New Brunswick Libraries Faculty Meeting Minutes
December 14, 2007

Present: J. Mardikian, K. Mulcahy, J. Cassel, C. Caviness, S. Bartz, R. Gardner, P. Piermatti, K. Denda, K. Hartman, T. Yang, T. Izbicki, T. Shepard, V. Dent, J. Niessen, T. Glynn, R. Womack (chair), J. Sloan, M. Wilson, D. Schulman, E. Calhoun, L. Mullen, J. Gardner (recorder), N. Borisovets (guest)

1. Adoption of agenda.
# 4, Middle States Draft, was canceled. Sara will lead an email discussion about items relating to libraries and submit feedback from NBLF. The agenda was adopted as amended.

2. Approval of November minutes.
The November meeting minutes were approved without further changes and will be posted to rul_everyone.

3. Chat Reference - Natalie Borisovets
The Chat Reference Task Force has recommended a pilot service using a meebo widget, a web messenger that allows anonymous IM from anywhere.
WAC has reviewed placement on the Libraries’ website and an “ASK A LIBRARIAN LIVE” option will appear as a horizontal box in the middle of the main web page whenever the service is available. Off the main page, users will link to it through an AAL LIVE option in the top black bar and a box on the AAL FAQ page.
The trial service will begin spring semester at 15 hours/week, Sun.-Thurs. 7-10 pm, requiring approximately 20 participants to staff one 3-hour shift/month. The TF will evaluate demand, workload, user feedback, other issues, and may expand the trial to 35 hours/week after spring break.
Natalie demonstrated a prototype and responded to questions. There is an audible alert when a question comes in, depending on local PC configuration. The user will not receive a busy message when the service is in use; text may be added around the question box to explain this.
Widgets can be created anywhere, on a subject web page for example.
Voice over will not be part of the initial service. Questions can be answered from home, anywhere. There will be a webpage available with canned replies and a filler message that can be quickly copied & pasted.
Archiving options are under investigation; 1 month of transcripts may be available but participants may need to do manual counts. Natalie will ask for librarian sign-ups before the semester begins.

4. Position Vacancy update, Latin American/Africana – Ryan Womack and Valeda Dent
NBLF has been asked by the University librarian to plan for one position with joint responsibilities, not two separate positions. The position description will be crafted in detail by a smaller group of Alexander selectors. Suggestions include: look at existing strengths within the library system, area studies could be addressed by multi-disciplinary teams of librarians across campuses, the incumbent must be well-rounded in BI and reference skills and not just a collections or language specialist, liaison role to department(s) is important, consider changes in departments at Rutgers, for example the proposed Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures, and look at models at other research libraries.

5. Travel Report – Marty Kesselman and Jane Sloan
Proposed allocations for NBLF travel requests have been completed and a draft was circulated. Tenured librarians will be funded up to $1,000 and non tenured librarians up to $1,300. “Travel Request Forms” with specifics go to Charlene Houser. Collections-related trips and activities can be submitted to Bob Sewell. Outstanding questions about funding for administrative travel will be discussed by Cabinet.

6. NBLF Chair report – Ryan Womack
Ryan canceled the January 11th NBLF meeting, Friday of ALA Midwinter.
NBLF meets again February 8, 2008, and Lila Fredenberg is on the agenda to discuss diversity issues. Work on librarian vacancies is ongoing.

7. NBCG Report – Kevin Mulcahy
Kevin reported that nonstate funds, comprised of gifts and unrestricted endowments, have been distributed. A new allotment was made for electronic reference resources. Approval plan funding was reduced by approximately 50% but some adjustment is anticipated later in the year.
NBCG has started discussions with Acquisitions, Cataloging, and CDC about how to improve the ordering and processing of foreign acquisitions. Circulation is down and we are spending less on books.
Impact of GoogleBooks, relocating lesser used titles, what’s being ordered for reserves, use of digitized resources, circulation data, and citation analysis were mentioned as factors to consider when funding and selecting monographs. NBCG’s Dec. 21st meeting has been canceled.

8. Access Services
Access services staff have just completed extended and 24-hours exam periods. There are six staff vacancies in New Brunswick, at various stages of recruitment. LSM will remain open Sun.-Thurs. until 2 am beginning spring semester. A major stacks shift is underway at LSM.
Mini-shifts in the stacks at Alexander are addressing space issues.

9. RIS Organization Overview – Valeda Dent
Valeda distributed a handout with AUL/RIS job description and sphere of responsibility, NB organization chart, multi-campus responsibilities, and basic questions to ask for research and instructional areas. She indicated there will ongoing discussions about RIS and its identity.
System-wide aspects of RIS are conceptualized differently on each campus, and she is working on a system-wide functional organizational chart for RIS. Valeda’s top multi-campus responsibility and priority this year will be Instruction.

10. ISSG Topic – Instruction Program Goals and Values (Tom)
Tom lead an open discussion about our values and philosophy of library instruction and posed two questions.
-What shared values should serve as the foundation of our instruction program?
Initial discussion centered on specific core competencies and what we expect students to learn (librarians are approachable, there are myriad resources available that are not Google, the libraries website is the best gateway to scholarly resources, keyword searching, etc.,), environments where instruction takes place (classroom and website), and techniques (scripted studies, experiential, etc.). Since opinions about what students should know, what’s the best way to teach, and personal styles differ, Tom asked what values we share in a holistic, philosophical sense and that are common to different approaches:
• Respect for students, individuals
• Diversity and respect for different learning styles
• Clarity, of our purpose and what we offer
• Effectiveness, results for users
• Content and Accessibility, acquired and accessible library resources are essential for meaningful instruction to take place
• Balance, between concepts and practical skills
• Transferability, concepts and skills which are useful now and in future endeavors, life skills
-What do we think students and faculty value in library instruction?
Ideas expressed included: library instruction that is user-driven; librarians as a resource, people best able to help; resources and instruction that are integrated into courseware; social networking; simplicity, ease, and convenience when possible and assistance with complexities of research when they are not; library instruction that is consistent with faculty instructional goals and curriculum developments; special, discipline-specific instruction; instruction grounded in matching users with resources they need; opportunities for dialogue.
Jeris reviewed the number of pending requests for library instruction in New Brunswick spring semester. There are 45 sections from the writing program, a mix of themes and disciplines; 10 sections of honors students (with a general session scheduled for all 300 students together); 35 sessions for students-in-transition from Univ. College. Jeris is interviewing for instruction adjuncts to assist.

11. Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned. Next meeting: Friday, Feburary 8, 2008