Present: Adrienne Arden, Wendy Batson, Jack Batterson, Rachel Brekhus, Jim Cogswell, Ruth Feldkamp, Tammy Green, Dustin Hoffman, Shelly McDavid, Sandy Schiefer, Marcia Strong, Bette Stuart, Deb Ward
1. Discuss:
· New Chair take over
o Tammy Green is our official new chair of the committee
· Elected New Members – Edward McCain & Bette Stuart
o Bette Stuart is back, previously the chair of this committee
o Ed McCain is joining us also, only he is at a conference today
· Recorder – Shelly McDavid
o Volunteered to be recorder for a second year
· Vice Chair – to be elected
o What does the role involve?
§ Meet with Jim Cogswell right before the meeting
§ Find guest speakers to present to the committee
Ø Copy of invitation letter has been passed on
§ Fill in for the current chair in their absence
§ Create and write up agendas for meetings
o The committee conducted a lottery and Marcia Strong was elected our new Vice-Chair for the year
§ She will take over as Chair of the committee next summer (2015)
2. Director Announcements:
· LMT Retreat: June 2014
o A full report of this retreat will be given during the August 2014 Library All Staff Meeting
o The mission and vision document for the libraries was revised
o The Libraries Strategic Direction and Goals were discussed
§ A Qualtrics survey is going out to all library staff, for their input
· LMT wants assistance from staff for prioritizing library goals and actions
o LMT is pursuing a communications audit, at the suggestion of MULAC
§ Shannon Cary is investigating resources available on campus for this audit
§ A report on the status of this audit will be given at the August 2014 Library All Staff Meeting
o Assessment of the Libraries is a priority
§ The Assessment Committee
· Reconstituting with Jeannette Pierce as the chair
· The majority of members on this committee will be from the MU Libraries
· Gera Burton is the person in charge of Assessment on campus, she will be talking at the Library All Staff Meeting in August 2014
o She will be utilized by this committee as a resource
o Library Committees
§ Currently compiling a master list of all the library committees with all members, their charges and goals
· Possible need for new committees
o MOSpace Advisory Committee
o Scholarly Communications and Research Services Committee
o UMLD Committee
§ SRC or Staff Representative Committee was discussed
· The SRC (Staff Representative Council) is now considered officially disbanded from lack of interest
o Inactive for a number of years
o Deemed not necessary since we now have an HR Director for the libraries
· This can be resurrected at any time, if a library staff member feels there is a need for this committee
o Staff members who wish the SRC to be continued must take part in leading the effort. Feel free to speak to Sheryl Cullina, HR Director, about this
· The committee was in charge of being a liaison between the library staff and library administration
o A third party mediator that represented the staff on issues and brought questions before the administration
o A member of the committee sat in on library council meetings
· MULAC is just for librarians and archivists, does not include library staff
o AAU Status, ARL Index, and the MU Libraries
§ How can the libraries elevate our AAU Status?
· You can’t have an AAU caliber institution without an AAU level library
· Jim Cogswell has spoken with the Chancellor about this issue
o The Chancellor is in agreement, but the conversation falls short when it comes to the budget
§ http://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10972
· The ARL Index calculates the relative ranking of members based on four major metrics: total library operating expenditures; total library materials expenditures; total salaries of professional library staff; and the total number of both academic and support library staff.
· Our ARL status has been dropping over the past few years
o LMT presented a proposal to the Chancellor on this issue
§ Still waiting to hear back from this proposal
· Meet & Greet (open house)
o Last week the MU Libraries welcomed the Renew Mizzou folks into Ellis Library with a meet and greet
§ Everyone felt this was very successful
§ Very welcoming and a great atmosphere
§ Ann Korschgen, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Jim Cogswell, Director of MU Libraries felt this was a great event and should be duplicated in the future.
§ A big thank you goes out to the Ellis Library Events Committee, MULSA, and all those that volunteered or brought food/beverages to make this such a successful event!
