March 29, 2018 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Time and Location of Meeting

March 29, 201811:00 am - 12:30 pm Main Library 225b

Agenda Details

Agenda

Agenda not yet available.

Minutes Details

Attendees

Jim Cotter (Special Collections)
Angie Gruendl (Physical Sciences & Engineering)
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)

Minutes

Field Trip Follow-Up:  LSSC members visited the Fire Service Institute’s Library on Thursday, March 15th, at 2 p.m. for a tour, hosted by Head Librarian Lian Ruan, Archivist and Metadata Librarian David Ehrenhart, and Reference and Training Librarian Diane Richardson.  We enjoyed seeing the Library facility and its collections, including the archives, as well as the fire training facilities behind the Institute’s building.  Thanks to Kyle for arranging this!  We would definitely recommend a visit to anyone interested in special libraries and/or fire safety resources and history.  In the future, when logistically feasible, we’d like to invite I-School students and/or University Library staff members who are not on LSSC to join us on our field trips.  These trips are a great way to learn about special resources at the U of I and to talk with the people who manage them.

Reactions to Library Update:  We discussed reactions to the open Library Update that Dean John Wilkin gave on Tuesday, March 13.  The update focused primarily on plans to reconfigure the Main Library.

Here are the notes about the Main Library renovation project that the Dean shared in the March edition of the Library Office Notes: http://publish.illinois.edu/libraryofficenotes/university-librarian-note/march-2018/

There were lots of questions for the Dean at the March 13th Update about the logistics of this plan.  However, the plan is still in early stages and many details have not yet been decided.  At the Update, Cindy Ingold asked about keeping up employee morale while working around major renovations in the Main Library.  Dean Wilkin replied that he is indeed concerned about this issue and the effects any organizational changes may have on staff.  The administration plans to have a website where employees can give their feedback on plans once they have become more specific.  The Dean will also be hosting a few “Town Halls” to take more questions about the project and is asking that Library employees RSVP by registering via the Library’s Staff Calendar. The “best case” timeline would be completing the renovations in 2024.  We should hear more about the plans throughout this summer.

Faculty Meeting:  Angie reported that the Executive Committee will be discussing how the Associate University Librarian positions may change.  There is a possibility that these will become elected positions with specific terms, in order to share the AUL work more evenly among Library Faculty.

In regards to the Library budget, it is expected that the collections budget will be more robust in upcoming years, keeping up with inflation in the cost of resources.

Further renovations are being planned to Room 220 of the Main Library.  The fundraising phase is expected to end in fall 2019, with the renovations to be completed in fall 2020.  When complete, this space will available to be reserved for special events.  Once they have been drawn up, the architectural plans for this space may be made available to Library employees for feedback.

LSSC Elections in May:  Kyle reminded us that our annual LSSC elections will take place in May, so we will need to plan for them at our April meeting.  The following committee members’ current terms will be up this summer:

Jim Cotter (Special Collections)

Angie Gruendl (Physical Sciences & Engineering)

Kyle McCafferty (Central Public Services)

Lucy Moynihan (Life Sciences)

Shoshana Vegh-Gaynor (Arts & Humanities)

Note:  There is also one open spot for a Technical Services Liaison.  Debora Pfeiffer continues in the other Technical Services Liaison spot.

*Emily Kasak (Area Studies/Mortensen Center)—Emily will be starting a new job at the Office of the Senate next week.  We’ll miss you at LSSC meetings, Emily!  Thank you so much for your service on the committee!

Prior to the elections, we will send out a call to see if there are any civil service staff members in the above divisions/units who are interested in serving on LSSC.  If no one else is interested in serving on the committee and the current members wish to continue serving, they are eligible to do so.  For any spots with more than one candidate, we will hold elections online.

Organizational Development and Training Coordinator Candidates:  Two candidates for the Academic Professional position of ODTC will give open presentations on Wednesday, April 4, 11am-noon in 106 Library (Brad Wiles) and Thursday, April 5, 11am-noon in 428 Library (Jake MacGregor).  All interested Library employees are encouraged to attend these presentations and provide feedback to the search committee, which is chaired by Mary Laskowski.

Division Meetings:

Residence Hall Libraries:  The Residence Hall Librarian, Gretchen Madsen Webb, left for a new job as Assistant Branch Manager of Gresham Library in Portland, OR, at the end of February.  The now-open Residence Hall Librarian position has not been approved to be filled at this time, so the future of the position is currently uncertain.  Laura will keep LSSC posted when we receive any updates.  Nathan Sanden, Assistant Director of Housing for Academic Programming, is currently supervising the staff and graduate students who run the day-to-day operations of the Residence Hall Libraries.

Special Collections: Jim has been unable to attend Special Collections Division meetings for the past few months, due to staffing issues at the Map & Geography Library.  He has been reading the Special Collections meeting minutes, but he’s found nothing of particular concern to LSSC in recent minutes.

Social Sciences: Gennye was unable to attend the most recent Social Sciences Division meeting for the same reason.  She has found nothing of particular relevance to LSSC to report in her division’s recent meeting minutes.

Physical Sciences & Engineering:  Angie reported that the PSED will meet in April, and tends to be meeting only about once a semester.

No other Divisions had met since our previous LSSC meeting.