MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD

October 16, 2002

The meeting was convened by Dr. Peter Loewen, Chair, at 4:05 p.m. in the Dean�s Conference Room.

Present: �� Jenn Anderson, Trina Becker (for Richard Jacques), Kathryn Bulver, Steve Davis, Allen Lanham, Marylin Lisowski, Peter Loewen, , Scott Meiners, Charles Phillips, Jeff Stowell, Mary Ellen Varble, and Dawn Van Gunten

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Excused:�� Melanie Burns, Chris Hanlon, Jamie Irving, Richard Jacques, Tom Moncada, and Wafeek Wahby

I.� Welcome and Comments

The minutes from the September 4, 2002 meeting were approved as submitted.

II. Communications

Communications were received from Melanie Burns, Chris Hanlon, Richard Jacques and Wafeek Wahby that they would be unable to attend the meeting.� Richard Jacques sent Trina Becker to represent him at this meeting.

III. Old Business

Dr. Loewen commented that he was very pleased to see that the Booth Library New Titles List was again available on the Library�s website.� Dean Lanham explained that the new ILLINET Online system was not initially designed to compile that information.� John Whisler, Head of Cataloging, has been working to coordinate the initiation of the new system, and communicated to the company the need for this feature.� Now that the information is being collected in that way, the titles will appear monthly.� Because the system was not initially in place, the data from the first few months has been compiled into one list.� Dr. Lanham also thanked Karen Whisler, Head of Collection Management, for providing the information to the University Newsletter.

IV. New Business

Dr. Loewen reported an experience with Media Reserves in receiving an inconsistent response to his needs.� He indicated that sometimes the materials he has placed on Media Reserves were re-shelved and found in the stacks labeled as being on reserve.� He also experienced times of having items he charged out and returned not being discharged to him.� Dean Lanham will pursue the issue to resolve the problem immediately.

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Another concern Dr. Loewen mentioned was the inability to have media items recalled when they are needed for classroom instruction.� Dr. Lanham explained that a previous online system was capable of recalling media materials or shortening the loan period when faculty requested them for classroom instruction.� The new ILLINET Online system does not have this function, but Dean Lanham will look into a manual system in order to accommodate this type of request.� Dr. Lanham explained that stacks materials are generally available from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan; however, media and reference materials are not shared in this manner.

Dr. Loewen shared a frustration expressed to him by faculty in his area regarding the new ILLINET online library system.� He asked if the library would be willing to send a representative to faculty meetings to give demonstrations on the use of the new system.� Dean Lanham explained that bibliographers have often made requests of department chairs to be allowed to come to faculty meetings, but are not always given time.� If faculty would like this type of training brought to their meetings, they can make the request of their chairperson.� Otherwise, individual training is available through the Reference Desk during normal library hours or by appointment.� Jenn Anderson commented from the students� point of view that the new catalog feature of providing related materials on each catalog query was helpful.� The students are experiencing difficulty with accessing the catalog from the dorms, which Dean Lanham explained is probably due to the campus-wide network problem.� He suggested if they have difficulty with access that they call the Reference Desk and ask if the network is functional, or they can call computer services.� If the campus-wide network is down, then the online catalog will not be available on or off campus.� Dr. Lanham indicated students can also obtain help using the online �Ask a Librarian� feature.

Dean�s Report

Budgetary Issues

Dr. Lanham invited Karen Whisler, Head of Collection Management, to the meeting to update the Library Advisory Board members to the current situation with Elsevier and the former Academic Press IDEAL database of e-journals.� Karen distributed handouts related to the Elsevier Pricing Models and the Current Elsevier Offer for CCMP Members.� Both Dean Lanham and Karen had just come from the campus-wide meeting regarding Elsevier.� The outcome of that meeting was to allow time for faculty attending the meeting to return to their departments and seek input regarding which journals would be most desirable to maintain.�

Personnel Issues

The Staff Development Committee of Booth Library arranged for two Customer Service workshops, being offered through EIU�s Human Resource Department, to be offered to the library�s faculty and staff.� The first of the two sessions was offered on Wednesday, October 2, and the final session will be offered on October 30.

Planning

Two groups of students have recently met with the Dean to discuss the possibility of extending the library hours.� One of the requests came from a student wanting to extend the Friday evening hours.� The second group involved a student senator that requested earlier morning hours.� Jenn Anderson, Student Representative, indicated that the issue was discussed in Student Senate, and that their consensus was that early morning hours would be more desirable because students with 8:00 a.m. classes did not have a place to go to study before class.� She was aware of the 24-hour study lab in the MLK Union, but indicated students did not like that area because of the noise from the vending machines.� Dean Lanham explained that requests for extending the library hours is visited every couple of years, and that statistics have not supported a need for change.� The library will track the traffic patterns for Friday usage of the library to see if extending the hours on Friday would be feasible.� Data would have to be gathered as to how many students have 8:00 a.m. classes to determine if opening earlier would be feasible.� Opening the library beyond the 93 hours a week it currently is open presents both budgeting and personnel issues.� If library personnel come to work earlier in the day, than there will not be as many personnel available to work later in the evening when library usage is much higher.� It was suggested that the Patron Satisfaction Survey might be a useful way of determining the patron�s interest in the library opening one hour earlier.

The Summary for the 2002 Patron Satisfaction Survey was distributed.� Unfortunately, there were a number of complaints regarding the issue of heat in the building.�� To try to eliminate the survey being clouded with issues that the library has no control over, Dean Lanham will ask the Statistics Committee to change the time of the year when the survey is administered.� To allow time for the board to read the survey, the discussion of the results will occur during the next meeting.

Other

The revised Booth Library Users Code of Conduct was distributed.� There were no major changes to the policy.

Booth Library was the recipient of the American Institute of Architecture (Chicago) Interior Architecture Award given for Special Recognition for Sensitive Renovation.� The award was received on October 11.� Dean Lanham, Marlene Slough, Head of Acquisitions, and John Whisler, Senior Librarian and Head of Cataloging, were invited guests for the event.� In addition, Booth Library was featured in Stone World, September 2002.� Stone World is a publication of the American Institute of Architecture.� Dean Lanham also mentioned another publication, The ILA Reporter, a publication by the Illinois Library Association, has already committed to doing a feature article on Booth Library�s renovation in the February edition.

V. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 5:08 p.m.

Peggy Manley, Recording Secretary