MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD
November 12, 2008
Dr. Karla Kennedy-Hagan, Chair, convened the meeting at 4:03 p.m., in Booth Library Conference Room 4440.
Present:� Rick Anderson, Monty Bennett, Barbara Carlsward, Marie Fero, Joe Gisondi, Matt Hagaman, Christopher Hanlon, Karla Kennedy-Hagan, Dean Allen Lanham, Robert Petersen, and Heather K. Webb.
Karla Kennedy-Hagan asked the Board to once again introduce
themselves as we have a new member on the Board, Barbara Carlsward, who will be
completing Linda Ghent�s term in the
A motion was made by Matt Hagaman and seconded by Joe Gisondi to approve the minutes from the October 8, 2008 meeting as submitted; the motion carried, with one abstention.
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Communications were received from Sham�ah Md-Yunus and Terri Fredrick conveying their inability to attend due to involvement in a reception with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.� Thomas McDonald also sent word that he would be unable to attend.
Two students, Christopher Kromphardt, Chair of Academic Affairs in Student Government, and Michelle Liga-Murphy spoke to the Board concerning their goal of extending Booth Library hours.� At this time the students had no proposal; they are just gathering information by attending various governing bodies on campus on what has been done in the past and what is planned for the future.� Some research was conducted by Michelle Liga-Murphy with regard to library hours at peer institutions.� They plan to conduct a survey on campus and develop a proposal.� Currently they are pitching two ideas: (1) have the Library open earlier, Monday-Friday for those students who have 8:00 a.m. classes; and, (2) the Library being open later on Friday and Saturday evenings (possibly 6:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.).� Discussion ensued as to why students wanted to be at the library before 8:00 a.m.� The issue was generally about printing and the popular system Booth Library has set up allows the student to bill directly to their student account vs. paying from their Panther Card.� Christopher Hanlon sympathized with the students, as often he would like to get a book before class, but he understood how expensive it is to keep a library open.� The request for longer hours on the weekend evenings and the demand for that will require the gathering of more data.� Dr. Lanham explained that the reason the Library closes at 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays was a term of employment issue.� On Saturdays one shift works the whole day and if another hour or two were to be added, it would require hiring another shift of personnel or payment of overtime.� Jocelyn Tipton, reference librarian and acting head of Reference, stated that the hours between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday are the busiest for the Library and the patronage consists mostly of non-traditional students and off-campus students.� The last couple of hours on Saturday are the slowest of the week.� Dean Lanham further informed the Board and students that the Library is already open 98 hour per week and Library statistics have shown that Saturdays are our slowest patron day of the week.� Sunday is usually the heaviest day and patronage changes each day.� Dean Lanham feels that the Library should invest in adding resources (enriching services or the collection) vs. increasing hours and incurring additional salary costs.� Dr. Lanham gave the students a copy of the Spring 2008 Patron Satisfaction Survey so that they could review the comments and responses made by approximately 1242 students.� Booth Library considers it a compliment that students want more access to the Library.� Five years ago, in response to the University of Illinois extending its hours, President Hencken requested, and supplied the funds, to allow Booth Library to be open an additional hour from 12:00 midnight to 1:00 a.m., Sunday through Thursday.� Currently, on the Saturday before finals week, the Library also remains open an additional 4 hours.
The book chosen for the One
Book,
Dr. Lanham requested that the Board consider a different program name as the current name suggests that the entire University is involved in reading the book, and this is just not the case.� The reason for this program is to promote reading, for the pleasure of it � to read something not required for a class.� Discussion ensued as to what catchy titles could be used or incentives needed to induce students to become involved. The book title announcement will be made prior to the holiday break so it can be read during the break and discussed during the spring semester.� Joe Gisondi suggested getting together with the EIU radio and TV stations to invite authors to discuss books.� Another suggestion was to get a well-known person on campus to endorse the book.� In the meantime, the Board will come to our next meeting on December 3 with ideas and titles for this program.
The Patron Satisfaction Survey discussion was tabled to the next meeting due to time constraints.
Welcome
Dr. Lanham introduced guest speaker, Ellen Corrigan,
Cataloging Librarian, who is new to the Library this year.� Ellen Corrigan discussed her role as metadata
cataloger for digital collections. Her first project, the Booth Library
Postcard Collection, will initially consist of nearly 4,000 items related to
This information is especially helpful to those who are doing genealogy or other types of local and county research.�
Christopher Hanlon thought that it would be a great idea to digitize other collections, such as Eastern�s Paul Sergeant collection.� Ellen said that her project is only the first on a long list of projects that plan to be done.�
Planning Issues
� Dr. Lanham drew the Board�s attention to the insert of Note Booth, calling for presenters and participants in the �Wrapped in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity: NEH on the Road,� a traveling exhibit coming to Booth beginning in February, 2009.�
� Dean Lanham once again 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.� This would be on a Friday or Saturday night for approximately 100-150 students.� This program was used last year to sponsor a Women in Science and Math (WISM) event, as well as a Latino Heritage Month program.� Suggestions brought to the Board by Karen Whisler, which had been discussed at the Library Services Council meeting, included a program for transfer students (in January/February); a program for African-Americans in conjunction with the Kente Cloth exhibit; gaming; or, the Twilight Series books by Stephenie Meyer which many college students are currently reading.�
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The Normal School History exhibit which was slated
to debut in fall 2009 at Booth has been delayed due to the postponement of the
Other
Dr. Lanham said that he would like to discuss the Book and Materials Budget for FY09 at the next meeting, scheduled for December 3, 2008, and that a copy would be emailed to Board members prior to that time.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:08 p.m.�
Respectfully submitted by:
Christine Derrickson, Recording Secretary