Executive Committee Minutes 08/17/2020

LAUC-B Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2020, 3–5pm.

Present: Naomi Shiraishi, Jim Church, Ramona Collins, Jianye He, Sherry Lochhaas, Susan McElrath, Stacy Reardon, Jane Rosario, Tim Vollmer

Regrets: Joe Cera, Anna Sackmann

Guests: Mohamed Hamed, Liladhar Pendse, Elliott Smith

Other attendees: Kristina Chamorro, Jeremey Ott, Kate Peck

Agenda

I. Announcements and introduction (5 min)

  • Library website will be migrated to Drupal 8. This includes LAUC-B website. Aug 26 admin access will be shutoff. Migration Aug 26–31. On the 31st, the new website will go live. 

II. Year in Review Reports

A. Secretary (S. Reardon) (5 min)

  • The 2019-2020 permanent records (Executive Committee and assembly minutes, committee reports, election materials) are usually compiled and passed on to the new Secretary for deposit in the Archives next year.  Last year’s records are usually deposited in September. Without access to print materials and our offices, that will not be happening on schedule. The current secretary usually gives the incoming secretary the LAUC binder and laptop at this time. All materials and laptop are currently located in Stacy's office. Stacy and the incoming secretary (Sherry) should work together once we return to campus to transition everything and get materials archived.
  • Our Current membership is 92 librarians
    • This Library/Affiliated split is 71 Librarians/21 Affiliated
    • The represented/non-represented split is 75 represented librarians and 16 non-represented
    • Last year at this time there were 93 members.
    • According to APO, no retired librarians were granted Emeritus status this year. Last year 1 librarian was granted Emeritus status:  Susan Koskinen.
  • The Fall assembly was a combined Library and Affiliated Libraries event with a presentation: "Digital Lifecycle Program (DLP): Our Past, Present, and Future" by Salwa Ismail, AUL for Digital Initiatives and Information Technology. Due to the Covid emergency, the Spring assembly was moved to Zoom, with breakout room discussions: "How can LAUC-B support its members during the Library closure?"
  • Two informal groups were sponsored by committees: Critical Librarianship Reading Group sponsored by the Diversity Committee; The Library Scholars Working Group sponsored by the Committee on Research and Professional Development
  • Updated the website and in particular the CAPA review process page, especially critical this year since HR has been short staffed. We assisted in updating the LAUC system-wide roster.

B. Treasurer (J. He) (5 min.)

  • Over $60k currently available (carry-forward from last fiscal year) .
  • Some expenses in July 2020 (about $800)
  • Will confirm with Business Office staff for the transfer of this fiscal year's allocation.

C. LAUC-B candidate lunches (S. McElrath) (5 min)

  • 18 candidate lunches between Sept–Dec
  • No lunches in the pring, but we had 2 virtual meetings in June to replace face-to-face lunches.

D. LAUC-B mentoring program (J. Church) (5 min)

  • 3 new librarians were successfully paired
  • Lunches were put on hold after March; we have 3 people still awaiting lunches
  • 2 new librarians need to be paired with a mentor

E. LIBR meetings (R. Collins) (10 min)

  • Important topics that were discussed included:
    • Elsevier negotiations
    • Updated copyright ownership policy
  • Next year, likely to be Thursday mornings.

F. Meeting with UL (N. Shiraishi & R. Collins) (10 min)

  • Met with UL in July and August
  • VC and past chair attended July meeting
    • Thanked UL for giving opening remarks at LAUC statewide assembly
    • Diversity: UL not aware of troubling incidents; some with public. Announcements would be made about required trainings. We can broaden the pool of applicants, avoid biases in hiring, but can't use race as a criteria for hiring. 
    • Budget: campus budgets still unclear; LAUC-B's budget will likely be cut; if conference is virtual, might be less expensive. This could be a place to cut the budget without such a devastating impact.
    • Diversity and equity: what could make a major change in the library community?
  • August meeting
    • Panel discussion of collection development and diversity: UL feels our collection development policy remains the same and the focus on ebooks is a temporary measure. Ebooks are up to selectors and users. Area Studies selectors should bring issue to CDLG if they feel their voices are underrepresented. If other concerns, he is open to discussion.
    • Professional development funds: can we spend on other things, such as printers, chairs, etc. since we are not spending on travelling? We can only spend funds determined by union contract on what is mandated there. The other is supplementary funds that are more flexible. For ergonomic needs, worth checking into. Staff may schedule ergonomic assessment. See the Library’s page on Ergonomics. 

F. LAUC statewide conference calls (N. Shiraishi) (5 min)

  • Planned for an in-person assembly, but had to be cancelled due to Covid.
  • Held conference via Zoom
    • Original topics included overcoming barriers to engagement with LAUC and copyright policy update
    • Because of recent events, we had breakout discussions on additional topics like anti-racist work, impact of Covid on librarian work.
  • Difficulty finding volunteers to fill all statewide positions
    • Postponed election date
    • Loosened rules about eligibility
    • Transition meeting will happen in September

G. Chair’s year-in-review report (N. Shiraishi) (10 minutes)

  • One priority goal was to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. We created a task force called Good IDEA to explore strategies to improve diversity and inclusion.
  • October: LAUC-B conference, Shelf Awareness. Successful. Next conference will be on similar themes, Critical Librarianship, with a more inclusive committee, and will be online. Conference also led to formation of the Critical Librarianship reading group.
  • November: joint assembly. Exhibit committee presented. Salwa Ismail presented on DLP.
  • Spring plans got upended by Covid. 
  • Spring assembly: Ann Glusker presented on data and Covid-19, breakout discussions about how LAUC-B could support librarians during Covid-19 
  • Election in June
  • July: panel discussion on collection development and equity during Covid-19.

