University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the March 21, 2006 Meeting

Present:

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

University Librarian's Report – Gaunt

• The Celebration of Recently Published Faculty Authors Exhibition Opening Reception will be held in the Pane Room today at 5 p.m. with an all-time high contribution of 88 books.
• The Rutgers University Libraries and the Center for Cultural Analysis are co-hosting a panel discussion on Open Access on March 29 from 2-4 in the Scholarly Communication Center. Panelists include Dan Hunter, University of Pennsylvania, Greg Lastowka, Rutgers School of Law-Camden, and Robert G. Sewell, Rutgers University Libraries. A reminder will be sent to rul_everyone.
• The Board of Governors approved President McCormick's recommendations for transforming the undergraduate experience at Rutgers – New Brunswick/Piscataway. Professor Barry Qualls was asked to serve as interim Vice President for Undergraduate Education at least through the implementation process.
• Holly Smith will be resigning as the Executive Dean FAS-NB and Graduate School effective June 30; she will return to the faculty.
• Gaunt received New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI) posters, bookmarks and other publicity; will send to the Directors for use at the reference and circulation desks. There is a major impetus to advocate to the state legislators; teams are reaching out to each one. Sewell reported at the last Cabinet meeting about his visit to a legislator.
• Joan Getaz, Camden County librarian, presented the Knowledge Initiative to her institutional research group and they are thrilled; administrative groups within the University may benefit from this. If we get support from our faculty or administrators, it would be helpful. Mary Page volunteered to write some talking points to take to faculty; she will put on the Collection Development Council list but could send to Golden, Mullins and Puniello for use in eliciting support.
• Minimum wage is going up to $7.15/hour on October 1, 2006. Federal work-study is raising its rates as of July 1. Hendrickson and Gaunt are discussing the impact on the budget; will want to regularize what we pay our hourly workers across the board; will look at what the University is doing. May appoint a small group to look at the hourly workers; hope to have a plan in place as of July 1.
• Governor Corzine will give his budget message today at 1 p.m. Lots of details were released in the paper today; the biggest cut is higher education. Will not know the final budget until June 30.
• Gaunt noted the announcement in a recent Star Ledger article of a new institute doing research on New Jersey. They have already produced several reports, including one on higher education. It may be useful to watch the Hall Institute and what it produces. http://www.hallnj.org.
• Hendrickson will meet with Cabinet from time to time between now and June 30 to discuss budget issues; she has been working on salary savings scenarios.

P4P Process – Gaunt and S. Troy

• Troy distributed to Cabinet a packet of information on the Pay-for-Performance Program for FY 2006-2007. She reviewed the information that is contained on the Libraries' Web site and the University Human Resources' Web site. She reviewed the Libraries' P4P calendar and noted that on March 29, 2006, Troy and M. Wilt will offer two information sessions on the P4P process for Libraries' employees, including tips on completing the self-assessment form, conducting the performance appraisal interviews, and setting performance standards. The sessions will be most helpful to new employees, but they are open to any employees who would like to refresh their understanding of the process. Information sessions will be videoconferenced to Dana and Robeson Libraries upon request.
• With the budget situation being precarious we may expect to hear changes in our P4P for the University, but for now we will plan to set aside a bonus pool from any funds allocated and look to Cabinet members to make recommendations.

Supervising for Excellence Program – Boyle, M. Wilt, J. Teichmann

• Wilt distributed to Cabinet handouts detailing "Supervising for Excellence, Phase One of the Supervisory Development Series" and "Supervising for Excellence Program Outline, First Year" that was put together by Wilt and Teichmann, members of the Training and Learning Committee. The program is conceived for new and seasoned supervisors. The first year is seen as developmental and will be an ongoing program. With Cabinet's assistance, the committee would like to identify a first group and have them proceed through the series, with each session rebuilding on the preceding. After discussion, Cabinet agreed that one group of 15 front-line managers would be good; AUL's and Directors will have opportunities to engage with the group. Each session of the program will last for a full day. Cabinet was asked to submit a list of prioritized names to Wilt by the end of the month. Gaunt thanked Wilt and Teichmann for putting this together.

