Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Congrats to our long-standing, outstanding staff


















On Friday, September 24, a large number of libraries' staff were saluted at the University-wide Staff Recognition Dinner at the Davis Center:

35-Year Honorees
Kathy Bohan
Darcelene-Lewis Wedge

25-Year Honorees
Scott Edelstein
Jane Hendley

Marie McGarry

Brenda Nelson

Susan Bishop


20-Year Honorees
Sandra Aldrich

15-Year Honorees
Andrea Hammond

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Collection Development Team Notes, Sept. 15

Present: Armstrong, Bridges, Doherty, Joy, Kussey, Mardeusz, Spitzform


1. Renewals.

Approved renewals of AP Images and National Consumer Survey.


2. Oxford Bibliographies Online.

Currently a trial. Provides modules by subjects.

Discussion focused on use of bibliographies, and whether having them in an electronic format would encourage more use than we were seeing with print bibliographies. We also discussed duplication with article databases, but agreed that bibliographies can contain references not available in article databases.


3. Dictionary of Literary Biography.

Currently a trial. Discussed problem of pages missing due to copyright issues. Pat Mardeusz is collecting information from her contacts at Gale about the extent of missing content and plans to eliminate copyright issues in future releases. We already have access to the DLB content, without graphics, through the Literature Resource Center. The electronic DLB does contain additional features, such as topic overviews. Discussion will continue after we get information from Gale.


4. Chinese fiction.

In response to a reference desk question, we discussed the possibility of acquiring contemporary Chinese fiction for the students in the U.S.-Sino Pathway Program as well as students pursuing the Chinese Program (major, minor, Chinese House). We agreed that it was a good idea, so Albert will investigate further.


5. Japanese newspapers.

Peter is investigating access to a Japanese database of Japanese newspapers for two faculty members.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Dean’s Council Minutes from Sept. 7, 2010

Present: Mara Saule, Nancy Bercaw, Paul Philbin, Alison Armstrong, Marianne Burke, Birdie MacLennan, Jeffrey D Marshall

Absent: Selene Colburn, Peter Blackmer, Tina Kussey

I. Reminder

The Libraries faculty/staff award luncheon is next Tuesday, Sept. 14, in Billings, from Noon to 1:30 p.m. Excellent cake is guaranteed, of course.

II. New Graphic Design Policy/CEDO Resource Guide from City of Burlington


A new graphic design policy has been established for the University and circulated by Gary Derr. Selene will follow up with the Communications Office on how the policy may or may not apply to the Libraries. Furthermore, the CEDO Resource Guide from the City of Burlington needs to be updated and will be followed up by Selene and Marianne.


III. Digital Measures


UVM is working on a system for centralizing and standardizing faculty activity reports. Larry Kost, Chair of the Senate Educational & Research Technologies Committee, is testing the system which is already being used in a few colleges. Kost is looking for input and concerns. Paul Philbin will follow up with him, and attend the next meeting to be sure the form accommodates the libraries’ faculty.


IV. Reserves


The cost for copyright clearance for Reserve at B/H is between $40-50K per year. At issue, is whether there should be limits on what faculty members can put on reserve without infringing on academic freedom? And/or should we consider a cost-sharing model because the current model is not sustainable? Dana Medical’s policy is to charge the department back. The Council decided to have Paul gather more specific data on trending and to create talking points about the situation. Then, that information should be reviewed by the Scholarly Communications Committee for recommendations.


V. Faculty/Staff Half-Day of Development: Mastering the Haze


On Tuesday, November 23, the Libraries will host a half-day of faculty/staff development along the lines of a “Mastering the Maze” mini-retreat. The day will begin with coffee and bagels in the Staff Lounge at Bailey/Howe at 8:30 a.m., followed by a keynote speech by Karen Hunt, who is director of the John Hope Franklin Research Center at Duke University. The following is her brief bio:


Karen Jean Hunt is the African Studies and African American Studies Librarian at Duke University. Hunt grew up in Detroit, Michigan and enlisted in the United States Air Force at age 17. Leaving the military in 1980, Hunt attended California State University Long Beach (B.A. in English 1983). In 1986, she joined the United States Peace Corps and taught English in Kenya, East Africa. Hunt received her M.A. in Public History from Wright State University in 1989 and her M.I.L.S. in Library Studies from the University of Michigan in 1993. With more than fifteen years of experience working in academia, Hunt uses humor and storytelling to reflect on diversity in libraries and collection development.


