)
Lonnie Clark (Central Public Service)
Ben Riegler (Central Public Services)
Jessica Sommers (Law)
Erik Chapman (Life Sciences)
Bernadette Braun (Physical Sciences)
Julia Cross (Residential Hall Libraries)
Tony Hynes (Special Collections)
Brian Clark (Technical Services)
Rachael Johns (Technical Services)

Approve February Minutes: Approved with no corrections.

Liaison Reports and Updates:

Administration:  March 16-March 20, Library HR joined daily COVID-19 Response Skype meetings with HR Systems group (Campus HR and other HR personnel from campus units). Moving to weekly meetings March 23-May1.  All updated information has been shared frequently through John Wilkin, Skye Arseneau, and Heather Murphy on libnews.

• Helpful video on Remote Workspace Ergonomics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ebrUJRSIbk

Helpful video on Grocery Handling.

https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps

• Administrative Council: AC had a Zoom meeting on the 16^th. Chris Prom mentioned that Skye Arseneau had more information from the HR Systems Group meeting this morning and there will be a libnews email sent soon. Cherie’ said there is a lot of information yet to come.  It was confirmed that everyone should wait for the updates before talking with division coordinators.  Tracy Tolliver talked about the laptop requests are being prioritized.

Arts & Humanities:  Arts & Humanities did meet, Tom Teper visited to discuss an ebook trial we were all very interested in.

• HPNL: we’ve all moved to working from home, most of us since March 13 or 16. Our lead student assistant and graduate assistant helmed the unit while the Library was still open, but thanks to the governor’s executive order finally pushing the Library to close, they are allowed to work from home now, as well. We’re still working out the issues with meeting and checking in remotely, plus figuring out how our student assistants might work if they want to, but it’s going all right overall. We have projects for everyone to work on, though being separated from the microfilm collection is difficult.

Central Public Services:  CPS did not meet in March.

• Faculty Meeting:The last Faculty Meeting was held on March 4th, personal notes are not available, but the minutes are available here: https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/agenda/march-4-2020-meeting-of-library-faculty-meeting/#uofi_library_committee_meeting_elements
• Central Access Services Circ staff has been answering the phone and email from home and working on Alma training since CARLI is still planning to implement the change this summer. Ben Riegler personally has been working on updating a lot of training material for shelving in the Stacks and sent some training material to student employees. Otherwise have not had anything for them to work on remotely, however I am very glad that campus has decided to continue paying them regardless.
• Undergraduate Library: UGL is still looking for some to take Jim Hahn’s place.

Law: The Law Library has not met as a group this month.

• All our staff and faculty are working remotely. The Tech Services staff have all taken boxes of Seventh Circuit legal briefs home to catalog.  After they’re cataloged, these will be sent to Google to be digitized.  We are also working on Alma training and possibly taking LinkedIn Learning courses.  I’ve also been using this time to clean-up and update older catalog records. The law librarians have been providing reference remotely, though email and Zoom and creating Libguides with resources for students.

Life Sciences:  Met in March.

• Regarding ALMA: LSD is in decent shape and in a good position. There is a problem between the reserve item and the course, the course list needs to be rebuilt.  The cutover may be before May 24 – we’re waiting for confirmation.  Voyager data will be available after the cutover.
• Update on Funk ACES office building project: Progress is being made and there are no known delays. Sarah had a discussion with Wendy Wolter, Administrative Aide, regarding ordering furniture. We will spend money wisely on new furniture, it will not come from surplus. Furniture includes a desk, a task chair, 2 side chairs, file cabinets. Wendy & Sarah will meet again after spring break.
• Collection Statements: We have agreed to meet and discuss this topic further after Mike Dickinson (Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Agriculture Librarian) begins his role (after May 16). Until then, read through the outline and think about what would work for you. Janis will continue drafting a statement for the ACDC based on the provided outline, University Archives and/or outside special collections.
• Committee assignments and reports – AC, CDC, others
  • Assessment Committee (Kelli) – no meeting since last LSD meeting.
  • Reference Management Team (Kelli) – little comments, LibCal kinks are being corrected, GA dates are not set yet, waiting for dates from the School of Information Sciences.
  • Collection Development Committee (Sarah) – met once since last LSD meeting, collection budget for next fiscal year was discussed, collection funds should receive funds to cover inflation, the library’s new Senior Director of Advancement Operations, Kathryn Risor-Heise, is hoping to run reports on accumulating endowment funds in the future to find out ways to help support donors. Susan shared that there is a list of turn-aways with the top two as Chronobiology (medical) & Critical reviews in Plant Sciences (a biology item Kelli feels she can add)

