MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD

September 23, 2009

 

Professor Joe Gisondi, Chair, convened the meeting at 4:01 p.m., in Booth Library Conference Room 4440.

 

Present:� Rick Anderson, Julie Benedict, Marie Fero, Joe Gisondi, Christopher Hanlon, Abdou Illia, Dean Allen Lanham, Stephen Lucas, Kiran Padmaraju, Robert Petersen, Tina K. Veale, and Peter S. Wiles.

 

Excused:� Thomas McDonald, Jeffrey J. Snell.

 

I.� Welcome and Comments

Joe Gisondi and Dean Lanham greeted the new Board and made introductions. �A motion was made to approve the minutes from the April 15, 2009, meeting as submitted; the motion carried.

 

II. Communications

Communications were received from Jeffrey Snell conveying his inability to attend, and from Christopher Hanlon advising his need to leave early for an English departmental meeting with President Perry.

 

III. Old Business

There was no old business.

 

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 brought to their attention a couple of items in the Booth Library information packet, namely the Library Advisory Board roster and the Bylaws of the Library Advisory Board.� Briefly mentioned were several Booth Library in-house documents, such as the Organizational Chart, Faculty and Staff Directory, and list of library bibliographers and their subject areas.

 

Due to the first meeting of the year being lengthy, no guest presentation was arranged.� Dean Lanham indicated that for the remaining meetings of the year, librarians, representing different areas in the library, will make brief presentations to the Board. �

 

Personnel

Dean Lanham announced that in addition to four staff positions that still need to be filled, the library is advertising for a faculty position.� The candidate for this position will be involved in electronic and digital processing, and the handling of copyright issues for Booth Library as well as to assist with Eastern�s copyright issues.

 

 

Service Issues

         Last year�s Library Advisory Board shelved the One Book, One University (�Spring Reads�) program for two years.� It has not been as successful in the recent past and the consensus of the Board was to discontinue at this time.

         Booth Library hosted an Open House on August 31 which was a great success.� A gate count showed 787 students passed through the library during the event � for tours of the library, visits with bibliographers, to learn about the Library�s collections and resources, and get free t-shirts, as well as games, food and prizes.� �

         The Library�s presence was also at Panther Palooza, the new faculty reception, and other campus semester kick-off functions.� Booth Library was not invited to participate at the new faculty orientation functions so the librarians plan to connect with new faculty throughout this semester.� One suggestion for making this connection was �lunch with your bibliographer.�

 

Collection Issues

This summer several gift collections were processed, including those from the Lumpkin Family and the estates of professors Howard Price (journalism) and Kevin Guinagh (foreign languages).�

 

Planning Issues

         A traveling exhibit, Harry Potter�s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine will be in residence at Booth Library from October 5 through November 14, 2009, made possible by the National Library of Medicine.� The opening reception will be on October 14 at 7:00 p.m. with our Board chair, Joe Gisondi, recognizing faculty presenters and curators.� The opening program will begin at 7:30 p.m. with David Raybin, professor of English, presenting.

         Booth After Dark was held on September 10 for new transfer students.� While not all 1005 transfer student invitees showed, a productive time was had by all in attendance.

         Because of the success of last year�s Booth After Dark for Hispanics during Latino Heritage Month, a similar program is being planned for sophomore-junior African-American students.� There is a strong Black entity on EIU�s campus that may benefit from this personalized exposure to Booth Library.� We will work closely with Minority Affairs for this event.

         The Normal School History exhibit is slated for fall 2010.� This exhibit is being developed and produced by Booth Library and could be subtitled, �How teachers tamed the prairie.�� The exhibit will examine the influence of the Normal schools on the State of Illinois.

         To embrace EIU Integrative Learning Initiative, Booth Library is seeking assistance from the Library Advisory Board to design a program based on research and creative activities.� This competition is seen as a way to encourage students� use of Booth Library to become more obvious in their work.� This competition, be it for an essay, article, term paper, poetry, short story, art work, musical composition, recorded performance, or something else entirely, requires an output.� Whether it is a taped recording, an actual art object or essay, that item would become a part of Booth Library�s collection that will, in turn, demonstrate student research and creativity over the years.� Booth Library is also looking for students to create an outside-the-classroom project, something that expresses themselves, and provides a creative outlet to have their work recognized.� Discussion ensued over this idea.� Christopher Hanlon thought a more appropriate title might be �scholarly� work vs. �creative.�� It was discussed that Booth Library�s award should not overlap other awards being given on campus.� One idea was to give the award(s) in spring and host an exhibit in the fall to encourage students.� Dr. Lanham indicated that the prizes would be of some specified value and that they might fall into categories (i.e., not judging an art piece against an essay) and five to eight prizes might be awarded; perhaps none would be awarded for a year.� Tina Veale thought that some sort of abstract, bibliography, or statement of interest should be prepared by the student to substantiate the connection to the use of Booth Library�s resources.� Robert Peterson asked if other libraries were doing this.� Dr. Lanham replied that some libraries have poetry contests or art awards each year, but he knows of no place where it is open to all disciplines.� When asked what the Board�s charge was for this, Dean Lanham asked that the Board be the voice to develop criteria and procedures, and help promote this idea across campus.� Joe Gisondi asked that Board members email their ideas to him for presentation at our next meeting.

 

Budget Issues

Booth Library has not been made aware of any changes in budget from last year�s figures; so the Library will operate and spend accordingly.� However, even though funds were not cut, costs have gone up and will impact the amount of books and materials that can be purchased.� Discussion ensued about the use of electronic materials for student research.

 

Other

Tina Veale mentioned that she had been at a graduate school student meeting earlier in the day and there was some discussion about library hours.� While the graduate school voice of 1200 students on campus is small, they are a group that would typically have greater need and use of the library.� Tina Veale mentioned to the students the reasons why the library did not stay open later, using the statements made at one of last year�s Board meetings.� However, she thought that a written statement put together by the Board would be a helpful tool for faculty to share with students when this issue repeatedly comes up.� Dr. Lanham agreed that if many students wanted to do extensive research and use the library�s collection, he could see the need for longer hours.� However, if they just want a place to use a computer, make copies, or meet with friends, there are other places on campus for that on the weekend evenings.� It seems that every year some student group wants to address this issue without showing a concrete need for extended hours related to the use of library materials.� In addition, with current vacant positions, the library is hard pressed to staff the hours the library is already scheduled to be open.�

 

V. Adjournment

Tina Veale moved and Marie Fero seconded that the meeting be adjourned, 5:10 p.m.�

 

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Christine Derrickson, Recording Secretary