LAUC-B Executive Committee
December 12, 2018, 10:00 - 11:30
303 Doe Library
ExComm: Randal Brandt, Marlene Harmon (Recorder), Brian Quigley, Jane Rosario (Chair), Kiyoko Shiosaki, Naomi Shiraishi.
Absent: Melissa Stoner
I. Announcements
a. December 13 New Librarians Event and LAUC-B Fall Happy Hour at the Men’s Faculty Club (J. Rosario).
Discussion of email received from the Club stating that they are unable to accommodate the LAUC-B Happy Hour crowd in their bar. Discussed goal of making newer librarians comfortable. Possible alternative locations for the Spring Happy Hour considered.
II. Reports
a. Treasurer (R. Brandt).
We have a budget. The new balance of $98,704.28 includes $41,065.30 carried over from last year. Discussion of Professional Development funding for current librarians and possible new hires. An announcement will go out to the membership when the exact funding amount for librarians has been determined.
b. Monthly UL meeting (J. Rosario and N. Shiraishi).
J. Rosario and N. Shiraishi had 3 issues to discuss with the UL:
i. LHRD Staffing: Discussed problem of filling vacant professional HR positions. Susan Wong is currently filling positions. UL doesn’t think this will affect CAPA reviews.
ii. Retention Policy for Librarians: There is no retention policy for librarians, UL has “retention practice”. Can not offer financial incentive; no incentive besides professional development funding. UL welcomes any ideas we might have.
iii. UL views on the importance of LAUC-B involvement for librarians: UL doesn’t have strong feelings about value of LAUC-B involvement. Does feel state and national involvement could be more valuable than local involvement.
c. LIBR meeting (N. Shiraishi)
Two topics were discussed:
i. Elsevier Negotiations. Ongoing. Elsevier wants a price increase, not a reduction. Current contract expires January 1. UC likely to propose extension to negotiations. Many faculty unaware of the situation. Would like UL to write something to inform faculty.
ii. Open Access - Graduate Student Dissertations. Berkeley policy is that dissertations must be open access immediately or after a 2-year embargo. Problem for some grad students, especially in arts & humanities disciplines. UC is considering a similar system-wide presidential policy for open access theses and dissertations.
d. LAUC Statewide conference call (J. Rosario)
- Statewide work on study of website feasibility ongoing
- Statewide Research and Professional Development Committee is reviewing proposals it has received
- Statewide census of librarians - there are 450 librarians in the UC system
- Spring Assembly - will be held March 28 at Riverside
- Updated version of acronym file will be posted to LAUC website
- Statewide President Roger Smith distributed draft statement on academic freedom for editing
- Still working on updating Position Paper No. 5
III. Continuing Business
a. Nominations and Elections Committee updates
- Still working to fully populate LAUC-B Research and Professional Development Committee
- Will start recruiting for offices in February and March 2019
- UCLA uses a form to solicit volunteers for offices and committees. ExComm will ask Nominations and Elections Committee to attend January ExComm meeting to discuss a proposal to use a similar form at Berkeley.
IV. New Business
a. Discussion of next steps for academic freedom discussion.
- J. Rosario will send link to collaborative Google doc with discussion points.
- Build working group off of Statewide statement, when it is issued.
b. Charge for social justice metadata project.
- J. Rosario will ask the Catalog & Metadata Librarians Interest Group (CaMeL) to craft a charge for a task force to identify and complete targeted projects related to improving our library metadata through a social justice lens. The charge will go to CMC for discussion.