SLC
CARLETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Senate Library Committee
Minutes of March 6, 2015
Present: Stephen Fai (Chair), Jane Fry (Library Staff), Amanda Goth (Committee Secretary), Maher Jebara (Graduate Student Alternate), Wayne Jones (University Librarian), Chris Joslin (FED), Paul Keen (FGPA), Laura Newton Miller (Librarian), Jaffer Sheyholislami (FASS)
Regrets: Katrina Crocker (Undergraduate Student), Tom Darby (FPA), David Jackson (Sprott), Cecilia Jorgenson (Graduate Student), Christine Laurendeau (Science)
Guests: Gilles Monast
1. Adoption of the Agenda
MOTION to accept the agenda as circulated.
Carried.
2. Review of the Minutes of June 2, 2014.
MOTION to approve the minutes of June 2, 2014 as circulated: moved by J. Fry and seconded by P. Keen.
Carried.
3. Business Arising from the Meeting of June 2, 2014.
3.1 Agenda Item 5 Strategic Plan
See agenda item 4.
3.2 Agenda Item 7 Extended Library Hours
See agenda item 5.
3.3 Agenda Item 4.8 Royal Society of Canada Report
Deferred to next meeting.
4. Library Strategic Plan 2013-2018 (Wayne Jones)
The Library has created a Strategic Plan which aligns with the University’s Strategic Integrated Plan. There are four main themes of the Library Strategic Plan (Attached) which include:
1. Be a Primary Source of Scholarly Resources and Services
2. Improving the Research Experience
3. Improve the Learning Experience
4. Provide a Positive Culture for Staff and Structure
The Library is looking for feedback, comments and edits from the Senate Library Committee Members by March 13, 2015.
Areas of the plan that were highlighted:
· Goal 1-1 Key Performance Measures – An evaluation report on the Summon discovery layer. It was noted that this is going to be done in the near future and a report will be produced and shared. The Library has undergone a redesign of the front page of its website in the last year with the addition of the discovery layer. The University website was completely redesigned in the fall of 2014. The Library website will need be updated/revamped as well, using design principles similar to those of the University.
· Goal 1-2 Key Performance Measures- The Bachelor of Information Technology/Information Resource Management. This program has formally been approved by Senate. This program is unique in Canada and graduating students will leave with both a bachelor’s degree and a library and information technician diploma in 4 years rather than the 6 years that would be required if the two programs were done separately and consecutively. Carleton and Algonquin College are collaborating on running the program, which is scheduled to receive its first students in fall 2016. The Library will be involved in a coordinating role and will offer practicums for students.
· Goal 2-1 Key Performance Measures – Develop an action plan for increasing population of CURVE by 10% per annum. This work is ongoing: the technical development of CURVE is complete but the promotion of the repository is needed. Currently it holds mainly electronic deposits of theses and dissertations as the University has required students to deposit electronically for the last year. The Library would like to see more faculty submit scholarly works/intellectual output (journal articles, presentations, etc.) to the repository but this will require a promotion and awareness campaign. In a lot of cases the faculty member will need to know if they have publisher permissions to be able to deposit into an open access repository such as CURVE. SHERPA/RoMEO is a good place to check what permissions are allowed by publishers. The Tri-Council Open Access Policy requires that the scholarly output from Tri-Council-supported research be freely accessible online within 12 months of publication. CURVE will give faculty a place to deposit their scholarly works to an open access repository and thereby help fulfill the Tri-Council requirement.
· Goal 3-2 Key Performance Measures- Function-specific learning spaces opened and operational. The Jacob Siskind Music Resource Centre is fully constructed. The Library is now in discussions with the Music Department on what equipment will be added to the room and how the room will be set up. The opening of the Centre is scheduled for this year. The Ottawa Resource Room is fully operational and a formal opening is scheduled for this fall.
ACTION: Jane Fry to bring forward to Ottawa Resource Room Opening planning committee the idea of linking the opening with Canada’s 150 years since Confederation.