§ The event was sponsored in large part by the Diversity Action Committee, typically they put on an International Tea around this time of year
§ Thoughts for the future, combine the MULSA Holiday Party with Renew Mizzou to have a Diversity Party
§ A very rough estimate of approximately 150 people were in attendance at this Meet and Greet
· Budget news
o Over the past 4 years the libraries budget has been getting closer and closer to a zero balance at the end of each fiscal year
o Currently all academic units on campus have been asked for a 2% give back of their budgets for a reallocation to campus, by the Chancellor
§ This is to elevate our institutions status in the AAU
· Boosting productivity of faculty and researchers on campus
o The more our campus researches, publishes in high impact journals and receives competitive grants, the more our AAU status elevates
§ MU Libraries trying to make a case that some of the money we have been asked to give back to campus, should stay in the libraries
· The libraries could help build our AAU status, by boosting our ARL index
§ A 2% or $353,000 give back is in effect for the next 3 years, through fiscal year 2018. (The give back is for a total of 4 years from 2014 to 2018).
· The $353,000 is based on the budget for Fiscal Year 2014 and will be the same amount for each fiscal year up to 2018.
o The Libraries have been allotted $500K per year for fiscal year 2015 – 2018 to help address some of our budget concerns
§ This money comes directly from the 2% reallocation money
· We can use it as we see fit
· We will need it to address any shortfall in the budget this year, FY2015
· It will also be used to cover the increases in costs of benefits in the coming years
§ Every area of the library budget is being considered
· After the Access Services position is filled, the libraries probably won’t fill any other positions the rest of the year (2014) besides those in Library Security
· Opting out of the LibQual Survey this year
· Not renovating any of the restrooms in Ellis Library
· Currently we are relying more heavily on our endowment funds, most are restricted with what they are allotted for
· Raises for library employees are still not a possibility at this time
o LMT is making plans for how to administer raises, should we get new money to do this
§ The libraries will never miss an opportunity to give raises as long as we can
o Recently Governor Nixon withheld funds from Missouri colleges and universities due to lower tax revenues this year – of that amount, the libraries will not be getting $45,000
o Library Student Fee
§ Jim Cogswell has spoken with the Chancellor about instituting a library student fee
· The Chancellor has asked for a proposal from MU Libraries for this library student fee
o The Chancellor was able to secure one at Texas A&M, with a built in multiplier
· This library student fee would only be able to be used on things that benefit the student directly
· There is a need to meet with student groups on campus, such as, but not limited to: MO Student Association, Graduate and Professional Student Groups to find out what they would like to see a library student fee go towards and for us to assess what they want
· Best case scenario for the library student fee to take effect would be Fall 2015, a more realistic date would be Fall 2016
· There would be a need to market this to the students
o Need to find out from other campuses how they did their marketing and what it did for their students
· About 5-6 years ago the MU Libraries tried to pursue a library student fee and how to go about getting it
o The difference this time is that the Chancellor is the one that wants to lead the way, he will be our sales person
o The libraries need to make a good case and market it appropriately showing concretely how it would positively impact/benefit our students
o One possibility would be an all-night study
§ We do not want to turn one of the libraries into a study hall, but if there is a need we could do this
o Some of the branch libraries on campus need refurbishment
§ New tables, chairs, updates
o There are more databases we could purchase access to, to compliment what we currently have
§ ITF (Information Technology Fees) currently pay for some of our databases
3. Department announcements:
Rachel Brekhus, Ellis Reference
1. Kimberly Moeller, who has been in a temporary position over the past year, has been hired into the permanent position of Social Science Librarian. She will retain the subject areas of Women & Gender Studies and Library Science and add Psychology, Social Work, and Children’s/Juvenile books when Wayne Barnes retires in October. She will remain in Room 173. Paula Roper will now be the librarian for all areas of Education (previously split between Paula and Wayne).
