MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD

October 20, 2004

The meeting was convened by Dr. Scott Meiners, Chair, at 4:04 p.m. in the Library Conference Room.
 

Present:Jose Deustua, Ann Fritz, Harrison Green, Eric Hake, Chris Hanlon, Olaf Hoerschelmann, Allen Lanham, Scott Meiners, Tom Moncada, Frances Murphy, Charles Phillips, Stacey Ruholl, MuktiUpadhyay, and Dean Lanham
 

Not Present:Olivet Jagushah, Dawn Van Gunten, and Steve Davis
 

Visitor:Karen Whisler
 
 

I.Welcome and Comments
 

Introductions were made of all members of the advisory board for this year.

The minutes from the April 28 meeting were corrected (the spelling of Scott Meiner�s name), and then approved.

 

II. Communications
 

Communications were received from Olivet Jagushah and Dawn Van Gunten regarding their inability to attend today�s meeting.Dawn Van Gunten indicated that she will be unable to attend all semester due to a class conflict.

 

III. Old Business
 

None.

 

IV. New Business 
 

2004 Periodical and Standing Order Review discussion was deferred as part of the Dean�s Report.

 

Dean�s Report
 

Welcome

• Booth Library information packets were distributed and reviewed.Dean Lanham encouraged the board to bring ideas from their colleagues and colleges to this group and stated that the library faculty takes seriously the advisory board�s suggestions.Members were also encouraged to visit and refer to Booth Library�s website.
  
  

Personnel Issues

• Three vacant positions have been approved to hire, one faculty and two civil service positions.The faculty person will supervise nights and weekends.While the library still has two positions vacant, it is not anticipated that those will be filled soon.

 

Service Issues
 

• Additional library hours have been added at the request of the President and the Student Government. After Labor Day, the library began its new schedule, remaining open until 1:00am, Sunday through Thursday. In the past, the library had extended hours the week before exams; that will not be the case this year. This is not a pilot project and the library has no expectations of returning to the midnight closing schedule. Staying open later has not solved all the library hours problems; there are some patrons who still want the library opened earlier during the week and later on Fridays and Saturdays. In addition, there have been some resultant staffing issues, including no overlap of shift personnel. The library expects an increase of about $7,000 for additional student help. 

• 2004 Patron Satisfaction Survey results. The summary was handed out in the meeting and will be discussed in further detail at the November 10 meeting. Undergraduate students surveyed had classes at 10am on a Wednesday and graduate students surveyed had a night class. It is felt that better results were obtained using this survey method. In years past, just patrons coming into the library completed the survey. There was some discussion about the inclination of a respondent to chose �agree� vs. �strongly agree.� Approximately 250 comments were received and compiled. Most comments related to hours (one out of three). 

• The FY2005 Book and Materials Budget was increased by $150,000 by the President and Provost.

 
• The Collection Development Committee has made suggestions for use of the new funds.Karen Whisler, our visitor today, is chair of that committee.Basic goals included: 1) all parts of the library collections would get something from this increase; 2) electronic resources were to be improved for the campus; and, 3) some bills which had been deferred by necessity to other fund accounts were to be rectified.Actual costs include:$75,000 � Departmental fund increases, $15,000 � Binding and preservation increase, $25,000 � General and reference collection (fund 80) increase, $16,000 - JSTOR annual access fee, $6,000 - Communication & Mass Media annual access fee, and, $13,000 - Reserve.

 
• The question was asked as to whether JSTOR would be replacing any current data bases and Dean Lanham responded that we are not canceling anything to add JSTOR.The Dean reminded the board that part of their charge is to review the library materials budget.A motion was made by Chris Hanlon and seconded by Erik Hake to endorse the Collection Development Committee�s plan for use of the new dollars and was passed by the board.

Planning Issues
 

• The 2004 Periodical and Standing Order Review process is coming to a close.  The library is adding many more electric titles, but still cutting several print titles. The 2005 process will be revised to a one-step process taking place in the spring.

 

• One Book, One University project update. The book, Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, was chosen for a reading project for this semester.  Due to difficulties in getting feedback from faculty and other issues, this project has been postponed until winter break. The library would like students to read the book for mid January or early February discussion groups. The library has about 20 copies of the book for students to check out and the book can be purchased locally rather inexpensively. This project is intended to be an introduction for a fall 2005 major book reading activity. It is hoped that many faculty, students and community members will gather to discuss the book. Faculty Senate discussed this topic in a recent meeting and will assist in disseminating information for this program. Discussion ensued with regard to coordination of efforts, involving campus reading clubs, faculty to lead discussions, getting the Honors College involved, and communication across campus.

 

• Frankenstein Exhibit: fall 2005 activities. Due to time constraints, this discussion was deferred to the November 10 meeting.

• Illinois Library Association Annual Conference report. Dean Lanham noted a major Eastern Illinois University presence this month at Navy Pier. Nine faculty from Booth conducted sessions or made presentations. The conference was a tremendous success.
• Recent international efforts with Latin American librarians. The Provost has the goal of increasing the number of undergraduate and graduate students having international experience. Last week Booth library hosted two Columbian librarians, who are part of the Mortensen Associate program at the University of Illinois. Dean Lanham has been contacted by Embassy personnel about bringing a contingency of Costa Rican librarians to Illinois next year. 

 

Scott Meiners reminded the board of the next meeting schedule for November 10 and the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Christine Derrickson, Recording Secretary