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KULSS Exec

Meeting Minutes

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

ANS 305 10-11:30am

PRESENT: Adam Reilly, Jules Warrick, Robert Szabo, Meredith Huff, Jane Hoyt, Sheila Orth

ABSENT: Kyle Sederstrom

PREVIOUS MEETING’S ACTION ITEMS

WHO?	BY WHEN?	WHAT?
Sarah	Pending	Send ISDC recruitment email – 11/3 update - Angie talking to Anne Hayden – ST check in with Angie
Sarah		Talk to _Al Maller_ about possible KULSA incorporation
Sheila	DONE	Talk to Stan re: reallocation
Jules/Sarah	Mtg sched	Talk to Carol & Lee re: changing PRC code
Sarah		Email OCDA Summary to all (11/11 Hold for Mike’s rpt)
Jules		Plan mtg with Scott and Sarah K re: Holiday Party
Sarah	done	Email Values list to all
ALL	11/13	Think about Values and the Supervisor’s role for MC 11/19
Group Reps		Talk to groups in person re: Conf 09 workshops
Sarah		Update SSEYA procedure
Sarah	Done, do again	Sched Conf 09 mtg, agenda
Sarah	Done	Send past conf budgets to all
ALL	11/13	Review budgets
Question for all		Will anyone be attending the Supv Mtg 11/20?

GROUP REPORTS

Group Reports:
Grp 1: Acq/Ser, Reference, Collection Development, Administration, Facilities

Grp 2: Cataloging

Scheduled interviews for Lora Farrels replacement
Interview maps cataloger

Grp 3: Access Services, Mail Room, ILL

ILL met with Mike individually work thru assessment questionaire to evaluate what works
possible group meetings to come

Grp 4: Anschutz, Annex, Art, Engineering, Music, RCL, Spencer

Anschutz
- scanning ILL- only locals
Annex
Art (submitted by Ann Snow)
Engineering
Music (submitted by Nancy Hawkins)
RCL
Spencer (submitted by Meredith Huff)
- 40th anniversary scheduled
- Spencer open house and presenation at next all staff meeting

Committee Reports

Submitted by Mary Ann Baker

University Senate Executive Committee (SenEx) meeting, 23 Sept 2008

The Provost, Richard Lariviere, joined us for a conversation and brought up two topics:

1) No one has heard about the budget situation on the state level yet. He posited the conundrum that if the state's 3 most important industries (agriculture, aviation and oil/gas) are doing so well, what's the problem? Well, our legislators have been spending down the state's surplus and that seems to be causing concern.

2) The reorganization of Information Services, in particular, Information Technology. It would take about $30 million to fix our infrastructure and provide the equipment and maintenance we need. We'll never have $30 million at one time to do such a thing but IS has identified $3 million in savings which can be bonded to give us capital to start doing what needs to be done for upgrades. We may be able to leapfrog technologies and jump to more wireless access/capabilities. A lot of the savings will come from centralizing purchases of hardware and software and by possibly outsourcing tech support. In general the Provost is in favor of decentralization but by centralizing purchasing power, we'll save a lot of money.

The Provost then answered questions from the committee members:

1) A student asked: Are we using local expertise (faculty) and work force (students in classes) to address needs of the university? The need for the new logo was brought up as an example. The Provost noted that faculty are busy folks already and are used to vet proposals for outsourced projects.

2) A faculty member wondered whether qualified admissions would be a hard sell to the legislature. The Provost thinks that is true but that the legislature can be educated. The Board of Regents (BoR) will be asked about what achievements have occurred since KS moved from open enrollment to selective enrollment 12 years ago. The Provost emphasized that what we are concerned about is student success, that they be prepared to meet the challenges of attending universities. He also wants to have high school grads who are turned down to learn what they can do to be better prepared (e.g., attend a certain junior college and get at least a B grade) and then they will be automatically eligible to enroll.

3) The Provost commented that within the next 15 years, college enrollment figures will increase 12%. Within that time, there will be some dips in enrollment due to demographics but in general within the next 15 years, college enrollment figures will increase 12%. KU at present does not have the capacity to handle a 12% increase but if it starts planning now, it will probably be able to do so.

4) A faculty member asked how the Provost felt about diversifying the university and the Provost responded that it's moving too slowly. The university makes available funding for departments to use when hiring faculty.

After the Provost left, the Senate presidents gave their reports:

Mary Berry, University Senate president, spoke about her participation on the Information Management Council where they are not only addressing sensitive data on computers kept on campus but also on computers folks take home with them. Mary emphasized that the Council seeks to be helpful, not hindering by setting up systems to protect the sensitive data and yet be able to allow appropriate persons access to the data.

