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Library Managers

University of Waterloo
Library Managers, February 18, 2009
9:30 a.m., DC 1568

Present: Annie Bélanger, Allan Bell, Eric Boyd, Betty Graf, Jennifer Haas, Mark Haslett (Chair), Sharon Lamont, Susan Mavor, Ann Naese, Bill Oldfield, Richard Pinnell, Susan Routliffe, Mary Stanley, Debbie Tytko, Annette Dandyk (Recorder)

Guest: Janet Wason

Regrets: Michele Laing

1. Accessible Information and Communications Standards
Annie and Janet Wason gave a presentation about the proposed Accessible Information and Communications Standard http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/accesson/business/information/ that would require all businesses and organizations to provide accessible information in various formats such as online, print, verbal and digital.

Background - the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/ was passed in 2001 to: increase awareness of the issues affecting people with disabilities; identify and remove barriers; and to have the provincial government and broader public sector develop annual accessibility plans and make them public. The Library developed an accessibility plan for 2003-2004 and made commitments in areas of: policies, programs and services; electronic access; physical environment and facilities; and communications and awareness

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/what/AODA_2005.htm mandate is to make Ontario accessible in all areas of daily life by 2025 and will be achieved by creating standards and regulations that all businesses, public sector organizations, municipal and provincial governments must comply with. Standards are being developed in five areas: employment; built environment; transportation; customer service; and information and communications.

The subsequent discussion focussed on two points: publishers will be required to provide publications in a variety of accessible formats at no cost to libraries; and communication needs to be in plain language so that people with lower literacy levels can understand (in the library this would include web sites, training sessions, guides, policies etc).

OCUL has prepared a response. Although we support the goals of the legislation some issues from the UW Library perspective are as follows:
o Is it feasible to expect that we’ll be able to acquire various versions of all materials at no cost? (i.e. we can’t make publishers/vendors compliant – 80% of library materials are not published in Ontario);
o Financial impacts (reduction of acquisitions power, increased training costs for staff);
o Ability/expertise to convert library materials into multiple alternate formats;
o Impacted areas that will require review: IT, finances, service delivery, staffing, and materials

Planning – following are some of the things the Library could start with:
o Re-offer accessibility awareness information sessions (offered in June 2003);
o Investigate delivery of plain language training;
o Review web accessibility training for content developers;
o Review our print and online library guides for plain language and accessibility;
o Investigate Universal Instructional Design strategies;
o Research additional technologies for library compliance.

While there has been some discussion on campus about the accessible information and communications standards, there is still much work to be done and a lot of questions about timing and do-ability. Mark will follow-up with Alan George, Bruce Mitchell, Rose Padacz and others.
Acton: Mark

2. Chair’s Remarks
• Around the Table Updates
Mary
The update report has been printed and will be distributed soon.

Ann
The Circulation desks loan out headphones for use with computers. Ann will send a document to Managers outlining a proposal to discontinue this practice and asked managers to email their feedback to her. Several issues contributed to the proposal: sanitation, frequent breakage, and ‘ear buds’ can be purchased from the vending machines.
Action: Ann, all

Richard
Richard took over responsibility for submission of external statistics after Linda Teather’s retirement. The ARL stats were submitted at the end of January and the CARL stats will be submitted next week. He plans to update the key stats on the Library web site soon after.

Annie
Helena and Christine will take on additional duties in Porter ISR to cover for Annie while she’s on leave.

Sharon
The civil workplace sessions for non-supervisory staff have been scheduled. Two of the sessions will be department specific – Davis ISR and Cataloguing. The other sessions are open and scheduled for March 19, 25, and 26. Sharon will send a message to staff soon.
Action: Sharon

Eighteen UW work placement requests were submitted, however, the Library was granted only 13 positions. Two departments were given permission to post for the spring term. LibExec will continue to review the other requests and develop a strategy to meet everyone’s needs.
Action: LibExec

Allan
Chris will give the IST Friday seminar on the VMware project.

The OCUL scholar’s portal discovery layer meeting held February 9 was a productive meeting and provided a good opportunity to make connections with others in the province looking at discovery layer.

Susan R
Susan gave an update on the UAE project in Dubai. Things are still on track for September 2009. There is now a website for prospective students. http://uae.uwaterloo.ca/index.html

3. Business Arising from November 26, February 4
No business arising.

4. Web Strategy for the Library
Allan distributed the draft strategy and asked Managers to review it and email their comments to him by the next Managers meeting. The strategy articulates how the Library plans to move forward within the current structure. Good things in the current environment include:
o New products like Ares and Primo;
o Conforming to the common look and feel with the campus web standards;
o Usability studies and analysis of what people use.

There are issues however:
o A committee (WebOps) has responsibility for looking after the public face of the Library and has to try to figure out what to do. There should be more people making decisions about what to do;
o No defined procedures;
o There needs to be more accessibility;
o Committee fatigue;
o No effective channels of communication – there needs to be more effective communication between WebOps and Library Managers, LibExec, staff, and user needs/usability groups.
o Projects are often not really connected to organizational strategy and goals.

Next steps – once Managers have emailed their comments to Allan he will schedule an open meeting for other staff who are interested. Allan will draft a mandate for the proposed Web Executive Board (WEB), the group that will provide direction for WebOps and staff working on projects, and set priorities for the projects.
Action: Allan, all

Next meeting: March 4, LIB 428 [Note – cancelled]

 

 


 


 


 


 


 




 




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June 10, 2009