LAUC-B Executive Committee
Monthly Meeting
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
10:30 a.m. - noon
Members: Barbara Bohl, David Eifler, Jeffery Loo, Michele Morgan, Jennifer Nelson, Emily Vigor, I-Wei Wang (Chair), Lynn Jones (guest)
Agenda
I. Announcements (I. Wang) 10:30-10:35
a. J. Eason has been approved as a 3rd year replacement to T. Mora on CAPA
b. Spring Assembly date set for April 27, 2016
c. From Statewide, there will be a call to present lunch time poster session at the Statewide Assembly on March 21, 2016 at UC Merced. Priority given to people who have been in LAUC for 2 years or less. Financial support for accepted poster attendees will be provided by Statewide.
d. D. Eifler - latest Fiat Lux has 4 pages on NRLF
II. Reports
a. Treasurer (D. Eifler) 10:35-10:40
i. Current balance: $92,941
b. Monthly UL meeting (I. Wang, J. Nelson) 10:40-10:50
i. Last month’s UL meeting summarized in December minutes. UL meeting will always happen day after ExComm, and will be summarized in meeting minutes of the same month
ii. LAUC-B Chair/Vice Chair meeting with the University Librarian, Jan. 14, 2016
- LAUC-B noted the recent pieces in Fiat Lux focusing on the crisis of storage in the Regional Library Facilities and presented some ideas from ExComm to help in advocacy and fundraising to address that issue. UL Jeff MacKie-Mason tied the issue to the upcoming meeting between Council of University Librarians and UC President Janet Napolitano, noting that he is co-presenting on the RLF issue and welcomes LAUC-B's thoughts on articulating the issue in ways that will appeal to non-academic researchers and politicians. He was particularly interested in the idea of finding faculty to provide concrete, testimonial-type stories illustrating the role of the RLFs in supporting their research, and noted LAUC-B membership and our work with the Academic Senate's committee on the Library may be good resources to tap for leads.
- The UL raised a question regarding leadership in LAUC-B and the prevalence, this year, of Affiliated Library members on ExComm. He inquired if there were any structural barriers or other factors that were preventing or disinclining University Library members from fully participating. We discussed the issue, the history of Affiliated participation, and concluded that further monitoring is warranted but no particular action or change is needed at this time.
- We briefly discussed planning for the LAUC-B Spring Assembly, and the UL noted that the library administration group have agreed on a target date of this summer to complete the strategic plan development process. He confirmed the April 27 date for the Assembly will fit in with this timeframe.
c. LIBR meeting (J. Nelson) 10:50-11:00
i. J. MacKie-Mason was invited to attend following his early bird earlier that day (12/10/2015); discussion focused on similar budget issues raised at the early bird.
ii. LIBR provided generally positive feedback on the draft of the job description for the AUL for Collections, which the UL had given LIBR a chance to review.
iii. George Starr (LIBR Chair) has approved, via email, L. Jones’s proposed faculty member to serve on the DLA committee. Names of DLA committee members will be announced at the end of January 2016.
iv. The Open Access subcommittee of LIBR was interested in inviting Librarian Margaret Phillips to attend January’s committee meeting to speak about Berkeley’s OA policy implementation; she is on the agenda as an invited guest for the 1/21/2016 meeting.
d. LAUC statewide conference call (I. Wang) 11:00-11:05
i. The Board discussed, and after the call President Mizrachi circulated, a draft letter from LAUC Board to Council of University Librarians regarding points we believe CoUL should raise with UC President Napolitano in a meeting in February, which is to focus on "actionable" initiatives. Some points raised included finding a solution for the regional library facilities storage capacity, and improving librarian (or more broadly staff) diversity and rebuilding librarian ranks to support the UCs, including specifically CDL staffing. The letter, vetted via email among the Executive Board members, is appended. [email at item ii below]
We also discussed possible topics for new position papers for LAUC to develop (see ExComm minutes re the process to determine disposition of old position papers 1 through 4), including (1) who reviews librarians (in the context of library administrators with title codes outside the academic series, including Directors, MSOs, etc.); (2) definition as what constitutes "research or other creative activity" for purposes of review of librarians; and (3) the creation of positions outside the Librarian Series for functions or positions that have traditionally been librarian jobs.
