Present: Lorraine Beattie , Eric Boyd , Jane Forgay , Betty Graf , Mark Haslett (Chair), Christine Jewell , Sharon Lamont , Richard Pinnell , Susan Routliffe , Mary Stanley , Linda Teather , Debbie Tytko , Annette Dandyk (Recorder)
Regrets: Susan Bellingham
Campaign Waterloo
Mary provided an update on campaign prospects.
Annual report
Deferred.
Update on Accessibility Plan and Library Survey
Janet gave an update on a Library survey on the information and accessibility needs of students who are registered with the Office for Persons with Disabilities. The goal of the survey is to obtain feedback on current Library services and resources. The Community Needs Assessment Committee (CNAC) devised 26 questions with input from the Office for Persons with Disabilities. The survey was carried out via email with help from Jack Cooper in IST. Seventy five responses were received from the first round of surveys sent out; 492 surveys were recently sent in the second round. The results will be mounted on the web in June. Janet’s sense from the responses already received is they have the same needs as other students – e.g. need for study space.
Janet provided an overview of Library Accessibility Plan projects. Of eighteen projects/commitments, six have been completed, eight are in progress with various stages of completion, and the remainder are forthcoming or pending.
Next year the Library’s initiatives will be incorporated into the overall UW Accessibility Plan. Projects could include:
Overall the Library is doing very well and is ahead of the plan. Janet and Library staff engaged in accessibility functions are to be commended for all the work that has gone on.
Business Arising from January 20 meeting
#3 Scholars Portal Evaluation Project
The Library did not receive ethics approval to participate in the Scholars Portal Evaluation project. Mark has sent a note to OCUL directors and the OCUL Executive expressing concern about the survey itself. Mark has since spoken with other OCUL directors who have expressed similar concerns. He has also sent a note to the OCUL Executive asking that it be on the agenda for the April Directors meeting. He has confirmed with the OCUL Executive that: the survey is in no way related to helping OCUL apportion costs for ScholarsPortal; nor is it designed to provide cost-justification of ScholarsPortal; and, OCUL has selected an “experimental” tool to carry out this survey.
In his note to the OCUL Executive Mark indicated “the way the survey is implemented results in a restriction of access to our resources if our users decline to participate in the survey. This is unacceptable. I cannot imagine supporting a survey of our print resources which would inhibit access to, for instance, our print periodicals collection for two hours if a user declined to answer a series of questions. Why would we support this process in a digital environment? Open and unrestricted access to information should be our watchword. The survey flies in the face of this.”
#8 Public Printing
Linda will provide an update at the May 18 meeting.
Oracle Calendar Trial
The UW name will be bookit.uwaterloo.ca. Systems has been working with the Outlook Connector (OC) and web clients, providing feedback to IST, and tweaking the server. A demo of the web and desktop client to the evaluation group has been proposed for the week of May 10. Following a two week evaluation period, a decision will be made re: Library implementation of the Oracle Calendar and at that time Managers will identify staff that will require it.
IST plans to implement OC the first week of June, and later in June, the early adopter groups (including the Library) will implement it. Other campus groups will follow in mid-July.
TUG Stats & Reports PowerPlay Staff Training Plan
The TUG Reports Training Team is preparing for the next round of Cognos staff training on PowerPlay, proposed for late October 2004.
Training will occur at several levels: a general overview/awareness session aimed at managers and librarians to determine which staff might benefit from it; basic sessions on using PowerPlay – the mechanics; and, indepth sessions for groups or for specific functions.
For the general overview session Gail will modify the session she gave at EndUser, and present it at all three TUG sites in late May or early June. In the fall, staff taking the PowerPlay training will be offered the overview session.
The final session will be Using Impromptu for report building. This will be contracted out to ThoughtCorp to train the training team.
Income Continuance Programs
Lorraine distributed copies of the January 2004 Income Continuance Programs brochure and indicated that there are no substantive changes to practice, but that many things not previously articulated have now been formally articulated.
