May 21, 2007 Meeting of Administrative Council

1. Review of division ideas regarding new service models and service point transformations: round robin discussion with the intent of getting some of the discussion occurring in the divisions out on the table; are there commons themes? ideas one division has thought of that might work in another division? where are we heading with these discussions?
   All
   45 minutes
2. New Gateway Design
   Lynne Rudasill
   20 minutes
3. Energy Consumption Overview
   Scott
   5 minutes
4. CAMELS Update
   Scott
   5 minutes
5. Question Time/Announcement
   15 minutes

Paula Kaufman, David Ward, Mary Stuart, Diane Schmidt (for Greg Youngen,) Tina Chrzastowski, Tom Teper, Sue Searing, Karen Wei, Alvan Bregman (for Bill Maher,) Scott Walter, Bill Mischo, Karen Schmidt

1. Round Robin on Division Discussions about Service Model TransformationsScott and Karen have visited all the divisions to share information and feedback about our budget discussion with the Provost and to begin conversations about how we can transform our service model.  The following summary reports were given:

   Central Public Services (D. Ward):

   Units:

   Access services still being discussed – mostly Circ and ILL at this point, possibly Reserves/EReserves/Media as well

   The Scholarly Commons discussions will determine a lot for the future of Reference Services:

   CPS wants to push out IM more, find models for collaboration between subject specialists and a centralized online or physical reference service, including the ability to deliver educational content through online reference technologies.

   As libraries are consolidated and service points closed, there will be a greater demand on CPS and TSD units – more reference questions coming into UGL and REX, more campus mail and book requests for ILL and Central Circ, etc.  Need to have resources to meet these service demands.

   Arts & Humanities (M. Stuart): Mary reported that there are currently 3 different proposals under consideration for consolidating services points among the A&H libraries.  One proposal consolidates Modern Languages and Linguistics, Classics and English on the 4 ^thfloor; a second consolidates Modern Languages and Linguistics and English in Room 200; and a third considers making the Music Library a Performing Arts Library that includes theatre and dance.  There is no unanimity at this time about any of these proposals.

   Life Sciences (D. Schmidt):  LSD discussions have noted that there is little consolidation that can be attained, given the geographically-dispersed locations and the variety of disciplines in the division.  The librarians are looking at virtual consolidation, such as the health information portal and have discussed divisional chat service.

   Physical Sciences & Engineering (T. Chrzastowski): Individual libraries have undergone or are in the middle of transformation.  Chemistry has already changed its model; Geology is working on changes related to the development of the School of Earth, Society and Environment; and Physics is rethinking Reserves and bound journals, with an eye towards maintaining some physical library over the next few years.  Tina noted that PSED used to have 11 librarians and now has 6.

   Social Sciences (S. Searing): The suggestion of moving Government Documents to SSD triggered a discussion of principles that focus on service delivery, subject expertise and collections that reflect user groups.  One model maintains the status quo, one looks at a social sciences “ commons” model, and a third radically changes the SSD libraries by establishing one social sciences library.  Much depends on how the scholarly commons and access services work progresses.

   Area Studies (K. Wei): ASD revisited their initial proposal to EC from several months ago that proposes an area studies information center in a separate space that is nearby area units. One idea that has been brought forth would move Slavic into the current English Library, using the current reference area in English Library as the information center and the rest for Slavic, with consolidation of technical services as much as possible within area studies. This would bring area studies units in much closer proximity, and is dependent on the proposal that the current English Library would consolidate with other A&H libraries.

   Special Collections (A. Bregman): The Shepley-Bulfinch report triggered a number of discussions in the SCD, with a strong focus on physical collections as the core.  The division held a retreat to develop a common vision that looks at how the current disparate service points can work together in new space that might be made available either in a new building or in redesigned Main Library space.  The vision statement is still being refined.

   (N.B. There was no one from Technical Services Division to report on their discussions.)

   General discussion ensued.  Paula noted that the Provost is committed to enabling us to make changes, and urged us to look at short term and long term changes.  The group agreed to identify work that we can do centrally and decide how to address these areas.  We must have expertise and collections at the places where our users want them.  We might look at circulation statistics in identifying which services points are less heavily used.  Bill Mischo reminded the group of our work of a few years ago in consolidating service points; Paula will review that.  We also discussed the idea of creating browsing collections that are not staffed = can we create collections without librarians as we have librarians without collections (e.g., Katie Newman, Cindy Ingold)?

   For the June AC meeting, division coordinators should be prepared to report on items that each division can do right away that will be transformative and strategic and allow us to free up resources.  Paula reminded us that no one of us owns a library and that we cannot block forward momentum by declaring that changes cannot happen.

2. New Gateway DesignBill Mischo reported for Lynne Rudasill.  He noted that good progress is being made.  The site will be up for general review within the next month.  The CMS should be usable by the fall with testing occurring over the summer.  The top level Gateway page is operational, with second-level pages under construction.  Departmental pages will need to be re-done over the summer and into the fall.  Bill noted that the new Gateway emphasizes subject pages over departmental pages.  New University level graphic identity requirementshave to be part of any web changes for July 1 and following.  It is okay to work on departmental web changes now, and to contact the Gateway task force when work on these pages is done.  Departmental libraries should not bother with headers and footers.
3. EnergyScott Walter reviewed the May 3 e-mail on energy concerns from Chancellor Herman and discussed general approaches the Library is taking to address our energy use.  The Main Library is number 7 on campus for energy use.   Library Security is turning off non-essential lighting in the Book Stacks in the evening, and the Office of Facilities is looking at swapping out greener bulbs throughout the Main Library.   Library IT has asked that we keep computer hard drives on for system/software updates and are working on looking at how we can continue to mitigate energy consumption.  Scott noted that we need appropriate opening and closing protocols that will include energy saving issues.
4. CAMELS UpdateThere was an original question about handling emergency coverage.  Information on our web pages is out-of-date.  AC discussed emergency handling and confirmed that it is available only by working through divisions.  This led Scott to a discussion with Sandy Wolf regarding CAMELS, from which he originally understood that this was no longer an active option for addressing cyclical or emergency work.  A subsequent discussion with Sandy revealed that it is still viable, but there is a fundamental question of whether we should be addressing required Library work with volunteer staff.  Technical Services is looking at using shared staff to support other units, and may offer a model we can adopt Library-wide.  AC agreed that divisions should identified known cyclical tasks (such as e-reserves, ILL, discharging) and time periods when these are experienced.  Division coordinators should bring these back to AC for a follow-up discussion on how to address these in the future.
5. Question Time / AnnouncementsIt was noted that there are lighting deficits in the Main Book Stacks, making it difficult to move collections to that location when users can not easily see the material.  The second module of Oak Street will be done in the summer of 2008, and moving items to Book Stacks will continue to be a pressing issue.

   Tina noted that minimum wages are going up and asked how we expect to handle this.  Rod Allen has reported on this in budget group and elsewhere and has noted that the cost to us, without any student hour expansion, is some $227,000.  This goes into effect in July, and we have factored this into our FY08 budget.  Because we have no specific budget information at this time, we are not able to make declarations about whether we would need to cut student hours, or if we might expand them.