Nancy Kinnersley, President of Faculty Senate, reported on activities of the BoR who are working on retention of students, strategic questions, budgetary concerns and student evaluations of teachers. She also mention that the BoR is considering something regarding accessibility/accountability/affordability but I didn't quite get what that was about. In talking to the other Faculty Senate presidents, she noted that the governance systems at other universities in KS do not have overarching senates of all their other senates as KU does and that most do not have at-large faculty members. They elect their faculty members.

Adam McGonigle, Student Body/Senate President, talked about plans to expand the Rec Center with an aquatic center. Their Legislative Awareness Board has gotten 500 people to register to vote and they are shooting for 1000 folks. The students are thinking about adding to the University rules and regulations the requirement that professors must post a mid-semester grade for those in their courses.

Paul Farran, Unclassified Senate President, noted that the Provost was coming to speak with them the next day about budget cuts, etc. He expressed appreciation for Mary Berry visiting a meeting of their Senate.

Dennis Constance, President of USS Senate, and I echoed that appreciation for Mary visiting our Senate. Dennis also noted that our Wheat State tour was set for October 13th.

Just before we left, a student announced that there was going to be a carnival at the Rec Center Sept 27th and encouraged us to go.

I missed the October meeting of the USS Senate. The minutes will be posted at the USS Senate website soon.

USS Senate Staff Assessment of Supervisors and Managers Task Force – (No meetings since August) Yea, what's up with that? Don't get me started (grumble, grumble).

University Committee on Libraries (UCL) 9 October 2008 notes, with thanks to Lanis Atwood, Asst to the Dean of Libraries

Leslie Tuttle, Chair of the Committee, opened the meeting. Introductions were made and the two new specific charges for the year were briefly discussed. The new charges are the result of the University Senate’s attempt to integrate suggestions from Initiative 2015. The two new charges that were set out this year are to insure we are monitoring progress on the goals that are set out in Initiative 2015.

Deb Ludwig, Asst. Dean of Libraries, presented a PowerPoint report addressing the first new charge for the year: “Review and make recommendations about policies regarding unfettered access to research and scholarly resources in their various formats on the Lawrence and Medical Center campuses, as well as satellite and distance learning affiliates. Such policies may concern, for example, ability to borrow materials from either campus and access licensed electronic resources and databases. “ (PowerPoint presentation available upon request). In general the two campuses each have their own systems of security, identity, library acquisition, circulation and catalogs, etc., that do not cooperate with each other. Folks in Information Services are looking to correct this if possible. Dean of Libraries Lorraine Haricombe remarked that the information infrastructure for KU One University initiative is currently underway and that she and Deb both serve on an ad hoc workgroup to delve into the issues between information infrastructure at the KUMC, Wichita, Lawrence and the Edwards campuses.

Leslie referred to another item in Initiative 2015: our service to the state. Multiple services to Kansans were discussed:

-free on-site access and borrower’s cards are available; we can offer access on-site to our licensed data-bases.

- KU is a Kansas Federal Depository Library, so we have the government document program for our region in Kansas, we make sure that our buildings and facilities are open to all Kansans so that they can use those materials.

- The Kansas Collection, located in the Spencer Research Library, collects archives on Kansas history

- KU is a member of different library consortiums, providing significant resources and collaborating with others across the state.

- KU is also a leading lender within the state and the Annex has become more than just the KU Annex with holdings from K-State as well.

- KU Libraries has a very extensive PR/events program to reach out to the extended community

- KU Libraries is working with the Athletics Department with our Read Posters program encouraging reading in the schools. We also give tours of the library to area students and show them how to conduct research at the college level.

Leslie opened the floor to the committee to discuss their priorities for the year.

One member expressed satisfaction with the new website, and with increasing user-friendliness of online resources

Leslie communicated that faculty committee members are intended to be representatives for and liaisons with the units they represent. Should we discuss how we can better represent our units? Is the current yearly report to SenEx enough to communicate faculty input about status of/ changes in the library system?

The committee discussed e-reserve materials and the importance of faculty learning about the copyright implications and costs of the materials they assign via e-reserve. Committee members reported receiving emails about materials that are expensive; these emails allow faculty to understand the true costs of the e-reserve service and, in the event alternatives exist, to choose less expensive options. This new service is very much appreciated by the faculty and the university community in general will benefit with cost savings by providing equally good resources at a lower cost.

University Senate Executive Committee (SenEx) 21 October 2008 notes

Reports of the Presidents

Mary Berry, President of University Senate (US) reported for the President of the Faculty Senate who was absent. They shared that other Presidents of Faculty Senates at other Regents' institutions had heard a rumor that KU was going to institute a tuition waiver system or rework the tuition compact or something like that. No one is sure what the basis of this rumor might be but they are checking on it.

