MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD

April 12, 2006

 

Dr. Ann Fritz, Chair, convened the meeting at 4:02 p.m., in Library Conference Room, 4440.

 

Present:Jose Deustua, Charles Eberly, Ann Fritz, Harrison Green, Olaf Hoerschelmann, Allen Lanham, Peggy Holmes Layman, Chris Mitchell, Frances Murphy, and Brent Walker

 

Not Present:Monty Bennett, Eric Hake, and Mukti Upadhyay

 

I.Welcome and Comments

The minutes from the March 8, 2006 meeting were approved as submitted.

 

II.Communications

Communications were received from Marina Marjanovic and Monty Bennett regarding their inability to attend today�s meeting.

 

III. Old Business

Nominations of Chair and Vice Chair - Ann Fritz reported that she had received two nominations:Chris Mitchell, from Theatre Arts, for Chair and Peggy Holmes Layman, Recreational Administration, for Vice-Chair.She opened the floor for further nominations but none were given.Voting, by a show of hands, unanimously confirmed Chris Mitchell as Chair and Peggy Holmes Layman as Vice-Chair for the 2006-2007 term of the Library Advisory Board.

 

IV. New Business

 

Dean�s Report

 

Welcome

Dean Lanham expressed his appreciation to the Board members for their service this past term and presented each with a commemorative Booth Library coaster.

 

Sarah Johnson, reference librarian, recently received the honor of a �2006 Library Journal Mover & Shaker Award� as a Renaissance Librarian for her organization of the Historical Novel Society�s first North American conference (in 2005), and editing The Historical Novels Review. In addition, she has also published Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre.

 

Service Issues

Statistics collection �

        the 2006 Patron Satisfaction Survey is currently being conducted and the results are expected to be tabulated this summer and ready for review by the Board next fall.

        a gate count analysis for the past five years showed that the highest patron visitors to Booth Library occurred during the Frankenstein traveling exhibition, October-November 2005.

 

Booth Library is exploring a world wide reference chat service, �Ask?Away.�This service will give patrons access to reference librarians twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.Booth Library�s participation in this service will be shared among the library�s reference librarians as part of their regular reference duties.

 

Collections

The Murray Spivack studio score collection was recently donated by Remo Belli and will make a nice addition to the music collection.Murray Spivack was a master teacher of the percussion method and is perhaps best known for his collaboration on the sound of �Hello Dolly!� He is also known for his work on the original �King Kong� (1933).

 

Due to year end funding from the Provost, new online and print databases under consideration by the Collection Development Committee are as follows:

Online

New York Times (1851-2003) [after 1980, available on Lexus Nexus]

London Times

Grainger Poetry

 

Print

ASTM

Facts on File Health

Point/Counterpoint

Department sets (submitted by various bibliographers)

 

Discussion ensued, and the Board endorsed the New York Times as being a good option for purchase and feels this will be exciting to faculty and students.Dean Lanham advised that this will just be new formatting for old content but it is anticipated that today�s students will prefer and use this format.

 

The results from the Periodical and Stand Order Review process will be posted on April 18, 2006, requesting cancellation of approximately $30,000 of journals and $5,000-$6,000 in standing orders.With the dollars saved in cancellations of old journals, new journals requested can be added to the collection. It should be noted that more titles are added than are removed; and, because of electronic resources, the number of print journals requested has diminished.

 

Budget Issues

Dean Lanham reported that year-end monies received from the Provost will purchase additions to the collection and explained the acquisition process and challenges of receiving monies late in the year and having to purchase what is available.Letters went out to the departments this past week requesting their lists.It should be noted that these purchases will not come out of the departmental fund allocations at this time of year.We will be receiving new dollars on July 1.

 

Planning Issues

A policy on children in the library, which had been a work in process for the past eighteen months, and approved by the Library Services Council on April 4, 2006, was reviewed.Prior to this policy, there was no policy for unattended children in the computer lab or library.Dean Lanham advised that Booth Library follows the same policies as is used University-wide.It was agreed that Booth Library is not an environment intended for unaccompanied young children.The Board felt the policy was well written and endorsed this policy.

 

The Collection and Archival polices have been completed and currently review is underway on some Internal Governing policies.

 

Other

Lorelei Sims, a local blacksmith, has been commissioned to design another work for the library.This piece would link the 1948 building to the new addition on the 3000 level bridge over the atrium.Her other pieces in the library can be viewed on the fourth floor, outside the conference room and on the first floor, near the Periodical/Reserve Service desk.She is an alumnus of Eastern Illinois University, is considered to be a local celebrity, and people have responded well to her work.

 

National Library Week was April 2�8, 2006.

        The annual book sale in the Library Quad on Wednesday, April 5, 2006, netted approximately $1,300.The funds raised are deposited into the Library�s gift account to support library programs.

        READ celebrity posters were premiered this year.The READ posters, featuring local Eastern �celebrities� holding one of their favorite books, included President Hencken, Provost Lord, the academic deans and various student groups, were posted around campus and in the library.

        National Library Workers Day was celebrated on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, recognizing the contribution made by local staff members.The National Library Week Committee thanked all the staff by providing each with a sweet treat attached to a note of appreciation.

 

 

V. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:46 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Christine Derrickson, Recording Secretary