LAUC-B Executive Committee
April 8, 2015
10:30 am - 12 pm
303 Doe Library
Members present: Rita Evans (chair), Lynn Jones, Kendra Levine, Lisa Ngo, Jesse Silva, Elliott Smith (recorder), I-Wei Wang
Guests: Chris Marino, Michele Morgan, Emily Vigor
I. Announcements
It was noted by R. Evans that for two current Library recruitments an ALA-accredited Master's degree is not a minimum basic qualifications:
- Scholarly Communication Officer: A J.D. degree is the minimum basic qualification, while an advanced degree that supports the activities of academic libraries and/or archives is an additional required qualification. This position is an Academic Administrator V (not in the Librarian Series).
- Classics & Germanic Studies Librarian/Research Specialist: A Master's degree or equivalent in a related field (such as classics, philology, literature, language, history, archaeology, or library and information science) is the minimum basic qualification; an ALA-accredited Master's degree is an additional preferred qualification (this position is in the Librarian Series).
II. Reports
A. Treasurer's Report (L. Ngo)
Current balance: $75,392
The LAUC-B draft budget has been sent to Elise Woods, but no response has yet been received. The hearing on the budget for the Library is scheduled for May 18.
B. Meeting with the University Librarian of April, 2015 (R. Evans, I. Wang)
This month's UL meeting will be held next week.
C. Committee on the Library, Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate (LIBR) (I. Wang)
- RLF Subcommittee (T. Hickey) reported some progress on the proposal to expand NRLF, although financing for the project is still not secured; AUL E. Mitchell's work continues with SRLF counterpart, performing due diligence on feasibility of (1) de-duplication as a partial or long-term solution to storage issues and (2) Iron Mountain as a possible outside vendor solution. LIBR Chair M. Lovell noted a slide from a recent presentation that proposes placing housing units on the environmentally-mitigated land where the Regatta Building (built out at considerable cost and used by Bancroft and Hearst for storage) is now located, but UL T. Leonard noted it this is only at an early proposal stage and may never get any further.
- Subject Specialties Subcommittee (J. Skoller) reported that he is circulating his draft report (see Skoller-non-text-media-draft2-2015.pdf attached below) and focusing on mobilizing faculty support across the many interested disciplines for restructuring the Library's approach to its non-text media collections, including his proposal for a librarian position that would lead the Library's efforts to coordinate preservation and storage of, and access to, non-text digital media.
- Budget Subcommittee (C. Blanton) and LIBR generally expressed considerable exasperation with the one-page response (see Steele-Library-budget-FY2016.pdf attached below) by Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost C. Steele, to LIBR's letter protesting budget cuts to the University Library (a copy of which was attached to last month's Ex Comm minutes). Steele's response was characterized as confirming that the strategy for addressing the budget concerns raised by the Commission for the Future of the Library, agreed to by former EVCP G. Breslauer with past Academic Senate Chair E. Deakin (see Breslauer-Deakin-Library-budget-2014.pdf attached below), has been abandoned and rendered void by Steele. Lovell noted that she is investigating the fate of the "up to $500,000" amount that, according to the Breslauer/Deakin plan, was to come from individual faculty contributions from their ICR-return or other funds, since the departments and librarians she has contacted have not been able to confirm such funding has ever been received.
- UL update: T. Leonard updated LIBR regarding a variety of matters, the highlights of which included:
- the University Library's identification of "the largest threats to the success of your strategic plan" (in response to a question posed to all units reporting to the Provost) - (1) the 4% permanent cut to the Library's annual allocation; (2) unfunded mandates such as wage increases for student workers and non-represented academics and staff; (3) NRLF's anticipated "looming 'fill date'"; and (4) that "UC Berkeley Libraries are at risk for falling in the ranks with peer institutions" (a risk that Steele minimized in response to LIBR's memo regarding budget concerns)
- a list of Library Academic Position Recruitments (attached) during this fiscal year, including current active postings, positions under review, and completed and failed recruitment efforts (see LHRD-Library-academic-recruitments-FY2015.pdf attached below).
- I. Wang summarized LAUC-B's and LAUC (statewide's) responses to the proposed revisions to APM 360 and 210-4, answered a few questions regarding the effect and intent of certain changes (as understood by LAUC-B), and at Lovell's request will draft a summary response for approval by the Divisional Committee of Academic Senate (DIVCO).
D. LAUC Statewide Conference Call of April 7, 2015 (R. Evans)
On April 7 a LAUC Special Assembly conference call was held. Attendees from UC Berkeley included Nick Robinson (LAUC past president), Dean Rowan (LAUC parliamentarian), and delegates R. Evans (LAUC-B chair), I. Wang (LAUC-B vice-chair/chair elect), and E. Smith (LAUC-B secretary).
The main item of business was discussing the recommendations of the Committee on Professional Governance regarding changes in the wording of the bylaws respecting LAUC membership. Discussion will continue at a second Special Assembly on April 14, when a vote to place final recommendations before the membership at the LAUC Spring Assembly will be held.
III. Continuing Business
A. LAUC-B funding after 2014-2015 (R. Evans)
See item III.B. below.
B. 2015-2016 Budget process and request (R. Evans)
Elise Woods has not yet responded to questions about the status of the budget request.
- ACTION ITEM: R. Evans will contact E. Woods regarding the LAUC-B 2015-16 budget request.
