New Brunswick Libraries
Information Services Steering Group
Thursday, August 21, 2003
Heyer Conference Room, Alexander Library

Present: Stephanie Bartz (recorder), Jeris Cassel, Kayo Denda (guest), Karen Hartman (guest), Triveni Kuchi (guest), Kevin Mulcahy, Leslie Murtha (guest), Penny Page, Pat Piermatti, Jane Sloan (guest), Myoung Wilson (chair)

1. Approval of Minutes -
• Minutes of the July 10, 2003 meeting were approved.
  

• Penny was asked to draft a section on instruction for the Reference Manual as a follow-up to the "Reference Manual Update" section of the July minutes.


2. New Business -


• Information Literacy and Library Instruction in NBL:

  The topic needs a series of phased discussions of which this is one. Several others have already taken place. Jeris presented a report and related documentation on behalf the instruction librarians -

• Information Literacy and Library Instruction in the Rutgers University New Brunswick Libraries: Reports, Proposals, and Recommendations
  
• Library Research Instructional Options: Guidelines
  
• New Brunswick Instructional Services Caucus, Program Development for Information Literacy, Ideological and Practical Considerations
  
• Comparison of Long-range plans/strategic plans/information literacy plans: University Libraries
  
• Statistical data, charts, and graphs relating to instruction in NBL for the 2002-2003 academic year.
  
• New Brunswick Libraries Instruction Resources (web site)
  

Based on information gathered from librarians, course instructors, documentation, statistics, and other sources, the report makes one recommendation for immediate action, and discusses long-term options.

The proposal for AY 2003-2004 suggests that sections of English 201 and English 301 "be assigned on a rotational basis among the New Brunswick library faculty." Subsequent discussion resulted in the suggestion that the rotation be modified to exclude some librarians. Essentially, only those librarians who agree to be included would be part of the rotation. Other staffing options should also be explored, including setting aside part of the voucher budget to hire outside help.

Two items will be brought to the next faculty meeting:

• A one or two page executive summary of the plan, with a short description of the long range plan.
  
• A calculation of the approximate number of volunteers, with the approximate number of classes, and an estimate of how many part-time librarians are needed to teach the remaining classes and at what cost.


3. Ongoing Business -
   
• ISG Voucher requests, FY 2003-2004:
  

  The allocation for the current fiscal year matches that of last year. Angel Falcon will be working full-time at Kilmer and doing two shifts at Alexander; Ann Bemis and Lisa Roe will continue to work part-time at Kilmer and Alexander respectively; Bill Hemmig has been hired to work full-time at Douglass now that Marty Kesselman is at Chang. All open lines are currently frozen.



• Future Meetings:
  

  Members of the NB PC Coordination Team will be invited to attend the September ISSG meeting. Branch librarians will be invited to attend the November meeting. Myoung will plan a meeting with Farideh Tehrani to discuss cooperation between Access and Information Services, possibly at a future ISSG meeting.



4. Reports
   
• Unit Reports -
  
  • Alexander - Dissertation Abstracts is being sent to the Annex. Repairs to the shelving in reference begin on Tuesday.
  • Douglass - The departments at Douglass (Information Services, Access Services, Music, and Music Media) are planning a meeting to get reacquainted.
  • LSM - LSM Quick Guides are being updated and will be posted on the web. Pam Johnson has been working with Systems to get the reference CD-ROMs working and update guides
  
  
• PC Coordination Team - Departmental and group annual reports for 2002-2003 are being posted to the NBL site. The stolen SCC laptop is being replaced with insurance funds; the Kilmer ELF laptop will be returned as soon as the new SCC laptop is in place.
  
  
• Instruction activities - Orientations activities involving the libraries are taking place on all the campuses including Western Monmouth. Librarians will be staffing tables in the student centers, training tour guides, providing materials for the First-Year Interest Groups, and doing orientations for the international students, TA Program, and various individual departments.