University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the May 23, 2006 Meeting

Present:

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

Absent:

Agnew

University Librarian's Report – Gaunt

• Budget: There is no additional news on the budget; according to a report in the Star Ledger, the tax will probably go through; there has been a lot of feedback on higher education, but it doesn't look like there is money right now.
• ARL: Attended the ARL Board and Membership Meeting last week. Jim Michalko and Jay Jordan gave a briefing on the OCLC and RLG merger; RLG Shares will continue; there might be a research library program within OCLC specific to research libraries; this will be a transition year; will be invoiced for some things related to RLG; will hear more as things are being worked out.
• The ARL program focused on "The International Dimensions of Digital Science and Scholarship." Keynote speaker Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive, British Library joined the meeting by video link. The program presentations for the meeting were planned to inform and advance the three strategic directions in the new ARL strategic plan: scholarly communication; public policies affecting research libraries; and the role of research libraries in research, teaching, and learning.
• Rutgers University Libraries and Sun Microsystems have entered into an agreement to designate the Rutgers University Libraries as a Sun Center of Excellence (COE); an agreement has been reached with the focus on digital preservation as a trusted repository; will test it out on the NJDH; University Counsel is reviewing the agreement; public announcement will be made when the agreement is finalized.
• New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI): The NJKI press conference to spur the advocacy for continued funding was held on May 17 at the Technology Center of New Jersey in North Brunswick; Sewell, Puniello, Mardikian, and L. Mullen attended as representatives from the Libraries.
• In order to respond in a timely manner to any audit reviews, please send copies of any signed contracts, agreements, licensing agreements etc. to Gaunt to be kept in a central file that Hendrickson will maintain.

RUcore Website Demo – L. Langschied/A. Montanaro

Langschied and Montanaro demonstrated the RUcore website for Cabinet in order to solicit input to the repository development. Cabinet asked that the Libraries logo be prominently displayed on the front page so that outsiders or faculty members will have an idea of the purpose of the repository; editorial suggestions were also made. The goal is to have whatever the university produces that needs to be preserved in the repository; we need to prioritize the target collections. The initial focus at this time is on academic scholarly material; but we will be working towards administrative publications. As far as workflow, the intention is for the metadata manager to set up a template common to the whole collection and have the end user fill it out. Within the repository, there are RUcore tools, which are designed to make it easy for Rutgers faculty and their collaborators to participate in the Rutgers Community Repository. The most important tool is the Workflow Management System – a web-based graphical user interface for uploading digital objects (images, data sets, audio files, video files, digital text, etc.) and creating metadata to describe and manage those objects. It is intended for people to be able to describe their own materials but not be able to edit yet. A meeting will be held this week to discuss next steps; plans are to roll out the workflow management system and provide metadata training. Gaunt suggested that Cabinet review the website and provide feedback to Langschied and Montanaro; the important thing is to make it easier. Will make a decision on who will be involved in the future to provide additional feedback and determine the ease of use; public service representation is needed on the committee. Although we are not ready at this time, we will need multiple ways to announce the repository to faculty. Langschied applauded Agnew and Chad Mills for their work on the repository website. Gaunt thanked Langschied and Montanaro for the demonstration.

Report on Digital Media Working Group – Gaunt

Due to time constraints, this agenda item will be carried over to another meeting.

Discussion of Type 4 Employment – Gaunt/N. Hendrickson/S. Troy

Troy distributed handouts to Cabinet and discussed Type 4 employees. Gaunt asked Cabinet to review the status of their Type 4 employees to ensure that we are in compliance with University Regulations. This may mean that some employees will need to have their work weeks reduced and/or to be kept on the payroll no longer than 11 months per year. Additionally, according to university regulation 60.1.1 dealing with the employment of relatives, to avoid any conflict of interest, students and other temporary employees should not work in the same unit where there family members reside. If this is occurring in any unit, that employee should be moved to another unit to avoid conflict; any questions should be directed to Troy. Gaunt and Troy will work on guidelines for Type 4 employees specific to the Libraries that are compliant with university guidelines.

Budget Update – Gaunt

• Gaunt has not heard from Executive VP Furmanski about the budget scenario that was submitted from the Libraries. Scenarios are being reviewed for appropriate financial calculations and program impact. We will begin looking at how we wish to realign budgets based on these reductions.
• Travel Plans for ALA: Hendrickson and Gaunt reviewed travel funds and agreed that librarians would be allocated the same amount of money as last year.
• Gaunt and Hendrickson will review other travel funds, programs and activities and determine reductions.
• Agnew's draft guidelines on travel funds will be put on a future Cabinet agenda for review. Hendrickson and Gaunt are reviewing end of year budgets; Agnew and Boyle need to review their budget projections for accuracy since they were provided while they were away. Will review uncommitted money and Cabinet should be thinking about any additional big purchases that might be needed.
• In determining reduction in library hours due to budget cuts, we should look at statistics to determine library usage. Even though reductions will take place July 1, library units may reduce hours now for consistency across the "summer" sessions.

Announcements

Puniello:

• Library hours for the smaller libraries have been reduced beginning this summer; we have communicated this to all the department chairs and the dean of Cook.
• John Shepard has published the following article: "The Legacy of Carleton Sprague Smith: Pan-American Holdings in the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts." Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. March 2006. Vol. 63. No.3. 621-662.
• Jeris Cassel was presented with the Special Distinguished Award from the NJLA College and University Section/ACRL-NJ for maintaining the ACALIBS listserv from 1995-2002 at the Annual NJLA Conference in April. She was also presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding and Dedicated Service to the Ronald E. McNair at the 20th National Anniversary of the Ronald E. McNair dinner/program in April.
• Eileen Stec has been invited to contract with the Educational Testing Service as a reviewer for the ICT Literacy Assessment Local Development Committee.

Golden

• The Paul Robeson Library has set up a two-station media viewing area for students. The two Video/DVD players located behind the Circulation Desk project to two 19-inch Dell monitors.

Sewell

• Sewell, Ron Becker, and Bonita Grant visited with Senator Barbara Buono in her office on May 21. They emphasized the University's continued and increased role in serving all the citizens of the State using University Libraries and Special Collections/University Archives examples. They also emphasized our efforts to economize in the area of consortial arrangements and fundraising, discussed the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative, the New Jersey Digital Highway, the materials (book, databases, serials) budget, and similar endeavors.

Boyle

• The microcomputers that enable our digital microform reader/printers to save to a disk or email will need to be removed over the summer if funding is not available to replace them. The Public Services Council determined that a planned removal is preferable to the inconsistent and poor service model of letting each machine slowly die.
• The new food and drink policy for the libraries will be placed on the next Cabinet agenda for discussion.

Mullins

• Mullins has been invited to go to London for a Middle States review.