Library Managers, January 17, 2007
9:30 a.m. , Davis
Present: Allan Bell, Eric Boyd, Betty Graf, Jennifer Haas, Mark Haslett (Chair), Michele Laing, Sharon Lamont, Susan Mavor, Alex McCulloch, Richard Pinnell, Shabiran Rahman, Susan Routliffe, Mary Stanley, Linda Teather, Debbie Tytko, Annette Dandyk (Recorder)
Guests: Anne Fullerton, Tim Ireland
The chair introduced and welcomed Allan Bell.
- Davis Reno Planning
Anne Fullerton reported on work of the Davis Renovations Planning Group and showed a power point presentation of the 1st and 2nd stages of the renovation. Projects during the fall 2006 term included:
- used comment cards to solicit student opinions about noise levels at group study tables and nearby carrels;
- determined space needs of staff;
- identified the best location for new study carrels;
- visited recently renovated libraries at Renison College and McMaster University.
Next steps:
- revise area data sheets for study tables and staff areas; review accessibility issues and universal design principles;
- draw conceptual designs for the current space after analysing the lower level comment cards;
- look at options for expanding the space;
- consult with users;
- schedule additional Library site visits.
Development funds will enable the purchase of 28 to 30 new study carrels which will be placed in the quiet study area on the main floor.
- Porter Reno Planning
Alex McCulloch gave an update on work of the Porter Renovations Planning Teams progress. An open forum held on November 13 to view a proposed layout of the Porter main floor was well attended and generated positive comments. The only concerns expressed were about the amount of staff space. The group will revisit this issue.
Currently the group is focusing on developing goals and data sheets for specific areas of the floor. They are also working with Liwana Bringelson’s System Design 348 class. The team is waiting to view Walter Fedy’s report, and also plans to produce a short report of its own with recommendations. For example, one of the Terms of Reference was to consider collaborative opportunities with other campus constituencies. To this end they have looked at the Learning Commons concept but have concluded that further exploration of this concept should be a separate project.
- User Satisfaction survey
The Report of the Library Satisfaction Survey 2006 was distributed prior to the meeting. The report makes six recommendations.
Some Managers stated that it would be useful to receive all of the actual comments sorted by the categories identified in Appendix B and by site. Comments that identify individuals would be rewritten to be anonymous. Tim will discuss with CNAC and investigate the feasibility of this request. Distribution of the comments will be limited to Managers and the Porter and Davis renovation groups.
CNAC will compare the questions of the satisfaction survey to the LibQual questions to determine if a comparison of results is possible. Someone from CNAC will report back at a future Library Managers meeting.
- Chair’s Remarks
- Recognition and Commendation
Vera Starz, LAU, will celebrate 5 years in the Library on January 21st.
Nabeela Rahman has accepted a 16 month contract in Circulation Services to cover Vera’s secondment to LAU.
Congratulations to Stephaniata (Stef) Voichita who has accepted the Evening Supervisor position in Davis, effective January 17.
- Updates
Allan is now the Administrative contact for the EDS, WebOps and LibWeb Review groups. He will be making contact with various groups/units in the Library.
Possible UW affiliation with Stratford - preliminary discussions are taking place. Mark has spoken with the Head of the public library, Sam Coghlin, and with Ken Coates, Dean of Arts. The three of them are scheduled to meet briefly next week; Mark will provide an update at the next Library Managers meeting.
Mark convened a meeting recently of what he has coined the campus copyright roundtable. All members have an interest in or are engaged in issues of copyright. Mark will release the notes to Managers when available.
A memo outlining the TUG Preservation of Last Copy Agreement has been drafted and will be soon distributed to Deans Council, and copied to Liaison Librarians and Managers.
Kresge Campaign – we need to raise less than $400,000 to meet our goal, and have received an extension to the end of February.
IBM – an in-kind gift of equipment to the Library valued at over $300,000 will allow us to replace all staff workstations, provide additional equipment for public use and extends to server infrastructure and potentially to consulting services. The machines will come equipped with Office 2003 and will be updated to Office 2007 later this year when the campus moves to 2007. Thanks were expressed to Mary, Sharon, Carl, and Linda who pulled the information together before Christmas to allow this to happen. This is an important initiative for the Library – it gets us closer to meeting the Kresge challenge, and allows us to replace many computers which we would not have had funds for.
- Business Arising from December 20
#1 Updates, Staffing – we have received approval from the Provost to make Cheryl Kieswetter’s position as Campaign Assistant permanent. LibExec is having discussions about how to address reception, clerical and other support needs on the 4th floor after Rose Koebel returns to Davis January 29. Other staffing discussions are also ongoing.
#1 Updates, Survey Monkey – the license was not renewed by the vendor. Concern was raised that we may not be able to do further analysis on the CNAC satisfaction survey if we don’t have the license. If there is a need, we will revisit what to do at that time.
#1 Updates, Optometry and Pharmacy - Mark is scheduled to meet with George Dixon and Thom Freddo on January 22.
#2 Updates, Geospatial Data Services Librarian position - the position was posted on the HR web site January 10. The interview team will consist of: Sharon, Richard, Allan, Renee Rahamut, Doug Morton, Margaret Yuen, and Ksenia Bronicki.
#3 Interlibrary Loan for Alumni –Wish has been asked to consider the pros and cons of a no-fee document delivery service for Alumni. He will report back to Susan R.
#4 Scholars Portal - institutions may send up to five people. UW’s attendees will be: Allan Bell, Christine Jewell, Doug Morton, Debbie Tytko, and Charles Woods. Helena Calogeridis is on a waiting list. Mark will also be attending as there is a Directors meeting that evening.
#5 Circulation Due Date Slips – it was noted that Item Prep staff are still gluing pockets in new books, costing us staff time and money. It is too soon to tell whether the majority of users will take advantage of the ‘no slip’ option.
Managers were asked to contact Mary with their news items for issues of news @ your library being planned for the winter term.
The next issue of news @ your library will include an article introducing Allan. Once that issue is out Mark will send a message to TUG staff with a link to the article.
- Performance Appraisal Process
Last year the appraisal process was tweaked by engaging evaluator’s Supervisors in a meaningful way to improve consistency across Library departments. At a minimum, an evaluator’s Supervisor must read the appraisal before it goes to the staff member. If Managers anticipate that a rating will be 4.5 or higher or less than 3, the Manager should have a discussion with the appropriate member of Library Executive Committee. The 2007 form http://www.hr.uwaterloo.ca/work/appraisal
/padownload.html includes changes to the Working Environment Section.
Distribution: Managers were reminded to send two copies of completed and signed performance appraisals to Annette by noon on Friday March 16. Originals may be given to the staff member, and evaluators should retain one copy for their files.
- Systems Brown Bag Sessions
IE training sessions were offered over lunch hours in December to introduce staff to the features of the new software, even though it is not yet available on staff workstations. There was discussion about whether future sessions such as Firefox, SnagIt and Bookit should be offered as lunchtime brown bag sessions or on staff time. Some are clearly needed for work and are viewed as training that should be offered on work time. To allow staff maximum flexibility for attending, future sessions will be offered on work time and over the lunch hour. Demonstrations of topics that aren’t training for most staff but may be of interest to some (projects being worked on or that are in exploratory stages) will be scheduled over the noon hour.
Next meeting: February 7
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February 2, 2007
