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Library Managers • Minutes

Library Managers , November 16, 2004
9:15 a.m. , LIB 407

Present: Lorraine Beattie, Eric Boyd , Betty Graf , Mark Haslett (Chair), Michele Laing , Sharon Lamont , Jim Parrott , Richard Pinnell , Shabiran Rahman , Susan Routliffe , Susan Saunders Bellingham, Debbie Tytko, Annette Dandyk (Recorder)

Regrets: Mary Stanley

  1. Chair’s Remarks
    Recognition and Commendation

    • Janet Wason’s article Victorian Era Ball has been included in a recently published book on Canadian dance.
    • Carol Stephenson and Anne Fullerton recently had an article titled A Consortial Approach to ILL published.
    • The Provost has approved Anne Fullerton’s request for a study leave.
    • Charles Woods has been invited to facilitate one of the key sessions at the OCUL Forum.
    • UW was ranked highest in many areas in the latest Macleans survey. The Library moved up significantly in percentage of library acquisitions expenses of total overall library expenses. Mark highlighted this at the November 15 Senate meeting.
    • A new centre was approved at the November 15 Senate meeting - Canadian Centre for Cultural Innovation (CCCI) headed by Phil Graham. The Centre’s focus will be to look at digitizing material not usually available. Susan B has discussed digitizing some of the archival materials with Phil Graham. Portions of the KW Record collection and some women’s studies materials may also be digitized. Mark will serve on the CCCI board.

    Updates

    • The last day for early bird registration for the OLA super conference is November 30. The new travel guidelines http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/News/
      UWLibDocs/ travel.html      ) state: “Applications for funding to support professional development are considered by one’s Department Head/Manager in consultation with his/her manager. When funds requested by an individual exceed $1,500 (subject to annual review) in a fiscal year, the application is subject to the approval of the Library Executive Committee”.

  2. Business Arising from November 2
    2. Business Arising, Opportunity for all Managers to meet with Davis ISR Department Head Candidates: Susan will meet with the interview team today to decide on an interview topic. Five candidates will be interviewed, dates to be determined.
    Action: Susan

    2. Business Arising, Managers Updates at November Meeting: Mark has still not sent the message inviting groups to report at Managers meetings.
    Action: Mark

    2. Business Arising, ARL E-Metrics Statistics: the Library Managers group will not meet again before the surveys are due so Linda will send them to the group for perusal before submitting.
    Action: Linda

    5. TUG Lending Policy, OLC: Jamie Russell contacted the church colleges about extending UW@UW to optometry students and they had no concerns. Renison has a post graduate bachelor of social work program and may request a similar arrangement for their students (i.e. term borrowing TUG wide). Committee members agreed that this would be acceptable. Sharon will contact the TUG partners.
    Action: Sharon

  3. Managers Update
    Richard and Michele gave the first two of the monthly managers’ updates.

    UMD (Richard Pinnell)

    • The most significant occurrence in the past year was the transfer of approximately 10,000 items to the Musagetes Library. The move has impacted UMD space, staff, and the tasks they perform.
    • Jeanette Chapman’s contract ended August 31. Amy Chan retired in October leaving UMD without a cataloguer and one third of its reference staff. This has caused a temporary reduction in reference service. Morag Coyne is currently providing four hours of reference and GIS service per week. Because of Morag’s assistance the reduction in hours at the reference desk is only five hours per week. Jon Morgan has accepted a position in Davis ISR effective December 1.
    • The Davis collection of folded maps, approximately 10,000 items was transferred to UMD in September.  Also shipped to UMD was a smaller collection of flat maps in horizontal map cabinets; many of these reference and index maps are superseded or duplicated and need to be weeded and/or updated. Richard is exploring the feasibility of installing security strips in this collection.
    • Requests for GIS assistance are increasing, with consultations taking from 30 minutes to four hours. The heaviest use comes from the departments of Geography, Planning, Environment and Resource Studies, Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Earth Science.
    • There is continuing heavy demand for user education for UMD Library clients; UMD staff have delivered instructional workshops to several hundred students in Geography, Planning, and Earth Sciences during the fall term.
    • Acquiring new resources is time consuming. Recent purchases include the Grand river watershed ortho images; renewal of the licensing agreement with the Grand River watershed for three years; and renewal of the licensing agreement with the City of Kitchener for access to their municipal vector and raster data.
    • November 17 is GIS day; Eva Dodsworth has been involved in much of the planning. Booths will be set up in the Environmental Studies courtyard, and demonstrations showing what GIS is and how to use it will be offered.
    • Members of the OC UL Map Group are working with OCUL staff to provide clients with access to GIS data through Scholars Portal.  It has been proposed to begin the project with NRVIS data provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.  This project will be discussed at the OCUL Map Group meeting at Guelph-Humber on December 7.
    • A student has been hired by Prof. Karen Hammond of the Planning Department to work on digitizing the City of Kitchener fire insurance maps. Digitized format will provide easier access for users.
    • UMD will likely undergo a name change some time in the future.
    • Discussions about the possibility of obtaining development funding for a flex lab/training centre are taking place.