Lorraine will ask HR if it would be possible to mount the contents of the brochure on the web.
Staff Recognition Program
When the staff recognition program was first announced Managers talked about how best to handle it within the Library. The goldenrod brochure that was distributed to all staff states that all members of the UW community can nominate staff and forward those nominations directly to the Secretariat. The need for Managers to be involved has been removed because the selection process is entirely in the hands of the Selection committee (members of Executive Council).
Lorraine will send a message to all staff to clear up any lingering confusion.
Wellness Fair
Staff campus wide have received flyers promoting an upcoming wellness fair. Human Resources is encouraging managers to allow staff time off to attend if they have registered for sessions that occur during working hours.
Updates Recognition and Commendation
Susan Routliffe explained that the Library has received funding through the Quality Assurance program to purchase Elsevier backfiles (a collection of over 1800 titles). We should have access through the Scholars Portal in the next week or two.
Mark thanked Christine and Jane for their participation in Managers’ meetings during their secondments. Both secondments end April 30.
Congratulations to Mark Spencer and Al Smith for their recent promotions to the positions of Cataloguing and Information Desk Associates, effective April 26, and June 1, 2004 .
Anniversaries, January to April:
Janet Wason , ISR-Porter, celebrated 15 years on January 23
Connie Shuttleworth , ILL /DD, celebrated 20 years on February 1
Cheryl Kieswetter , Library Office-Porter, celebrated 5 years on March 24
Marian Davies , ISR-Porter, celebrated 20 years on April 2
Rose Koebel , Library Office-Davis, celebrated 15 years on April 3
Dianne Seager , Special Collections, celebrated 20 years on April 5
Jana Cerny , Cataloguing, celebrated 30 years on April 15
Eric Boyd , Library Office- Facil ities, celebrated 15 years on April 17
Mark noted that once per term he will send a message to all staff announcing long service anniversaries.
Carol Stephenson ’s secondment as OCUL VDX Project Manager will end April 30, however she will continue to do OCUL VDX work up to one day per week until no later than July 1.
Faye Abram’s secondment as OCUL Project Officer has been extended.
CNSLP has been incorporated and will now be known as CRKN (Canadian Research Knowledge Network). The inaugural meeting of that group is scheduled for this Thursday and Friday; Mark and Susan will attend.
The OCUL Directors meeting is April 28 & 29. Managers should let Mark know if there is anything they want him to highlight to other OCUL directors.
The Library Executive Committee has received the reports and recommendations from the ILL/DD Review, and ISR Management structure review. They have had a first meeting to consider the recommendations.
At the January Managers meeting it was agreed that a content management group should be struck. Subsequently the Web Ops group has recommended that the Library start using cascading style sheets. A demo is scheduled April 21 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. It was agreed that this is a good first step towards content management. Cascading style sheets is the infrastructure behind the pages that allows formatting and control. Unless there are concerns from Managers about it, Mark and Susan will ask Web Ops to proceed with implementation of cascading style sheets.
The Friends of the Library talk is scheduled for Wednesday May 5 [12 noon , Theatre of the Arts, ML]. Political journalist and international affairs analyst Richard Gwyn will give a public talk on “running after history”. Staff attending the talk may record ½ hour for lunch and the rest is Library time.
User Services Trials
Deferred
4th Floor renovation
At the December meeting it was reported that 4 th floor renovations would include upgrading both conference rooms with improved adjustable lighting, wireless networking, new projection screens, furnishings, and whiteboards. Work to improve air distribution throughout the floor necessitates new ceilings and lights. Carpeting will be replaced throughout. Some areas of the Library Office area will be updated with new furnishings. Work is on schedule and is expected to be completed at the end of May or early June. Eric brought floor plans and answered questions after the meeting.
Mary will produce an issue of news @ your library highlighting upcoming renovations: Davis Centre Information Commons; 4th floor; School of Architecture Library; and Porter 3rd Floor.
Next meeting :
May 18, 2004 , Davis 1568
Mark in Tucson ; Susan R will Chair.
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