Director's Cut
(February 2013) Welcome back, all! We are beginning another semester with oodles of changes, new faces, departed faces, and other differences to try to keep track of - in between trying to do our regular jobs. I am looking forward to all that we will be accomplishing this semester, and all of the students who will be discovering and using our services and spaces. So, once more into the breach! -GR
Technology Clips
· Library Website Redesign. It's in, and it looks great! Check it out: www.cabrillo.edu/services/library/. Many thanks and kudos to the staff (Pam, Meredith), faculty (Stacy, Eve, Laura, Meredith again), and student (Daniel) on the team who worked with Pam to make it happen - I like this "task group" approach, we should do more of these!
· New Tech Support Processes. With Pam's departure and the move of the position to IT, the library will have new processes in place for obtaining technical support for our issues. Ray Rider will be outlining the new processes at our Division FLEX meeting on Thursday, Feb. 7. As with any changes, we will likely tweak them over time, to make them better fit reality and our needs.
· New Tech Support Student. Please welcome Frank Keldsen, who will be joining Daniel Bomarito and Scott Hill in providing technical support for the students using our library's services and equipment. The new support schedule is now posted at the Reference Desk on the verso of the Desk schedule.
Library Clips
· Staff Changes. The library is entering a new phase in our evolution, with the retirement of three of our six classified staff members: Anna Avila, Julie O'Rielly, and Pam Poandl. We will miss our colleagues very much, and the loss of their combined considerable institutional memories. Many of our services and functions will be in flux for the next several months, as we incorporate temporary assistance, recruit replacements, and revisit the duties assigned to all of these positions. And all across campus there are many other departments with other classified retirees, who will be experiencing their own periods of flux. Spring semester will be a good time to practice our patience, with things being different, with answers not as readily available, with processes perhaps being a bit slower. As with all of the hurdles we have faced together over the past three years, these too shall pass - and no doubt become new opportunities!
· Updated Library Policies. A couple of library use policies have been updated, and are now posted on the Intranet, both under Building Issues: Library Classroom Use, and a new policy covering Library Conference Room Use. As always, send me any questions or comments!
· MOBAC Bits. A few tidbits from the December MOBAC Admin Council meeting:
o Lots of libraries hiring again: Santa Cruz Public, Carmel, MIIS, Monterey Public, Cabrillo
o Several libraries have purchased, will be purchasing, or are considering one of the new "discovery" services that allow patrons to easily search the library's catalog, subscription databases, and other sources. Here's a link to an interesting article reviewing several of the most popular discovery service options - who knows, there may be one in our future, if the price is right!
o Most MOBAC libraries are now allowing beverages, and MIIS even allowed a student group to sell coffee & tea in the library as a fundraiser!
o NPS will be converting their entire first floor to compact shelving, seating, and a Starbucks! Can't wait to see what it looks like...
o Hartnell continues to experience new service challenges: they are temporarily losing several group study rooms and their single quiet study room to other campus departments needing to be relocated during construction. Their IT position has also been vacant for 6 months now.
· MOBAC Future Trends. At the same meeting, we began a discussion of future trends and changes coming to MOBAC (and other) libraries, as we all begin to collectively climb slowly out of the financial and staffing-loss holes we've all been in. We are starting to sense a very interesting future looming out there for us, and will likely be scheduling another large planning meeting sometime this year to start brainstorming ideas (our last large planning sessions were held in 2010). Here is a link to a very interesting document discussed at the meeting - you'll see many echoes of the changes we have been experiencing here at Cabrillo. Definitely stay tuned on this one...
Campus Clips
· Budget Update. For the first time in years, our new budget (for 20132/14) has no new reductions (big sigh of relief here). There may even be a small augmentation, if all goes well. We do still have a structural deficit of somewhere between $1-$4 million (likely closer to $1 million), which we hope to be able to fill with one-time funds. Although this info is very, very preliminary, it definitely means things are finally looking up.
· "Soft" Enrollment & New Faculty. Enrollment for Spring seems to be pretty light, which raised the concern of possibly not meeting our enrollment cap. In addition to more classes scheduled for Spring, Summer, and Fall, two additional full-time faculty positions were approved for hire, in Accounting & Psychology. We are already recruiting for previously approved positions in Nursing, Chemistry, Anthropology, the Library, CS, and CABT.
· President Replacement. Our acting president, John Hendrickson, begins his 5-month stint at Cabrillo on Feb. 1. Keep an eye out for him as he begins to familiarize himself with Cabrillo (here's a pic of him). Recruitment for a permanent president will be continuing through Spring semester.
· Bookstore Management. At a special meeting in December, the Board approved a bid from Barnes & Noble College (separate company from the B&N bookstores) for taking over management of Cabrillo's bookstore. B&N will begin working with the bookstore staff during Spring semester, in preparation for a full transition over the summer, with new services and options available starting Fall 2013. This will be a very good development for our students, particularly since the deep resources of B&N with considerably expand student options for rentals, e-books, and other lower cost options. I have met the likely new B&N bookstore manager, Linda Cullens, who has managed bookstores at SJ State and CS Stanislaus.