2. Noel Kopriva, who has been hired as Science Librarian, will replace Ashley Nelson, who was hired as a temporary replacement for Brenda Graves-Blevins. Noel will start August 4 (also Kimberly’s official start date) and will be in Room 170. She will be subject liaison in many areas, the College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Science, including Parks, Recreation & Tourism, Forestry, Plant Science, Animal Science, and Food Science. She and Ashley will overlap for 11 days, as Ashley’s contract continues to August 15.
3. Room 156, the “old work room” next to Rhonda's office, has had most of its large furniture cleared. DoIT will move its supplies to a new location to be determined, but probably close to the poster printer area. Reference graduate student assistants will work in the East Reference outer offices, likely using Room 174 as a slightly more private space in which to meet with students and the like. We do not have a date on the re-opening of 156 as study space, but the plan is to have it be available as repurposable study space, meeting space and classroom space; a full conversion will be dependent on funding.
4. Outreach and Instruction:
· Mizzou Fair wrapped up July 11. Many thanks to all who participated in this major outreach effort to incoming students and parents.
· Many of us are working with faculty now to prepare to meet with classes this fall.
· We are preparing to train new graduate assistants in reference work as well as teaching.
· We have planned a semester-long “Fridays At the Library” series of workshops aimed at grad students, faculty, and in some cases undergraduates
· We are planning major library orientation events and tours in August and September.
5. Collection management projects:
· We are examining print and online copies of journals held in long runs in the JSTOR modules we subscribe to, in order to determine if there are journal volumes we are willing to deaccession completely, to make room in the stacks in Ellis Library.
· We have been identifying some reference books for possible deaccession or replacement with electronic reference works; we have contacted vendors on availability of books in our collection in their systems.
· We have been writing and discussing proposals for certain gift funds, and some journal cancellation and replacement
Jack Batterson, Cataloging & Metadata
· Catalog Management is currently transferring a few books to UMLD (UMLD 1)
Shelly McDavid, Veterinary Medical Library
· Currently shifting book stacks
· Journal shift is complete
· Took down half a stack to make our fire exit more visible
Adrienne Arden, Digital Services
· Tammie Busch has arrived! She started with our department on July 7. She is already working on several aspects of MOspace. We are all benefitting from Tammie’s skills and sense of humor.
· Elaine Nelson’s last day was July 18. Elaine was highly skilled in scanning and image editing and Digital Services will miss her. We have student assistants who will continue to do our scanning work.
· Felicity attended the ALA annual conference this year. She participated in committee work, attended a multitude of sessions, especially those related to digital libraries and scholarly communications. While ALA was a valuable event indoors, the 107 degrees outside was not so pleasant.
· In the “Pardon our dust” department, staff changes have prompted a spacial reconfiguration of Digital Services. It looks a bit jumbled at the moment, but the dust will settle on a new design soon.
· We have two exciting projects in the works. One involves rare books: a 1762 French Parliament manuscript has been uploaded to the Digital Library. The other is a series from the Congressional Research Service that Marie Concannon requested to be digitized and placed in the digital library. Marie says the set is of high interest and not available online elsewhere.
Bette Stuart, Accounting, Acquisitions & Collection Development, and Consortial Resources
· The financial books were balanced and closed for fiscal year 2014 on July 8th.
Marcia Strong, Ellis Library Security
· Jesse Hall move went well, a little hectic the first week, but everything went well
· Security hired 2 or 3 new people
o Will share the particulars of these hires at the next LA Meeting
Ruth Feldkamp
· Spine repairing
· Labeling new stuff
· Jackie Blonigen is leaving MU Libraries on July 24, 2014 for a cataloger position with Ingram Content Group
Wendy Batson, Engineering Library
· No announcement
Deb Ward, Health Sciences Library
· HSL closed out fiscal year 2014
· Had approximately $500 left
o Utilized these funds for new recharge equipment at the Circulation Desk
Sandy Schiefer, MULAC
· Changed officers
Dustin Hoffman, LTS
· Hired Bryce McDonald
· PT has returned from a month long vacation
Tammy Green, Access Services
· Nothing to report at this time
Meeting adjourned at 2pm