University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the August 9, 2005 Meeting

Present:

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

University Librarian's Report - Gaunt

• Executive Vice President Furmanski has added $1,250,000 to the permanent base for library collections. These dollars include making permanent the one-time funding of $950,000 of last year and increasing the New Brunswick portion of the student computer fees to $175,000 and an additional $125,000. Opportunities for additional funds will come from the all-funds budget discussions to take place this year. Sewell and Hendrickson are working on unit allocations.
• In the "all funds" budgeting process this year, the key for us will be to determine the general basis on how funds for the libraries are allocated, since we do not generate revenue; Cabinet will have a future discussion on the things they think should be a part of that determinations, such as tuition generated, grants ICR generated, number of programs, etc. Gaunt and Hendrickson will look at the Libraries' budget historically compared to enrollment growth, tuition revenue and other data that can factor into a formula for library support.
• Electronic resources for small businesses, researchers, students and teachers in New Jersey are now available through the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative; vendor negotiations continue. The State Library has not yet signed one significant contract, but we hope to hear soon. We will need to negotiate with vendors for credits for these subscriptions.
• Will ask Susan Beck to attend a Cabinet meeting to de-brief on the LibQual data; because there was a significantly high percentage of faculty responses, it is difficult to use the cumulative data (ugrads, graduate students, faculty, staff) with precision as there are differences in how each views and uses the Libraries. It may be best to view the results from each group to prioritize follow-up. After the Cabinet de-briefing, we will do one for all RUL and share the information with our users.
• Gaunt sent to Cabinet for review a comparison of Rutgers with ARL institutions based on recently released 2004 data, as well as comparisons to 1995 and 2000. The statistics reported are based on the number of people employed and the amount of money spent and indicates that, even though the University and the student body have grown, the collections budget and operating expenses are flat. The data will be used in peer comparisons. Gaunt will tie the summary to the LibQual results and eventually share it with Furmanski, the Provosts, the Libraries Advisory Committee, and others as appropriate. Cabinet was asked to review the data and send comments or revisions to Gaunt by the first of September.
• In a discussion Gaunt had with another dean about the strategic plan and strengthening the role of library liaisons, the dean indicated it would be helpful if the departments had a description of the role and expectations for the liaisons. The Collection Development and Public Services Councils will review the library liaison description listed on the Libraries' Web site while understanding that the description may include areas that some departments may not avail themselves of, as departmental needs vary.

Priorities for Faculty and Staff Positions – All

• Cabinet discussed priorities for the use of open faculty lines at all the libraries and system-wide needs for faculty positions. Because of funding, not all potential positions would be available for tenure-track recruitment at this time. As funding is available, lines would be released in priority order. Where we are unable to open a line for tenure track recruitment, the line may be filled with graduate assistants or annual appointments, or the line may be kept open and salary savings recouped. Almost all of these potential tenure-track faculty lines are currently filled with annual appointments. A total of 24 potential positions were discussed. Some of these positions were similar to those filled by the previous incumbent. Some positions were new. New positions supporting instructional technology and digital library development were given high priority for system-wide needs. Consideration about whether a position should be faculty or staff and whether its role was primarily for RUL or for the campus took considerable discussion. In order to assess these areas, Cabinet spent a good deal of time discussing how we support the development of information competencies in the curriculum and how we move the libraries' digital development forward through the allocation and use of positions. In determining priorities for filling positions, Cabinet considered the need for skills in particular areas where they do not now exist in the system, the impact of keeping the position filled temporarily, the timing of when we would be prepared to support certain activities, and the impact filling the position would have. Seven faculty positions were deemed appropriate for recruitment in the following order as the funds and lines become available. These include: humanities librarian (NB), instructional development librarian (system-wide) equally ranked for top priority, special formats cataloger/assistant head of cataloging (TAS), East Asian studies librarian (NB), and social sciences data librarian (NB). Two additional positions were equally ranked if funds are available: generalist/humanities librarian (Dana) and digital projects developer.
  
  Gaunt will confer with Hendrickson on the projected amounts needed to fill these positions. Cabinet will also need to consider the priorities for the new staff positions identified in the discussion and other new staff lines. Funds for these positions come from the same salary dollars as faculty lines, so they should be considered together. Because of time constraints, Cabinet was not able to address all staff positions, so an additional meeting will be scheduled.