September 12, 2013 Meeting of Library Staff Support Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Jim Cotter, Sandy Wolf, Julie Watkins, Barb Trumpinski, Becky Burner, Laura Poulosky

Vacant Space on LSSC:

Douglas Heintz has accepted a new University position outside of the Library, so he is no longer serving as the LSSC liaison from Administrative Services.  Once Douglas’s replacement in Administrative Services has been hired, we will see if that person would be interested in serving on LSSC.  Debora Pfeiffer has moved from International Area Studies to CAM, so we will ask her whether or not she would like to continue on the committee as the second liaison from Technical Services (along with Julie Watkins).
Discussion of Oak St. Facility Tour:  Those of us who attended the LSSC’s tour of the Oak St. facility agreed that it was very informative and useful to know how materials there are processed and housed, as well as to see the resources and work at the Preservation/Conservation unit upstairs.  We encourage any staff members who have not yet visited Oak St. to do so when they have a chance.

Future LSSC “field trips”:

In future meetings, we’d like to visit some other Library units to see what they have to offer.  Ideas include the Prairie Research Institute; the International Area Studies library; and the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library.

Future visit from John Wilkin:

The new University Librarian is tentatively scheduled to visit one of our fall meetings.  We plan to talk with him about encouraging more staff participation in groups like LSSC and other Library-wide opportunities.

Possible LSSC information session:

We discussed the idea of holding an information session about what LSSC does and how staff may become involved in the committee and/or in other staff events.  We’d like to hold such a session in early 2014.

Reaching Forward South Conference:

This annual regional conference will take place on Friday, Sept. 20th, in Springfield.  Five staff members from the UIUC Library will be attending:  LaVonda Dorsey, Sandra Holloway, Dani Postula, Margo Robinson, and Elonda Towns.  Beth Woodard let us know that funds to send staff to this conference will now be automatically recurring each year, so we will not need to seek administrative approval for the funding each time.  We plan to organize a brownbag lunch this fall so that the staff members who have attended this conference as well as those who attended ALA during the summer can share their experiences with anyone who is interested in learning about them.

Division, Committee and Meeting Reports:

Arts & Humanities:   Laura reported on the Arts and Humanities Division meeting held Sept. 3rd.  Marek Srota is continuing as the interim head librarian for the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library for the next two years, pending the hiring of a permanent HPNL head librarian.  Paula Carns, the head of the Literatures & Languages Library, is now serving as librarian for French as well.  Chris Quinn reported from the Collection Development Committee meeting that the state fund reports are now up-to-date.  There will be a review of the ER-14 (electronic resources) fund.  A big update to Voyager is scheduled for next May, which will involve a one-week shutdown of Voyager, so  May 2nd is likely to be the last day for placing firm orders.  The last date for placing approval orders will be in June.  Chris also reported that the Executive Council has received an update on academic searches and that John Wagstaff of the Music & Performing Arts Library will be the secretary of EC this term.

Harriet Green and Sarah Shreeves are conducting a survey of students’ digital humanities needs in order to determine what kind of Digital Humanities Librarian appointment should be recommended.  Funding was just approved for another three years for the Illinois Digitization Project of materials from the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library.  John Wilkin visited the meeting from 11:00 to noon and the group discussed with him the necessity of starting new searches for a permanent HPNL Librarian and a permanent Classics Librarian, as well as on the still-pending question of a potential Humanities Hub (consisting of HPNL, Literatures & Languages, and Classics) on the second floor of the Main Library, and the need for an assessment of the New Service Model.
Special Collections:  Jim reported on the most recent, brief Special Collections division meeting.  There was a recap of staff members’ volunteering at the Sweetcorn Festival.  Adriana Cuervo has left the Sousa Archives for a new position at Rutgers and will be missed.  A new curator, Anna Chen, has begun work at the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.

Life Sciences:  Barb reported that Joyce Wright (who currently works in ACES and in Architecture & Art) will be retiring in December.  Melody Allison is serving as the interim head of ACES while Pat Allen is on sabbatical this year.  Erin Kerby will replace Pat Allen as the Life Sciences representative on the Collection Development Committee.  Barb is serving as the Life Sciences representative to the Campus Charitable Fund Drive committee.   Kelli Trei and Melody Allison are reviewing the Life Sciences Division’s bylaws.  There was discussion of Library-wide inconsistencies in the use of DeskTracker and how these inconsistencies make it difficult to come up with accurate reference statistics.
The Physical Sciences division has not met since the last LSSC meeting.

User Education Committee:  Barb and Sandy reported that there have been some problems with the temporary commercial chat system that is currently in place.  Jim Hahn and colleagues are developing a new, in-house chat system that should resolve these issues.  New web tools are being tested at the Uni High Library.  John Wilkin would like to see improvements made to the Library Gateway.

Diversity Committee:  Barb reported that the Diversity Committee seeks a new representative, preferably from outside the Main Library (such as from Grainger, which currently does not have a representative).  The committee has noted that the Library Strategic Goals currently do not include any statement on diversity.  Committee members also discussed future events they might organize, so more information on that should be forthcoming.  DRES (Disability & Rehabilitation Education Services) machines to assist the visually and hearing impaired are located in some of the larger libraries, such as ACES, the Undergraduate Library, and the Main Reference Room.  There was discussion of the need for multilingual signage in the Library as well as the need to train staff and student assistants in working with patrons with disabilities.  John Wilkin will attend the Diversity Committee’s Jan. 14th meeting.
To view the Diversity Committee Agendas and Minutes see:  http://www.library.illinois.edu/committee/diversity/index.html

Faculty Meeting Report:  You can find the agenda and minutes to the latest Faculty meeting here:  http://www.library.illinois.edu/committee/faculty_meeting/FacultyMeetings2012-2013

Administrative Council:  Sandy reported that as of Aug. 1, 2013, there are new guidelines that must be followed for SURS Annuitants/Retiree Rehires. The new guidelines state that supervisors MUST identify appropriate funding sources for payment prior to hiring and that NO state funds will be used for payment.  Funds that are appropriate for hiring of retirees include gift funds, trust funds, federal grants, state funds where a PI is named, and corporate funds.  The funding source must be approved by the Library Business Office.  The penalties are very steep if these guidelines are not followed.  Therefore, as a policy the Library is not rehiring any retirees.

John Wilkin asked about the role of AC, heard about questions on staffing issues (such as the balances between general and specific hiring requests and between hourly and permanent positions).  Library Security is now stopping by all libraries daily and filling out logs to record their visits.  Staff members are encouraged to check over their units’ logs periodically.  There was discussion of the  potential need for improvements to facilities for units who didn’t get facelifts as part of the New Service Model.   There was a discussion about finding a way to make the building spaces more cohesive instead of looking like individual spaces. There was talk of forming a committee to make a list of facilities improvement priorities in conjunction with Jeff Schrader.
To view the Administrative Council meeting agendas and minutes see HERE.

Next LSSC Meeting:  Our next meeting will take place on Thursday, Oct 10th, at 9 am  in 225B Main Library.