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Minutes: Januray 26, 2004
Attending: Christina Howard, Helene McHendry, Jane Zumwalt, Christopher Cronin, Deborah Fink, Karen Campbell, Dean James Williams [for the latter part of the meeting] & Paul Moeller [last year’s chairperson, for the first part of the meeting]
Moeller convened the first meeting of the Library Advisory Board for this calendar year at 9:00 a.m., in the Dean’s conference room. Paul summarized the old business remaining from our last meeting.
Moeller reminded us of the email address for constituents’ comments liblab@colorado.edu and of the physical box for hardcopy comments, in the staff lounge of Norlin.
Zumwalt nominated McHendry as chairperson & Cronin seconded the nomination. McHendry was elected without opposition by the 2004 LAB members present.
Cronin suggested that we consider a rotating assignment as acting secretary, with each person in alphabetical order preparing the minutes. Zumwalt seconded the motion. We decided to table the motion until our February meeting. Cronin offered to serve as acting secretary for that meeting.
Howard asked about the contest to name the Norlin coffee shop. McHendry will check with Scott Seaman on its status.
Dean Williams joined us at this point. He sees the LAB as a leadership organization
for the libraries; he also sees LAB’s function as promoting the quality
of work-life, for both staff and faculty. The Dean hoped that this group will
serve as a forum & listening post, for example, as the impetus for the
new library technician II exam & prescreening test for LT IIIs. He sees
each employee’s position as one with increased independence and increased
interdependence, and with enough upward mobility necessary to keep people.
Campbell asked the Dean about the role of the other LAB members. He replied that he expects us to bring forward issues presented to us by constituents, without filtering the message and while protecting confidentiality, if requested. He emphasized the need to clarify the question, when necessary. Howard suggested printing out the query, to be sure that we accurately understand the person’s concerns.
The Dean explained that the coffee shop was delayed due to drainage problems. An earlier name suggestion has been referred to the legal office as a possible conflict of a proprietary name.
The Dean had no recent news about the budget. He felt that our best hope lay in a bill awarding enterprise status to all higher education institutions with less than 10% of their budget from the state. This might include community colleges, such as Front Range.
Campbell inquired about the status of the “south campus”. The Dean described a current student fee proposal, which would be levied against students and would be used to support recreational facilities there.
Zumwalt asked about warehouse space used by the libraries. The Dean responded that we have about 3,000 sq. ft. in the building recently acquired by the University. Only unprocessed materials will be stored there.
The Dean explained that we lose money on the photocopy contract at an increasing rate, and we may have to renegotiate the contract. As of now, the fiscal year is 55% elapsed and we’ve already spent 80% of the supplies budget.
Minutes submitted by Jane Zumwalt, acting secretary.
LAB members:
Helene McHendry, chairperson
Dean Jim Williams
Christina Howard
Karen Campbell
Jane Zumwalt
Zhijia Shen
Deborah Fink
Christopher Cronin
Grace Xu
LAB welcomes your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to contact any member individually, to leave a note in the suggestion box (Norlin staff break room [M151] by the sink; labeled--- "Library Advisory Board Johann Suggestion Box"), or reach us via liblab@colorado.edu.
