Academic Assembly of Librarians
General Assembly

Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Paley Lecture Hall, 2:00 PM

Attending: Larry Alford, Derik Badman, Jenifer Baldwin, Carole Bell, Aslaku Berhanu, James Bongiovanni, Carol Brigham (chair), Carla Cunningham, Mark Darby, Sebastian Derry, Kristina DeVoe, David Dillard, Andrea Goldstein, Anne Harlow, Thomas Heverin, Carol Lang, Molly Larkin, Byron Mayes, Gregory McKinney (recorder), David Murray, Penelope Myers, Fred Rowland, Brian Schoolar, Adam Shambaugh, Sandi Thompson, David Washington

•  Approval of minutes of the 01/12/10 meeting:
  • Correction: Kristina DeVoe did not attend the 01/12/10 meeting
• Remarks by the Dean of Libraries (L. Alford):
  • Larry began by thanking Derik Badman for his many contributions to the Library.
  • The library has received permission to fill four Paley positions: the Head of Digital Library Initiatives; a Digital Projects Librarian; a Science Librarian; and the Director of Health Sciences Libraries. We have requested permission to hire reference temps, but have heard nothing about this yet. More exemptions will be requested in the future, such as permission to fill the position of Director of Library Special Collections. One position, Director of Finances and Facilities, has been filled by Omar Mitchell.
  • Update on the new building: the Board met in this very room. They were very impressed by the amount of activity in the library; they were unimpressed by the condition of the building. It is still a question of funding: how much will come from the State Legislature?; how much will need to be borrowed?; how much competition will there be from other buildings which are needed? Larry and Steven met with Temple’s Leadership Academy, who talked about and suggested the creation of focus groups.
  • David Murray asked about the direction in which they were headed? Larry responded that they wanted to do a survey, similar to LibQual.
  • Penelope: Who tends to get funds? What is the time-frame for positive decision-making? Larry replied that he didn’t know the answer. Everyone was positive; it has to do with the politicians in Harrisburg. The president is very supportive. It’s a matter of funding, of setting priorities. Real estate people were here also, and took a quick tour. Their comments were very positive. There are many kinds of activities going on; we’ve heard lots of positive things from others.
  • In regards to the budget, we have requested 6.9 % for inflation – around $700,000. This will still help us; we may not have to cancel serials. There is a possibility of a new enhancement program for the Library, $400,000 per year for 5 years, contingent on whether the university’s budget situation improves. The money should go to staff, we don’t know whether we will get it. It is not likely to start this year.
  • At the Department Heads meeting, the topic of Community Borrowing was discussed, which is something for which Larry has pushed. State residents would be able to borrow a limited number of books. Penn State has done this and has received much acclaim for it. It is something we should do for political reasons, but it will also help promote the idea of a new library. If it causes problems, we can always discontinue it.
  • Fred mentioned that he had attended a roundtable on the Middle East and regretted that there was not enough audio-visual equipment to make a recording of the session. Larry commented that the issue was not money, but finding staff willing to do the recording. David Dillard suggested that students from the School of Communications must need the experience, but Larry did not think this a good idea. Carla commented that staff and time would also be issues in making the recordings available. Larry responded that if the staff could decide on the needed equipment, we could buy more equipment.
  • Larry ended by announcing that he was having surgery on his shoulder and would be away for three to four weeks.
• Public Programming Committee/Development Update (D. Washington):
  • The University recently finished a seven year Campaign for Excellence – Fund Raising, Marketing, and Public Programs.  David talked about the role of the library in this campaign.  In terms of funding, the Libraries came in 11th, having raised $10 million over 7 years, and 3rd in size of gift.
  • Our five top priorities this year: 1) enhance the visibility of the libraries; 2) grow Urban Archives; 3) grow the donor base for the Blockson Collection; 4) raise $250,000 for the Jewish Archives; and 5) increase Conwell Level donors.
• Brief introduction/updates on AAL Committees:
  • Continuing Education Committee (A. Shambaugh)
    • Adam, as chair of the committee restated the four purposes of the Continuing Education Committee. He also reviewed the activities the Committee has sponsored in the past year, including trips to the library at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and to the film studio in Annenberg Hall. The members of the committee are Adam, chair, Sebastian Derry and Thomas Heverin.
  • Promotion and Regular Appointment Committee (A. Berhanu)
    • Aslaku spoke of the purposes of PARA, and its importance as a peer review body. As such, it sets the annual schedule for the peer review process. PARA committee members this year were Aslaku, chair, Molly Larkin, David Murray and Fred Rowland.
  • Merit Committee (A. Goldstein)
    • Andrea provided an overview of how the Merit Committee is set up, and commented that since she last spoke to the group in January there had been some changes in the Merit schedule.
  • Faculty Senate Library Committee (J. Baldwin)
    • Jenifer stated that this is a committee of the Faculty Senate which functions largely as a forum for communication between faculty and library. The membership of the committee is listed on the Faculty Senate website.
• Librarians’ Relationship with the Faculty Senate (D. Murray & open discussion)
  • David Murray was the AAL’s Representative to the Faculty Senate in 2007-2008 and gave an account of the Senate’s response to the motion that provided for the admittance of non-tenure track faculty and librarians into the Faculty Senate.  The Faculty Senate Steering Committee revisited the motion and decided to remove the word “librarian.” The overall response was against having librarians as members, one objection being that librarians only had Master’s degrees. David recommended that the issue be revisited. This was followed by a discussion about whether we should elect a second member to the Senate as their procedures call for two librarian representatives.
• Old business
  • There was no update available on Emeritus Status for Librarians.
• New Business / Announcements
  • Faculty status. Appreciation was expressed to Derik. Kristina DeVoe gave an update on the Electronic Resources Fair.
• Adjournment
  • Meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM.