Skip to the content of the web site.

Library Managers • Minutes

Library Managers, February 7, 2007
9:30 a.m. , LIB 428

Present: Allan Bell, Eric Boyd, Betty Graf, Jennifer Haas, Mark Haslett (Chair), Michele Laing, Alex McCulloch, Susan Mavor, Richard Pinnell, Shabiran Rahman, Susan Routliffe, Mary Stanley, Linda Teather, Debbie Tytko, Annette Dandyk (Recorder)

Regrets: Sharon Lamont

Guest: Renee Rahamut

  1. Chair’s Remarks
    • Recognition and Commendation
      Anniversaries in February:
      February 17 - Lesley Wade, LAU; 15 years
      February 22 - Carol Steele, Porter ISR; 25 years
      February 28 - Ingrid Pinos, Cataloguing; 35 years

    • Updates
      Mark reported briefly on the February 6 Board of Governors meeting. As in previous years there is a gap between expenses and revenue.

      On January 29 Susan, Mark and Ken Coates (Dean of Arts) participated in the ongoing discussion between UW and the City of Stratford about a potential liberal arts campus in Stratford.

      Dave Stout from Ex Libris Inc is scheduled to talk about the purchase and merger with Endeavor Information Systems at the University of Guelph on February 15. Allan will issue an invitation to TUG Managers.
    Action: Allan

  2. Business Arising from January 17
    #3 User Satisfaction Survey

    Managers had asked for comments to be divided by category and site. Sorting is underway and expected to be completed soon. CNAC has decided to include all comments received, not just the ones from the random sample.

  3. Unmediated Requesting in Racer
    Currently every ILL/DD and TUGdoc request is reviewed by Circulation Services staff to ensure accuracy before sending the request on. Ottawa, Carlton and recently Trent have been testing the effects of sending unmediated requests in cases where an ISBN/ISSN exists, and their overall experience has been significant time savings for staff and improved turn-around time for users.  The down side of allowing unmediated requests will be a shift in some of the workload – saving time on the Borrowing side but increasing time on the Lending side. In our environment, however, where a high percentage of the requests are TUGdoc requests, the overall impact is calculated to be a substantial savings. TUG Libraries agreed to implement unmediated requests in Racer effective May 1. Carlton provided an education component for students; we are looking at having an interactive training component for our users.

  4. Follow up on Optional Circ Slips – Book Pockets
    UG has ceased putting book pockets in new materials. The UW Circulation Managers have decided that effective immediately book pockets do not need to be inserted into new Davis materials. New Porter books will continue to receive them until the gates have been installed and the system is operational. This is a ripple effect of the implementation of the 3M RFID system. Eventually, it may also decrease the number of printers and thermal tape rolls needed to generate the slips.

  5. Update on LibQual Survey
    The survey will be run from February 14 to March 17. A letter inviting people to participate will go out with Mark’s name on February 14. The survey will be sent to all faculty members, all grad students and some undergrads. Some concerns were expressed: the survey lends itself towards researchers and other library users and is not designed for staff; because of the way the survey is designed it may be more of an annoyance (no N/A option); and the risk of survey fatigue – we just finished the user satisfaction survey. LibQual is one of several tools we use to measure user satisfaction. After lengthy discussion Managers decided that unless there is a way to easily identify staff who are known to use the library for academic purposes (e.g. research assistants), staff would not be surveyed.

    Rachel Caldwell, Mary and Shabiran have been discussing publicity which will include:

Once the results have been compiled we expect to receive a report containing percentages, highlights and gaps etc. We also anticipate that OCUL and possibly CARL will issue a report. Once we have received the results we can consider whether further analysis of the raw data is necessary.

Renee Rahamut (HR Staff Relations Coordinator) arrived at 10:30. Introductions were made and a brief social period followed.

Next meeting: February 21 (Davis)

If you have any queries or concerns about this page, please contact .

March 5, 2007