III. Continuing/Outstanding Business

A. Diversity Librarian Task Force update (R. Collins) (10 min)

  • Diversity librarian fellowship program: the original goal perhaps too narrow. Conducted research on the topic, environmental scan, and hiring regulations. Recommendation is that we should implement one.
  • How do librarian job descriptions get created and where are they posted? Some progress in this area. Postings are being shared on a wider variety of lists and include some language around diversity and inclusion. More research on recent job searches could be done. We could request a diversity statement from candidates.
  • Some readings on these topics have been gathered, but may need to be developed further and assembled for sharing.
  • We could participate in ACRL diversity alliance.
  • Encourage participation in Critical Librarianship reading group and in workshops on these topics (microaggressions and implicit bias).
  • Encourage adequate funding for the African and African American collections. A replacement librarian position for those collections has not been determined.
  • Additional topics raised in discussion: Lack of diversity in management roles. Create opportunities for growth in staff positions. These topics might not be added to task force recommendations, but could be referenced in the overview.
  • Good IDEA aka Diversity Librarian task force report
  • Race Matters HR website

B. CAPA report (E. Smith) (10 min.)

  • CAPA has completed its reviews. Full report will be made at Fall assembly. 
  • Coordinating with Library HR on guidelines for this coming year. Will be announced at academic review workshop in the Fall.
  • Academic review workshop planned for Tue, Oct. 20, 9:30-11am.
  • Review Initiator workshop: Mon, Oct 26, 3-4pm.
  • CAPA has drafted a statement on the impact of Covid on UC Berkeley librarian reviews. (Statewide has issued a statement as well.) The principles would be applied to any part of a review period affected by the pandemic.
    • Reviews should be placed within their proper context and expectations adjusted if appropriate
    • Consider new or additional primary responsibilities, impacts on professional activities, length of time under consideration (2 vs 3 years), among other things
    • Seeking feedback before sharing draft more broadly
    • Discussion suggested that equity issues are a large concern, length of time required to prepare reviews at this time (dossiers will be submitted digitally this year), add a general clause about other ways that the pandemic may have affected one's work, or perhaps using "included but not limited to" language). What is the relationship between this CAPA document and RIs and library administrators? (CAPA will share with library leadership in advance but is only advisory; cannot direct leadership in what criteria to use.)
  • ExComm approved the CAPA statement with 8 votes.

B. Thank you, welcome, and transfer the gavel (N. Shiraishi) (5 min)

IV. New Business

A. Information for new ExComm members (R. Collins) (15 min)

  • There is a Box folder for LAUC-B that has an ExComm subfolder, with subfolders for each position. 
  • Interview lunch coordinator and mentor coordinator roles need to be decided between Anna and Tim.

B. SALALM Resolution and LAUC-B (JA. Barragán-Álvarez, L. Cunningham, D.Eifler, M. Hamed, J. He, L. Pendse) (15 min.)

  • Better to sign onto the Joint Statement: Equity and Access in Higher Education and Academic Libraries amid the COVID-19 Pandemic resolution rather than create our own.
  • Consider creating a Berkeley-specific statement.
  • Consider creating a list of scenarios that people are currently experiencing.
  • Chair will contact working group about crafting a Berkeley-specific statement, with the goal of eventually bringing it to CDLG and in the future use it as a tool for advocacy.

C. Committee appointments (R. Collins) (5 min)

  • Diversity Committee: new members Stacy Reardon and Osman Celik. Continuing: Immaculate, Claude, Jose, and Cristina F.
  • Research and Prof Devel: new members Abby Scheel. Continuing: Jeremy, Ann G. Susan P, Kendra, Jianye, Lara
  • Nominations and Elections: new members Becky Miller and Natalia Estrada. Continuing: Chris Marino, Lisa Rowlison de Oritz, I-Wei Wang
  • LAUC statewide: Committee on Prof Governance: I-Wei Wang. 
  • LAUC statewide: Research and Prof Dev: Celia Emmelheinz. 
  • Lauc statewide: Committee on Diversity: José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez
  • LAUC-B Conference Planning Committee: 
    • 8 votes approval committee members

D. Discussion and approval of the CAPA nominees for the 2020-23 term (E. Smith; closed session)

  • This is a closed session
  • CAPA consists of five representatives from the University Library and two from the Affiliated Libraries. CAPA’s nominees will replace three University Library members who are rolling off (Elliott Smith, David Eifler, Toshie Marra).
  • General Criteria: Career status, at least an associate librarian level, and strongly preferred is service on an ad hoc review committee. As a peer review committee, CAPA also seeks balance among professional functions, subject areas, and units/divisions. CAPA looked for candidates that fit these criteria and made nominations.
  • Nominees were approved.