University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the February 14, 2006 Meeting

Present:

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

Videoconferenced:

Golden

Absent:

Zapcic

University Librarian's Report – Gaunt

• P4P Update – In advance of information from the University, Cabinet should be following the performance review calendar that was sent out from Troy. Self-assessments are due in March; performance appraisals are to begin thereafter. Boyle will investigate new information.
• CRL sent a summary of the discussions on digital archiving of electronic serials that took place during ALA. CRL will be testing the guidelines for trusted repositories and had asked ARL directors if there were specific issues that they wanted addressed in this process. There were more questions than answers, as the issue of how our commercially produced electronic serials will be archived and preserved remains an open question.
• Deans Council met on February 6. Carol Herring, President Rutgers University Foundation/Vice President Development & Alumni Relations, discussed fundraising and the next capital campaign. President McCormick is working on his vision statement, once the vision and broad goals are defined, the deans will be asked to comment on that vision and subsequently to submit proposals for what they think they are going to fundraise; a council of deans and foundation members will prioritize the proposals in terms of strategies for fundraising. No proposal will be eliminated. Herring discussed the team approach; each of the development officers have been asked to come up with 150 of their best prospects and will be given a specified, as yet undetermined, amount of time to move forward with the prospects; at the end of that time, an assessment will be made about whether the prospect is likely to give to that unit; if not, the prospects will go back into a pool for other units to consider. Working on training sessions for all directors of development on new processes and to enhance professional development. The whole strategic development process will be guided closely. The deans will still be able to continue raising money for their own projects.
• The Office of University Counsel discussed first amendment rights and academic freedom related to faculty teaching in the classroom and speaking publicly. Both academic freedom and freedom of speech come with rights and responsibilities. If there are concerns about this in the units, Counsel asked the deans to consult with HR before taking any action, as these are not clear-cut issues, and the specifics of individual situations need to be considered carefully.
• Discussion on the upcoming ten-year Middle States review of the university, Gerry Warshaver discussed the outline of how the University would conduct the review. An executive committee will oversee the entire process with a steering committee reporting to it. The emphasis will be on the undergraduate across the three campuses; each department will get a survey asking how they assess their programs; the Libraries have not received theirs yet. The Dean of Cook will be chairing the steering committee; looking at potential names for members; asked the departments or units to recommend people; Gaunt will suggest library representation. From time to time, they will ask for information from the units. Gaunt named Janie Fultz as the contact; Cabinet may be asked through her to provide information. We should be thinking about the opportunities we give undergraduates in research; may want to put together a report in advance
• Vice President Furmanski noted that discussions about the future of UMDNJ and its relations to Rutgers are continuing.
• Governor Corzine's transition team on higher education recently released its report; within that report, ten recommendations were made, including collaboration with VALE. Recommended an advocate for higher education at the Governor's Cabinet level that was accepted.
• Gaunt, Agnew, Linda Langschied and Ron Jantz were part of a team that met with folks from the State Library, the State Archives, a representative from the K-12 teachers, and the NJ Historical Commission to discuss potential funding strategies for the New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH) after the grant is over on September 30. There is a possibility that an existing law providing funds to the State Archives for preservation might include digital preservation, and therefore extend the support for public documents being represented in the NJDH. The team will prepare a budget proposal and a description/advocacy statement about the value of the expanded NJDH. The State Archives will first seek the support of the Secretary of State before the initiative goes any further.
• ARL Board met February 9 and 10; Gaunt is both a member of the Board and the Chair of the Board's Task Force on Diversity. At the meeting she was appointed to the new Fair Use and Related Exemptions Working Group. Most of the Board discussion focused on ARL's new organizational structure and the work of the new strategic steering committees, especially the one on Research, Teaching, and Learning. Gaunt will share documents with Cabinet; one important document that was shared was Jonathan Band's analysis of the Google digitization initiative from a copyright perspective – it should become available on the Web. There was a lot of discussion on the orphan works and section 108 discussions that will take place in March that are sponsored by the Library of Congress. Another major focus was on looking at how the association and our research libraries are collaborating with faculty in the development and support of e-science. NSF has just released a new report on the cyber infrastructure for science and a role for libraries was noted. ARL just responded to the ACLS report on e-humanities, and a role for libraries was also noted.
• Sewell and Jim Niessen have submitted an application to attend the ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication in July. The purpose of the institute is to develop local agendas for advancing change in scholarly communication at the local campus.
• Reorganization: Gaunt traveled to Camden and Newark to discuss reorganization and answer any questions. There will be an open meeting following the March 3 faculty meeting to discuss the reorganization. We are simultaneously planning for moving that agenda forward as no major impediments have been identified. Gaunt will be meeting with the heads of the units involved with reporting changes to plan a timetable for implementation and to address any outstanding issues. Some changes can be implemented more easily than others; will try to do as much as reasonably possible before the two key positions are filled permanently. Once we have a timetable for implementation, we will communicate further with everyone. Troy will investigate possible search firms; will share draft position descriptions before they are released for recruitment.
• Gaunt will meet with Vice President Furmanski on Thursday for a regular update on progress. There will be a meeting on media at the University later that morning with Furmanski to include OIT, Continuous Education, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Libraries. The purpose is to discuss how the planning for and delivery of media is coordinated at the University.

