September 9, 2019 Meeting of Executive Committee

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

AGENDA

September 9, 2019

1:30-3:00pm

428 Library

 

 

 

1. 2-2:30pm – AULs
2. Approve minutes – September 3
3. Question Time
4. Main Library 100% Final Scenario Discussion
5. “Search Committee Chair Checklist”
6. Historical data and hiring discussion
7. Library Building Project Monthly Update – September 1, 2019

 

 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes

September 9, 2019

1:30-3:00pm

428 Library

 

Present: Dean Wilkin, chair, David Ward, vice-chair; Lynne Thomas, Paula Carns, Mara Thacker, Jennifer Teper, Bill Mischo, Lynne Rudasill, Heidi Imker, Chris Prom, Tom Teper, Cherié Weible, and Bill Maher. Recording-Lynne Rudasill

 

 

1. 2-2:30pm – AULs

 

Tom Teper reported that there have already been comments on the final set of building plans that were shared last week.  He wanted to remind everyone that these are not schematics at this point.  Concerns articulated include service points in subject collections and concern that the “atrium” is not “grand enough”.  Overall, the conversations on the latest iteration of the plans has been very positive.  There will be a campus wide town hall related to the building plan on Oct. 10 from 3:00-5:00.

 

The 100% plan is in a box folder and when planning related to special collections becomes available those plans will also be added to the Box folder.  The final plans for the Main Library will be added to the building project website.

 

There was a question about the traffic flow in the north/south corridor.  It will change, but we will have some idea of the impact when the first floor information desk goes live.

 

There was also a question about when subject specialists will be added to the Collections working group.  It was acknowledged that this is an important part of the process, but the group currently working in this area is looking at broader questions at the moment.  They will be working with subject specialists after some larger data about collections is gathered.  Currently they are working on a better understanding of the microform collections across the Library and there will also be an exploration of what is in Main Stacks.

 

Chris Prom is engaged in his academic affairs role and recently attended the campus session on tips for dossiers.  He added that the Provost Communication 9 is undergoing a major review this year.  A particular target is how campus evaluates teaching performance.  This has a likelihood of impacting how we evaluate our librarianship as well.  He noted, in addition, that in other departments, the internal evaluation of research is done by full professors.

 

CARLI is exploring the concept of a shared repository with Illinois and development efforts are currently underway to determine what a service profile will look like.

 

Greg McCormick is particularly interested in talking about repository services especially since our move of IDEALS to the Amazon cloud service.

Chris will be taking on the administration of the sabbatical service this year.

 

 

Heidi Imker is involved in reviewing data related to the Scholarly Commons and they are happy to have commitments in place for the development of Room 220.  Scholarly Commons and Scholarly Publishing seem to be moving along well.  She is gathering examples of “red-shirt” programs on campus and was interested in particular with the program run by IPRH.  That, however, is to hire postdocs destined to fill faculty lines.  Other residency programs that might be considered would include that of the University of Houston or the one at North Carolina State University.  Both of those also lead to faculty positions.  We need to be clear about the trajectory of our program.  The Office of Research should have plans solidified next week related to a program based on #randomecoffee that will support more networking and focus on subject specialists.

 

Cherié Weible is engaged in realigning her portfolio.  The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections will now report to Rare Books.  Currently the Art and Architecture Library is being covered by Paula Carns until the new head comes to campus in October.  She is helping with instruction and there is now an extra help person in the unit.  Next Monday a new Library Clerk will report for duty there.

 

Cherié is also working on the re-articulation of the Math Library.  A final conceptual design for Altgeld with its new math footprint is in the works.

 

A Unit Heads meeting will be held shortly and she is continuing work on a variety of personnel issues.  Tim Newman, the new Head of Facilities can be contacted for updates, especially flooring updates.

 

2 Approve minutes – Minutes from the September 3, 2019 were approved by Mara Thacker and second by Lynne Thomas.

 

3. Question Time

 

None

 

4. Main Library 100% Final Scenario Discussion

 

It was noted that the Library administration and the architects were sensitive to the comments received related to the 75% plan and used the suggestions of several units to re-design many of the features now apparent in the 100% plan.  There was a question about the humidification of the facility.  Discussion of input by subject specialists was postponed until Tom Teper could participate, but it was noted that the current committees were not at the point yet where it would be helpful.  It was acknowledged that this input will be essential in the future as broad generic rubrics for subject collections will not necessarily reflect the differences in disciplines. It was also noted that concrete next steps need to be articulated with as much input from subject specialists as possible.

 

5. “Search Committee Chair Checklist”

 

The discussion of divisional meetings in the hiring process continued.  Several suggestions revolved around making the candidate meetings with the division an optional event, especially if division members have encountered the candidate in several other venues.  The suggestion was made that these meetings with division members be used to articulate the type of research that is being done by tenured and tenure-track members of the division to help underline the importance of a research agenda on the part of newly hired faculty.  It was also noted that this opportunity could be used in the selection of academic professionals, with a presentation on the use of investigation time and a review of the process for promotion as an academic professional.

 

6. Historical data and hiring discussion

 

The Dean shared a copy of a spreadsheet with statistics on New Hires 2016-2019, 5 Year FTE and 7 Year FTE positions broken down by class.  Faculty hires have been fairly stable, but hiring of academic professionals rose steadily from 2013-2017 and then dipped slightly and leveled off.

Future hiring decisions need to be made along the lines of the Library and Campus Strategic Planning documents.

 

There was a discussion of the hiring process for Associate University Librarians.  There seemed to be some consensus that these positions were best filled by individuals who have come up through the tenure process at our institution, but that the process needs to be more broadly consultative.

 

7. Library Building Project Monthly Update – September 1, 2019