November 14, 2013 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Jim Cotter, Becky Burner, Lisa Renée Kemplin, Debora Pfeiffer, Sandy Wolf, Barb Trumpinski-Roberts, Laura Poulosky

New LSSC Members:

We welcome Lisa Renée Kemplin as the new LSSC liaison from International Area Studies and Debora Pfeiffer as the new liaison from Central Access Management.  Thanks to Lisa Renée and Debora for serving on the committee!  We still need a staff member from Administrative Services to fill the spot vacated when Douglas Heintz left the Library for a position elsewhere in the University.  Jim will talk to a few people in Administrative Services to find out whether they might be interested in filling this position.

Visit from Sue Searing:

Sue, the interim Associate University Library for User Services, joined us to discuss various issues of interest to staff.  She said that the AULs have been working closely with John Wilkin to help get him up to speed.  One issue that is a high priority for him is to grant more online open access to UIUC’s collections, via increased digitization of our materials.
We discussed how to encourage more staff members to attend the Reaching Forward South conferences held annually in Springfield in September, to apply for the chance to attend American Library Association conferences, and to participate in on-campus training opportunities.  Sue said that testimonials from staff members who have previously attended these events can help a lot, and that we should publicize the importance of these opportunities not only to staff members but also to their supervisors, who can encourage staff to attend.  We would still like to organize a Brown Bag lunch in the Main Library with attendees of the most recent Reaching Forward South conference (as well as the most recent ALA??), so they can share their experiences with any staff who might be interested.
Sue shared information with us about a proposal for a new User Experience Team, which will be presented to the Executive Committee in December.  For about a year now, an informal group has been meeting to discuss how to improve patrons’ experiences with the Library (both on campus and online) and has gathered advice from people at peer institutions who have already implemented User Experience programs.  The group proposes that a team dedicated to improving user experiences would consist of one full-time User Experience Librarian, two 20%-time Librarians (who would be reassigned from previous duties in order to serve on this team), and individuals from IT and other areas, as needed, to work on specific projects on a temporary basis.
A “Lib Qual Lite” survey will be sent to UIUC faculty, staff, and students in the spring to gather information about user satisfaction and how we might improve user experiences with the Library.  The last Lib Qual survey was conducted in 2008 and was the full-length, not the “lite,” version.  Sue provided us with the link to the results of the 2008 survey. We found Sue’s visit very information and would like her to attend our meetings quarterly, if she can fit them in her schedule.

Division Reports:

Life Sciences and Physical Sciences & Engineering Division (LSPSED)—Barb reported that Tom Teper visited the LSPSED division meeting and talked about the criteria used to identify items for transfer to the Big 10 print repository of duplicate journals housed at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Jeff Schrader also visited and spoke about security.  All libraries should now have security officers coming by a couple of times a day and filling out security logs at the circulation desks.  Barb wondered if it might be possible to have logs for facilities similar to those filled out by security.  We would at least like to see facilities staff introduce themselves and let us know what they’re working on when they come to do maintenance/repairs in the libraries.
The e-research committee is looking for grad hourly employees.  Please contact Sarah Williams at ACES if you have a graduate student to recommend.

Arts & Humanities Division—Laura reported on the Oct. and Nov. Arts & Humanities meetings.
Mark Wardecker’s position as the interim Classics Librarian was renewed until summer 2015.  The division is requesting a half-time Classics / half-time Architecture & Art Librarian position, which was discussed at length during the November meeting.
In all UIUC libraries, job descriptions are required not only for staff and Graduate Assistants, but also for volunteers.
The Library is considering implementing a materials reference service similar to Amazon’s “if you like this, you might also like this” function.  Discussion includes concerns about how to protect patrons’ confidentiality while searching the online catalog.
CAM is expected to move from Room 220 Main Library to Room 1 Main Library in the summer or fall of 2014.  John Wilkin wants to move forward with the process of planning a potential Humanities Hub in the Main Library, which would possibly include moving the Classics Library into part of Room 220.
John Wagstaff, of the Music and Performing Arts Library, is serving as the interim head of the Literatures and Languages Library while Paula Carns is on sabbatical.
Chris Paulicki has left the Music and Performing Arts Library for Interlibrary Loan.  His position in MPAL will be filled.  Diane Pye has started in MPAL, in a different position.
A printing survey will soon be coming out from Systems.  The Help Desk is also working on recent problems with video conferencing.

Special Collections Division—Jim noted that the main topic of discussion in this division was the content and format of the Gateway and potential improvements that could be made to it.

December LSSC Meeting:

Our next meeting will be held Dec. 12th at 9 a.m. in the Social Sciences, Health & Education Library (pending confirmation), to tour that new space.