• Organizational Development & Training Committee (Susan) – Working on best practices for use of streaming technology in 106 Main

• Library Committee of Academic Professionals (Susan) – Two things 1) Working to formalize the role of the committee to improve consistency in the search process for academic professionals, will meet with Dean Wilkin today to discuss a structure that includes 1-2 reps meeting with every AP candidate and 2) Survey of how APs are using their investigation time.
• Library Assessment Committee (Peg) – the 2020 “Assess and Connect” Library Assessment Forum’s first part will be tomorrow, March 12 from 11am-12pm with Kristen (Allen) Wilson (Illinois Distributed Museum Coordinator) and Jess Hagman (Social Sciences Research Librarian). Second part will be April 16 with Beth Hoag (Student Affairs) and Julia Panke Makela (The Career Center).
• Research and Publications Committee (Peg) – there is a panel discussion on writing revisions planned for later this semester.
• Search Committees
  • Head, Scholarly Commons – Susan has been appointed to search committee with Kyle Rimkus as chair
  • Student Success Librarian – Sarah has been appointed to search committee with Mara Thacker as chair
• Round Table
  • University Librarian Mary Case is retiring this summer, a search for her replacement began in fall 2019, an offer has been extended to Nancy Alee from the University of Michigan. The hope is that Nancy can be on campus by May 2020. With regards to collections, there will be a fair number of cancelations this year and expect that next year will be rough.
  • Research & public data was this past week.
  • Please let Donna Hoffman, BHRSC Administrative Assistant, know what the airline gives you in return if you cancel a flight. BHL conference will be online. Gift mugs have been ordered from Norris for the April panelists.
  • We are still moving forward with plans for the panel presentation, it will be April 15 starting at 2:30 p.m. The theme is Solving the World’s Challenges: Exploring the Intersection of Agriculture and Health, an email about it went out yesterday in LibNews. We are still moving forward on hiring graduate assistants and need to fill 4 of 5 GA positions, Samantha (Sammi) Lindgren has been hired & will be the ½ time GA. Still looking to fill ¼ positions and two interviews are already scheduled.
  • Waiting for an update about the accreditation schedule for the Vet School, it should be end of April and Erin will give a presentation.

Funk ACES:  has been completely shut down since last Friday. Yesterday it was the last chance if any employee would like to enter the building. Now all employees need pre-approval to get into the building; approval must go from your supervisor, to an AUL, to the Dean. Students assistants will be paid, whether they work remotely or not. Yesterday and today, staff have been setting up at home. Graduate assistants will be working remotely during their original shifts at least for the first couple of weeks. GAs will work on their projects and provide reference services via online chat and emails. GAs need to ensure they have remote access to ACES library email account. Librarians can be reached through email, Skype, etc. It is not very clear if inter-library loan is going to continue or not. Maybe by the end of the week, we will know. Online chat is busier than before. We have gotten questions like finding e-books and library services. Emails to the main library have doubled. Changes in social media: will send an email later Plan for April: celebrating national library week; if librarians would like to get involved in the social media thing? The post will be one librarian per week

The third panel event (scheduled for April 15) will be postponed until Spring 2021. We will use the same topic, and hopefully the same panelists. Construction in our offices has been halted until at least April 7. GA hiring moving forward: three 25% positions still need to be filled. Telecommunication agreement: waiting for John’s telecommunication agreement. Of those who work at Funk ACES, only civil service staff and APS needs to sign the agreement. GAs and librarians are not required to submit the agreement, per Heather Murphy’s 3/21 FAQ email. GA training/discussion (last 25-30 minutes, if time allows): Academic library job search process (Kelli and other librarians)

Physical Sciences and Engineering: PSED did not meet in March.