Following Karen Hunt’s address, a series of insightful, practical workshops will be available from 10 a.m. –Noon, with pizza served afterward.


VI. Strategic Plan/Future Discussions

The Council will spend the first hour of the next meeting review the Strategic Plan. Other important forthcoming future discussions include: the Collection Growth Report; Libraries facilities master planning; updates on OPAC 2.0.

VII. Gen Ed

The General Education Committee is going around campus to talk to various constituents ask them about what they value in learning outcomes and what defines UVM and evidence of theories. The group will speak with the Libraries faculty at a special meeting on Sept. 23 at 3 p.m. in the Dean’s Conference Room.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Collection Development Team Meeting Notes, Sept. 1

Present: Armstrong, Bridges, Colburn, Doherty, Joy, Kussey, Mardeusz, Spitzform

1. Reviewed resources up for renewal; all were approved. List of resources renewed:

Agricola
Alternative Press Index
Anthropology Plus
ATLA
GEOREF
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
Mental Measurements Yearbook
MLA International Bibliography
Philosophers Index

2. Discussed marketing strategies for new and existing resources to implement during the
year. Promotion efforts will involve liaisons as appropriate.

3. Discussed strategies for dealing with new resource requests and workflow during this
fiscal year.

4. Agreed to communicate with those who request resources in a timely manner.

For more information, contact a team member.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Dean’s Council: Minutes from August 24, 2010

Present: Mara Saule, Marianne Burke, Jeffrey Marshall, Nancy Bercaw, Birdie MacLennan, Tina Kussey, Alison Armstrong

Absent: Paul Philbin, Peter Blackmer, Selene Colburn


iPads

Mara commented that because libraries employees should have opportunity to test new technologies, the Dean’s Office ordered five iPads to be distributed among service units for people to experiment with them. Marianne mentioned that medical students are working with Tablets. (Alison noted that Dan DeSanto is developing an application for Long Trail hikers. Way to go, Dan!)

Strategic Planning

Short term goals, and steps for achieving them, are in process. In doing so, the Libraries may discover that the Strategic Plan needs updating and tweaking. The Dean’s Council is dividing into action groups to take on sections of the Plan, with specific attention to the Institutional Repository. Libraries’ master planning may warrant the attention of an architectural design consult.

Birdie and Paul will speak with Dan Harvey, chief of staff for Dom Grasso, regarding electronic thesis and dissertations.

Marianne and Jeff will work together on the Institutional Repository: What are we building toward and what can we do this year? Does it include archives?

Alison/Elizabeth to provide ongoing Cook updates.

Tina/Alison will look at near-term space issues.

Mara will follow up with Peter Spitzform and the Discovery & Delivery Council on these issues as well.

For next meeting, the Dean’s Council will read through the Strategic Plan and consider what should be added or removed.

Faculty/Staff Development Half-Day Event

The Dean’s Office will plan a half day of development activities for late fall. To include, but not limited to: emergency procedures for the libraries, disaster planning, dealing with problem patrons, improving customer services, and CPR lessons. All suggestions are welcome. A special guest librarian speaker may be part of the event as well.

The National Newspaper Digitization Project

The timeline for the project is underway, space has been identified, and there is a strong pool of applicants for the position created by this grant. A library forum about the project will be held mid-Fall.

Collection Growth Committee

The final 54-page report by the Collection Growth Committee is being reviewed by the committee members. The committee’s charge was to review and challenge assumptions made by the 2004 report—focusing on space and current trends.

Updates

Marianne charged a small group to do some shelf redesign in order to get some additional carrel seating and more flexible open space at Dana. They will also look at redesigning the reference desk this year. Dana will also reprise its research-to- publication educational series this year, which features two days of programming to include literature review, knowledge management, choosing a publication for publishing, grant opportunities for grad students.

Jeff reiterated that Bailey/Howe’s 50th Anniversary is next year. Special Collection’s 50th is in two years.