University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the September 12, 2006 Meeting

Present:

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

University Librarian's Report – Gaunt

• Li Sun and Jingfeng Xia were introduced at the New Faculty Reception for recently hired tenured/tenure-track faculty that was hosted by President McCormick.
• President McCormick highlighted a number of university initiatives at a recent meeting for academic leaders. He discussed the new committee on efficiency and entrepreneurship that is being chaired by Jeff Apfel. On the efficiency side, the committee will look at how we can be more efficient in what we do and use our funding wisely. The committee will focus more on administrative procedures. We may want to focus on our relationships with the law libraries. On the entrepreneurship side, they will focus on activities that will bring resources to the university. While we know that the state does not fund us as well as we would like, other excellent universities get a smaller portion of their budget from their states. What distinguishes them from us is that they bring in more funding from other sources – fund raising, grants, fee-based activities, etc.
• Rutgers does not have enough advocates in Trenton; need to gain support from our alumni. A committee, chaired by former BOG chair Gene O'Hara, is being established to look at how we can serve our alumni.
• President McCormick and Executive Vice President Furmanski are meeting on a regular basis with UMDNJ. Many problems that were identified in previous past discussions are now being worked on to improve collaboration.
• Gaunt will be sending out an announcement about the New York Times Academic Librarian Awards. Gaunt is on the selection committee. There will be three awards; will be distributing publicity and ballot boxes. Nominations can be submitted online. Faculty should be encouraged to nominate their librarians. This is a national competition.
• Gaunt shared the URL for the Governor's economic strategy with Cabinet. We will need to keep in mind how to tie our activities and plans to the state and its goals. The future of the NJKI can be expressed in terms of supporting economic and business development in the state.

User Conduct and Security Policy & Banning Letters – Boyle

• Cabinet discussed the User Conduct and Security Policy and banning letters. Boyle explained that the Public Services Council began reviewing the policy at the end of last semester. The User Conduct and Security Policy, which is contained in Pubic Services Policy Memo 1, was strengthened by adding three elements from the Kreimer v. Morristown case, which reviewed rules of the Joint Free Public Library of Morristown & Morris Township, New Jersey. There are new sections on "Appropriate Use of the Libraries" and "Personal Hygiene," and stronger wording has been added to the section "Noise and Other Disruptive Behavior." Council had also approved the issuing of banning letters to non-Rutgers visitors whose violation of our policy is so extreme that they prevent us from carrying out our mission. Cabinet members will now issue banning letters in consultation with the university librarian and access services personnel. It is anticipated that such letters will be rare. Cabinet approved the revision and the issuing of banning letters to non-Rutgers visitors, which have been reviewed and are supported by university police and counsel.

Review Marketing Plan – Puniello/H. Glazer

• Cabinet discussed the Draft Multi-Year Marketing Plan for the Rutgers University Libraries, which was developed by the Libraries Communications/Marketing Team. Cabinet was impressed by the work of the committee and thanked Puniello, Glazer and the team for the plan. Cabinet also asked to have the report arranged by year of accomplishment, so that it is easier to see the priorities, and to identify what can be accomplished within a $25,000 budget.

Review Status of Budget and Collections Cancellations – Gaunt/Sewell/Nancy Hendrickson

• Reclassifications: Not all the requests for reclassifications were submitted, so Gaunt asked all units to review their requests and make any final recommendations. We will use approximately $30,000 of the amount in reserve and revisit this figure in January. We may be able to accommodate everyone's requests at this time, but if the additional requests exceed the amount available, Gaunt will ask units to prioritize their requests.
• Collections: Sewell outlined the cancellations decisions to make sure Cabinet understood and approved. The approach to cancellations has been three pronged: eliminate duplication where possible; cut unique resources; and renegotiate existing contracts When it comes to online, there has been a relatively successful agreement on both negotiating a different price for savings on what we want to keep; where we have cancelled electronic databases, everybody seems relatively satisfied that we made the best decision we could for electronic databases. Next level of savings involves books and what to do with print subscriptions. Cabinet thanked Sewell and the CDC for their difficult work during these cancellations discussions and asked to see the final proposal with budget figures to ensure that all campuses were treated equitably in the cancellation process.
• Staffing: There was consensus on moving ahead with the recruitment for the AUL/IRS position, but still some discussion left on the others. Gaunt reminded everyone that we have already agreed on a number of recruitments that we can afford, so we will come back to the discussion of the other faculty positions at a future Cabinet meeting. As new unit vacancies occur, we can decide on filling the position as vacated, freezing it for salary savings, or changing the position. All units will be able to use 50% salary savings on new vacancies. If you decide to keep a position vacant for the rest of the year, inform Gaunt and Hendrickson, your salary savings will be moved then.
• Filling Lines: Faculty input on hiring priorities will be on the agenda for the Planning and Coordinating Committee meeting on September 27. Cabinet may want to discuss this issue once the Planning/Coordinating committee have provided guidance on bow they wish to provide advice to the university librarian – on a yearly basis as does the teaching faculty; with criteria for priorities, etc. There are very few positions available, but we do know that two additional faculty lines could be recruited this year. For new staff vacancies in each unit, you may fill your vacancy similarly to the person who is leaving or keep it open for salary savings. We will need to revisit how to deal with annual appointments.

Campaign Strategies – Zapcic

• Zapcic discussed the emails sent from Executive Vice President Furmanski outlining the call for campaign proposals and the process for submitting proposals for the upcoming capital campaign; many faculty members are already working on proposals. Cabinet must come to a consensus about its own priorities and the process; the process outlined in the email sent by Furmanski, the general letter of information to the faculty, and the President's Campaign Vision Statement might be presented to the Libraries as background, with the cover sheet for proposals amended to include the Libraries Strategic Plan as part of the "Project's Relevance to the Presidential Vision Statement." Need to make clear our goals, the time frame, process at the university level for accepting proposals, the general process the units are expected to follow, unit priorities, a campaign definition, and protocol for submitting proposals. Zapcic anticipates that information sessions might be held on each campus to discuss the process and would like the directors and the AULs to attend the campus sessions. Most important is that staff is given a knowledgeable overview and the role they might play. Everyone is expected to participate, even to help to identify donors. Should think about the campaign in broad conceptual areas – enhancing the undergraduate experience; promoting scientific inquiry and innovation; advancing arts and humanities; then invite people to think about the campaign in those thematic terms and the things we'd want to do related to those.