Minutes of April 15, 2008 meeting

Present:

David Augusma, Susan Brower, Fred Onorato, Bill Puglisi, Roselyn Riley(recorder), Glenn Sandberg, Brian Stubbs, Ann Watkins, Penny Weniger

Excused:

Barry Lipinski, Ramon Negron, Michele Tokar

Absent:

Adrian Butler

Announcements/updates

• Did you know? Lost and Found Social Security cards should be turned into RUPD for them to handle.

• In the next month or so Penny will be taking a ride up to Newark to work with Ann Watkins on standardization of the Incident Report form. Anyone who would like to work on this project with Penny and Ann are invited to come along. Please let Penny know if you are interested.

• Theft in the Douglass library this fiscal year has increased at an alarming rate. To date, there have been 9 incidents involving the theft of our user’s personal items. These include wallets, cell phones, laptops, etc. Recently there has been an increased rash of such incidents, marking 6 in the spring semester alone and as many as 4 in March. The 9 thefts at Douglass are excessive in terms of numbers. Alexander, our flag ship library and busiest, has experienced 2 in the spring semester for a total of 4 for that location this academic year. When discussing the frequency of these thefts with RUPD, they believe a majority of the situations are the responsibility of two non-Rutgers users who are known by RUPD as the potential perpetrators. On Monday, 4/7/08, Detective Sean M. Skala stopped by to discuss the on-going situation. Staff had called RUPD as the two people in question were in the library. Staff has recently been advised by RUPD to call them when one or both arrive at the library. Based on the number of thefts at the Douglass Library and the background of the two suspected thief’s, Detective Skala strongly recommends that the libraries ban the two subjects. As the two are versed in disguising their criminal acts, it is difficult for RUPD to apprehend them. Banning will allow RUPD to arrest the offenders as they attempt to enter or use the libraries and ultimately lead to conviction. Penny wrote a memo to Judy to hopefully have them banned from the library which was forwarded on to Valeda. Judy and Valeda have agreed that this might be a good course of action and have submitted the issue to the University Council. Ann Watkins posed a question about the policy of banning. She wondered if the police were the ones who did the banning or is it solely done by the University Council. Penny will forward NB’s procedural information on to Ann.

Incident Report Review (February 23 – Present)

ALEX

1. Unattended cell phone stolen. The suspected thieves had been viewing a MySpace web page on a public terminal. As she remembered which computer she had seen him using. Upon investigation, RUPD asked for a printout of the web page.
2. Men’s room toilet would not stop running.
3. There were two instances of entrance doors being found unlocked upon opening the building. Bill Puglisi contacted facilities about the new cleaning staff not knowing the workings of the building and therefore may have been inadvertently leaving doors unlocked. The facilities supervisors have agreed to provide further training on how to lock up the building.
4. Special Collections alarm sounding. Upon investigation, Jeff Teichmann encountered SC employee used her key to gain entrance into the gallery area but did not have the code to deactivate the alarm.
5. The theft of a purse prompted staff to all RUPD. The dispatcher reported that an officer would be over shortly. However, RUPD called back and said there was no officer available to come over, but a new shift was coming in at 5pm and an officer would be over in about 35-40 minutes. Both the victim and the witness agreed to wait in order to give statements.

ART

1. Patron reports to Circulation desk that he is light headed and wanted the police to escort him to Hurtado. As Hurtado was closed the dispatcher sent an ambulance and the patron was taken to the hospital.

CHANG

1. Student worker report a short power outage
2. Water was noted as dripping from the ceiling above one of the rectangular tables, but the cause was not discovered.

DOUGLASS

1. Jacket and back pack theft
2. Apple iBook and charger stolen from a patron’s bag.
3. Man discovered ransacking a patron’s back pack.
4. Ipod stolen from study table
5. Backpack stolen
6. Wallet stolen

KILMER

1. Power outage at opening causes patrons to be confined to the first floor and impacted the operation of Workflows at both Kilmer and LSM
2. Media room was locked and the belongings of the students attending Jerris Cassel class were locked in the room. Upon unlocking the doors, the alarms sounded and RUPD was called in to handle.

LSM

1. Electrical cabinet doors discovered opened upon arrival of staff member.
2. Live bat found on the third floor by Nite Owl

PHYSICS

1. Power outage at Physics and Astronomy building and student staff close the library. A major fuses malfunction was the cause of the blackout.

Discussion Topic

Future Project Ideas

• The group reviewed the current/ongoing projects for the rest of the fiscal year: RUPD staff/student workshop, the emergency flowchart, floor plan handouts of Kilmer and Douglass (both submitted to Judy for final approval – LSM floor plan will be completed after their shift is done)

• The group shared ideas for future projects. Some suggestions were: the creation of a revised table tent (to urge patrons not to leave items unattended), and the creation of a emergency checklist of what to do when property is reported stolen, including phone numbers to call to cancel credit cards.

Information Sharing - Unit Security & Maintenance Updates

ALEX/Fred

- Doing a mini shift of the 3rd floor stacks.

David/Imaging Services

- The CD/DVD duplication service is in the final planning stages. They are figuring out staffing needs with volume/demand and prices.

Asuncion/LSM DTS

- Continuing the consolidation of shelving and moving sections. The custodians were not picking up the trash, but after the matter was reported to Kristi, things were resolved quickly.

Glenn/ILS

- Glenn attended the meeting with the custodial supervisors. Some of the issues that were discussed were how the budget cuts have affected cleaning service, cleaning staff wanting access to keycard protected areas and ways to consolidate garbage/recycling into larger bins in office areas. Glenn voiced concerns about how the lessened staff and work hours has impacted the quality on weekends…i.e. the bathrooms are not cleaned on weekends and are sometimes unsightly for patrons to use.

Ann/DANA

- A naked man was taking a bath in the building. They had problems getting into the building one Saturday. Repair person forgot to activate swipe key readers, so the doors could not be opened. The police could not open the doors with their manual key either. A physical plant worker knew of an alternate route via the tunnels, so he opened the doors from the inside.

ART

- Busy with patrons. The cleaning staff at Art has been doing well and although they are not doing a full cleaning every day, their spot checks and every other day schedule are an improvement over the last cleaning regime. The library is getting a few more public computers. Bill P is still waiting to receive a quote from material services for some tables to be moved to accommodate the new PCs.

Bill/ALEX

- Bill shared his views on the meeting with facilities supervisors. Problem in special collections – vents making lots of noise. During the summer they will be widened to hopefully reduce noise. Two more student study rooms on the 3rd floor are in the works. In the undergraduate reading room the carrels will be unplugged and patrons will have to plug their electronic devices directly into the floor outlets.

Brian/ALEX

- Patrons have complained about the undergrad computer lab being stuffy. The problems with unaccompanied minors in the building and causing disturbances continue.

Next meeting: Tuesday, May 16, 3:00 – 4:30pm, Douglass Conference Room