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Minutes: March 18, 2009
All-Libraries Meeting
Hosted by the Libraries Advisory Board: Lisa Gould, chair; Matt Brower, Karen Campbell, Holley Long, Meri Willett, Sue Williams
1. Lisa Gould presented a power point presentation on the topic “Go Green: Creating a Libraries Green Plan.” Jim had asked LAB to look into this and present it for consideration at this meeting. There are three questions to consider:
- What are we currently doing?
- What can we implement to expand current green activities and be the beginnings of a green plan?
- Are employees willing to expand our green activities and implement change?
She asked for questions or comments, but there were none at this time.
2. Janet Hill.
Since the R2 report, TS has been involved in major changes. TS staff have learned new skills and taken on new responsibilities. Janet thanked everyone for this. It all starts in Acquisitions where, because of shelf-ready books and virtual approval, Acquisitions staff can now take on more routine cataloging and CMS staff can take on new cataloging projects. Janet had asked Jina to estimate how many fte have we been able to divert from CMS to work on other projects. For Special Collections and Archives 1fte faculty and 1 fte staff (parts of more than one staff position) have been diverted. For Government Publications 1fte staff (parts of more than one position) has been diverted. So the total is 2 fte staff and 1 fte faculty now doing work we were otherwise unable to do. A part-time position came to CMS from the East Asian Library, along with student hours. Some vacancy money from Acquisitions was used to create an additional half time East Asian cataloger position. Getting shelf-ready books also affects Preservation because many books now don’t have to be labeled so Preservation staff have more time to work on preservation of materials. The Collection Condition Survey is finished. It took three years to do, with random sampling done here and in Pascal. Parts of the report will be taken to Council in April for decisions about where to put our staff, time, and money.
Outsourcing authority control was a massive project last year that took lots of planning. Backstage Library Works processed millions of our records. The main reason we needed to do this is because of batch loading of thousands records, each posing different problems and issues and having many headings that need verification or correction. We can no longer deal with these one by one. A machine now does the great bulk of things for us. Outsourcing authority work gives the database much more integrity so users get more consistent results.
3. John Culshaw.
John encouraged everyone who hasn’t done so to come take a tour of the construction area.
Update on the first floor vestibule: Stonework should be done by the end of this week (this has been an iterative process, to get the color of the stones just right); fireproofing will be sprayed on next week; contractor is getting ready to lay new sidewalks and to set window and door frames; drywall is being installed; ceiling has been painted; plumbing has been installed and tested; contractor is getting ready to start on flooring work and putting tile in the restrooms; team rooms and offices will have glass fronts which are scheduled to be delivered next week. We are continuing coordination for café services with Laughing Goat. The contract for the Norlin Underground is ending. Laughing Goat has a sustainable business model. The founders were associated with Penny Lane so there is some Boulder history there.
Update on the Second Floor: Several things will happen next week. Glass will be installed on the front of the research desk; the bases of the columns will be replaced (they were supposed to be wood tones, not purple); because of issues with sound and air, braces will be installed on some ductwork; a couple of doors will be replaced and the restroom doors will be refinished; bracing will be installed on the glass wall of E260.
Update on the East Lobby: Carpeting will soon be removed. We’re working with facilities management to get the wall built for the east stairway; this is critical as a barrier for the 24-hour service area. This wall is also a fire wall.
Lifts from the fourth to the fourth and a half floor are ready. The first training for Administrative Services was this morning. There is a 750 pound limit, and the lifts are key-operated. We’re trying to get more information about keys because there won’t always be someone available with a key, and we are a public building.
Summary of the last Construction Update Meeting: The updating of the sundial plaza area should start May 15 if all the current construction equipment is out of there by that time. East entrance access may be somewhat restricted at times, but it will always be open. There is also in the works a planning process to renovate the east door area because the revolving doors move with the frost and they become hard to lock. We really need this work done, and it may happen this summer.
John gave a Systems project report from Holley:
- Collaborating with Archives and CMS to create digital collections from the Bent-Hyde Papers and Brackett Photo Albums.
- Collaborating with Special Collections and CMS to create digital collection of the Ege Medieval Manuscript Leaves.
- Collaborating with R&I to incorporate AJAX functionality into the RIOT online tutorial quizzes.
Answers to questions:
Laughing Goat hours will be from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.