Research Guides – Boyle

• Cabinet recently discussed research guides and concluded that the creation of research guides is an appropriate and important professional way for selectors to keep current in their selection areas, to provide help to their clientele, and to share their expertise with their colleagues. Selectors are expected to be expert in their assigned subject areas, in print and electronic resources, and it is a value of our profession to share information. Since this is an expectation of librarianship, then Cabinet finds it difficult to reconcile that with the absence of more guides in areas of importance to the University and the lapse in currency of others. We will seek advice from the Collection Development Council on how to weigh the development of research guides in reappointment, promotion and tenure, and the FASIP process, as that is where librarianship is formally considered.

State Budget – Gaunt

• At Deans Council, Vice President Furmanski discussed the budget situation in the state for next year; it is thought that Governor Corzine will want to make the major budget changes in his first year as they will be the most unpopular, and then the following years will be more positive; State employees have been asked to model 5, 10, and 15% cuts. The University may have to model as much as an 8% budget cut. Gaunt has also placed a discussion of future budget scenarios on the Planning & Coordinating Committee agenda. There are many issues to consider in planning for a budget reduction – what is likely to do permanent harm and what can we live without on a temporary basis; should we consider pre-paying some big ticket items from this year's budget to reserve funds next year; we may want to look for ways to fund ourselves. There are only three categories from which funds can come – collections, salaries, below the line. We need to identify critical purchases for next year, such as servers, mandated software upgrades, etc. so we know what will be impossible to cut. Cabinet was asked to review their big-ticket purchases list and re-send it with only those items that are absolutely necessary to be purchased. In addition, if there are items that we could pay this year rather than next, we should identify them as well. The budget will be an ongoing topic at future Cabinet meetings.

Status of Open Lines and Salary Savings – Gaunt

• Cabinet discussed the status of open lines and salary savings. Reserve salary is not sufficient to cover the staff reclassifications identified, and have enough left to be able to fill staff vacancies that require hiring above the amount available on the open line. This often happens when positions are filled by staff within the university already making more than the amount of money on the open line. University regulations specify that at least a 5% raise must be given to internal candidates, so the funds must come from the reserve salary dollars. Funds have been set aside for recruitment of five tenured faculty positions currently in various stages of recruitment and the two AUL positions. Gaunt asked Cabinet members to rank their reclassifications and we will fill as many as possible with the limited funds. We accrue reserve salary dollars when people leave or retire at a higher level than their replacement will need, so the pool of available funds changes throughout the year. If we cannot afford to do a reclassification for a position that is currently filled, the incumbent should not be working out of class.

Big-Ticket Items – Gaunt

• Big-ticket items will be purchased as necessary from salary savings. The units have already received a portion of those savings to be used to fill unit priorities. Gaunt asked Cabinet members to review their big-ticket items list; prioritize it based on absolutely critical needs to continue the Libraries' ability to carry out its program; also note what purchases could be pre-paid to reserve funds for next year. Will consolidate lists and share with Cabinet. Also, it would be helpful to begin thinking about priorities and guidelines for how we should deal with next year's budget reduction. Please submit preliminary ideas to Gaunt.

Announcements - All

Agnew

• The negotiations with Sun are continuing; a meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.

Golden

• Camden's PhD, BA and MS program in childhood studies has been given the BOG approval; only the second PhD program in the world; PhD program will start in 2007; Camden has a minor now.

Boyle

• The University is participating with nine other institutions in a Teagle Foundation grant dealing with technological fluency and the undergraduate curriculum; Boyle was invited to participate in the local Rutgers committee required by the grant.
• Boyle, Golden, and J. Gardner attended an organizational meeting to plan a new RU site in collaboration with Atlantic Cape Community College. Waiting to take lead from Continuous Education to set us up with Cape folks.