C. Berkeley Procedures revision (I. Wang, R. Evans)
I. Wang provided a copy of suggested revisions to the Berkeley Procedures draft to T. Leonard and S. Wong in February, and no feedback has yet been received. In the absence of a formal approval, it is necessary to know whether the draft procedures can be the basis of CAPA reviews in the current cycle.
- ACTION ITEM: R. Evans will follow up with T. Leonard and S. Wong regarding the Berkeley Procedures revisions.
D. LAUC-B/Affiliated Libraries Spring Assembly (K. Levine)
K. Levine announced that the joint LAUC-B/TALAG Spring Assembly, Forward Together: Library, Affiliated Libraries, and campus collaborations, will take place Tuesday, April 21, from 9 - 10:30 am in the Morrison Library. The joint assembly will be preceded by a brief LAUC-B business meeting from 8:30 - 9:00 am.
Forward Together: Library, Affiliated Libraries, and campus collaborations will involve a fishbowl format with four panelists discussing collaborative initiatives and ideas. There will be four prompts provided to the panelists in advance; following each prompt will be a discussion by the panel, with comments solicited from the floor. The four prompts are:
- What campus collaborations outside your own library are you currently involved in? Who are your collaborators? What do you see as the benefits of this collaboration?
- Are you embedded in an academic department, ORU, or other campus unit? How does this affect the work of your unit, or yourself?
- What short term plans do you have for changing or adding collaborations or embedding?
- What new ideas have you read about or heard about (e.g. in conferences or from other professionals) that you would like to try? Who would be the likely partners? How would this idea benefit our users or the campus community?
Panelists:
- Erik Mitchell, Library AUL
- Susan Edwards, Head of Social Sciences Libraries
- Christina Fidler, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Librarian
- Quinn Dombrowski, Digital Humanities
Moderator: Jennifer Nelson, Librarian for the Robbins Collection, UC Berkeley School of Law
Volunteers are needed at 8 am on the day of the Assembly to help set up.
E. 2015 LAUC-B Conference (K. Levine)
Keynote speakers Michael Eisen and Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman have confirmed their participation. The Request for Proposals (RFP) closed last month, and the conference committee will be sending out letters for the accepted posters and breakout sessions. Another RFP for posters will be sent out shortly to CSUs and other local institutions. The conference committee also asked for those attending upcoming conferences to keep an eye out for good posters on Open Access by librarians from nearby institutions.
With her departure from UC Berkeley, Lydia Petersen will be stepping off the conference committee; there are currently no plans for a replacement.
IV. New Business
A. Nominations and Elections Committee slate of candidates (R. Evans)
The Nominations and Elections Committee has submitted a slate of candidates for LAUC-B offices.
- Motion by L. Jones: To approve the slate of candidates for LAUC-B offices submitted by the Nominations and Elections Committee, and present it to the membership at the Spring Assembly. Approved unanimously.
- ACTION ITEM: To insure good communication between the Library and LAUC-B ExComm, the Library Representatives have been asked to forward messages sent to the libstaff list to ExComm.
B. Proposal: Bylaws change re. timing of elections (R. Evans)
Proposed Bylaws change:
Section 5 Current language
The Nominating and Elections Committee shall:
A. Present the nominations and the candidates for office at a business meeting to be held at least one month prior to the elections, where it shall be possible for the membership to present nominations from the floor. Nominations shall be formally closed at this time.
(Emphasis added.)
Section 5 Proposed change
The Nominating and Elections Committee shall:
A. Present the nominations and the candidates for office at a business meeting to be held at least two weeks prior to the elections, where it shall be possible for the membership to present nominations from the floor. Nominations shall be formally closed at this time.
(Emphasis added.)
Rationale: Current practice is to solicit nominations via e-mail well in advance of the Spring Assembly. A waiting period of a month after the Assembly and closing of nominations may be excessive now that election information is distributed on the LAUC-B website and via e-mail, and the election period typically also runs at least two weeks. Also, Article V, Section 1 of the LAUC-B bylaws states that LAUC-B elections must be held prior to the LAUC election, which this year is June 1. A long waiting period constrains the possible dates for the Spring Assembly.
- Motion by J. Silva: To approve the proposed change and place on the upcoming ballot for membership vote. Approved unanimously.
- ACTION ITEM: R. Evans will notify the Nominations and Elections Committee to place the proposed change on the ballot and ask for the Committee' s input on a due date for any written pro or con statements; R. Evans on behalf of ExComm will, at the Spring Assembly, solicit pro or con statements from membership for submission to the Nominations and Elections Committee for inclusion with the ballot.
C. Draft APM 360 and 210-4 revisions (R. Evans)
One written response has been received so far by R. Evans to the March 10 e-mail forwarded from Matt Conner, Comments Requested on Draft APM Revisions. Comments should be sent to R. Evans or M. Conner by Friday, May 15, at 5pm. R. Evans will share all comments with ExComm and with LAUC Statewide, which will submit the comments to Susan Carlson, UC Vice Provost for Academic Personnel. I. Wang will also share comments with LIBR.
R. Evans noted that a previous round of comments was solicited from all UC campuses and forwarded to UCOP, but none of that feedback seemed to have been incorporated into this draft. Rikke Ogawa of UCLA is following up with UCOP on this issue.
Next meeting: May 13, 2015