Present: members: Gary Cox, Mark Ellis, PT Martin*, June DeWeese, Laura Buck, Stephen Stanton, Will McCrary, Suzy Bent, Bette Stuart (chair), Erin Zeller, Matt Stottle. Ex-officio: Felicity Dykas (MULAC Chair), Deb Ward (LMT), Ann Riley (LMT), Jim Cogswell (Director), PT Martin (SRC Chair)*. Substitutes: Terri Hall (for Laura Buck).

*listed twice – as department and SRC representative

Absent: Laura Buck

Ø  Matt Stottle, the newly appointed representative from Security, was welcomed.

Ø  Reports/Announcements:

o   Jim Cogswell, Director’s report:

§  Two of the three librarian searches are closed. The search committees have made selections, the Library has extended offers and candidates have tentatively accepted the offers.  The hiring will be announced as soon as they are official.

§  Last week Jim attended a retreat of the MU Deans in Springfield, MO.

• They met with community and higher education leaders in the area.
• Discussed:

o   Then Breaking news of MU Center for Distant and Independent Study (CDIS) merging with MU Direct.

o   Budget and program cutting.

§  Last week we learned that Western Historical Manuscripts Collection will be merging with the State Historical Society of Missouri.

• Jim is pursuing concerns of ownership of some of the historically significant MU documents that are housed in WHMC.

§  On November 30, 2010, Jim and Library Fiscal Officer Ellen Blair will meet with the Provost and his budget team to discuss MU Libraries Budget scenarios as they do each year.

o   PT Martin, on behalf of LTS: All new staff computers have been deployed.  They will run Windows 07. LTS will redeploy the 620’s to Student Staff. Everyone will gradually be migrated over to Windows 07 and Microsoft 2010.   A total of 32 new computers were deployed.

o   June DeWeese, Access Services:  Ellis Library Reserves has an IPAD. Just this week someone asked for an ILL item that is only available for purchase to be placed on a Kindle.  A Kindle is on the way.  Once it comes in she will let everyone know.

o   Suzy Bent, Catalog Department: Cataloging has interviewed three of four candidates for the vacant Metadata Cataloger Position.  Fourth Candidate will interview this week.

o   Deb Ward, on behalf of HSL:  The Health Sciences Library has been meeting with the School of Medicine to discuss plans for the redesign of the first floor of the HSL library.  (To be funded by the School of Medicine.) Nothing has been finalized.  Deb will report as she knows more.

o   Felicity Dykas, MULAC:  MULAC will be meeting with faculty from the School of Information Science and Learning Technology (SISLT) and officers of the student group, Library and Information Science Graduate Student Association (LISGSA), in the near future as an effort to keep in touch and stay informed of what is going on in each others’ program/division.

Ø  Report from staff web group

o   Members (Laura, June and Will) met a few weeks ago to review webpage.  Have concluded that the current links/content needs to be updated and/or fixed before recommending large modifications. Divided the links among each of them.  They are going through the process of finding out who is responsible for each link, asking if they can be fixed, updated, or removed. Making progress. When site is more stable, they will regroup and decide how to proceed.

o   Discussion:

§  Concerning content:  a staff member asked if there could be a blog or some type of link on the staff web from Jim, Administration or LMT, that could better (more frequently) inform staff about Library news (“what is going on…”).

§  Jim Cogswell recognizes the need for clear and timely internal communication.  He hoped that the Library Assembly itself could be a vehicle of such communication.

§  Discussion ensued concerning reports given to the Library Assembly and how they are posted in News Notes.

• It was also pointed out that LMT announcements are posted in News Notes.
• Some felt that pulling the information together under a single link on the staff web would help internal communication.
• Others felt the time of effort to do so is a duplication of effort (i.e. News Notes can be  viewed by category).

§  Should Library Assembly Members reporting back to their departments take care of this?

§  Jim will consider the request for more communication involving the staff web page.

§  No one objected to a link to the Library Assembly minutes from the staff web page.

Ø  How should the Assembly connect/collaborate/communicate with other committees and task forces?

o   Ann Riley, speaking from the perspective of someone on the group who wrote the charge:  One of the reasons the MULAC and SRC Chairs and LMT members are ex officio members is to facilitate communication between the Assembly and these groups.

• The design should allow a good flow of information.
• As for other Library Committees…. That is a larger question.

§  Discussion ensued.

• Suggestions included:

o   Invite Library Committees and groups to come to a Library Assembly meeting to talk about projects, accomplishments, etc.

o   Announce in News Notes that Library Assembly is interested in having committees and task forces share milestones, conclusions and activities of their groups at one of our Meetings.

o   Post a calendar in News Notes of when various committees and groups meet so that employees can get a sense of what is going on at the Libraries.

§  Many felt that most employees don’t realize how much is going on at MUL.

§  Might spark interest/desire to request an update to the Assembly.

o   Perhaps committees could be given a feature profile either in News Notes or by internal email that will inform the staff about who is on a featured committee and what that committee does.

After discussion a proposal was made to invite Library Committees and groups to future Library Assembly meetings.  PT and Bette will create a comprehensive list of committees, task forces and groups.

Ø  How items get put on the agenda – Getting items from our constituents on the agenda for either information or discussion items (continued discussion from Oct. meeting).

§  Discussion ensued about the requests for agenda items and the timing/structure of reporting out and seeking input from represented departments.

§  Resolution: As a general rule, the members will try to get agenda items to the Chair a week before the scheduled Library Assembly meeting.

• Bette emphasizes that members shouldn’t hesitate to bring up new or current issues should any arise directly before a meeting.

Ø  Agenda ideas for future meetings.

o   Suggestions:

§  Update on any renovation plans in the works.

§  MULSA and renovation of staff lounge plans.

Ø  Next meeting:  Dec 21

Submitted by Mark Ellis