University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the November 18, 2003 Meeting

Present:

Boyle, Fultz, Gaunt, Mullins, Puniello, Sewell, Tehrani

Videoconference:

Golden (from Camden)

Absent:

Agnew

University Librarian's Report - Gaunt

• Deans Council: Issues of interest from the Deans Council included a brief report on the Constituency Research project to be undertaken by University Relations. The project is an audit of how both internal and external constituencies perceive the university. A variety of ways to ascertain this information – focus groups, surveys, etc. – will be implemented; Dr. Furmanski asked the deans for any innovative ideas for programs they might have on how the university community can discuss and explore issues related to civility and violence on campus; there was a discussion on the criteria for promotion to Professor II to ensure that all units were putting forth individuals with the highest record of accomplishment for this prestigious status.
• Academic Excellence Proposals: The three proposals that were put forward for this round of academic excellence awards by the Libraries were: Grid Computing: Collaboration among the Libraries, Classics and Philosophy Departments; Improving Access to Library Resources in British and Medieval History and to Advance the Libraries Preservation Program; Digitization of the Institute of Jazz Studies Photograph Collection. The total of the three proposals is $249,457. We are unsure as to when the announcement of awards will be made.
• The Libraries held a very successful Recognition Event to thank and recognize the many library supporters and donors. The event was attended by President McCormick, who spoke about the importance of the Libraries in the university and the need for service and philanthropy. Several individuals were specifically recognized with citations: Elizabeth and David Cayer, Lucy Chang, Margaret Kruse, Ira Lomench, and Allen Ross.
• The Rutgers members of the Working Group on IT and Libraries for the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee of the merger were asked to prepare a Rutgers response to the Working Group report.

Budget Data Follow-Up - Gaunt

• Categories for library expenditures for last year were reviewed to determine how granular we want to be in preparing next year's budget request. Cabinet also reviewed the NJLA and ALA beginning salaries to determine if the Libraries were properly aligned. Gaunt asked Cabinet to review the tables for the starting salary of the various librarian levels for potential changes. She also reminded everyone that overtime for any NE staff who work on an hourly basis for another unit in the library or a staff member from outside the Libraries who works additional hours in the Libraries must be paid at time and a half of his/her normal salary. You cannot pay the staff member a flat hourly salary for the extra hours.

Planning Meeting Discussion - Gaunt

• Gaunt will be meeting with Dr. Furmanski on December 9 to review planning for the current year. Background documents following a specific outline must be completed a week before the discussion. Cabinet reviewed a draft document to ensure that the appropriate items would be included, and discussed particular areas to be emphasized.

Announcements

Puniello

• Karen Hartman has agreed to serve as selector to the Bloustein School.
• Jeris Cassel will serve as acting head of Media while Jane Sloan is on sabbatical.
• D21 is on target.
• Ron Jantz is a contributing author in the November 2003 issue of D-Lib Magazine with the article, "Public Opinion Polls and Digital Preservation: An Application of the Fedora Digital Repository System."

Mullins

• "Creating Art in Newark: Conversations with Local Artists" to be held at the Newark Dana Library November 20, 2003. A moderated discussion hosted by the Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and the Dana Library to focus on the challenges and/or benefits of creating art in Newark and how best the Rutgers-Newark community can forge meaningful partnerships with local artists. To be held in conjunction with a major exhibition by Newark artist Gladys Barker Grauer.

Tehrani

• "Explore, Discover, Learn" training series for Access and Collection Services with sessions in service excellence, problem solving, dealing with difficult situations, and project management went well. A supervisory series for those groups will be held in January. Marilyn Wilt will attend a February Cabinet meeting for debriefing.

Boyle

• Boyle discussed requests for holiday celebration. Cabinet agreed that in the interest of scheduling and traveling, each campus would arrange its own holiday party and an announcement would be sent to rul_everyone.
• In October, Boyle, Puniello, and Wilt attended a University Relations walk-through of studio that is being disbanded, and UR hopes to have another agency or consortium take over. The decision was made that it is not part of the Libraries core mission to operate a studio of this magnitude.
• Boyle distributed to Cabinet the "Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI)" information and list of "PALCI Participating Libraries and Their Policies," which has been added to Public Services Policy Memo 6 – Cooperative Access Arrangements as an update. Cabinet read and approved documents.