Library Assembly

December 8, 2008

Officers LaTanya West and Susan Graham were present.

Meeting came to order at 2:08 PM

Open Announcements

-         Special Collections Technician, Robin Martin, was introduced to the Assembly.  Everyone wishes her well with her upcoming graduation.

Director's Report

Pura Vida Coffee Stand

-         Larry Wilt (LW) reported that construction on the Pura Vida coffee stand is underway, and a lot of progress is being made.  It is possible that it will be open for business on January 26, 2009. 

Building Projects

-         Student workforce cleared out Room 367, which will be used for May Chang's (MC) office.  The Porter materials have been moved to Room 038. 

-         Tables which used to hold computers in the basement are now being moved to upper floors for student workspace. 

-         The order has been placed for 35 computer chairs and for the refurbishment of 20 other Jasper chairs.  This work will be done by Maryland Correctional Enterprises, and should be completed between the end of finals and the end of January, 2009.

Budget

-         It is certain that furloughs will take place, however there is no plan yet for USM employees.  It was suggested that there may be a staggered scale, e.g. those making under a certain amount of money would be furloughed 2 days, while those in a higher earning bracket will be furloughed more days.  Unfortunately, there are not many details available yet. 

o   The question was asked whether the entire building would be closed for those days.  LW is not sure, and he does not know where the money would be split over several pay periods either.

o   There will probably be an announcement about the furlough schedule later this week.

-         Next fiscal year (FY10) there will be cuts to the budget as well.  Some of those cuts will be to "base," meaning that they will be permanent cuts to the budget and we should not expect to see that funding again. 

o   We do not know the impact of cuts on searches.  We will be going ahead with searches, but they could be frozen.  LW will talk to current search committees.

Vision Statement Discussion

Strategy

-         LW described the vision statement document as a Public Relations document - to educate user populations about what we are trying to do.

Revisions

-         LEC has already made the following revisions:

o   How to improve access to Library resources, e.g. descriptions generated outside of the Library

o   Cap on on-site print collections projected at 1.1 million (off-site is another matter)

o   New media and online resources were highlighted

o   Emphasis on integrating services with other departments on campus

o   LW met with the Library Policy Committee and will add the word "graduate" in the mission statement wording - currently it only states "undergraduate experience."

-         Discussion at Library Assembly and further revisions:

o   Simmona Simmons (SS) passed out a suggestion to insert a sentence about promoting the Library:  "enhance public relations/publicity program that highlights the Library's resources, services, expertise, and achievements."

o   Vicki Sipe (VS) noted that seeking resources to expand opportunities for staff development was removed from the document.

§  LW had removed the part that appeared to be "asking for money" as part of the vision.  "Provide staff development" will be changed to "Expand staff development."

o   "Encourage effective communication..." will be changed to "Foster effective communication..."

o   Linda Seguin (LS) expressed the concern felt from BMS staffers that the cataloging department was singled out by the phrase, "without additional staffing for cataloging," while no other department was mentioned as not getting additional staffing.

§  LW asserted that every department should count on not getting more staffing - there should be no expectation of additional staffing anywhere in the Library.  The idea is to try to provide tools to provide better access.

§  Outcome: take out "without additional staffing for cataloging."

Multimedia Demo:  CONTENTdm

Susan Graham (SG) presented the CONTENTdm interface to staff.

-         The URL for our CONTENTdm site is:  http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/

o   Please visit the site and provide any feedback you may have.

o   Help page: http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm4/help.php#browse   

-         SG showed how to navigate the site, different browse and search options, how to set preferences and my favorites, and highlighted the different photography collections, archives collections, and the electronic theses & dissertations.

-         The collections have not been announced to students or faculty yet, as more work needs to be done.

-         There will be a promotional campaign to launch CONTENTdm.  We will be working with the Reference Librarians to inform students of CONTENTdm during instruction classes.

-         There will be a staff training coming up.

-         Discussion:

o   There were many questions regarding the electronic theses and dissertations, which are currently restricted to campus IP addresses.

o   Update: 12/9/08 SG spoke to June Yang to try to answer questions raised at Library Assembly:

§  There will be no bound copy of theses & dissertations for circulation.  There will be an electronic copy and one copy for the archives.

§  The difference between CONTENTdm and Proquest in terms of access to etds:

-         Proquest has much broader coverage (more years) than CONTENTdm.  But, for the year 2007, CONTENTdm and Proquest have identical holdings.

-         It takes a longer time for items to show up in Proquest than in CONTENTdm.

