STAFF RESOURCES |
The Committee discussed the status of current programs, redefining the committee's charge, 08-09 goals and the training survey.
Weber reviewed the minutes, introduced a standard template to be used for future minutes and distributed a list of minute recorders for each meeting. A minor revision to the September minutes concerning Banned Books Week was noted by Wilt. Minutes were approved for distribution via email to RUL_everyone.
Weber announced that Holly Muller is replacing Jeff Teichmann. Weber expressed gratitude to Jeff for his contributions. Due to scheduling conflicts the November meeting has been cancelled. Weber will distribute a revised meeting schedule. The Committee agreed to hold a meeting in Camden and another in Newark in the spring.
Wilt recapped the success of Banned Books Week. She indicated the events received good publicity from the Daily Targum. She said that sentiment was strong to create a program for Banned Books Week 2009.
Wilt discussed two upcoming October events: New Employee Orientation (10/20) and the fall Diversity Education Initiative (10/22). Ten staff hired within the past year have been invited to review the New Employee Orientation program to give feedback regarding content and presentation. Wilt will discuss the feedback at the next Committee meeting.
The fall Diversity Education Initiative will feature Luisa Paster, a former long-term Princeton librarian and currently a staff development consultant. She will facilitate "What Are Dialog Groups? Could Joining One Broaden Your Views?" This will center upon using the technique of sustained dialog, a method for facilitating conversations designed to encourage new insights to the topic at hand. One possibility is that a sustained dialog group can be formed within the Libraries. Harrington pointed out a scheduling conflict with another presentation on that day. Weber said she will post handouts from the sustained dialog session to the website.
The second Diversity Education Initiative program will be LGBT and Social Justice Issues Panel Presentation (11/11). Cheryl Clarke, Director, Diverse Community Affairs, Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities, will moderate the panel presentation of LGBT and social justice issues. The panelists, all Rutgers faculty, staff, and administrators, will be: Mark Schuster, Senior Dean of Students; Robyn Rodriguez, Assistant Professor-SAS, Sociology; Greg Sobol, Assistant Director, Career Services, Health Professions Specialist; Francesca Maresca, Coordinator, Health Outreach, Promotion & Education; Maria Paradiso, Training & Development Coordinator, School of Social Work; and Arlene Stein, Associate Professor-SAS, Sociology.
Wilt mentioned the State of Libraries event on November 5. Marianne Gaunt will give a presentation focused on the financial situation which will be followed by breakout sessions to brainstorm ideas.
A discussion was held regarding changing the name of the Committee. Several interesting ideas were exchanged, but for now it was decided not to change the name. Weber distributed the Committee's current charge and revisions were suggested. Based upon the discussions Harrington will submit a revision to Weber. Wilt's role as ex-officio was clarified. Brennan and Meyer will investigate establishing a Sakai site for the Committee.
Weber circulated a draft of 08-09 goals. It was agreed the Committee's primary focus should be internal, providing programs and information to help faculty and staff become better "ambassadors" for the Libraries. This concept of helping people promote awareness through education was enthusiastically endorsed. Weber will revise the goals document and distribute it for final Committee approval.
Brennan presented the draft online survey which will be used to gauge faculty/staff interest in certain learning opportunities. The committee liked the fact the survey is simple and would be relatively quick and easy to complete. It was suggested to group similar topics under an umbrella subject heading (i.e.: Supervisory Skills). Technical skills will be further broken out to include basic and advanced. It was agreed to include the option for the survey responder to include demographic information.
The next meeting is on Wednesday, December 17, 2:00-3:30 in the Alexander Library Conference Room (third floor).