• Grainger and Math: We are all working from home.  It was considered a possibility that Grainger might be essential and kept open because of the engineering workstations and the software that engineering students need to complete their courses. However, Technology Services was able to make arrangements for students to download the software they need on their personal computers. Math and Chemistry are closed. Before the full stay-at-home request was made, the Math Library was planning to move a portion of the reserve collection to Grainger. We finished moving the books but did not end up making any adjustments in Voyager as far as location. Most of Chemistry’s reserves are already duplicated at Grainger. We’re continuing to prepare for the Alma transition and doing one last review of any purchases we need to make before the early fiscal year closes. The Math Library staff had two Zoom meetings this week – we’re brainstorming ways we can stay connected with faculty and students and trying to work out if there are appropriate remote tasks for our student assistants and grad hourlies.

Residence Hall: The Residence Hall Libraries staff have all been designated as non-essential and have been working remotely starting on Monday.  Laura has been assisting with some residence hall front desk shifts since she is AP.  When we closed the FAR and Allen libraries on Friday, March 13^th we were informed that it was permanent even if the University were to re-open before the end of the semester.  (They would have closed permanently at the end of the semester.)  We had our first staff meeting by zoom yesterday.  We are focusing on the weeding and consolidation process so that we are ready for the switch to Alma/Primo.  The grad students are selecting the items to be weeded or moved to our continuing locations and I am updating the catalog records accordingly.  We will do the physical weeding/moving when we all return to campus.  Laura and the grad students are looking into ways that we could provide outreach opportunities online so that students still feel a connection to campus.  We will have our book club through Zoom or Google hang-out on Friday, April 3^rd at 5:30.  The book is Poet X, if anyone is interested.  We have been encouraged by the residence hall admin and Laura to take advantage of any trainings and other online opportunities.

Special Collections: Special Collections has been surprisingly quiet. There has been no new information about the building project to come out.

• RBML: Curators and some APs were placed in the “essential” category for building access and then only to do space walkthroughs looking for leaks or picking up mail. All staff has access to remote work (several are focusing on the OCLC duplicate records and other ILS migration issues). GAs have projects to work on and, pending what we hear about student assistants, there will also be remote work opportunities for them as well. GA applications will require attention as planning for the Fall will have to continue.

 

Technical Services:  Technical Services Division did not meet.

• Preservation: We’re all working remotely; I should have clarified that (same as in Erik’s email) any on premise-ness requires prior approvals. We emailed in our BEEP paperwork for the fire alarm last week to Wendy in the Admin office (mentioning in case anyone else needs to do this still, easy to forget with all going on).  The basement and stacks leaks were taken care of from earlier in the month, go team!

We are also moving forward with familiarizing with Alma remotely.  Like Tony mentioned, there are some essential employees, for example for emergencies (I’m not sure of everyone’s status at this time).

• DS: Projects are progressing remotely, with a big thanks to IT. new requestsare being added to our queue and inquiries are being responded to at digicc@library.illinois.edu.
• ACS: Everyone has moved to working remotely and are trying to keep up with e-resource acquisitions and cataloging as classes move to online formats. There are also some ongoing Voyager catalog data clean-up projects in preparation for the Alma migration, particularly duplicate records and records without OCLC numbers in the 035 field.

Other News:  Michael Norman will be hosting weekly Primo information sessions via Zoom on Tuesdays at 2pm. Here is more info on that:

Time: Mar 24, 2020 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Every 7 days, until Jun 30, 2020, 15 occurrence(s)
Mar 24, 2020 02:00 PM
Mar 31, 2020 02:00 PM
Apr 7, 2020 02:00 PM
Apr 14, 2020 02:00 PM
Apr 21, 2020 02:00 PM
Apr 28, 2020 02:00 PM
May 5, 2020 02:00 PM
May 12, 2020 02:00 PM
May 19, 2020 02:00 PM
May 26, 2020 02:00 PM
Jun 2, 2020 02:00 PM
Jun 9, 2020 02:00 PM
Jun 16, 2020 02:00 PM
Jun 23, 2020 02:00 PM
Jun 30, 2020 02:00 PM

Next LSSC Meeting via Zoom:  April 23, 2020 at 11:00 am