-         Proquest is available only to the UMBC community. Although etds in CONTENTdm are currently available only on campus, once the release forms are created for etd display in CONTENTdm, they will be open to the general public.

Wiki Updates

Janet Hack(JH) of the Documentation Management Working Group demonstrated new features available on the Library wiki.

-         On the Library website, under the "Home" tab drop down, there is a link for the Library wiki.

-         A Conference Notes section has been added to the wiki, on the left hand side, where staff can place notes from conferences and meetings attended. One must be logged in to view these.

-         JH explained the News section and how to tag for specific projects (e.g. the Roof project) or for departmental news (e.g. Special Collections news).

-         There is a new Kudos section, where staff can acknowledge the hard work and achievements of fellow coworkers or collaborators.

-         There is a new section for Library Documents such as the draft annual report and staff phone list.

-         Wiki training will be held on 12/16/08.

Department Reports

1.      Accounting & Receiving:  No news 

2.      Acquisitions:  Anna Keys is on leave for retirement.  The staff had prepared well for her absence and although they are busy, it is business as usual.

3.      BMS:  will be involved in providing metadata for digital collections.  From BMS Special Collections Cleanup Progress:  July - October, there were 292 individual titles that were on Special Collections shelves that were not in the catalog, but now are because of the BMS Cleanup.  Also, 286 volumes were added to already cataloged records.  Special Collections Science Fiction cleanup:  the goal is to have all the works by an author shelved together and all copies of a particular title shelve together. In the past two months, 265 call numbers have been corrected.  They plan to finish this phase of the cleanup and begin providing metadata for images.  Heather Moss began copy cataloging training for additional students this semester. 

4.      Circulation:  Busy time of year as the semester is almost over - there are plenty of returns.

5.      CM/ILL:  Collection Management is still recovering from the book sale.  ILL is still busy.

6.      LITS:  In Winter, LITS will be working on the inventory of computers on the 7^th floor.

7.      Media:  No staff present.

8.      Reference:  The search committee has sent its recommendation to LW for the Reference Librarian candidate.  They will be adding ~220 popular fiction and non-fiction books to the shelves in the rotunda for browsing.  They will have several training and development workshops during January, and will email all staff if one is a topic of broad interest.  DeskTracker statistics software has been implemented.

 9.       Serials:  No staff present. 10.    Special Collections (SC):  Working on CONTENTdm; worked with CM for book sale; has been the busiest semester ever - the most number of patrons; and processing end-of-year gifts. 

Committees and Working Groups

1.      Cheers:  Holiday Party is 12/19/08.  Anna Keys is generously donating a turkey and a ham.  There is a sign-up sheet on the wiki for other dishes.  Michael Dick will be the auctioneer again this year.

2.      LEEC:  will be offering training on a monthly basis and staff can choose to attend.  They want the presentations to begin in the afternoon, so that evening employees can attend.  Tom Beck (TB) will start off the training in January with a session on the History of Photography.  LEC members thanked June Yang for her help this past year.  LEC encouraged staff to let them know if there are any other ideas for training.  Depending on the training and whether it meets certain criteria, it could possibly be funded through LEEC.

3.      Building Report:  Melissa Button was in briefly on Monday, and will do some work from home.  LW and TB met with someone from Facilities Management regarding the SC vault.  A cage wall will be constructed in back of the "bowling alley" with card swipe access on its two doors.  That project must be done this budget year.  The roof project is largely done, but there have been some leaks on the 2^nd floor (Serials) in Phase 2.  The crew is currently working on the hallway over the loading dock.  There is no word on whether the window cleaning will take place. POST MEETING UPDATE: window cleaning is postponed until Spring, per cleaning services staff.  Students have asked for additional electrical outlets in the atrium and 24-hour access area, so pedestals with outlets and table tops have been requested for those areas. POST MEETING UPDATE: we are told that we will not be able to get custom pedestals. The Pura Vida condiments cart will also have user-accessible outlets.  Students have also complained for years that there is not enough lighting in the atrium at night.  Pura Vida does not pay the Library rent nor do we get a cut of their profits, but there are talks that they may be selling drinks in closed containers and that the Library would somehow be involved.

4.      PR & Marketing: LEC requested that the group investigate digital signage. SG had begun a proposal, but that will be put on hold as MC met with the team in charge of a digital signage program at the ECS building.  They are willing to support ours if we get the monitor.  We will meet with them in January.

5.      Library Web Group:  discussing what information to display in the new myUMBC "topics" section.

Meeting adjourned 3:37 pm.