Media Collection – Sewell/Agnew

• Sewell and Agnew presented to Cabinet a VALE proposal to collectively purchase a media collection. The project would give us an opportunity to develop a streaming video end-to-end process for an attractive collection; since we are obtaining the digital rights in perpetuity, the risk is minimal; and the program takes our VALE participation to the next level. Have to consider the three campuses and connection to the Internet; our goal is to have equal access from all three campuses. Need to establish parameters from campus and home; will ask video technical person to design good test; will ask Public Services Council and Collection Development Council to assist with publicity and training. Need to think about launching in September for faculty and students. Cabinet set parameters for both cost and size of collection.

Budget Strategies: Potential Prepayment of Invoices – Gaunt/N. Hendrickson

• Hendrickson prepared the list of potential early payments from those submitted by Cabinet members. Decision was made by Cabinet to add postage and make an early payment to PALINET if funds are available.

Update on Fundraising - Zapcic

• Zapcic gave a overview of the Development Office activities this year and future planning that included:
  • Recognition Event
  • Byrne Papers
  • Senator Harrison Williams' Collection
  • Board of Advisors
  • Articles in Overseer and Annual Report/Visions
  • Activity to Pursue Federal Support
  • Phi Ep Event and Website
  • Planned Alumni Event in Connecticut
  • Developing our Targeted Prospect List
  • News from the Rutgers University Foundation
  • SUN Center of Excellence
  • Annual Fund Solicitation for the Preservation Program
  • Fundraising total: for FY 2006, as of 3/21/2006: $839,768.99.

Announcements

Boyle

• Boyle discussed with Cabinet a draft charge for a task force to review our internal communications that had been sent to Cabinet prior to the meeting. Judy Gardner has agreed to chair the task force, and with Cabinet's support, Boyle hoped to seek nominations for the task force; would like Cabinet to send their nominations by Friday, March 25; Boyle will also put out a call to rul_everyone asking for participation; would like to see both faculty and staff participation.
• Rich Novak, Associate Vice President-Continuous Education and Distance Learning, asked if we could extend library privileges to the continuous education students. Some are not in degreed programs, but three-year certificate programs, and they have separate registration systems from the registrar. This is a serious academic endeavor and speaks to our land-grant mission. Will look at licenses to determine impact.

Sewell

• The Collection Development Council is working on the Gift Policies and Procedures; it is important that everyone understands the roles of gifts in developing collections; once the procedures are finalized, will follow up with workshops.

Zapcic

• Zapcic met with Barbara Dawson, Director of Development Writing, on Thursday; attempting to get press for potential gift, which is a great way to get other people interested. If Cabinet members are accepting or working on a gift that might be an interesting story, let Zapcic know.

Mullins

• Dana Library is hosting a book party for a new book, "Defying the Odds: Triumphant Black Women of Newark," by Barbara Kukla, former longtime editor of the Star Ledger, on Thursday, March 30.

Gaunt

• Gaunt has received a supply of the "VALE Biennial Report of the Executive Committee, FY2004/05." Judy Cohn, UMDNJ, did the text and the production was done here in Administration.
• Strategic Plan Status: the writing committee finished its work and the draft report has gone back to full committee for review. Unless they have something critical to say, the report is done and Gaunt will bring back to Cabinet for discussion, possibly will be put on the next Cabinet agenda.
• An invitation was sent out on the "Information Technology for Research: The Impact of National Directions in Cyberinfrastructure" symposium, which will be held on April 4, 2006 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Agnew will be presenting on the RU Community Repository.
• We are working with purchasing on a request for proposal for a search firm for the positions we will be recruiting; anything over $5,000 related to services has to be done with Purchasing.

Agnew

• Agnew will be away from March 24-April 3 and will be presenting at the Cyberinfrastructure Symposium on April 4, 2006.

Puniello

• Staff has started to wear nametags in the buildings; people have been receptive to the idea.
• New Brunswick librarians published these two articles:
  • Kesselman, Martin and Sarah Barbara Watstein. "Google Scholar and Libraries: Point/Counterpoint." Reference Services Review, 33:4, pp. 380-387.
  • Dess, Howard. "Database Reviews and Reports: Scopus." Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, No. 45, Winter 2006. 10 pages.
• Puniello will be away from March 22-31; Tehrani will be in charge during her absence.