INFORMATION ITEM: Ann Campion Riley shared the latest Budget Report from fiscal officer Ellen Blair prior to the meeting. Ann continues to work with the Provost’s office identify more sources of funding. Internally the Libraries will look for as many savings as possible in E&E portion of the budget and put a hold on all hiring except the absolutely necessary. The Libraries will continue to communicate often to faculty about the budget through the selectors and the Library Committee.
INFORMATION ITEM ITTP Update – Ernest Shaw continued a review of the campus IT Transition Plan which was started at the end of the previous LMT meeting. Discussion ensued about the grouping of the Libraries in the cluster of desktop support teams that includes the departments: Law, Business, Education, Engineering and Journalism. It was agreed upon by LMT that being grouped with or treated like the departments with more similar missions and service structure such as Academic Support and ET@MO would make more sense. These departments are currently not taking part in the IT transition. Ann Riley will contact the chair of the ITTP team to explore the possibilities for participating in the transition to the extent that we experience the benefit to desktop support while possibly being treated like Academic Support and ET@MO for the other aspects of the IT transitions.
INFORMATION ITEM Mike Holland shared a draft of the official Request for Space Allocation document that Gary Ward, MU Vice Chancellor of Operations asked the Libraries to submit for the future use of the area in Ellis Library currently occupied by the State Historical Society. The State Historical Society is building its own facility and hopes to move out of the building in approximately two years. Mike tried to stress the inadequacies of spaces now being used by Archives in Lewis and Clark Hall. He also stressed the advantages of combining the staff of the Special Collections and Archives into a shared or nearby location. He concluded by pointing out that this move would free up space in Lewis and Clark which has been needed and requested by School of Health Professions. LMT provided feedback on the document. Mike Holland and Pat Jones (who is the building coordinator for Ellis Library) will work on the final request and the Library will submit soon.
INFORMATION ITEM LMT discussed “situationally critical employees.” These are individuals who would be required to physically come into work or coordinate library services from home in the event that the campus is unexpectedly closed. This has most often been due to severe weather. In such cases, the University Administration has strongly encouraged the Library to keep at least Ellis Library open so that students who live on or near campus have a place to go, study and/or research. The Libraries have done this several times over the past couple years. This effort to identify and clearly communicate situationally critical employees will solidify the process and make it clear to everyone what is expected in these exceptional circumstances.
It is generally expected that in the event that the campus is closed:
Ellis Library will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. These employees will be responsible for maintaining services:
Security = Dana Houston, Will Schmitt and Edwin Davis
Access Services = Kat Stone Underwood
RAIS = Cindy Cotner will coordinate services (and determine if the desk will be staffed or if only virtual reference will be offered).
LTS = Ernest Shaw and Bryce McDonald will be contacts to make sure the Library computers running and the Library resources are available.
The Health Sciences Libraries will make the determination of what hours or services they will offer depending on the specific instance and will designate who will be responsible at the time.
The other Specialized Libraries will generally be closed.