UVM Accreditation Information

As many of you may already know, Mara is co-chairing UVM's 10-year Accreditation Process with Jill Tarule. I'll be helping out as project manager and I'll try to keep you posted on any new developments. Click on this link for our first announcement:
http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/theview/article.php?id=2446

DEAN’S COUNCIL MINUTES: Sept. 11

A meeting of the Dean’s Council was held on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Dean’s Conference Room.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Mara Saule, Marianne Burke, Paul Philbin, Birdie MacLennan, Keith Gresham, Peter Blackmer and Nancy Bercaw

ABSENT: Selene Colburn, Jeff Marshall

I. Tech Services Next Steps

Marianne and Birdie presented their draft charge for a soon-to-be created Libraries Technical Services Re-Visioning work group. The committee will be appointed based on Council recommendations.

II. Delivery & Discovery Council

Mara will soon appoint a work group to help define the Delivery and Discovery Council and determine its goals.

III. St. Michael’s and Bailey/Howe

Students, faculty, staff at St. Michael’s College now have reciprocal borrowing privileges with Bailey/Howe. Paul will track the impact on the library’s collection.

IV. Libraries Liaison Program Update

The Libraries Liaison Program, featuring a combined list of Dana and BH liaisons, is now accessible at http://library.uvm.edu/services/liaison/index.html

V. Paul Philbin Professional Leave

Paul is going to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to create a health a science library with Fred Pond, Medical Librarian at Dartmouth. They will provide technical support in the creation of an information and service desk and a computer lab. The exact dates have yet to be determined, but Paul expects to leave in mid-to-late October for six-to-eight weeks. He will return to Tanzania in the spring for follow-up efforts. Mara and Paul are working on coverage issues. Mara also noted that there may be an opportunity for the libraries at large to participate or make a contribution to the project. (Kazi mzuri, Paul).

NAHSL 2007: Building Bridges

This year's North Atlantic Health Science Libraries (NAHSL) invites all librarians from medical and academic libraries to attend the annual conference in Woodstock, October 28-30, 2007. The theme for this year's meeting is "Building Bridges: Connecting Medical Libraries and Communities.” The conference program focuses on social responsibility, social networking through technology, and social intelligence as we work in collegial, constituent, and global communities. Plenary speakers include Roy Tennant, M.L.S, who will discuss "Social Networking Through Technology." For a complete lineup of speakers and schedule of events, see http://www.nahsl.org/2007/ for further information. And special thanks to everyone at the Dana Medical Library who helped organize this important and exciting event.

The ASK Campaign

On Wednesday, during the Student Activities Fair outside the Davis Center, Selene and Daisy continued the libraries' quest to get students to ask questions and find answers. Located next to the hot dog stand, they got a great response and great pictures.

DEAN’S COUNCIL MINUTES: Aug. 28

A Meeting of the Dean’s Council was held on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Dean’s Conference Room.

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

I. General

Mara asked the Council as well as Bailey/Howe Library colleagues to be aware of how student traffic patterns are affected by the opening of the new Davis Center.

II. Libraries Budget Strategies for FY09

Mara attended a Council of Deans’ retreat last week, during which upcoming budget issues were discussed. The process will be similar to the last year with a hearing in January.

III. Update on Searches

Barbara Lamonda is the new head of ILL. Two searches in that division remain open: library support generalist and library support media. A national search for the head of CMS will begin soon. Keith will chair the search.

IV. Dana-Bailey/Howe Tech Services Workflow

Maximizing common processes across the two libraries was discussed. A Dana/BH realignment group will be created with 3 representatives from Dana and three from BH. Armed with a very clear and realistic charge, the group will make recommendations based on data collected by working/consulting groups.

V. Discovery and Delivery Initiative

The Council discussed the creation of a Discovery and Delivery Initiative (or think tank) based on the idea of re-energizing and re-framing what the libraries do through the (varied) eyes of users. Selene presented the Council with a compilation of notes and comments by libraries colleagues about the concept. She explained that they seemed to be excited about pushing resources to the user based on users’ experience. Suggestions for the Initiative included the following: looking more at how users are discovering resources, reviewing our own user-studies as well as professional literature, among other ideas. The next step is to create a planning group.

VI. Williston Move

The move will completed this week. Since only half the space has been used, suggestions for additional usage are welcome.

Libraries Tour: Medicine and Media

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” --Hamlet

That’s why we have people like Angie Chapple-Sokol and Lori Holiff in our libraries: to help people find out what they don’t know. And until I ventured out on my latest leg of the libraries tour, Horatio, I didn’t know much about Angie or Lori.

The in-depth work of a medical reference librarian begins with a question, like What’s the differential diagnosis of compartment syndrome? (Or something like that.) Once asked, Angie (or any one of the reference librarians) goes into sleuth mode to find very specific detailed results. As a liaison to the nursing program, Angie provides nurses and students with evidence-based research to help them make decisions about changing procedures – or not changing them as the case might be.

Angie also organized and arranged Dana’s medical history collection, which includes rare books from as far back as 1598 as well as archaic devices like a solid pewter bedpan and skull hole punchers (all given call numbers). I highly recommend a visit to see them in all their glory and creepiness.

The instruments make me think of “The Elephant Man” for some reason, which happens to be one of the 4,900 DVD movies available from Lori and the cinema-savvy staff in Media Services, a place where technology is sprouting as rapidly as new releases. Take your pick of 8,000 videos, or 6,000 albums, or 3,000 compact discs. Don’t know what to get? See the staff picks, or ask Lori directly. Despite her busy schedule, she’s always willing to talk shop.

If you don’t have the equipment necessary to watch her recommendation, you can watch (or listen) in-house. And if you want to make your own movie, Media Services can hook you up with a camera and an editing suite. The supply room is organized so meticulously that whatever you want is at ready to go when you want it.

Maybe I should rent “Hamlet” and find out what Horatio didn't know.

Libraries Planning Retreat Comments

I want to say thanks again to everyone who attended the Libraries Planning Retreat on Aug. 3. Thanks for staying and participating despite the heat. Thanks for the candid comments and creative ideas. And thanks for working to transform R2’s Report into our own plan for the libraries. The next step in our timeline is to create work groups and more information is forthcoming. For now, here are the unedited, stream-of-consciousness ideas that flowed from retreat participants in the form of index cards, flip charts, post-it notes and yellow pads. A few comments came in via-email and they have been added as well.
-- Mara

http://www.uvm.edu/~pblackme/Final_Libraries_Retreat_Comments.doc

Additional update on Aug. 21
www.uvm.edu/~pblackme/added_aug_21.doc