Minutes of September 27, 2007 Meeting

Present:

Dent, Borisovets (Recorder), Beck, J.Gardner, R.Gardner, Glynn, Mardikian, Montanaro, Radick, Stec

1. AUL Report [Dent]

• Continuing one on one meetings with all library faculty. Probably will not be completed until November/December.
• Working on a short list of personal goals (things that impact public services and/or RIS). Will share at a later date.
• Meeting with Jeanne Boyle to discuss what is needed from PSC for the Statistics review. This will be an agenda item at a later date.
• Borisovets presented the Virtual Task Force Report to Cabinet this week. The use of a Meebome widget for chat reference was enthusiastically endorsed.
• Dr. Ed Kain (Southwestern University) has been working with Triveni Kuchi on developing information literacy standards for Sociology. He will be coming to RUL on December 10th to do a presentation on the process of developing and integrating information literacy standards into a discipline.
• Lila Fredenburg, the new Director for Administrative Services, is responsible for the administrative backbone of RUL.

2. Process Check and Review PSC Goals

The 2007-2008 Public Service Goals were reviewed and approved by Cabinet. There is discussion of revising the process for goal development for next year.

Activities:

1. Investigate possibilities for the expansion of virtual reference services. [Virtual Reference Task Force]
   Chat reference via Meebome pilot approved. Need to develop timeline.
2. Develop a process for the assessment of federated searching. [Eileen Stec & Bobbie Tipton with Jeanne Boyle]
   No movement yet.
3. Develop a process for the assessment of student learning. [Instructional Services Committee]
   Been looking at the demo version of the ETS iSKILLS. On agenda for future meeting.
4. Formation of a Scholarly Communications Committee.
   Committee met two weeks ago; Bob Sewell chairing.
5. 5. Develop processes and identify opportunities for partnerships and collaboration in the areas of shared resources and shared systems.. [Judy Gardner & Ann Montanaro]
   This is an ongoing PSC goal. Had been looking at the possible implementation of an open library system through VALE; that is currently on hold. There are also ongoing discussions with the Law Libraries.
6. Ensure that there are sufficient electrical outlets in all libraries.. [Francoise Puniello]
   Cost estimates still being gathered.
7. Investigate the possibility of setting up a "lend a laptop” program in the libraries. [Ka-Neng Au and Judy Gardner]
   Will put together a proposal and cost estimate. May not be necessary to do at all locations.
8. Identify the new structural units in New Brunswick and the appropriate lines of communication that need to be established. [Jeris Cassel]
   In progress. Situation evolving daily; very difficult to get a handle on it. While this activity is primarily focusing on communication channels relating to instruction, there are more general communication issues as well. Changes, directives, and program changes (e.g., transfer student programs, the honors program) are emanating from administrative levels rather than from faculty and this information is not being communicated to the libraries-Should be a PSC discussion item on a future agenda.
9. Study and recommend on issues relating to staff satisfaction with library resources and services. [Susan Beck]
   If participate in this year's LibQUAL can compare to previous results. Unlike the last round, library staff should be allowed to participate. Valeda and Susan will meet to discuss this activity futher. [Note: Staff have been the least satisfied group in every LibQUAL study nationwide.]
10. Continue to work with other units on projects such as RefWorks, Sakai, and Second Life.
    In progress. Librarians champion RefWorks as part of the instructional program; multiple access points and FAQ on Libraries' web page. Jeris is working with a variety of groups that are interested in using Sakai.

3. Second Life Project [Stec]

• OIRT is purchasing a Second Life island; the Libraries are contributing toward a portion of the cost.
• A committee of librarians and staff is working on developing a Second Life environment. Committee members have received training and have created avatars.
• Equipment has been an issue. Office staff machines have proved inadequate for project needs.
• The Committee has decided to focus on using materials from the Selman Waksman Archives to create an outline for a First Year Research Seminar in Second Life.
• Because of technology limitations only a portion of the materials would actually be in Second Life. Students would probably work both in the virtual environment and in Second Life.
• Mary Page is looking a possible copyright issues.
• The Committee recognizes that in a few years this may not be the technology of choice but feels that this is an opportunity to be in the vanguard of technological adaption.

4. Announcements

New Brunswick Information Services:

Douglass, Alexander, and LSM are experimenting with having students login to most computers. There are issues of logout times which are currently set to 90 minutes. Systems is going to have to set up two images, one for the public machines (15 minutes) and one for the instructional labs (90 minutes).

Systems:

Transitioning from Novell servers to Windows servers. Hope to be done by Spring Break.

Douglass:

Multi-Media Lab construction is about 85% completed and the software is in the process of being ordered. The official opening is set for January 30, 2008.

WAC/ISC:

Are looking at Finding Aids and Course Guides. They are asking librarians to place exercises and other course materials into a Sakai repository.