    Musagetes ( Michele Laing )

    • Hours – a recent memo from the Provost states that UW’s core hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and that service points must be open during that time. Musagetes may not have the option of opening later.
    • Web site - Amy Townsend is working in consultation with the Web Ops group to create a Musagetes web site.
    • Staff - the Musagetes Library is staffed by four full time (including Michele) and five part-time staff, two of whom also work for Cambridge Public Library. All staff are undergoing training – Daspina Fefekos and Jason Tran have been trained to handle ILL and TUGdocs, Amy Townsend is being trained to provide reference service, and Amy and Michele will require training and procedures with respect to handling rare books.
    • Collections – the books and journals are now located where they should be; the periodicals needed to be shifted three times. All materials retrieved from the Annex have been incorporated. All materials have received security strips. Half of the collection remains to be sensitized. The product binders are currently not accessible. The rare books are expected to arrive on November 24.
    • Physical facility – much is still outstanding. There are no staff printers, and no colour photocopier; however they are expected to arrive soon. It is unclear if Musagetes will receive an Ariel workstation, or a data projector. The absence of a data projector makes it difficult for workshops and instruction as other training rooms in the building are heavily booked. Public photocopying and lack of the Watcard system are still issues.
    • Book check system - it will likely be hooked up on November 25. A temporary system is in place.
    • Book return bin – shoot not yet received.
    • Office furniture – furniture for the School (including the Library) is slated for arrival on November 18th.
    • Surplus shelving – the School of Architecture has rented storage space across the street and surplus shelving currently in the Library will be sent there.
    • No access to Plant Operations – there isn’t anyone on site to handle tasks such as hanging clocks and map rails. Michele was encouraged to send a list of tasks to Eric who would prepare a work request.
    • Safety – the Joint Health and Safety Committee inspected the new site. They declared that shelving on the Melville street side of the Library was too wobbly and too high, and must be taken down. Eric suggested bracing it. Michele and Rick will respond to the Joint Health and Safety Committee.
    • Outstanding issues - some millwork and renovation work, lights, and drawer locks still need attention. The pre-1995 Architecture theses will be returned to the Annex due to lack of space in the rare book room. While the intention had been to offer basic GIS service, the complexity of the data, lack of staff, and training time make it impractical for the time being. Rick Haldenby is attempting to arrange for some GIS support in Cambridge . The public computers require authentication, preventing non UW patrons from accessing TRELLIS without the assistance of library staff.
    • The open house for Library staff is scheduled for November 30.
    • The Architecture Library Advisory Group likely won’t meet until January.
    • Michele gave some Richard some recommendations in terms of planning for a Pharmacy library.

  4. Disruptive or Threatening Student Behaviour
    A memo from the Provost, and pamphlet prepared by Counselling Services were distributed prior to the meeting for information. They draw attention to the provision for dealing with student behaviour that is sufficiently disruptive or threatening as to infringe on activities of others on campus. The content is much the same as outlined in the Library’s Safety Manual.

  5. Planning for the 6th Decade
    Deferred. It will be the key agenda item at the next meeting,

Next meeting:
December 7 ( Davis ); WatITis is scheduled for that day. Mark will find out when the keynote speaker is scheduled, and may adjust the date and/or time of the Library Managers meeting.

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August 2, 2005