LAUC-B Combined Library and Affiliated Libraries Spring Assembly Committee Reports
Submitted for the Spring Assembly and Celebration of Library Research on April 18, 2019
I. Committee on Appointment, Promotion and Advancement (CAPA)
2019 LAUC-B Spring Assembly Report:
Report submitted by I-Wei Wang.
Members 2018-2019
- David Eifler (Position Announcement Coordinator) (2020)
- Kendra Levine (2021)
- Toshie Marra (CAPA Interview Coordinator) (2020)
- Lisa Ngo (2021)
- Theresa Salazar (2019)
- Elliott Smith (2020)
- I-Wei Wang (Chair) (2019)
Interviews
CAPA interviews all candidates for positions in the Librarian series to share information related to the Librarian review process and evaluate their potential for obtaining career status at Berkeley. Since the fall assembly on November 28, 2018, CAPA has conducted 9 interviews for 6 positions:
- Music Metadata Librarian (Arts & Humanities Division)
- Scholarly Resources Strategy Librarian (Scholarly Resources)
- Associate Librarian for Special Collections (Law Library/Robbins Collection)
- Cataloging and Metadata Librarian for Rare Materials (Law Library)
- Digital Literacies Librarian (Instruction Services Division)
- Head of the Life & Health Sciences Division (Life & Health Sciences Division)
Job Descriptions
CAPA reviews position descriptions for openings in the Librarian series. Since the fall assembly in late November, CAPA has reviewed 7 job descriptions:
- Scholarly Communication & Copyright Librarian (Scholarly Communication Services)
- Head of Collection Services Division (Scholarly Resources)
- Monographic Acquisitions Librarian (Acquisitions)
- Cataloging and Metadata Librarian for Rare Materials (Law)
- Associate Librarian for Special Collections (Law/Robbins Collection)
- Chemical & Physical Sciences Librarian (Engineering & Physical Sciences Division)
- Digital Archivist Librarian (The Bancroft Library)
Academic Review
CAPA has been meeting weekly since March to review 27 cases, including 4 for career status, 1 for promotion, and 3 for promotion and career status. We have charged 4 ad hoc committees to review these 8 cases and are happy to report that these groups have completed their reviews on all but one of the cases (which was delayed “upstream” of LHRD and CAPA), having discharged their duties in remarkably short order. We plan and hope to complete the review process by late May and turn in all dossiers to LHRD/UL’s office before June 1.
II. Committee on Affiliated Library Affairs
No report submitted
III. Committee on Diversity
2018 Fall Report: LAUC-B Committee on Diversity
Report by José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez, Kiyoko Shiosaki, & Naomi Shiraishi
Members:
Kiyoko Shiosaki (Chair) (2019)
José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez (Outgoing Chair) (2019)
Natalia Estrada (SDC/Staff Representative) (2019)
Neda Salem (Staff Representative) (2019)
Susan Wong, ex officio (LHRD representative)
Naomi Shiraishi, ex officio (LAUC Statewide Committee on Diversity) (2019)
Incoming members:
Mohamed Hamed (2020)
Stella Tang (2020)
Recent activities:
The Committee on Diversity hosted a very successful microaggressions workshop for the Library with campus partner Julie Shackford-Bradley from the Restorative Justice Center on Nov. 15, 2017. Building on positive feedback, a follow up workshop was scheduled in Spring 2018 with another excellent turnout. The Committee is planning a third installment for the Spring 2019 semester.
Two Committee members, Naomi Shiraishi and José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez, participated in the LAUC-B Task Group on Social Justice in Academic Libraries to investigate issues related to search engine bias, questionable metadata assigned to cultural communities and materials in library systems, and the need for critical digital literacy in this context. The Task Force has recommended a series of related brown-bag talks for 2019. Natalia Estrada is the representative on this new Social Justice Task Force Events Planning Committee.
The Committee on Diversity continues to match LAUC-B members and Library staff in its Librarian/Staff Mentorship Program. We made seven new matches this semester, and conducted a survey of past participants in the program.
The Committee has arranged for the showing of And Then They Came for Us, a documentary on the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans. The event is co-sponsored by the Media Resources Center & Ethnic Studies Library and will take place on Dec. 4, 4:00-5:30 PM.
IV. Committee on Research and Professional Development
Report submitted by Celia Emmelhainz, co-chair.
Committee members: Celia Emmelhainz and Jeremy Ott (outgoing co-chairs), with current members Jessie Sherwood, Susan McElrath, and Christina Fidler, and incoming members Liladhar Pendse, Kendra Levine, Jianye He, and Haiqing Lin.
Recent activities
In October 2018, this committee reviewed and submitted nine presentation grant applications, one mini grant, and two full research grant applications to statewide. Due to limited funding at the statewide level, the majority of presentation grants and one research grant were successful. In the same month, this committee supported CAPA in their review workshop for librarians. In December 2019, we hosted another installment of the popular new librarians event where Jessie Sherwood, Stella Tang, and Mohamed Hamed presented their current projects to an audience of 31.
