September 21, 2004

by Gerald Doyle

General Assembly Meeting

Paley Library Lecture Hall
September 21, 2004
2:00 PM

Present: J. Baldwin, C. Bell, C. Brigham, C. Davis Cunningham, M. Edsall, G. Fowler, S. Golding, A. Goldstein, A. Harlow, M. Jerrido, L. Lane, C. Lang, J. LeBreton, R. Lezenby, G. McKinney, D. Murray, P. Myers, B. Schoolar, G. Sneff, S. Stormont, K. Szigeti, M. Thomas, S. Thompson, T. Whitehead, B. Wright

Guests: B. Cho, L. Gordon, J. Linwood, D. Overfield, R. Sieber, R. Spaulding, G. Zoller

Chairperson Greg McKinney called the meeting to order at 2:05 pm.

    1. Minutes of the General Assembly Meeting of May 2004 were approved.
    2. Elections: Carol Brigham, Chair of Nominations and Elections, asked for nominations from the floor for the Chair of the Continuing Education Committee and for the PARA committee. There were none. Ballots were collected.
    3. Report from Jonathan LeBreton:
      1. Vice Provost search: The first interview for a candidate for the Vice Provost for Libraries and Director of Paley Library has been scheduled for September 29 th and 30 th, 2004. The identity of the candidate has not yet been released, nor do we know how many candidates will be interviewed. We are all encouraged to attend the candidate’s presentation and prepare questions for the meeting with library staff. The presentation will be given in Paley’s lecture hall. Since we hope for a large turnout, it will probably be crowded.
      2. Budget: In fiscal year 05, we were allocated an additional 8% to the library budget to cover inflation in the price of tangible (not electronic) library records. This comes to approximately $290,000. While this does not address all of our inflationary needs, it does indicate that the university administration acknowledges the problem that inflation causes with our budget.

        The narrative portion of this year’s Temple University budget states that there will be an increase to our budget of 1.4 million dollars. The money has not actually been allocated yet; it will probably happen when a Vice Provost is hired, and it will be shared with Law and the Health Sciences Libraries.

      3. Message of encouragement: We have been doing a terrific job moving forward under extraordinary circumstances; we need to continue doing what we’ve been doing, so that in the spring with the support of the university and a new VPL, we will do even better.

        A question was asked about the 1.4 million dollar budget increase. Jonathan clarified that it is for materials, but noted that it would relieve pressure on other parts of the budget, such as staff and equipment. He also noted that a part would be consumed by inflation.

        A question was asked about incorrect vacation and sick time appearing on our pay stubs. HR is working on the problem, but has given no time frame for a resolution. To have yours corrected, start with the libraries’ Administrative Services to ensure that the information we provide is correct. Jonathan will be bringing the matter up with Deborah Hartnett in October when they meet.

 

    1. Election results:
      • Continuing Education Committee (Chair): David Dillard
      • PARA : Rick Lezenby & Barbara Wright

 

      Carol Brigham thanked all who were willing to run for these committees.

 

    1. New business:
      1. AAL Website: Carol Brigham reported that the AAL website is missing many pages and has a number of broken links. She is working on the problem and will send out an announcement when she thinks it is fixed.
      2. Introductions: Jenifer Baldwin introduced Gabriela Zoller, Reference intern, and Susan Golding, the Government Documents Librarian. Mary Edsall introduced Robert Spaulding, Philadelphia Dance Collection intern. Margaret Jerrido introduced Rick Sieber and Dan Overfield , Urban Archives interns. Jonathan LeBreton introduced Brooke Cho, Director of Development. Gretchen Sneff introduced Kathy Szigeti, Science Librarian for Biology, Chemistry, and Computer Science. Sandi Thompson introduced Larissa Gordon, Ambler Library intern. Tom Whitehead introduced Judith Linwood, Special Collections intern.
      3. Library Prize for Research: Gretchen Sneff announced to the General Assembly a new program that has received support and funding from the Provost’s office. It is an opportunity to promote the use of the Libraries’ collections by undergraduates. Students can submit an application describing the research process they used to complete an assignment for a Temple University for credit course and additional information which will be judged by a panel of faculty and librarians. Up to three $1000 prizes will be awarded. The program was modeled after one at the University of California, Berkeley.

 

    1. Old Business:

 

      Membership in AAL: A discussion was carried over from last year concerning the eligibility of Temple University Libraries staff members who are not employed as librarians for membership in AAL. The relevant section of the bylaws was included on the agenda and read aloud. The Steering Committee felt that the issue was adequately explained in the bylaws and asked for members to speak if any felt the bylaws needed to be changed. Some members felt that the bylaws could be strengthened by further clarification of the term “professional librarian” but it was ultimately decided to postpone any changed until after the bylaws are reviewed by the new Vice Provost for Libraries.

 

      The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

 

      Submitted by,

 

    Carla Davis Cunningham
This entry was posted in Minutes.