October 11, 2012 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Jim Cotter (chair), Danielle Postula, Julie Watkins, Barb Trumpinski, Becky Burner, Sandy Wolf, Laura Poulosky,

Reaching Forward South:

The staff members who attended this conference in Springfield on Fri., Sept. 21st, have not been able to come up with date and time when they could all attend a brownbag lunch to share their experiences from the conference.  Instead, Jim will ask participants to write brief summaries about what they found most interesting and helpful at the conference.

Staff role in Dean of Library interviews:

LSSC has been asked to draft questions we’d like to ask candidates at their interviews for the Dean of Library position.  Becky has sent us an e-mail with some questions we might choose to ask, so LSSC members should please look those over before our next meeting in November.  Chris Prom contacted Jim to ask if we could recommend a staff member to serve on the search committee, so we came up with a few potential candidates and Jim has sent those names along to Chris.

New Head of IT to visit LSSC meeting:

Jim Dohle, the new Head of Library IT, will visit our November meeting, so we discussed questions we’d like to ask him, which include:  What are his goals for IT?  Are there upcoming changes and/or trainings we should expect?  What is the relationship between IT and CITES regarding training for new services such as Box?  What is the current workflow like at IT, and how can staff facilitate communication between all libraries and IT regarding problems with computers, public printing, etc., so that these issues can be resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible?  Would it be possible to change the current wallpaper on the public terminals so that icons are easier to see?  If LSSC members have additional questions to add to this list, please send them to Jim Cotter before our next meeting.

Divison & Committe Reports:

Awards Committee—Barb reported that the outstanding civil service award will be granted at the staff recognition breakfast on November 1st.

Life and Physical Sciences—Barb noted that the division has primarily been busy with the Vet-Med Librarian search.  The last interview for this position will be held on Monday, Oct. 15th.

Faculty Meeting—Barb reported that there was discussion of the possible creation of a Humanities Hub, but that not many details had yet been decided.  (Laura mentioned that this has also been under a lot of discussion at Arts & Humanities division meetings and that a committee has recently been formed to investigate the possibilities).  Since union members voted to ratify the proposed new contract with the University, next it will be voted on by the Board of Trustees.  There was discussion of reconfiguring the Main Library’s physical card catalog in order to weed out records that are also on the OPAC (which is the vast majority of the records).  The Campus Charitable Fund Drive is underway. The total dollar amount pledged is important, but so is widespread participation.

Arts & Humanities—Laura mentioned the division’s discussion of the Main Library administration’s plans to discontinue production of the printed sheets of all departmental library hours.  LSSC members would like clarification as to whether or not these hours will be available online in a printable version; we will contact Sue Searing to ask about this.  A call recently went out for requests for new faculty of Academic Professional positions, with the deadline set for February.  The search for a new History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Librarian is underway.  This new faculty member will also serve as a unit head.

Technical Services—No report.

Social Sciences—Sandy stated that all relevant business discussed in the Social Sciences division meeting was previously covered by the reports given above.

Special Collections—No division meeting.

Librarians’ and staff members’ study hall—The Librarians’ study hall periodically held in Room 314 of the Main Library is now open to staff members as well.  Sandy noted that this study hall would be a great place for people to get their ethics training done uninterrupted.  No phones allowed.

Next LSSC meeting:

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 8th, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., in 225B Main Library.