Adam McGonigle, Student Senate President, noted that the students are finishing up work on their election reform work and allocation of fees. They are also working on getting students to use a nice kickoff chant at home football games. They have received some designs for an Aquatic Center which will be shared with students in a few weeks. They helped get 1843 voters registered to vote in November. They are working with the Journalism School to redesign the Information "Shack" (across Jayhawk Blvd from Bailey).

Danny Kaiser, reporting in absence of the President of the Unclassified Senate, said that their professional development committee had invited Prof Jonathan Earle and Barbara Ballad to give a presentation about the upcoming election. Danny said it was an excellent presentation and recommended attending their other presentations.

Dennis Constance, President of the University Support Staff (USS) Senate shared that the USS Senate-sponsored mini-Wheat State tour went well in spite of rainy weather and a smaller than expected turnout. The presidents of the Classified and Support Staff Senates at Regents' institutions will meet at the end of October. The USS Senate is interested in supporting the legislative priorities of KU. Dennis also noted that he spoke with Maurice Bryant about the diversity of individuality.

Employee Invention Assignment Agreement

Some faculty, particularly those in Engineering, are not at all happy about being asked to sign this new agreement. KU Counsel, because of litigation, wished to clarify a passive university policy and came up with the new form. The Faculty Senate is working to coordinate the feedback and concerns about the agreement.

Student Senate Resolution about notification of mid-semester progress in courses

Students would like to know by mid-semester how they are doing in their courses and want to add an amendment to existing rules that instructors be required to do so. SenEx members agreed that this is a good idea and voted to have the US Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures look into the matter.

Homecoming

Bill Walberg shared about some activities coming up for Homecoming and urged everyone to participate and attend the parade on Saturday morning, October 25th.

University Senate (US) 23 October 2008 notes

The Senate Presidents pretty much gave the same reports as they did 2 days earlier to SenEx (see above).

Nancy Kinnersley, President of the Faculty Senate who was absent at the SenEx meeting, noted that during a Board of Regents meeting the idea of tuition waivers for dependents of faculty and staff came up and it was noted that KU was examining such a possibility.

Dilawar Grewal, Director of Research Computing with Information Services, talked about the Info Services reallocation/reorganization and how Info Services hopes to be more directly engaged with what the KU community stakeholders need.

Jim Carothers gave a lovely remembrance of Prof (History) Lloyd Sponholtz who was very active in governance issues.

Support Staff Senate
Diversity Committee
ISDC
Senate Committee on Libraries
PRC

Staff Development Planning

Values Brainstorming

Values from Management Council 8/20/08

We value COLLABORATION by:

Working together to shape our culture by creating a shared vision and a set of values by which all staff can live;
Finding or forming partnerships (internally/externally) to enhance workload, service or direct projects and new initiatives.

We value LEADERSHIP by:

Extending, developing and nurturing shared leadership at all levels of the organization by offering leadership skills to employees;
Encouraging participation within university governance and professional leadership or involvement beyond the local level;
Taking initiative in leading new directions for the Libraries at KU and beyond.

We value TRUST by:

Fostering a culture of shared decision making and accountability among library employees;
Sharing information through regular communication;
Believing that employees are capable members of our organization who are committed to its success.

We value FLEXIBILITY by:

Using our strategic vision as the compass, not the road map. Persist in pursuing the vision, and be flexible with the strategic objectives;
Employing assessment strategies and gathering data/evidence to guide our decision making processes.

We value DIVERSITY by:

Selecting diverse content resources to support our mission;
Offering services to special needs groups;
Implementing fair hiring practices.

We value EXPERTISE by:

Supporting employees in professional development and learning/education opportunities that will enhance service quality to our users.

We value SERVICE by:

Committing to ourselves and to our users what they can expect (e.g. friendly, rapid, accurate and professional service);
Articulating service quality expectations to our employees;
Offering training to equip them.

We value RESPECT by:

Recognizing that we differ from each other (as colleagues, supervisors, users);
Being mindful of those differences in our interactions with each other;
By recognizing each other’s contributions towards our vision.

Agenda Items for Dean

Action Items for next meeting:

WHO?	BY WHEN?	WHAT?
Sarah		TT Al and Nancy to start Christmas planning

Parking Lot

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

10/30 Eval meetings on hold for Mike’s rpt, working on Conf 09
Flex time discussion
Action items for KULSS Exec, FY09
Grievance Committee Task Force / Action on hold (Sarah -email Scott for decision on Grievance membership from LFA)
Staff Picnic (Action to begin 9/09). Will KULSS take this on long term, KULSA is short staffed. See Denise for KULSA Picnic budget. See Mike for support from Admin.
KULSS on the KUL wiki (Sarah)