MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD

October 8, 2008

Dr. Karla Kennedy-Hagan, Chair, convened the meeting at 4:06 p.m., in Booth Library Conference Room 4440.

Present:� Rick Anderson, Monty Bennett, Marie Fero, Terri Fredrick, Joe Gisondi, Matt Hagaman, Karla Kennedy-Hagan, Dean Allen Lanham, Thomas McDonald, Sham�ah Md-Yunus, Kiran Padmaraju, Robert Petersen, and Tina K. Veale.

I.� Welcome and Comments

Karla Kennedy-Hagan and Dean Lanham greeted the new board and made introductions.� A motion was made by Terri Fredrick and seconded by Sham�ah Md-Yunus to approve the minutes from the April 16, 2008 meeting as submitted; the motion carried.

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II. Communications

Communications were received from Jeffrey Snell, Heather Webb and Chris Hanlon conveying their inability to attend.

III. Old Business

Dr. Lanham asked the Board if they wanted to continue the One Book, One University book program or discontinue it for awhile.� The overwhelming response was to keep the program and choose a book for spring semester 2009.� Dean Lanham suggested that the recommended book have something in common with events happening around campus or at the library. He recommended choosing a book that would revolve around the traveling exhibit coming to Booth beginning in February, 2009, �Wrapped in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity: NEH on the Road.��

Discussion ensued with regard to the type of books students would read for pleasure, the success of the program in past years, and what inducements could be made to encourage students to read the book.� Robert Petersen suggested the book, �Three Cups of Tea:� One Man�s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time� by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Terri Fredrick endorsed the book as well and felt it would cover several disciplines as well as being pertinent to today�s issues.� Joe Gisondi suggested having a competition between colleges or fraternities/sororities or other groups to read the book for prizes.� Another suggestion was to have a �Jeopardy� type format.� Terri Fredrick suggested that perhaps students could write papers in class and the library would judge the best papers for prizes.� Kiranj Padmaraju suggested an online discussion or blog.� Robert Petersen advanced the idea of having this program be an ongoing one, with a book list and frequent group discussions.� The library will take these ideas under consideration, as well as the book suggested and get back to the Board by email.

IV. New Business

Dean�s Report

Welcome

Dean Lanham expressed his thanks for those willing to serve on the Board this year.� For the new members, he very quickly brought to their attention a couple of items in the packet, namely the Library Advisory Board roster and the Bylaws of the Library Advisory Board.

Dr. Lanham then introduced guest speaker, Karen Whisler, Head of Collection Development and indicated that he would have different librarians present at each meeting so that Board members could meet and learn about areas of the library.

Karen Whisler showed the Board how to navigate around Booth Library�s home page and how to access the link to the Booth Library Subject Librarians and Coordinators FY2009.� She further explained how the departmental coordinators are used to request books of their subject librarian.� Booth Library spends $1.6 million on materials which gets spent very fast.� Karen also showed a link on how an individual could request materials using the �Materials Purchase Suggestion Form.�� In April of each year a �media request� form is sent to the departmental coordinator and chair of each department asking them to prioritize their media requests for the next fiscal year.� (Booth Library has a separate fund account for this area.)

Dean Lanham announced that the University of Michigan has purchased an espresso book machine for digitizing books in their collection published before 1923.� Many of Michigan�s books are already available at Amazon.com for a small price.

Personnel

Dean Lanham shared that there are several staffing changes occurring in the library at present.� The Library had three staff persons recently retire. In addition, the Library has had several civil service staff promote during the past year which created a major shift in personnel.� Currently there are three staff positions to be filled and one open faculty position.

Service Issues

� 2008 Patron Satisfaction Survey results.� Due to time constraints, Dean Lanham asked the Board to bring their copy of the survey to the next meeting for review and discussion.

� Booth Library was the recipient of an LSTA Grant to continue the Art and Architecture in Illinois Libraries project, funded in the amount of $100,000.� The funds will be used to complete the project by the August 15, 2009 deadline.

Collection Issues

The Illinois State Library has provided access to two major databases for the past eight or nine years.� Due to budget constraints at the state level, the Illinois State Library has cancelled their subscription to these databases.� Booth Library wants to continue to provide access to one of the databases, and Karen Whisler, Head of Collection Development, is working with a vendor to negotiate a subscription.

Karen Whisler also pointed out on the web page the link to �Try It! Illinois� � this statewide trial of databases is only available from October 1 through November 30.� She encouraged the Board to try it.

Planning Issues

� Dr. Lanham asked the Board if they knew of any small student groups that would like to participate in �Booth After Hours,� an event that uses Booth Library�s facilities when it would otherwise be closed, involving a special theme.� Last spring this program was used to sponsor Women in Science and Math (WISM) event and last year, during Latino Heritage Month, a program was presented.

� The Normal School History exhibit is slated for fall 2009.� This is an exhibit that is being developed and produced by Booth Library (as opposed to a traveling exhibit) and will examine the influence of the Normal school on the State of Illinois.� Dean Lanham has heard from a few libraries that would like for Booth Library to make it into a traveling exhibit.

� Letters have been sent out this week to faculty requesting their involvement in �Wrapped in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity: NEH on the Road, � a traveling exhibit coming to Booth beginning in February, 2009.

Other

Dr. Lanham expressed his pleasure at having been named Illinois Academic Librarian of the Year.� This is quite an honor for him and one in which he takes great pride.� In 1997, John Whisler, Booth Library�s senior librarian, received this honor.

V. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 5:01 p.m.�

Respectfully submitted by:

Christine Derrickson, Recording Secretary