Library Administrative Council Meeting

Minutes

Library Administrative Council Meeting

November 8, 2005

Present: Ian Edward, John Evans, Ed Frank, Sylverna Ford, Mary Freilich, Yolanda Hawkins,

Chris Matz, Elizabeth McDonald, Tom Mendina, Anna Neal, Betsy Park,

James Singleton, Lee Louise Slack, Stacey Smith, Inez Todd, Joycelyn White,

Saundra Williams

Absent:Annelle Huggins

1. RFP Update

The RFP has been on the website for a month now. A formal on-campus review of the RFP is the next step. Funding for the RFP process has been discussed with the Provost. The Provost has assured Dr. Ford that the money will be in place. Within the next 6 to 8 weeks, the RFP should be ready to leave the campus.

2.Learning Commons Update

The Learning Commons subcommittee met with AnnHarbor and discussed some of the issues related to the planning. There are a lot of things that have to be done before a Learning Commons can become a reality; many of them are out of our control. Our goal now is to make sure we have a comprehensive list of everything that is involved in making this happen and make sure that these things are given the proper attention and not swept under the rug. AnnHarborindicated there will be no TAF funding for any new faculty or staff positions, but student positions will not be a problem. The plan is the students will be hired and trained by the library.

A preview was given of the possible physical layout for the Learning Commons on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th floors. There are a lot of changes being made on the 2nd floor, therefore, there are no plans being made for that floor right now. The Learning Commons Committee is recommending expansion of the laptop check-out program because of flexibility.

3. Service Desk Consolidation Update

Preliminary thinking and planning have begun for the consolidation of the Reference, Periodicals, and Government Publications Service Desks into one Information Services Desk. Some committee members think that the new Information Services Desk should be placed in the Government Publications area because it is highly visible from the front door. Walls can be removed to open up the whole 1st floor so that students will have multiple access routes to the Information Services Desk. A suggestion was made about how cold the rotunda gets during the winter months. The architect suggested that radiant heat can be placed in the rotunda or a curtain wall could be installed near the front door.

One major concern about the Information Services Desk being located in Government Publications is that students who need help will not get up and walk back to the desk for help. The staff may have to walk around and offer assistance. The service and the human interaction have to be carefully planned. The Restructuring Proposal reflects the possible changes that will be made to the 2nd floor. The whole objective is to rethink and replan library space and services to create an environment where people will want to come often and stay a while. The plan is to make things better, to make better use of our resources, and to update the library.

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LAC Minutes – Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Service Desk Consolidation Update Continued

Everyone is encouraged to provide input on either the LearningCommons or the Service Desk Consolidation. Any additional thoughts, please forward them to the committee chairs. The committees will deliberate over the input and make recommendations to Dr. Ford.

4.Service Award

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the Service Awards ceremonies, whether to receive an award, or to support a colleague. Some faculty members who received awards did not receive invitations to the ceremony. Dr. Ford will find out who the recipients of the Service Awards are and why some of the libraries faculty members did not receive an invitation.

Announcements

Betsy Park -The promotion for RefWorks has begun and there will be a series of workshops.

Workshop dates can be found on the Libraries’ website. Encourage staff members

to participate in the workshops to learn about this resource.

Ed Frank -Inquired about the status on the repair of the roof in Special Collections.

James Singleton - Indicated Physical Plant is planning to meet with Dr. Ford about setting up a time to do this repair work. The leak in the Reference Department is related to a valve and Physical Plant has been notified.

Mary Freilich -A week ago, Mary, Saundra, and Betsy Eckert attended the GODORT meeting in Swanee, TN. One hot topic was about retrieving and holding on to online Tennessee documents. Some documents have already been lost. Government Documents Librarians across the state are trying to make a plan to capture these online publications and preserve them.

Chris Matz -The Faculty Senate Library Policy Committee Meeting is today at 2:30 p.m. Feel free to attend.

Stacey Smith -The Library Science books will be moved from the 4th floor to the 3rd floor. Hopefully they will be completely moved by the Spring semester. We had a problem in the library last week with a pervert/flasher. Also, someone has started inserting religious pamphlets in the books again. Please be on the lookout for any suspicious behavior in your area.

Inez Todd -Nancy Massey has provided a copy of each department’s leave balances. There were questions about the accuracy of the online leave balances. Nancy stated that there are still problems with the hourly employees’ leave balances that appear in online time. The faculty leave is fine. If you’re interested in getting an accurate record of staff leave balances today, please see Inez. If you want a copy of the record after today, please see Nancy Massey.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 a.m. The next scheduled LAC meeting is Tuesday, November 22, 2005. Chris Matz is on schedule to bring the refreshments.