November 29, 2017 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Emily Kasak, Danielle Postula, Kyle McCafferty, Jim Cotter, Gennye Varvel, Laura Poulosky, Debora Pfeiffer

Library Staff Support Committee Meeting Minutes—Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017

In Attendance:
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)

Meeting with Bill Mischo: Bill Mischo had to postpone his meeting with LSSC, originally scheduled for this morning, due to a last-minute speaking engagement that he was required to perform. We hope to be able to reschedule our meeting with him for some time in January, when we will discuss the transition from his Acting Library Deanship to John Wilkin’s upcoming return to the position. We’ll then try to schedule a meeting with Dean Wilkin in February or March, at which time we would like to present the proposal of a new “Building Library Community” Committee, as we have discussed in recent LSSC meetings.

Library Holiday Get-Together Update: We were pleased with how responsive Library Staff members were when LSSC members asked for their feedback on the scheduling of the Library’s holiday season / staff recognition event. The majority of respondents preferred the Jan. 12th date, since the alternative date (Dec. 19th) would fall during finals week, a time when staff is particularly busy with end-of-semester work, a large number of returns, the need to cover circulation desks when student workers are taking exams and then leaving campus, etc. The event will thus be held on Friday, January 12th, 2018, from 8:30am to noon at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. At this event, various Library accomplishments of Academic Professionals, civil service staff, and faculty will be recognized. Breakfast and lunch will be served.

Starting an LSSC Newsletter? We discussed the possibility of creating an “occasional” / “quarter-ish” LSSC newsletter in order to provide timely Library updates for staff. We’d like to create the first edition early next semester, after we meet with Bill Mischo and/or John Wilkin about Library-wide issues of interest to staff. We plan to use the newsletter to highlight upcoming events such as applications for staff scholarships to attend conferences such as ALA and Reaching Forward. We talked about using a Webtools template to create the newsletter. Laura is willing to help with content/wording of the newsletter; Emily is willing to help with content and formatting.

Committee Reports:

International Area Studies: Emily encourages everyone to visit the special introductory exhibit at the new Taiwanese Resource Center in the International and Area Studies Library. The exhibit includes fun activities, such as stamping and bookbinding, and continues through the end of December.

Faculty Meeting: Kyle reported that the Faculty Meeting focused mainly on Bill Mischo’s presentation of updated searching functions on Easy Search.

Residence Hall Libraries: At the Ikenberry Library through Dec. 13th, patrons who check out a total of at least 8 items in different categories (book, graphic novel, audiobook, DVD, CD, board game, video game, plus one additional item in any category) will receive a large piece of candy and be entered to win a grand prize. At the ISR Library through Dec. 11th, patrons can enter a “Guess How Many Items Are in the ISR Collections” contest to receive a piece of candy, and the person with the closest guess will win a grand prize. (Staff members may participate in these programs and get a piece of candy, but are not eligible to win the grand prizes, as those are intended for student patrons.)
The Residence Hall Libraries continue to host Craft Nights the first Tuesday of every month and Lego Nights every Thursday, from 2 pm to close at all four locations (Allen, FAR, Ikenberry, and ISR).
Make sure to stock up on holiday entertainment from the Residence Hall Libraries before winter break! Anyone with an active I-Card (U of I students, staff, and faculty) can check out Residence Hall Library materials, so come visit soon!

The following groups had not met since the Oct. LSSC meeting: Administrative Council; Central Public Services; Social Sciences, Health, and Education; and Technical Services. Jim had to staff the Map & Geography circulation desk during the Special Collections meeting, since they had no student workers on duty at that time.

December LSSC Meeting? Kyle will email the LSSC listserv to suggest a date for our Dec. meeting, since our usual meeting date would fall during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, when the University will be closed.