University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of January 21, 2003 Meeting

Present:

Boyle, Fultz, Gaunt, Golden, Mullins, Puniello, Sewell, Soong, Toyama

Absent:

Agnew

University Librarian's Report – Gaunt

• The co-chairs of the VALE Shared Information Literacy Committee are planning to submit a proposal for a FIPSE grant during this cycle. A five page brief proposal needs to be prepared by February 13; if selected, the committee will need to prepare a final proposal by mid- May. The grant would be to complete the modular online tutorial for information literacy that could be customized locally without programming expertise.
• VALE will be conducting a survey on the Corrado Listserv and on the New Jersey Council Listserv to determine if there are additional areas for collaboration within VALE. The Evaluation Committee will be conducting a user survey on databases satisfaction.
• President McCormick and Dean Paz, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School attended the Deans Council meeting on January 10. The president spoke of his plans to examine, with the assistance of an outside consulting firm, the organization of the administration. He also addressed planning for the next steps in examining the Vagelos Commission's report. He noted that while the report itself is incomplete, the themes addressed present an opportunity to design a future that seeks greater excellence. Dr. Paz outlined the organization and programs of RWJ and the many areas of collaboration with Rutgers and NJIT.
• Gaunt attended the Governor's Workforce Summit meeting on January 16. President McCormick, Dean James Hughes, and Prof. Carl Van Horn represented Rutgers on the panel. The theme was how the state, corporations/business and the educational community can work together to ensure a skilled workforce in the state. There was an emphasis on science and technology skills.
• Max Marmor of ARTstor, a Mellon-funded imaging project, gave a presentation at the Council of New Jersey College and University Library Deans, University Librarians, and Directors on January 17. ARTstor uses the Luna Imaging system and the database will be available in the fall or early 2004. Marmor met with some of the Rutgers librarians involved with our Luna implementation.

Information Literacy in Business – Mullins

• Mullins gave an overview of a five-week course on information resources and information skills for the Rutgers Business School developed by Ka Neng Au. Information literacy was incorporated into the course with the goal of writing a business plan. Although still a pilot project, the intent is to make it a requirement of all full-time MBA students. The course is required of all first-year MBA students as of fall 2002 and is being jointly taught by four business librarians in Newark, and one librarian in New Brunswick. The course materials are accessible from the Business School's Blackboard curriculum management system. Cabinet will assess ways in which this course might be extended to other areas.

Criteria for Evaluating Librarianship - Gaunt

• Cabinet discussed the PPAAC “Draft Guidelines for the Evaluation of Librarianship in the Reappointment/Promotion Process,” which was prepared with input from the Public Services Council, the Technical and Automated Services Council, and the Collection Development Council at the request of Gaunt. The draft guidelines were prepared to assist those evaluating the “Librarianship” category on Form I-L for candidates for reappointment/promotion within the Rutgers University Libraries and are suggestive of the questions evaluators should be asking when a candidate is being considered for reappointment or promotion, at annual review time, and may be extended to merit reviews to ensure consistency across all evaluations when “librarianship” is being discussed. Evaluators would be encouraged to ask other questions as appropriate. Cabinet made several suggestions, including a demonstrated knowledge of RUL, the University, and higher education. Gaunt will take Cabinet's responses to the Coordinating Committee discussion, and another draft will be developed for review.

Next Steps in the Vagelos Commission Report – Gaunt

• In anticipation of a Vagelos Commission Working Group on or including the Libraries, the next step for Cabinet will be data gathering, with a focus on general, collections-related, service- related, and systems-related issues. The purpose is to educate all three institutions about each others operations related to providing seamless access to information resources for a new university.

Announcements:

Mullins:

• In the January 2003 issue of New Jersey Monthly, Institute of Jazz Studies Director, Dan Morgenstern, is highlighted as one of the “New Jerseyans We Love.”In the article, Morgenstern is referred to as “the Human Database of Jazz.”

Sewell:

• Lida Sak has returned to the Libraries from retirement to assist Special Collections in cataloging resources.

Boyle:

• 3M provided the Libraries with four privacy screens to be used for testing and assessing the effectiveness of the screens in the Libraries.

Gaunt:

• Gaunt sent a copy of the “New Brunswick State of the Campus"#148; report prepared by University Vice President Seneca to Cabinet members. The Libraries are mentioned in Dr. Seneca's report. Dr. Seneca will give a synopsis of the report at the January 24, 2003 Senate meeting, which will be followed by a question and answer period.

Fultz:

• Library Cabinet members from New York University will attend the February 4 Cabinet meeting at Rutgers. Gaunt will work with Cabinet members to prepare a program for the meeting.
• Brent Ruben from the Office of Leadership and Development at Rutgers University will attend a special Cabinet meeting on February 26, 2003 to continue with the goals set at the October Cabinet retreat for developing quality indicators.