University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the February 22, 2005 Meeting

Present:

Agnew, Boyle, Fetzer, Fultz, Gaunt, Mullins, Puniello, Sewell, Zapcic

Videoconferenced:

Golden

Guests:

Wilt, Hendrickson

University Librarian's Report - Gaunt

• Gaunt attended the New Brunswick Academic Leadership Program on February 17, 2005 and distributed PowerPoint presentation from the meeting to Cabinet. University Vice President Kim Manning Lewis and Executive Vice President Phil Furmanski reviewed the findings of the Rutgers Constituency Research Project - a study of perceptions of the university held by multiple important publics - and asked for comments and recommendations about how best to respond to them. The findings of the research are posted on the President's web site at: http://www.president.rutgers.edu/initiatives.shtml. Some of the findings of the project pertain directly to how our academic programs are perceived by the various groups served by the university. Gaunt may invite Manning-Lewis to make a presentation to RUL as part of marketing so that our thinking may be informed by what the University is doing.
• Knowledge Initiative Funding - Negotiations continue on which databases to acquire.
• NJEDge.net has made a proposal to VALE that a small group within VALE look at negotiating licenses for video. A number of institutions within VALE are using videos in their courses, and there is a fair amount of overlap. A small exploratory committee will look at how VALE might incorporate video licensing into regular vendor contract negotiations, if this appears appropriate to do.
• Strategic Plan Steering Committee met for the second time on February 17. Minutes from that meeting will be posted shortly. Agreed to break into subcommittees. Will be looking at the strategic plan from the perspective of supporting faculty research, student learning, and faculty instruction. A fourth theme of service and outreach will be developed later. Each group will consider implications for facilities, space, collections, access and services. Diversity, recruitment, retention, and professional development will be seen as one overall piece. Committee feels strongly about the library as a place, and the critical role of the library liaison as more comprehensive than collection development, especially as a presence in the departments. Will meet again on March 3.
• Gaunt brought attention to the Office of Information Technology's "Guide to faculty & Staff Computing 2005." The Libraries on all three campuses were listed as "wireless hot spots."
• Troy attended a P4P meeting at University Human Resources last week. Should be getting a memo on the allocations soon. Allocations will be based on the first payroll in March. There will be two standards - meets and does not meet. There will be a bonus pool. T-coded employees, excluding academic administrators, will be included in the P4P process. Cabinet should ask its units to begin the self-assessment process.
• Tom Frusciano has been nominated to receive the University's Ernest E. McMahon Award for Program Excellence.
• Gaunt has been elected as the Vice President-President Elect of the Pennsylvania Academic Libraries Consortium, Inc. (PALCI) Board of Directors.

Update on Training and Learning Plans for Next Year - Wilt

• Wilt distributed document on "Professional Development at Rutgers University Libraries" as part of update on training and development plans for the next year. Acknowledged the Training and Learning Advisory Committee members and commended them for their talent and expertise. The committee's strategic directions are rooted in ongoing relationships within the library, the university and elsewhere, and they have developed a series of programs to educate and inform what's going on in the library and around the world. The strategic directions focus on discovering, energizing, and celebrating. Before embarking on the plan, the committee will survey its audience to determine whether its suggestions have merit. An online survey will be distributed in March with the implementation of the new technical skills development series. The committee is calling its initiative "Creating Our Future - Leading the Way! Phase One" and will kick off with National Library Week in April with celebrations throughout the Libraries on all three campuses. Continuing elements will be the technical skill development and proposed brown bag discussions, library spotlights, and annual Creativity Fair. Spring, summer and fall events will continue with the Libraries' strategic plan debut, mentoring discussions, and Emotional Intelligence workshops. As background, Wilt distributed to Cabinet Boyatzis and Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence Competence Framework" that lists the four overarching core competencies of emotional intelligence as a way of looking at yourself and your own strengths in a reflective way. Ongoing assessment will continue using online surveys, paper assessment, and word of mouth. Will continue to reach out to partners in the libraries and outside. Gaunt commended the committee for its fantastic job in tying together what is important and expressed a concern that the committee leave enough flexibility in their agenda to take advantage of other things as they come up.

