Dean’s Council Minutes
May 1, 2007

A Meeting of the Dean’s Council was held on Tuesday, May 1 from 9:05 to 11:05 a.m. in the Dean’s Conference Room.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Mara Saule, Jeff Marshall, Paul Philbin, Birdie MacLennan, Keith Gresham, Selene Colburn, Peter Blackmer and Nancy Bercaw

ABSENT: Marianne Burke

I. R2 Updates

Keith Gresham suggested that R2’s presentation be videotaped for the benefit of faculty and staff not able to attend the May 10 open forum, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the staff lounge. Dean Saule will seek R2’s approval. Next steps for implementation of the R2 Report were discussed, including holding a libraries-wide retreat in early June and convening working groups around categories of recommendations.


II. Dean's Office Blog

Nancy Bercaw unveiled “The Dean’s List,” a blog designed to share news and views from the Office of the Dean of Libraries. Dean’s Council minutes will now be distributed via the blog, which has been created to improve communication flow to and from the Dean’s Office. The blog will be continuously updated, so readers are encouraged to refer to it frequently for ongoing info and announcements.


III. Budget next steps

Budget materials are due by May 11 to Peter Blackmer, who has until May 28 to provide all FY 08 info to Financial Analysis and Budgeting (FAB).

IV. Provost's scholarly activity project

The Provost Office has launched a new initiative to track aggregate numbers of faculty scholarly activity (i.e., how many peer reviewed papers, grants and presentations have been made by UVM faculty per year). Dean Saule asked the Council to keep track of this information, by category of scholarly activity not by individual, from their department so the Libraries can provide the numbers to the Provost’s Office. The information may also be useful for the upcoming Libraries Annual Report and in general.

V. Department Head Evaluations

Dean Saule will be scheduling Department Head evaluations in the coming weeks.

VI. Updates around the table

Selene Colburn updated the Council on the Communication Team’s plan to conduct a focus group at the end of the week with students to test several “tag lines.” She also encouraged everyone to nominate staff for the Delmar Janes Excellence Award for which there will be two winners, and faculty for the Excellence in Research Award and/or the Excellence in Educational Mission Award. The deadline is Friday, May 11.

Birdie MacLennan was part of a “field trip” to see the Remote Storage Facility (aka Deep Space) and reported that it has been exceptionally well done and organized. She also commented that short-term coverage has been established for Bea’s position. Chris Krupp and Wendy Gunther will each provide 50-percent coverage until June 30.

Jeff Marshall was also part of the “field trip” to Williston and his concerns that it wouldn’t be easy to use were alleviated. The facility is user friendly to the point that it has shelving for irregularly shaped materials. Marshall is working with Elizabeth Hassemer to complete on a grant called “The Literature of Agriculture,” which is administered by Cornell. He also said that Chris Burns recently made changes to the Special Collections website making it more friendly and attractive.

Paul Philbin reported that the position of Library Support Senior has been filled and the new hire, who will work from 2 – 10 p.m. doing stack maintenance and providing evening supervision, will start on May 21. He also noted that Lyman Ross recently attended a Voyager group meeting where he learned that no new significant upgrades are forthcoming for the Voyager OPAC. The future look of the catalog lies in Ex Libris’ new product line called Primo. In other news, Philbin has been asked by the Provost to study the feasibility of vacating the Rowell Production Studio to space in Bailey/Howe and Lafayette.

Keith Gresham and the Info and Instruction Department has relocated temporarily to the 3rd floor, room 302, due to a dramatic surge in dust and grit in their offices. Physical Plant will clean the HVAC (Heating, venting and air conditioning) system this summer in an attempt to resolve the problem.

Peter Blackmer explained that the ducts in Bailey/Howe have not been cleaned in 40 years and, while this is a step in the right direction, it may not be a definitive solution.