In the context of multiple campus reports that mentioned recent strategic plans that were either underway or had recently been developed or are being implemented, it was suggested that divisions' websites should contain links pointing to their campus's strategic plan document.
A late-breaking development in the rollout of the revised UC Library Advisory Structure ("UCLAS 2.0") emerged via email after the meeting. CoUL has now asked that a LAUC representative play a role in the Direction and Oversight Committee (DOC). LAUC's statewide Nominations Committee will work on putting up some names.
ii. Email: Dear Lorelei and members of CoUL,
The statewide LAUC Executive Board is aware that you are meeting UC President Janet Napolitano next month. We understand that your meeting time is limited and you have many issues you wish to raise, however, in our capacity as an advisory body to library administration and the Office of the President, we would like to present two issues of urgency which have direct impact on the work and efficiency of the UC Library system and are within the scope of Ms. Napolitano’s capacity as UC President, and we ask that they be included in your agenda. These issues are the repopulating of professional staff in the California Digital Library (CDL) and campus units, and the funding of our Regional Facilities.
Though professional staff in CDL are independent of any particular campus, all divisional units rely upon them for the coordination of so many of our joint projects, services and systems. We feel CDL’s efficient execution and leadership in this area have been negatively affected by the depletion of professional personnel over the past several years. LAUC very much appreciates the effort and care invested in the selection of a new CDL Director and encourages UCOP to continue to provide CDL with necessary support as it enters a critical new phase of service to the system.
LAUC believes it is important to remind UCOP of the drastic decrease in the number of professional librarians over the last several years at all UC Library units juxtaposed to the dramatic increase of the student population.
As you are well aware, both Regional Storage Facilities are at or near capacity and long term solutions must be decided upon and funding guaranteed in order to ensure continued access and proper curation of our collections. The situation is urgent and must be addressed immediately.
LAUC realizes that CoUL may already be planning to discuss these two topics but we feel it is important to for you know our priorities. We appreciate the opportunity to convey them to you and invite you to contact us if you have any further comments or questions.
Best regards,
Diane
Diane Mizrachi, PhD., LAUC President 2015-2016
Social Sciences and Undergraduate Instruction Librarian
Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
III. Old Business
a. Follow-up on communications to email lists (J. Nelson) 11:00-11:05
i. The affiliated libraries email list issue has been resolved. “Affil-all” will be the official email to for all affiliated libraries staff, and “affil” was deleted
ii. There was discussion about how to resolve the issue of messages only going to the lib-staff listserv (e.g., announcements of Early Birds) that should be going to affiliated librarians as well (via affil-all). ExComm will solicit the help of TALAG and/or Library Administration to seek a resolution.
b. Follow-up on communications with CDL (I. Wang) 11:05-11:10
i. B. Bohl sent an email to establish liaison relationship.
c. Spring Assembly planning (I. Wang) 11:10-11:15
i. February meeting with the UL will cover more specifics. Will be on April 27 (Thursday). J. MacKie-Mason will discuss strategic plan framework and general direction.
IV. New Business
a. Collection of input on Statewide position papers (L. Jones) 11:15-11:30
i. Presented by L. Jones on behalf of Systemwide LAUC’s Committee on Professional Governance, regarding review and status of Position Papers 1-4 (https://lauc.ucop.edu/position-papers). A vote of the statewide Assembly delegates, after discussion at the division level, is needed to finalize any decision upon review. After review of the papers and discussion, Berkeley's delegates are prepared to vote that these papers be retired. They will be archived for future reference. L. Jones has reported this to the statewide committee.
b. DLA committee (I. Wang, L. Jones) 11:30-11:45
i. Distinguished LIbrarian Award committee is currently being formed; an interested faculty member has been identified and will be presented to LIBR for approval.
c. Townsend money (D. Eifler)
i. discussion of possible strategies from the Townsend Followeship balance of ~$1200
ii. D. Eifler reached out to K. Leonardo and decision was reached to apply these funds to an existing LAUC-B expense, the outstanding catering bill from the 2015 LAUC-B conference.
d. Ways to support J. MacKie-Mason and development of NRLF
i. Fiat Lux NRLF article including article reprinted from Daily Cal. Discussion of how LAUC-B can support the campaign.
1. Interviews to discuss importance from librarian's perspective
2. Exhibit focusing on collections
Upcoming
● LAUC-B Bylaws cleanup – Past Chair vacancy, misc.