In January 2019, this committee submitted nine applications for presentation grants. Celia Emmelhainz served on the statewide committee in lieu of Anna Sackmann, who is presently on leave. Due to limited statewide funding, seven presentation grants were successful; the applicants who were unsuccessful had received grants in the fall cycle. Celia Emmelhainz also worked with the statewide committee to revise and clarify their expectations for presentation grants submissions, including how abstracts will be evaluated.
In April 2019, this committee partnered with ExComm and the Affiliated Libraries to hold a major Celebration of Library Research in lieu of the regular spring assembly on April 18, 2019. University Librarian Jeff MacKie-Mason gave an introduction setting librarian research in the broader context of the Library’s mission, and then librarians and staff presented eighteen research posters on their work on a wide variety of topics within the areas of archives, cataloging and metadata, arts and humanities, engineering and physical sciences, life and health sciences, social sciences, and beyond with titles and authors as follows:
- Supporting Research Workflows with Online Collaborative LaTeX Writing Tools – Sam Teplinsky, Anna Sackmann, and Brian Quigley
- Building a Global Southeast Asia Collection in Chinese at UC Berkeley – Virginia Shih
- “Diamond in the Fog” cataloging Tumblr blog – Jane Rosario and Jean Dickinson
- Uncover the Hidden Collections (in Arabic and Persian) – Mohamed Hamed
- How to Hold an Online Wikipedia Edit-a-thon – Ann Glusker
- Approaches to Precise Terminology in New Slavic Vocabularies – Jean Dickinson
- Chao (Yuen Ren) Papers, 1906-1982 – Lori Dedeyan and Fumei C. Lin
- Assessing the Use of Scholarly Resources in Classics-related Dissertations through Citation Analysis – Jeremy Ott
- Gian Vittorio Rossi: an Early Modern Publishing Success Story – Jennifer K. Nelson
- The Poor Man’s Guide to David Dodge – Randal Brandt
- French eBooks, Metadata and Discoverability – Claude Potts
- Readers and Authors of Educational Research: a Study of Research Output on K-12 Education Policy – Margaret Philipps
- Collecting Globally, Connecting Locally: Social Sciences at Berkeley – Chan Li, Susan Edwards, Natalia Estrada, Celia Emmelhainz, Liladhar Pendse, and Adam Clemons
- Supporting Community Users in the UC Berkeley Library – Monica Singh, Sine Hwang Jensen, and Celia Emmelhainz
- Using a Citation Study to Gain New Insights Into Agricultural and Resource Economics – Becky Miller
- A Collaborative Approach for GIS Historical Maps Metadata Project – Naomi Shiraishi
- Demand-Driven Acquisitions for Japanese Ebooks at the University of California – Toshie Marra
- The Sourcebook of North American Historical and Archival Resources on China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression – Chengzhi Wang, Su Chen, Xiaoyan Wang, Jianye He (UC Berkeley), Yan He, and Dingyun Ni
The research celebration was attended by 57 librarians and staff members, with attendees remarking that “Everyone thought it was great and a huge success” and “this was a really great program, and I hope it becomes a standard feature!,” they appreciated “the opportunity to see what interesting things people are doing here and to show off our work,” and that “I was planning to leave early for another event… but the conversation was so engaging, I surprisingly found it already 6:00PM.” One attendee noted that they appreciated the chance to directly explain their research projects to the University Librarian; a unique opportunity. Another applauded the chance to speak with other researchers who have similar interests with an aim toward potential collaboration.
This committee recommends running this event on a semi-annual basis, perhaps every 2 years, and more directly soliciting library staff-based research in the future.
V. Conference Planning Committee
No report submitted
VI. Nominations and Elections Committee
Report submitted by Chris Tarr (Chair)
Nominating and Elections Committee had a busy year. Several people left ExComm for various reasons before their terms were up, so we had to replace the Vice Chair, a Library Representative, and the Affiliated Library Committee vice-chair. Thank you very much to Naomi Shiraishi, Gisele Tanasse and Emily Vigor for filling out those spots. In addition, the Research and Professional Development Committee lost many of its members. We added five members mid-year. Many of those members will stay for two and a half year terms because they were placed on the committee so late in the year.
We initiated a form for people to indicate their interest in serving on ExComm or other committees. It is a great success. The survey remains open, so people can indicate interest at any time. It has been very helpful in filling out the ExComm slate and the Committee rosters for 2019-2020. LAUC-B members can also indicate their interest in committees that N&E does not fill – CAPA, the conference planning committee and the distinguished librarian committee – and we pass their names along to the appropriate committees. We’ve also added a question about mentorship. The form is available on the LAUC website.
The slate for next year’s Executive Committee is as follows:
Chair: Naomi Shiraishi
Vice chair/Chair-elect: Ramona Collins
Secretary: Stacy Reardon
Treasurer: Jianye He
Library Representative: James Church, Susan McElrath
Incoming Affiliated Library Representative/CALA vice chair: Joe Cera
The biographies are available on the LAUC-B website.
We will take nominations from the floor as well.
N&E has taken over responsibility for running the election from the LAUC-B webmaster. The ballot will be up on May 15, 2019 and the election will close on June 7, 2019.
Thank you,
Christina Tarr, Chair (2019)
Liladhar Pendse (2020)
Samantha Teplitzky (2020)
Susan Xue (2019)