The University of Kansas Libraries

KU Libraries Support Staff

KULSS Executive Meeting
Thursday, November 17, 2011, 10:00-11:30
Art & Architecture

Present: Jill Becker (Chair), Robert Szabo (Vice-Chair) Kristin Zachrel (Secretary), Adam Reilly (Group 1), Julie Woodrick (Group 2), Sharon Riley (Group 3)

Absent: None

Guest: Andrea Back, Ann Snow

Previous Meeting's Action Items

Group Reports

Group 1 (Adam):

• There was a Cataloging meeting last Tuesday. Mary reported there will be a Voyager upgrade in late December after the semester’s over.
• Judith reported Primo will be implemented soon; it’s in the testing phase now. Judith will compile a database of non-compliant sources which will not be included in the Primo search results.
  

Group 2 (Julie):

• Just found out about the Voyager upgrade.
• Julie went to Atlanta for the Access Services conference, which was geared toward academic libraries.
• Acquisitions/Serials had a department-wide meeting on November 10th where the units met to update each other on what their working on.
• Angie Rathmel's unit in Acquisitions/Serials participated in a Strengths session led by Lars. They will have their second and final session on December 5th.

Group 3 (Sharon):

• Anschutz:
  • Had their Fall Food Day with a Thanksgiving theme yesterday.
  • Late Night Research and Write-in sessions are continuing every Sunday through Wednesday nights.
  • They are receiving two new large plants this Friday.
  • Lobby tables this week included the KU Dietician, the Jayhawk Buddy System, and the Student Health - Great American Smokeout.
  • They are beginning to have meetings concerning the procedures for the new public MFD printing/copiers that will be in place for the Spring semester.
• Art & Architecture:
  • They just got a new bike rack installed, which Andrea requested this Fall since there was no rack on their side of the building and people had to lock their bikes to railings, meter poles, and trees.
  • Their catalog-only workstation was converted to a combined Catalog-Search/Quick Print station.
• Annex:

  • The construction crews arrived at the Library Annex last week. They are excited to see progress towards getting the expansion. Not much more than dirt moving so far but still exciting.

Committee Reports

Support Staff Senate: Nothing to report.

University Committee on Libraries: Nothing to report.

Mentoring Committee: Nothing to report.

LOSDC: Nothing to report.

Meeting Updates

Management Council (Next Mtg: 12/21/11):

• Mentoring:
  • Lorraine wants support staff and unclassified staff to be involved in Mentoring.
  • The Community of Interest groups are inactive but some of the topics will continue under the Mentoring Committee.
  • They are in the process of identifying staff pairs that are in mentoring relationships. Many are informal and haven’t been shared widely.
  • Supervisors are critical to the success in mentoring.
  • They are working on identifying roles and relationships of mentor/mentee and how to evaluate these.
• HR update: there are 2 active searches. The 1st Year Experience position closes on November 28th. The E-sciences position is closed. The search committees have to do 9-12 phone interviews before anyone can even be interviewed. They are reviewing the applicants.
• Performance evaluations are coming up.
• The University Leadership Summit is February 21st. It is an all day event and the focus will be on strengths.
• Strategic Plan update:
  • They explained the difference between the strategic plan, which creates a narrative map of goals, and the operational plan, which is a working plan of what will be done.
  • The Libraries are one of the only departments on campus that have extensively looked at the University's strategic plan and identified ways we could fit into that.
  • We are in stage one now: doing analysis of the plan (SWOT). Stage 2 is next and will identify 3-5 strategic goals, outcomes, and identify charges. Stage 3 will launch the groups. Stage 4 will implement metrics to gauge the process.
  • The work groups were identified in December.
• Several options were identified for the Management Council structure:
  • 1. Do nothing until the strategic plan is complete.
  • 2. Make minor changes.
  • 3. Management Council would cease.
  • No recommendations were made. People need to send Scott their feedback.
• Lorraine reported that even though we slipped away from working with Huron, we still have the potential to be impacted by their work with other groups (e.g. IT & HR). She’s pleased with strategic planning progress.
• A rumor was brought to Lorraine's attention that IT is moving back to the Libraries. Lorraine working with Bob Lim about this.
• 2 more South African Librarians will come in April through the Carnegie program.
• Grand opening of Spencer Research Library is November 29th.
• Holiday party is December 16th.

Dean's KULSS (Next Mtg: 12/6/11): Hasn't met yet.

Concerns to Bring up with the Dean:

• Staff development budget.
• Ann asked about the changes to the health care discounting.

Action Items for Next Meeting

Parking Lot
(Items to be aware of for the future, not necessarily discussed in current meeting)

• EEO Job categories

Next Meeting: December 1st, 10:00-11:30 in Engineering.