University Librarian's Cabinet: Minutes of the September 26, 2006 Meeting

Present:

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

Absent:

Boyle

Discussion with Executive Vice President Furmanski on the Libraries' Strategic Plan Including a Demo of the ETD (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) Project - Gaunt

• Gaunt extended a welcome to Dr. Furmanski. Gave an update on the Strategic Plan; a roll-out is being planned; print version will be sent to the Administrative Council; plans are to do activities each year based on the University's goals and the funding available; will focus whatever we do on the instructional and research programs of the university. A few Cabinet members met with the staff from the Office of Instructional Technology to discuss our strategic plans and where they intersect; will focus on building out Sacai and to strategize about a digital media infrastructure for the university. Ellis and Montanaro gave a demonstration of the Electronic Theses and Dissertations project, which is an example of how we add value to the university since the university wants to get out of paperwork. Partnered with Barbara Bender at the Graduate School of Education to develop the infrastructure. Will go live on October 2; hope to expand to other schools in 2007.
• Discussed with VP Furmanski President McCormick's new committee on efficiency and entrepreneurship and where he saw the Libraries in that committee; committee is predicated on the notion that if you look at something differently or bring new eyes to it, there are efficiencies. There is no distinction in the academic and academic support units. By entrepreneurship there is discussion about the world; thinking about opportunities in terms of a constant continuing engagement with students, alums, and having their support and loyalty to the university; are there opportunities to use the devices and kinds of systems we have to promote their careers so that more and better students come to us. The Libraries will be a part of this. There is an increased emphasis on administrative side. Need to protect our core academic missions. We are not quite clear in terms of process; even thinking about the structures and committees. There will be an element of internal best practices.
• Gaunt thanked Furmanski for attending; will invite him to attend more meetings.

University Librarian's Report – Gaunt

• Deans Council: Kim Manning Lewis gave an update on the logo. Some are concerned about the vision and why New Jersey doesn't want to support its institution; the wealthy don't need Rutgers; the only people who need Rutgers are the ones who can't afford to go anywhere else. The only way funding will come is through leadership advocacy in the state.
• Touched base on economic growth strategy and how Rutgers can be linked to that; everything we do should be linked to the Governor and legislation. Could use this for the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative.
• Discussed the College Avenue Competition; urged to complete the online Design Concept Survey.
• Discussion about UMD and Rutgers and the two committees; don't think anything serious will happen until the new UMD president is appointed; would like it completed by December 22.

Collections Update – Sewell

• 632 print subscriptions were cancelled, but 591 of these are available in current online subscriptions. The total savings was $175,433.24 but $11,901.31 of that amount was put towards new online subscriptions to titles previously held only in print. Considerable research was required to determine current publishers' policies regarding the necessity of maintaining print subscriptions when subscribing to online versions.
• In addition, 15 databases will be cancelled, and by changing the terms of the contracts for some online products, a savings of $261,000 was realized. The total savings amounted to nearly $500,000. This represents about 40% of the total loss of purchasing power in the current budget: $800,000 cut in the base collections budget and $450,000 in project inflation on 2006 serials.
• The cancellations were coordinated by the four, elected CDC subject team leaders for electronic resources, the serials management team, the acquisitions department, and CDC as a whole. The cancellation project was complex, hard and difficult, but the overall result will minimize the impact on our users of online publications. Users of books, videos, and sound recordings will feel the impact of the budget cut most acutely.

Continuing Discussion on Process for Recruitment for Vacant Positions – Gaunt

• Cabinet reviewed the status of open lines distributed by Gaunt and discussed the role of the Planning and Coordinating Committee to provide advice to the University Librarian on hiring; they have a responsibility of advising the University Librarian on priorities for faculty recruitment; will encourage them to take a broad perspective and give them our priorities relative to needs; can revisit each year.
• Gaunt will update the status of the faculty lines with few changes and double check on the renewal dates before sharing with the Planning and Coordinating Committee. Will give them a lightly revised statement based on Cabinet discussion and focus more on the criteria than the specifics of a line.

Follow-up on Faculty Discussion of Organizational Structure – Gaunt

• Cabinet discussed the need for a definition of the decision-making process, the input and trajectory for that decision-making. Will determine how Planning and Coordinating Committee want to move forward related to Rutgers faculty structure and Library structure as two distinct things that complement each other; need to review how we share vision as well as mechanics; will be hearing more about the organizational structure issues.