University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the July 14, 2004 Meeting

Present:: Agnew, Boyle, Fultz, Gaunt, Mullins, Tehrani, Zapcic
Absent:: Golden, Puniello, Sewell

University Librarian's Report - Gaunt

Follow-up on announcement previously sent to Cabinet regarding opportunity for VALE to purchase the LibQual survey to be offered in Spring 2005; LibQual is only offered in the spring semester of any year. If we don't take advantage of this opportunity, it will not be available until Spring 2006. Since we will use LibQual for part of our assessment indicators, it would be great to have something before Spring 2006. All we would have to do is arrange that the electronic survey be delivered to our "community." All the responses go directly to LibQual and we get a large report from them with results. Cabinet agreed to implement and Gaunt will ask Golden and Susan Beck to be liaisons.
The proposed $6,000,000 "Knowledge Initiative" program of the New Jersey State Library, the New Jersey Library Association, the New Jersey Library Network and VALE to provide expanded access to science, technology, medical and business databases through libraries was included in the State budget. It will fund databases for VALE libraries and four regional public libraries to provide to the small business community and high-tech business community. The State Library will make an official announcement after the challenge to the State budget is resolved.
RUCS is proceeding with strategic planning; Mike McKay and Steve Director will co-chair the committee. There will be various subcommittees and the libraries will be asked to participate.
A small group will be looking at salary guidelines for voucher employees to insure consistency across the libraries. We will be looking at parameters, job titles, groupings, positions of vouchers currently employed, salary levels and position requirements and bring back to Cabinet for discussion.
Accountability meeting with Dr. Furmanski for future planning is scheduled for August 3.
Annual reports are due to Gaunt on August 15; please use your mid-year reports as a starting point.

Meeting with Sheila Creth - Gaunt

Discussed upcoming two-day meeting with Sheila Creth and her draft framework for discussion. Gaunt asked for Cabinet feedback about the framework for discussion, organization of the two days, and agreed to draft the invitation to faculty and staff to participate.

Envisioning the Future Symposium - Gaunt

Cabinet should encourage their staff and librarians to attend. Morning session is available for teleconferencing; breakout sessions must be attended in person. Dr. Furmanski will speak from the University perspective, Dr. Clara Lovett from the higher education perspective, and Gaunt from research libraries. Thanks to Mullins for agreeing to facilitate a discussion in the afternoon session.

Online Serials Management Task Force Report - Agnew

Agnew gave an overview of the report, which had been distributed in advance by Sewell. The committee was charged to analyze issues related to the management of serials with a special emphasis on online serials, including print with online, cataloging issues when there are multiple URLs, fund representation, and evaluation tools. The committee was to make recommendations relating to a more system wide approach to serials management and general principles for a fund-coding scheme that will facilitate the management of serials and provide the accounting information needed by RUL. Some of the issues in the report came up in regard to workflow - not enough staff members within RUL with the expertise to evaluate and place online and "print with online" subscriptions; implementing a new subscription has system wide implications that require intercampus coordination; communication channels and responsibilities related to the placement, management, and cancellation of subscriptions are not clear; there are not enough staff members with the expertise to maintain online functionality; funding decisions are inconsistent; fund codes currently in use do not provide adequate management information. The task force recommended the creation of a serials team whose membership includes a core staff from all campuses who will share knowledge, skills, and responsibilities in the placement of print, print with online, and online-only subscriptions; a consolidation of subscriptions; and a fund code review and analysis, which should begin immediately, with the goal of implementing a new structure for fiscal year 2006. Cabinet endorsed the recommendations of the report.

Follow-up on Media Across the University - Boyle

Following Cabinet's June 22 discussion of Cflix as a possible solution for the delivery of media, Sewell, Boyle and Gaunt discussed how to proceed in this area, which overlaps public services, technical services and collection development. Sewell had distributed a charge for a task force, which Cabinet discussed. The draft recommended that a task force look at the ways media might be received and distributed at Rutgers; identify available commercial modes of delivering media; and identify national and international media projects. Suggestions included expanding to include audio reserves, a mechanism for acquiring titles; cataloging issues, networking and bandwidth needs; preservation, and expanding the introduction. Suggestions for task force members should go to Sewell, who will work on a revision of the charge.

Announcements

Boyle:

The new RUL website is up.

Zapcic:

Sent an announcement to colleagues at the Foundation about the alumni portal; have gotten rave reviews from the alums.
Campaign officially closed; an official snapshot was taken of the figures on Monday.
Benchmarking for the Foundation to be completed by the end of the month; in September results should show what we look like compared to other institutions that completed successful campaigns.
The Foundation is in quite a bit of change right now; will focus on stewardship and celebration of a job well done.

Mullins:

Summer information literacy program is off and running with the Academic Foundations Center; at the end of the summer would like to make a statement about what the students learned.
Have completed most of the arts programming for next year; will meet with Glazer today to reflect. Book arts program is the tenth annual; successful series.
Collaborative work continues with the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience; Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies is working with us on a symposium.
At the invitation of Helen Paxton there will be a non-jazz chamber musical concert series in the Dana room. Now thought of as best venue on campus for musical events.
Ed Berger is up for tenure.

Agnew:

Harriet DeCeunynck retired; will continue to work part-time as a voucher employee.
Julie Iliff has been hired as a part-time librarian.

Fultz:

Reminder that the Retirees' Luncheon will be held Wednesday, July 21 at the Douglass Library.
Next Cabinet meeting: August 24, 2004; 9:00 a.m.; University Librarian's Conference Room.