5. Extended Library Hours (Wayne Jones)
At the meeting of December 5, 2014, a proposal was brought forward to open the Library 24 hours a day all year long. Currently the Library is open during exams Sunday to Thursday 24 hours and Friday and Saturday until midnight. The statistics indicate that the average number of students in the Library at midnight is about 200, at 2 am 100-150 students, and at 6 am 60-75 students. This indicates low use during the night. It should also be noted that only select floors are open and not all services are available during these late openings.
The issues associated with opening the Library for 24 hours are the cost of staffing (even in a reduced staff capacity), the cost of hiring and training additional student staff, and safety for staff and students. Students have to be aware that the Library cannot be used for sleeping if open for 24 hours. Opening 24 hours also raises the issue of whether the Library wants to be in the business of promoting or permitting all-nighters, when perhaps a more balanced healthy lifestyle should be promoted instead. An additional issue for students is that transit on campus stops running around 1:30 am so it is difficult for students to get off campus after this time, creating a safety concern.
The plan for the fall is to do a trial period of 2 weeks or a month of 24 hour openings outside of exam period to get statistics on usage in order to help the Library make an evidence-based decision on whether 24 hour opening is justified. The 24 hour opening would be advertised to students so that they would be aware it is occurring. A survey could also be sent to students about their views on extending Library hours.
The topic of using a student levy to pay for the extended hours was raised and it was thought that a strong case could be made to extending the hours if there was evidence of use by students and survey results that show a need. It was also suggested that the student associations (GSA and CUSA) might be able to cover the cost of the extended hours. It was estimated that the staffing cost of having the library open 24 hours is about $2,600 per week. By next Senate Library Committee meeting the Library will be able to present a report on the trial.
ACTION: Wayne Jones to report on the trial at next Senate Library Committee meeting.
6. Budget (Gilles Monast)
The 2015-2016 budget request was presented to the Financial Planning Group on March 2, 2015. It included:
· Collections
o to compensate for the loss of purchasing power due to the poor performance of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar. The Canadian dollar has declined from 90 cents to 80 cents over the past year, and since most of our invoices for ongoing commitments (licenses and subscriptions) are in US dollars, this has a significant negative effect on our buying power.
o To pay for increased costs due to inflation
o To pay for Library materials that are necessary to support new academic programs
· Copyright clearance fees
· Student labour
· Shelving for the storage facility
· Renovating the old Graphics Services office into a GIS data lab and classroom
The Library asked for a total of $530,000 in base and $200,000 in fiscal funds. The results of the budget decisions won’t be released until the end of March or early April. The Library’s $5 million budget is modest in comparison to other universities of comparable size.
The 2014-2015 budget is overspent in the collections materials by $120,000 but the overall budget of the library has a carry-forward (from salary-savings) which will be used to off-set this over-expenditure.
7. General Library Update (Wayne Jones)
7.1 User Needs Survey
The Library is carrying out a survey of user needs during March. Flipcharts are set up on each floor with a “have your say” asking board. There are four questions, one for each week of the month.
· Why do you come to our Library? (March 1-7)
· What do you like most about our Library? (March 8 - 14)
· What frustrates you about our Library? (March 15 - 21)
· In the library of your dreams, what services would we provide? (March 22 - 28)
There has been a lot of feedback from the students on the flipcharts and the answers to the questions will help inform the next round of the survey. There is also an online component of the survey for students who are off-campus or not in the Library, but it has had low results so far. The survey is going to be advertised in the Charlatan next week.
7.2 Library Key Initiatives for 2015-2016
The Library has extracted some key initiatives that it will be focussing on for the coming year based on the goals outlined in the Library Strategic Plan (attached). Comments can be sent to Wayne Jones. All University departments were required to draft their key initiatives for 2015-2016.
7.3 Freedom to Read Week
The Library hosted its 2nd annual Freedom to Read event on Monday, February 23, with readings from banned and challenged books in the main reading room on the second floor. Readers included President Roseann Runte, other members of the University senior administration, Library staff and students. The Library also mounted an exhibit in which the viewer could “peep” through a hole to view a banned book.
8. Any Other Business
No other business arising.
9. Date of next meeting and Adjournment
Next meeting tentatively set for fall 2015.
4 | Page