Agenda

1. Announcements
2. Facilities Update
3. Upcoming Retreat

Minutes

(Regrets: Bill, Juanita, Tracy, Frances)

1. Announcements

• The LibQUAL+ Team will compile a list of unedited comments sorted for each individual library and send to the respective library director soon. The group will also eventually send an edited list of all survey comments to Council. Sue previously sent Council the 2009 survey summary report for review. The LQ team continues to further analyze the results. Dean Dowell thanked Sue and the committee for their hard work on this project.
• The next alumnae chapter event will take place at the Grollier Club in NY on July 15. Dean Dowell has some books from her personal collection on exhibit there and her talk to alums will coincide with that; she will also bring some library items to display during her visit. Beth and the Development team hope to follow up with attendees and develop donor relationships with members of the chapter. Beth mentioned having contacted some donor prospects from the San Diego visit last month.
• The second DiscoverLibrary Town Hall took place earlier today. Approximately 18 staff attended.
• Ingram has contacted the library about a special visit. Planning is underway for this.
• Dean Dowell shared a sample of the redesign for the Acorn Chronicle. The fall issue is being worked on, with several articles being considered for inclusion. The dean asked Council to send any ideas for interesting donations and/or acquisitions to her for future consideration, as she would like to feature pieces from the libraries’ collections.
• Dean Dowell and Sue recently attended a NALA meeting at the downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library.
• Dennis Hall sent a recent update on an increase to graduate student applications: grad student applications are up 7.6% and acceptances up 5.2%. She will send him our congratulations on this good news.
• Council shared feedback and comments on the Staff Picnic received from their staff. Overall staff seem to have enjoyed the event; most comments were positive although some suggestions were made for changes. Positives: relaxed atmosphere, enjoyed the potluck and the many options. Negatives: too much food was ordered and we could have spent less on the event and the line moved slowly.
• Dean Dowell passed along the Provost’s apologies for cancelling the June All-Staff Meeting. The meeting has been rescheduled to July 22nd at 2:30 in Nursing Annex room 161. Council was asked to encourage attendance. The Provost looks forward to speaking with us.
• The July 29th Council meeting will be moved to Thursday, July 30th at 1:30 pm. From that date forward Council will meet regularly on Thursdays at 1:30 in the Goldberg Room. Robyn will send a reminder closer to that time.
• Dean Dowell is scheduling a visit with the head of Lyrasis and ASERL, and they are expected to do an all-staff presentation in early August. Details are currently being finalized and more information will be available soon.
• Dean Dowell thanked David Carpenter, Lisa Shipman, Martin Cerjan and Holling Smith-Borne for serving on the Travel Subcommittee. The group will hold its first meeting later today.
• Lisa reminded directors to be aware of budget deadlines occurring throughout this month and into early July.
• Hilary Craiglow and Jared Ingersoll will host a Brown Bag this Friday on Excel, at noon in the Central Sixth Floor Classroom.

2. Facilities Update: Council discussed their recent visit to 21 North. Flo Wilson volunteered to post photos of the renovation will be posted for staff to see in the near future. Dean Dowell will keep Council informed of plans for moving into the site and for staff tours. Dean Dowell recently met with Central Library staff to discuss possible updates to Central facilities. She has scheduled a meeting with Technical Services staff. She will share additional details as any plans develop. We are also currently getting quotes on paint and carpet improvements to the Special Collections area.

3. Retreat: Library Council Retreat will be on Friday, June 26, at the Sugartree Clubhouse. Food and refreshments will be provided. Dean Dowell recently sent information about the retreat to Council, with directions to the location and a list of materials to review beforehand. Council is also asked to review the CLIR article No Brief Candle and the Peer Institutional Reviews from the previous retreat. The peer reviews are available at http://drupal.library.vanderbilt.edu/retreat . In preparation for the upcoming retreat, Dean Dowell compiled a list of things we have been working on over the past few months in our work toward strategic planning:

1. Review of other institutions.
2. LibQUAL+ Survey.
3. Planning Retreat.
4. All-Staff Presentation.
5. Outside Speakers. New Ideas.
6. Small Group Meetings.
7. Unit/Division Visits.
8. Provost talk at All-Staff Meeting.
9. October Visit by Brian Schottlaender.
10. Facilities Planning.
11. Giving Opportunities.
12. Print Audit.

The dean asks Council to share this list with their staff, and to encourage staff attendance at All-Staff Meetings. Council was also asked to consider outside speakers who might bring challenging and interesting new ideas to staff, and to each try to come up with one recommendation for a potential visiting speaker; Dean Dowell has invited Brian Schottlaendar, University Librarian at UCSD to speak to staff this fall. The dean will begin to share staff comments from her meetings with small groups with Council at the next LC. She also continues to meet with other deans and administrators to discuss future planning.

We have made some good progress toward strategic planning over the last few months and will continue to work in the direction of identifying major areas of our strategic plan by later this year. Council will work as a group to determine what we want to do together to benefit the library system as a whole, and will consider what type of strategic plan we want and need and how to proceed with any plans.

NOTE: The Retreat is being rescheduled because of some necessary absences. A survey has been distributed to find the earliest possible date.