University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the February 3, 2004 Meeting

Present:

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

Guest:

Steve Dalina, University Records Management Coordinator

University Librarian's Report - Gaunt

• Deans Council Update: Dr. Furmanski asked all the deans to review carefully the external letters for tenure packets to ensure the objectivity of reviewers. Do not select those who have had direct collaborations with the candidate; The All Funds Task Force has prepared a draft report and is making good progress on a timetable, principles, and policies to be included in the budget process. All funds will be included in considering the budget for each unit, including gifts, endowments, summer session, grants, ICR, tuition, and continuing education. The budget process will include faculty input at the preparation of the budget request, and be reviewed at each stage up to the President's approval. The University will not know its budget each year until July, so that planning for the unit will always need to include flexibility; The University is establishing an Undergraduate Life and Learning Task Force to review and make recommendations about what it means to be an undergraduate at Rutgers. All areas of the undergraduate curriculum will be examined, as well as other areas that affect students, including the role of the undergraduate colleges, advising, enrollment, honors programs, etc. This is seen as a beginning dialogue that will continue after the report is made. There are many areas that need attention, and the process will begin with the Task Force. The Task Force's work will focus on New Brunswick/Piscataway; While restructuring the public research universities is not going forward, the University will be examining ways to collaborate more fully. Some of the recommendations of the University Central Committee's report on administrative ambiguities will be examined, and many of the areas will be addressed for improvement.
• Gaunt distributed a PowerPoint outline from the first meeting of the Information Technology Project Governance Committee (ITPGC) that is examining administrative computing priorities at Rutgers. The Committee will have a facilitated retreat in February to begin discussions on how to develop a useful process by which RUCS determines administrative priorities.

Records Retention Update – Sewell

• Steve Dalina, University Records Management Coordinator, presented the proposed RUL Record Survey/Inventory 2004, which outlined the University's plan to develop a record retention schedule for RUL as mandated by the President's Cabinet. Dalina, with the assistance of Edward Leblanc (Independent Study Project Student), will develop a schedule that will identify every major category of records unique to RUL in a department and assign a retention period for each group. The completed departmental record retention schedule will then become a part of the University's Records Management Policy. The project requires one person designated from each area to assist in the survey/inventory. The responsible agencies include the University Librarian, Associate University Librarians, Campus Directors, and library faculty. Cabinet members will assign a person to be responsible for target areas based on the list of functional areas for which they are responsible. An appointment will be made with targeted department/units of RUL to discuss the method of survey/inventory. Human Resources, Payroll, and Business Management areas will be covered by the University wide retention schedules that govern the disposition of these records.

Open URL Demo – Golden

• Golden gave a demonstration of OpenURL, which is moving along as expected; it will roll out in the next couple of weeks. The Libraries will be implementing LinkSource, Ebsco's brand name for their OpenURL link resolver. The link resolver will provide item-level linking among databases, although not all databases are OpenURL compliant. The OpenURL capabilities are presented at the citation-level at the end of the search process.

Planning for DLI-II – Gaunt

• Gaunt distributed to Cabinet for review and discussion a draft "Outline of Topics for the Strategic Plan." Gaunt reminded Cabinet to keep in mind that "strategic" relates to the big picture, where the Libraries are going, and the key elements for areas needing focus. Gaunt reviewed the makeup of the committee that will be writing the final plan – the appropriate balance between the Libraries and our users, areas that will be built into the long-range plan, and the groundwork that will be done in preparation for the plan. Interviews of the communications firm doing the audit were just concluded and when the communications audit is completed, we will have much data to build into the plan; the results from our liaisons gathering information on the disciplines, and the follow up with focus groups will provide additional information for the plan; the Assessment Committee is working on refining the benchmarks and defining an assessment process. While these three areas are important, they will not cover everything we want to include in the strategic plan. Our librarians and staff will need opportunities to hear what comes out of these planning initiatives and to provide input into these and other topics for the plan. Marilyn Wilt and the Planning Committee presented ideas to Gaunt on a framework to engage faculty and librarians in the process at the appropriate stages. In developing a framework for discussion it might be useful to take a thematic approach and think in terms of the University's strategic goals. We might then translate them into themes for the Libraries, such as inter-institutional collaboration, scholarly communication, academic support, undergraduate student life and learning, collaboration with business and industry in New Jersey for economic and workforce development to guide our thinking. Boyle agreed to take some of the comments and develop a matrix framework for the next Cabinet discussion.

Review of ALA Marketing Pre-Conference – Boyle/Gaunt

This item tabled for future Cabinet discussion.

Announcements

Agnew:

• Agnew is chairing a committee with Keith Hazelton, IT Architect of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, member of the Internet2 Middleware Architecture Council for Education, which is working on a project to design a global CourseID; project coming to fruition and will be issued for public comment.

Boyle:

• Boyle distributed to Cabinet chart prepared by Judy Gardner on ARL ILL/DD Services Studies in 1996 and 2002 showing Rutgers Unit Cost, Fill Rate, and Turnaround Time. Rutgers is headed in the right direction.
• Effective February 1, 2004 Administrative/Professional/Supervisory and Confidential employees may donate vacation and/or sick days to help colleagues facing loss of income due to extended absence from work for a severe medical condition, either their own or a family member's. For more information, including policy, procedures, forms and FAQ's, visit http://uhr.rutgers.edu/whats-new.html. Donations are needed immediately to launch the new Compassionate Leave Program. Employees wishing to donate leave time should complete a "Donation to Bank" form. Eligible employees who wish to apply for assistance through the program should complete a Compassionate Leave Program "Application for Use."
• Boyle asked that Cabinet remind its faculty and staff to consult the Libraries' own Human Resources Department before contacting the University's human resources staff. This insures that the Libraries are aware of important personnel matters, especially if one or more departments are dealing with the same issues or have concerns; all advice provided is confidential.

Mullins:

• The RUL subject guide for business has received the Best of the Business Web Site award. It is the recipient of five awards, as well as individual awards, and is a collaborative venture of business librarians on all campuses. The subject guide can be found at (http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/busi/business.shtml)
• The Lowell Bodger Typographer Exhibition Opening Reception will be held Thursday, February 12 from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. in the Dana Room. The Dana Library is proud to showcase typography (printed letterpress) drawn, collected, and photographed by artist Lowell Bodger, a teacher of typography at New York's School of Visual Arts and at City University. Subjects range from historical texts to public signage and journal transcriptions. The new exhibition will include manuscripts and variant proofs as well as broadside editions and artwork produced for typographic animations. The exhibition will run until March 31, 2004.

Tehrani:

• The process of P4P has begun in anticipation of the University's announcement of the program. Will be meeting with supervisors and coordinators this afternoon.

Golden:

• The University will be switching the Camden campus phone system over spring break using RUNet wiring and 4 digit extensions. Both systems will be working for a short period.

Puniello:

• Facilities on the New Brunswick campus are reorganizing and meetings have been held with RUL to discuss reorganization and areas needing attention.
• Two new librarians have been hired.
• Douglass Library renovation is moving along.

Gaunt:

• Vice President Furmanski will be speaking at the Treasurer's Luncheon on February 17. Cabinet will plan to hold the next meeting at the Kilmer Library and attend the Luncheon.