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31 January 2007

Agenda

Meeting notes:

Present: Flo Wilson (chair), Holling Smith-Borne, Martin Cerjan (recorder), John Haar, Bill Hook, Frances Lynch, Juanita Murray, Tracy Primich, and Sharon Weiner. Guests: Paul Gherman, Sue Davis, and Celia Walker.

1. Flo began the meeting by distributing copies of a chart of Proposed Library IDS charges for 2007/08. The proposed charges will be communicated to the various schools very soon. Lisa Shipman is available for LDC member questions regarding the proposed charges.

2. Celia presented a Communications Committee Proposal regarding Identification of the Library. The proposal deals specifically with suggesting a change of the name of the library as part of a broader marketing plan. Under the proposal, the library’s name on the Web would change to “Heard Libraries” while the full name of the library, The Jean and Alexander Heard Library, would be cited in the copyright information at the bottom of the page. The intent of the proposal is to provide consistency, avoid confusion, and strengthen the library’s position as a major component of academic support for the University. While the change may not solve all the problems associated with the name of the library system vis a vis the individual units in the various locations that comprise the system, the change should be viewed as an interim, practical step that would assist in branding and marketing as the library system evolves. Examples of potential logos or “signatures” were included in the presentation. The LDC agreed to the proposed change.

2a. In Primo, we will need to decide on the display of names for the libraries. If any of the libraries wanted the display to be different than in ACORN, now is the time to decide. The general consensus was that consistency was probably best.

3. Paul recapped the topics that were discussed at the Coffee & Donuts Meeting held earlier in the day: 1.) Library staff members who acquire MLS degrees should have no expectation of an automatic, internal promotion. These individuals will need to compete for open professional positions like external candidates. 2.) Decentralizing cataloging throughout the library system may be worth considering. Some library units already have catalogers who specialize in specific subject matters. It might make sense to have other catalogers in other areas of the system. For example, if the institutional repository becomes part of Special Collections, needs may be better met by having a cataloger working there with that unique collection. This idea may merit further thought and discussion. 3.) John Haar is retiring. It is not too early to begin thinking about the responsibilities John has and how they may be distributed in the future. Perhaps some of his current workload could be redistributed and his replacement could have the narrower focus of leading the Central Library. Paul is open to suggestions and solicits ideas from others.

4. Bill and Sue Davis briefly discussed emergency planning in the library. They are returning to a project that began as revising and updating library emergency procedures manuals. In light of other University activity, it is now worth examining this topic in a broader, more systematic way, especially as concerns efforts to plan in the event of a pandemic. Bill will draft a project team proposal with the hope of gathering a group of interested staff. 5. Bill informed LDC that because of recent breakdowns in aging microform reader/printer equipment it is time to look at the systematic replacement of machines. Further discussion is warranted. Bill would be happy to have comments from LDC members for a future discussion.

6. For a future meeting, Flo announced that she would like to have a discussion of the “unique title” list generated by OCLC a few years ago. The list was distributed to the libraries, but it is unclear what action was taken beyond that point. Flo would like to follow up to arrive at a general understanding of what was done and what remains to be done, if anything.

7. Flo concluded the meeting by distributing a chart of the hours maintained by the individual libraries. She was reacting to a request for expanding hours into Sunday morning. There seemed to be general agreement that having earlier Sunday hours may be uneconomical and unnecessary for such small demand.

Next meeting: February 14, 2007

Future topics

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