Executive Committee Minutes 5/19/98

LAUC-B Executive Committee
Meeting No. 1997/98 (10)
19 May 1998
9:05 - 11:05 am, 119 Moses Hall

MINUTES

Present: Terry Dean, Marlene Harmon, Corliss Lee, Deborah Sommer (Chair), Christina Tarr, Linda Vida (Secretary), Jack Von Euw, Beth Weil

Absent: Andrea Sevetson, Virginia Shih

Handouts: Agenda (5/19/98);Senate Library Committee's response to Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) Final Report (5/15/98); Memo from D. Sommer to Carol Christ regarding the BRC report; Thank you letter from D. Sommer to Tony Newcomb, Chair BRC; Draft Minutes (4/21/98).

I. Announcements - D. Sommer

      a) There are two LAUC-B sponsored events scheduled: Marianne Constable, Chair, Academic Senate Committee on the Library, will speak on Tuesday, May 5, 1998 from 8:30-9:30 am. There will be a Workshop on Preparing Research Proposals on Friday, May 29, 1998 from 8:30-10:00 in the Krouzian Room.

      b) A notice requesting submissions for the Townsend Center Fellowships have been sent out to LAUC-B members.

      c) D. Sommer sent a letter to Tony Newcomb, Chair, Blue Ribbon Committee, thanking the Committee for the time and effort they spent in examining library issues and producing an insightful report.

      d) Jean McKenzie recently started a two-year appointment at the Kresge Engineering Library. Elizabeth Edinger will start working at the Boalt Law Library on July 1, 1998.

      e) Marlene Harmon, Affiliated Representative, will attend the LAUC Fall Assembly in San Francisco.

II. The MINUTES from the 4/21/98 (9) meeting were approved with corrections.

      L. Vida will send these MINUTES out on the LAUC-B reflector, have them mounted on the LAUC-B website and send an announcement to Patsy Inouye.

III. New Business - D. Sommer

   Meeting with Penny Abell
      D. Sommer and A. Sevetson met with Penny Abell, Interim University Librarian (UL). P. Abell will officially assume her duties as UL on July 1, 1998 and has a 3-6 month appointment. Until then, she is on campus occasionally on a consulting basis. P. Abell is concerned with establishing ongoing communication with the library staff. She would like to meet with the entire library staff, affiliated librarians, Marianne Constable and other groups and has asked the Executive Committee (Ex Comm) for advice on how best to structure these meetings... P. Abell will schedule a meeting with Ex Comm in the near future to discuss some of these issues.
       Additionally, P. Abell has asked for advice concerning redefining the Doe/Moffitt and branch Library model as suggested on p. 13 of the BRC report. The BRC report suggests that the terms "main library" and "branch library" do not accurately reflect the structure of The Library. Discussion ensued about terminology and the concept of "branch" versus "main". It was suggested that using different terminology would provide a fundamental and beneficial change. The name Doe Library should be used rather than Main Library. The word "branch" could also be replaced by "service points". In fact, the Doe/Moffitt complex contains specialized humanities/social sciences collections and in that sense truly are specialized "service points" rather than the Main Library.
      Another issue is that the Doe/Moffitt complex is quite large and the collections are not close to the Reference service points making it difficult to serve as a good service model. UCD was mentioned as a model since the reference service points are located on various floors near the collections that they use.
      D. Sommer encouraged anyone with additional comments or suggestions to email them to her.

   Report LAUC Spring Assembly - D. Sommer
      The LAUC Spring Assembly was held Friday, May 1, 1998 at UC San Diego. D. Sommer summarized the highlights of this meeting.
      There was a lengthy discussion about adding additional steps to the Librarian Series. LAUC will review salary scales and the Distinguished Librarian step. There was disagreement among campus representatives about retention of the Distinguished Librarian step. UCLA presented a resolution that advancement to Librarian V be considered a normal merit.
      Myron Okada announced that there would be a cost of living adjustment effective October 1, 1998. Staff will receive a 2% adjustment and faculty will receive 2 ½%.
      The Legislature is pursuing a compact for higher education, since Governor Wilson is not pursuing.
      Regulations concerning family leave, sick leave and childbearing leave have been revised and will be formally included in the APM.
      Susan Starr from UCSD discussed the Library Planning Initiative. She reported on the California Digital Library (CDL). Those hired as part of the CDL are in the MSP series rather than the Librarian series.
      There was a brainstorming session on LAUC in the 21st century. LAUC was asked to consider four issues:

  1. What do we envision the UC Libraries to look like in the next 5 years?
  2. In the context of that vision, what are the most significant changes in the roles and responsibilities of UC Librarians?
  3. What influence can UC Librarians have on those changes?
  4. What are the top priorities for LAUC to address to those changes?

      Three resolutions were passed:

  1. LAUC officially requested that the University administration add three more steps to the Librarian series.
  2. LAUC will develop criteria for these additional steps such that the highest step will be reserved for those librarians whose careers and continuing achievements can be considered distinguished.
  3. The LAUC President will charge a committee to prepare a report that provides recommendations and justifications for restructuring the librarian salary scales. Lucia Snowhill, LAUC President, asked for advice about whether the salary scale report should be a charge for the Professional Governance Committee or for an appointed Task Force. L. Snowhill iterated that this last resolution would require a statewide effort from LAUC members.

   Report from Affiliated Spring Assembly - C. Tarr
      C. Tarr reported that Beverlee French, AUL of Collection Development for the CDL, spoke at the Affiliated Spring Assembly on Tuesday, May 12, 1998. She described the CDL, its evolving organizational structure and staffing. She was interested in any specialized databases that the affiliated librarians would want incorporated into the CDL. UCSD has an acquisitions department that specializes in procuring digital information. The CDL will use this department for their acquisitions. Melvyl is the initial component of the CDL.

   1998/1999 budget planning - B. Weil
      B. Weil requested budget estimates for the 1998/99 fiscal year from all of the Committee Chairs. Most have responded and their estimates are in keeping with past budget projections. Travel is still the biggest and most complex component of the budget. B. Weil mentioned that she needs an accurate list of those in and out of the bargaining unit. This year, Ex Comm will submit its budget request around July 1, 1998.
      There was discussion about the budget for the Scholarly Publication/ Communication conference. T. Dean and D. Sommer commented that the budget for this conference will be similar to the last two conferences and that in the past, fundraising and registration fees covered most of the conference costs. Since the University Extension makes all the facilities arrangements, LAUC-B does not need any funding upfront. B. Weil was asked to contact Jeanne Fong, Conference Chair, about expenses.
      B. Weil announced that no funds were spent on General Assistance this year. B. Weil encouraged those needing reimbursement to submit their paperwork.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 am.