Planning for Open Meeting on Organizational Structure - Gaunt

• The University Librarian's Cabinet and Planning/Coordinating Committee held a joint meeting on February 14 as a kick-off discussion to lead the Libraries to better organizational structure. At that meeting, the recommendation was made that an open meeting and discussion of organizational structure be added to the Libraries' Faculty Meeting agenda in March, at which time faculty and staff would be invited to express their thoughts about potential changes in organizational structure. Gaunt elicited Cabinet's ideas for planning the discussion at the Faculty meeting. Cabinet had initially agreed to look at organizational change with the model of collapsing New Brunswick and System-wide responsibilities and connecting Newark and Camden, eliminating a layer of organization. Some considerations in moving in this direction are financial, expertise, using human resources more effectively, eliminating some redundancies, and combining local and system- wide on the largest campus. After hearing comments at the meeting with the Planning/Coordinating Committee, Cabinet realized that there remain many questions about why such a change is necessary. Without the specific plans for the next level, which would require considerable work and discussion, it may not be readily apparent. As a result, it may be more realistic to work more slowly and focus on specific areas that may lead to either cultural or structural change in an organic way. We will work to identify those areas, and link them more closely to the results of the Creth discussions.

Budget Status - Gaunt/Hendricksont

• Hendrickson distributed handouts on "Reserve Salary Line FY 2005 and "FY 2005 Mid-Year Budget Projections and Needs." Through February 9, 2005, funds were allocated for 31 adjustments for staff and faculty new hires, internal transfers, and staff upgrades. With an outstanding obligation for previously approved upgrades and Librarian new hires, the new balance must cover any future obligations. As this is relatively small now, we will reserve these funds for normal staff hiring, which frequently requires more funds than are budgeted on the line. We will not be able to release any additional faculty lines for tenure-track recruitment above what has already been approved. No funds are available for optional reclassification of open staff positions. Gaunt asked Cabinet to submit a report on potential reclasses for their area in the next three weeks.
• Cabinet members had submitted requests for $486,032 for necessary below the line operations not presently covered by their budget allocations and $382,562 for special needs. Systems identified $60,000 in critical computing replacement costs for staff. Using existing salary savings and development funds, it was decided that all the below the lines budget needs would be filled from salary savings; $60,000 would be allocated for PC replacements for staff; $180,000 would come for collections from development funds and salary savings, and the remaining $26,472 would be divided among the units for high priority special requests. Hendrickson will make the appropriate budget transfers to the units.
• Sewell distributed a handout on "Total Book Funds as of February 16, 2005." Many invoices are still out; some may be false encumbrances. Does not reflect inflation on that remaining amount. We are close to spending out what we have now in state funds. Everyone is encouraged to non-state funds.

Announcements

Agnew:

• Mary Beth Weber will be on medical leave as of March 7; Steve Perotta will be acting head of monographs; Agnew will handle personnel issues.
• NJIT will meet with Ron Jantz and others on March 1 to discuss starting their own Fedora repository.

Boyle

• Searchpath was officially launched this week; will ask Cabinet and others in RUL to add a slogan to their signature file about Searchpath.
• Boyle, Tipton, and McDonald will make a presentation to the Council of New Jersey College and University Librarians, Library Directors and Deans on Searchpath.

Golden:

• Scarecrow Press has accepted Vib Bowman's current FASP project, Scholarly Resources for Children and Childhood Studies, for publication.
• Our exhibit, Books in the 21st Century: An Exhibition of Monographs by the Faculty on the Camden Campus is scheduled to open on March 3, 2005 with a reception at 12:15.

Puniello:

• Artists on the Edge: Douglass College and the Rutgers MFA, reception and artist panel, will be held Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 5:30-8:00 p.m. at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library.