The big tables for the second floor will come back as they are refinished; the campus carpentry shop is doing the work; 9 or 10 more will go also. There are also new tables and chairs coming next week.
Regarding signage, the orange signage system was installed in 1978 and is no longer functional for this building. We are working with a company to get a whole new, color-coded signage system. With this system we will be able to replace signs easily as we need to, and the color coding will be a huge help to users of this building. There will be more about this soon.
Work has begun on the job description for a new head of Systems. The name of the department will change.
John and Deborah are rethinking the outreach program. The new name of the department is Planning and Promotions. Deborah is now working full time. There will be a new website to recognize Ellsworth and Campbell award winners. Because of limited space in the stair landing, photos there will be for recipients from only the last 10 years with the website recognizing all winners. The photos of faculty campus award winners were taken down from the second floor wall so we’ll work with campus to see about something different that could be done with these.
Final Bites will be Friday, May 1. It will be held in the commons if possible, as a preview for students of what’s to come in the fall. We should take occupancy in mid to late April if all goes well.
4. Susan Anthes.
The move into the 2nd floor space has been wildly successful. Susan thanked Dick Bryant and his crew and the volunteers who helped. The one-desk service model is working very well. Collection Development has gone to virtual approval which has speeded up acquisition of materials. There are and have been lots of searches. Jennifer Knievel is the new head of Research and Instruction. Thanks to Debbie Hollis for acting as interim head. Kevin McDowell was hired as the East Asian Librarian in Research and Instruction. Eric Harbeson has been hired as the Music Archivist. He will start June 15. Interviews for the Faculty Directory for Engineering will be May 5 and 11. Searches are just getting underway for an art librarian and a social sciences librarian. Starting April 1 we will have to replace Carol Krisman who is retiring. Gene Hayworth will be interim Faculty Director for Business.
We are having talks with ITS about their role in servicing the commons area. There will be a grand opening ceremony for the commons.
A Lib Qual survey will be done again this spring.
For our next generation catalog we are purchasing Encore from III. R & I will head up implementation with help from others.
We’re trying to empty out some space in Science and bring up bound humanities and social sciences periodicals from the basement.
5. Jim Williams.
Jim asked about the lack of response this morning to the Green Plan presentation. He said he had asked LAB to do some preliminary work on whether we should create a green plan. The University of Utah has a very comprehensive plan. Do people want to go ahead with this? Students here have funded a recycling plant, purchased wind power, and established an Environmental Center. Do we want to do more strategic, more programmatic things in the Libraries?
Comments:
- Could we post Lisa’s bulleted list so people can look at it at little more? Yes, it will be sent out with the minutes.
- If we form a committee, we need to be careful what the charge would be, to whom it would report, etc.
- We need money and it’s not worth the effort if things won’t be funded; we need to put some amount of money up front. Jim responded that some things cost nothing . For example, campus might pay for different lightbulbs for the light fixture in the east stairwell. He just wants the committee to take a look and see what can be done for free, or in conjunction with the campus.
- We already spend money on things like this event and on supplies, so we could think about spending the money in a better, waste-free way.
- Through the Environmental Center there is a campus master plan and also there are a lot of student efforts so we should tie in with what’s happening on campus. A lot is just mindset.
- Would this committee be permanent? Jim said this group would just explore then we’d consider whether to form a permanent committee. LAB will follow up on all of this.
Gene Hayworth has received a Fulbright Scholarship. During his sabbatical he will teach at the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at Humboldt University in Berlin.
Phil DeStefano is continuing as provost and will also act as interim chancellor. The new chancellor is expected to take office by May 15. An internal search is being done.
Budget: This fiscal year the budget hit is 3.9 million. Campus bought the hit and did not come to any deans or vice chancellors with any notice of a budget cut. This was because the campus held back some money last June. For the next fiscal year, that 3.9 million will have 2.5 million added to it (adding up to approx. 6.5 million). Hopefully campus can buy part of the 6.5 million. The stimulus money may help us, but we don’t know yet what plans the governor has. Colorado is 22nd in population but 49th as far as what it’s receiving from the stimulus package. This Friday or next Monday a new report will come out. We’re going ahead with space planning. For projects costing less than 2 million, we can just go to campus and do not have to go to the state for approval.
Minutes submitted by Meri Willett
