LAUC-B Executive Committee Meeting
Thursday, March 11, 2010
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
303 Doe Library
Present: J. Bolstad, M. Burnette, L. Diamond, L. Jones, S. Koskinen, C. Lee, R. Martinez, M.
Phillips (Chair).
Guests: J. Eason, N. Kobzina, L. Vida, S. Wong.
I. Announcements
- R. Martinez announced that TALAG met with T. Leonard last week. Regarding the consulting
firm, Bain & Co., T. Leonard communicated with ULs from both the University of North Carolina,
as well as Cornell, and they felt that there had not been a huge effect on their libraries. Bain &
Co. is aiming for centralization as an overall goal, but T. Leonard did not seem to think that
there would be a major impact on the Library. He also said that next years budget is unknown,
aside from the fact that furloughs are going away and the hiring freeze will remain in place.
- R. Martinez suggested that for the Affiliated Spring Assembly, she could ask Dan Greenstein
to speak. L. Diamond suggested someone on the Commission on the Future of UC to speak
instead. It will be held sometime in April or early May.
- L. Diamond announced that the LAUC state-wide regional meeting will be held on May 6 at UC
Irvine from about 10am-3pm. Anybody is welcome to attend (at their own expense). This will
give people a chance to talk about UC librarians and their future. Registration for the meeting
will be up the week of March 15.
- C. Eckman and Library Admin asked M. Phillips to set up an e-scholarship (CDL) space for the
Library that will be a section to highlight librarian and staff publications.
II. Reports
A. Treasurer's Report (I. Wang)
- The current balance is $134,183.97.
B. Meeting with University Librarian (M. Phillips, S. Koskinen)
- T. Leonard recently attended several meetings. He felt that all of the UC libraries are on the
same page for the UC Commission on the Future. He also mentioned the increase in the cost of
Nature. M. Phillips mentioned to T. Leonard that ExComm is looking into the issue of the
Distinguished Status within the librarian review process, and also informed him that there were
no applicants for LAUC research grants nor the Townsend Fellowship this year.
C. Committee on the Library, Berkeley Division of Academic Senate (S. Koskinen)
- The meeting consisted of a discussion about the contract with Nature. The cost is going to
increase 75%. Since Nature is a popular journal, it is uncertain what will be decided. Everybody
needs to be aware of the possibility of something like this happening with other journals.
D. LAUC State-wide Conference Calls (L. Diamond)
- The SOPAG representative talked about their recent meeting. There are a number of reports
that will be coming out, so LAUC members should look for and comment on them. M. Phillips
will be forwarding these to the membership.
- The NextGenTechServices group has a big report coming out.
- The state-wide Nominating Committee has selected 2 candidates to run for Vice President and
2 candidates to run for Secretary.
- The state-wide Committee on Professional Governance would like to see the amount of traffic
on the blog increase. The committee is setting up a schedule so that each committee member
will be responsible for posting to the blog.
- A regional meeting will be held on May 6 at UC Irvine to give the southern campuses a chance
to meet in person and discuss issues about the future of libraries. [See Announcements, above].
- Some campuses reported that their libraries are reopening on Saturdays and extending their
hours. There is some construction going on at various campuses.
III. Ongoing Business
A. LAUC-B Spring Assembly planning (M. Phillips, L. Vida, L. Diamond)
- The Assembly will be held the week of April 12 or April 19, with an exact date to be
determined. L. Vida has inquired about space to hold breakout sessions. There will be nine
tables, one for each topic, as well as a facilitator and a note-taker at each table. It would be nice
if the room had Airbears, in case people wish to blog during the assembly. T. Leonard has
agreed to be the opening speaker. J. Bolstad will handle the catering, M. Phillips will handle
publicity, and L. Vida will take care of the room arrangements. At the next ExComm meeting,
topics will be divided up among ExComm members.
B. Distinguished Librarian award (C. Lee)
- A member of LIBR is needed to serve on the Distinguished Librarian Award committee. S.
Koskinen will announce this opportunity at the next Committee on the Library, Berkeley Division
of the Academic Senate meeting.
IV. New Business
A. CAPA Task Force on Special Issues (J. Eason, N. Kobzina, guests)
- J. Eason and N. Kobzina presented the findings from the CAPA Task Force on Special Issues
in a detailed report about the following three issues: 1) the concept of degree equivalency, 2)
the timeframe for next review in cases of out-of-cycle advancement or cases of denied
advancement, and 3) Distinguished Status.
- M. Burnette had minor edits and L. Diamond commented that throughout the documentation,
whenever APM is mentioned, MOU should also be mentioned. J. Eason will make the changes.
- ExComm agreed with the Task Force on the issues of degree equivalency (an ALA-accredited
degree should be required before a librarian obtains career status) and the timeframe for next
review in cases of out-of-cycle advancement or cases of denied advancement (the review
period should include everything since the persons last advancement).
- The Task Force presented four possible options for Distinguished Status. ExComm collectively
came to an agreement. M. Phillips will draft and send out an e-mail to the membership asking
for additional input.
- ExComm will approve the final version of the Task Forces report via e-mail after all revisions
have been made, and will then forward it to T. Leonard and S. Wong. The report will also be
posted on the LAUC-B web site and added to the LAUC-B archives.
- M. Phillips and ExComm strongly praised the report and expressed gratitude for the hard work
that the Task Force has done.
B. UC Library HR officers meeting update (Susan Wong, guest)
- S. Wong shared UC Library HR Officers comments on possible options for Distinguished
Status. Many of the conclusions that the CAPA Task Force reached seem to be shared by the
UC Library HR officers. ExComm affirmed their opinion that the Berkeley Procedures are
owned by LAUC-B and that each LAUC division should be free to engage in local practice.