2 December 1998
In June 1998 the LAUC-B Executive Committee established a Public Service Task Force, and since we began meeting in August, this report covers the accomplishments of our first four months. Our goal is to facilitate a library-wide discussion intended to create a vision statement as well as recommendations for optimal public service throughout the library system.
Membership includes representatives from standing library committees, a representative from the Affiliated Libraries, a faculty liaison from the Academic Senate Library Committee and three student representatives.
The Task Force has presented two programs this fall. The first was a panel of library users [two graduate students, two undergrads, and two faculty] speaking on how and how well the library intersects with their teaching and research, and the second a talk by Regina Minudri, City Librarian of SFPL well known for her successful outreach and public service programming. The latter was co-sponsored with LAUC-B's Research and Professional Development Committee. Our next event on December 15, will be a presentation by John Ober and Laine Farley on public service in connection with the Digital Library. As follow-ups to our work, summaries of our programs, as well as relevant information on conferences attended by public service librarians and staff are posted on our web site, and tapes of our programs are available at the Media Resources Center. A number of Task Force members submitted one-time proposals for the improvement of public service, some of these ideas having flowed from points raised in our User Panel.
Other work has included meetings with many key personnel to discuss public service issues. We have also mined recent reports and planning efforts to summarize existing information on public service issues and needs, and we have gathered and are analyzing existing studies, surveys and other data concerning our users. We currently are exploring methods to obtain wider staff input on many of these matters.
Phyllis Bischof and Corliss Lee, Co-Chairs