Executive Committee Minutes 10/13/2011

LAUC-B Executive Committee

October 13, 2011
10 am 12 pm
Room 119 Moses Hall (IGS Harris Room)

Members present: Susan Edwards, Dana Jemison, Susan Koskinen, Jeffery Loo (recorder), Jennifer Nelson, Nick Robinson (chair), Kai Stoeckenius, Susan Xue

Guests: Margaret Phillips, I-Wei Wang

I. Announcements

  • Nick welcomed Susan Xue to the LAUC-B Executive Committee and thanked her for accepting the Treasurer position for 2011 to 2013. Thank you to Adnan Malik for his service to this point.
  • The LAUC-B Conference 2011 is Friday, October 21, 2011, 8:30 am 5:00 pm. Details at lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/conference-2011
  • The LAUC Academic Review Program presentation on the review process for librarians will be held on Monday, October 31, 2011, 8:30 am 10:00 am in the Childrens Literature Room of the Education-Psychology Library, Tolman Hall.
  • The LAUC-B Committee on Professional Development is co-sponsoring, with the Staff Development Committee, a workshop on stress management and mindfulness techniques with a presenter from the Tang Center on Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 9:00 am 10:00 am in the Morrison Library.
  • The LAUC-B Affiliated Libraries Fall Assembly is Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 8:30 10:00 am, at the Goldberg Room (297 Simon Hall). The speaker will be Vice Provost for the Faculty, Janet Broughton.
  • The LAUC-B Fall Assembly is Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 8:30 10:00 am, at the Morrison Library. The speaker will be the Director of The Bancroft Library, Professor Elaine Tennant.

II. Reports

A. Treasurer's Report (S. Xue)

  • The current LAUC-B account balance is $44,364.20. Preparations for the FY 2011-2012 budget are underway.

B. Meeting with the University Librarian of October 5, 2011 (N. Robinson, S. Edwards)

  • Tom reported that the recent Council of University Librarians conference call focused on issues of shared collections and storage. Discussion topics included the Shared Print Steering Task Force report, the Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST), the governance of CDL, and preparations for the Hathi Trust constitutional convention.
  • Tom shared a print document with the LAUC-B Executive Committee titled University of California Libraries Systemwide Plan and Priorities FY 2012-2015. This is a high-level and conceptual report that is similar to the discussion related to the Next-Generation Technical Services and Library Planning Task Force initiatives.
  • Nick and Susan continued the discussion with Tom on the issue of librarians peer review standards in times of increased workload. Nick will continue to draft a statement to update the 1992 LAUC-B Executive Committees policy directive on this matter, lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/docs/pdf/librarian_series_90s.pdf.
  • Nick and Susan had a very preliminary discussion with Tom about online education and how this might affect librarians in terms of workload and intellectual property issues.

C. Committee on the Library, Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate (S. Edwards)

  • The Committee has been recast and is now LIT (Library and Information Technology), which will include information systems and technology issues in its agenda. Professor Margaretta Lovell (History of Art) is the current Chair.
  • Susan Edwards is exploring the possibility for the regular distribution of the committee meeting minutes.
  • The Committee had a discussion of open access and copyright issues. Molly Van Houweling from the Law School mentioned that David Hansen has just been hired as the Digital Library Fellow at the Law School. He has expertise in intellectual property issues, scholarly communications, and libraries. He will be meeting with Tom Leonard and Margaret Phillips, the Scholarly Communications Officer.
  • There was discussion about electronic theses and dissertations. As of this year, there will be no default decision on whether ETDs are open or embargoed - each student must choose whether to make them openly available or to embargo.

D. LAUC Statewide Conference Call of October 6, 2011 (N. Robinson)

  • The LAUC Statewide Committee on Diversity is continuing their analysis of the LAUC Membership Census survey; they will be conducting comparisons with other academic institutions.
  • LAUC President Mitchell Brown and LAUC Vice-President Keri Botello reported on their engaging meeting with the Council of University Librarians.
    • Mitchell and Keri discussed the LAUC Committee on Professional Governance report on the Next-Generation LAUC Member. An interesting quote from the discussion is the drive to adapt, invent, re-invent.
    • In the discussion of the LAUC Membership Census survey, it was noted that a cohort of LAUC members are approaching retirement and therefore succession planning is an important issue.
    • The discussion of possible changes to Distinguished Status continues. The AULs for HR will discuss this issue with AFT before the next bargaining session begins.
  • Cynthia Johnson, the 2011-12 SLASIAC Representative, reported that SLASIAC received comments from faculty and the LAUC divisions on the Library Planning Task Force Report. The collected comments fall along three themes: (1) scholarly communications issues particularly resistance to University-mandated open access; (2) lack of faculty and librarian involvement in the planning process; and (3) a need for more explicit details on implementation and timeline.  A report of these comments will be made public.
  • LAUC Statewide Spring Assembly 2012 planning is in progress. It may be hosted by LAUC-SC at UCSCs extension facility in Santa Clara.
  • LAUC-LA has produced a brochure to orient new LAUC-LA members titled, What is LAUC? The LAUC-B Executive Committee will request a copy for consideration at Berkeley.

III. Continuing Business

A. Conference planning (I. Wang, M. Phillips)

B. LAUC-B Fall Assembly planning (N. Robinson)

  • Professor Elaine Tennant, Director of The Bancroft Library, will be the speaker for the November 29, 2011, 8:30 10:00 am Assembly in the Morrison Library.
  • Nick, Susan Edwards, and the incoming CAPA Chair, Rita Evans, will soon be meeting with Professor Tennant to discuss the roles of LAUC and CAPA and will also discuss potential topics for the Assembly.

C. Draft statement on peer review standards in times of increased workload (N. Robinson)

  • Nick drafted a statement on peer review standards for librarians in a time of increased workload to reiterate the 1992 LAUC-B Executive Committee policy directive on this matter, lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/docs/pdf/librarian_series_90s.pdf. Nick distributed the draft for LAUC-B Executive Committee review. The ensuing discussion explored the expectations of national impact for librarians and in ways that might grow out of our taking a leadership role in meeting the challenge of maintaining excellence in the context of the de-funding of public higher education, the importance of giving appropriate weight to growth in primary responsibilities relative to other professional review standards, and the flexibility within the APM for review standards.

IV. New Business

A. Review of LAUC-B website (S. Koskinen)

  • Susan Koskinen and Julie Lefevre will be reorganizing the LAUC-B website and checking that links are active. If you find any anomalies, please send a note to Julie or Susan.

B. 2007 Diversity and Retention Task Force Report (N. Robinson)

C. Housekeeping (N. Robinson)

  • No announcements.