Attendees: Stephanie Bartz, Joe Consoli, Constance Finlay, Mary Fetzer, Rebecca Gardner, Tom Glynn, Brian Hancock (recorder), Karen Hartman, Bill Hemmig, Ron Jantz, Linda Langschied, Patricia Libutti, Mei Ling Lo, Jackie Mardikian, Kevin Mulcahy, Laura Mullen, Jim Niessen, Kim O'Konis, Pat Piermatti, Francoise Puniello, Eileen Stec, Thelma Tate, Myoung C. Wilson, Connie Wu.

Agenda

1. The agenda was approved with item 6 (New University Travel Policy) postponed and item 4 (Interim Associate Director's Report) cancelled.
   
   
2. Kim O'Konis, a new librarian based at Kilmer, was welcomed by her colleagues.
   
   
3. The minutes of the previous NBL Faculty meeting (February 20, 2004) were approved.
   
   
4. Interim Director's Report (F. Puniello)
   
   
   • We did very well on salary savings this fiscal year.
     
     
   • $40,000 was moved to the book fund.
     
     
   • F. Puniello and one tenured faculty member will annually review the progress of tenure track librarians.
     
     
   • The Douglass Library has reopened with an Information Commons
     
     
   • E. Stec reported on this initiative. She attended a conference and found that different libraries used different methods but almost always only included an Information Commons element in more general renovation plans. The Information Commons at Douglass in its initial stages is working well and it is hoped that it will lead to better contact with undergraduates.
     
     
   • F. Puniello reported that graduate students would like carrels at Douglass and that an interactive map of the building is proving quite successful.
     
     
5. Travel Report (J. Consoli)
   
   
   • The money allotted for summer ALA will be paid from the next fiscal year's budget.
     
     
   • Travel money is shared with staff and must be spent before the end of the fiscal year.
     
     
   • Librarians requesting travel money must use the green form only.
     
     
   • Try and get original paper receipts but printouts of electronic receipts are quite acceptable.
     
     
   • http://nbl.rutgers.edu/nblfaculty/nblfaculty_documents/nblf_travel_policy.html
     
     
6. NBL Faculty Lines (F. Puniello)
   
   
   • The 5 unfilled Librarian lines will be reexamined by a new committee to be made up of junior and senior Librarians.
     
     
7. New Brunswick Faculty Bylaws Clarification (R. Gardner)
   
   
   • The chair of the NBL Faculty will no longer attend Coordinating Committee meetings but will be available to represent the Faculty as needed.
     
     
8. Announcements
   
   
   • It was suggested that after the NBL Faculty meetings that demonstrations of Indexes and Databases would be useful. To start with at the next meeting there will be a demonstration of LexisNexis. Other demonstrations that were suggested include America History and Life and a demonstration of the new Kurzweil reading technology for people with learning difficulties.
     
     
   • The second candidate for the Director of NBL has postponed her trip to Rutgers.
     
     
   • The Music Librarian search will resume in April. In the meantime, Vincent Pelote, has agreed to serve as an interim replacement in addition to his other responsibilities.
     
     
   • A discussion ensued on the increasing use of niche databases by departments and indeed by other libraries at Rutgers. Constance Finlay reported that the School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) has subscribed to a couple of online databases that are only available from their library. It was suggested that records in IRIS indicate that patrons must travel to the SMLR library to access the databases. This is at variance to RUL policies that access be made available to all campuses but SMLR has unique standing in the library system.
     
     
   • My Rutgers Portal at http://my.rutgers.edu may be a solution to the ongoing problem of remote access to RUL resources through the library proxy server. This will be taken to the Public Services Council.