ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014
2:00PM
Paley Library, Lecture Hall
MINUTES
Attending: Doreva Belfiore, Aslaku Berhanu, Brian Boling, Jim Bongiovanni, Mark Darby, Kristina De Voe, Erin Finnerty (recorder), Leanne Finnigan, Justin Hill, Josue Hurtado, Latanya Jenkins, Noa Kaumeheiua, Molly Larkin (Chair), Jonathan LeBreton, Rick Lezenby, Joe Lucia, Jill Luedke, Katy Rawdon, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Margery Sly, Gretchen Sneff, Nancy Turner.
Meeting called to order at 2:07pm.
1. Approval of Minutes (M. Larkin)
Minutes from last meeting are not yet available. Molly Larkin will double check on status, and email once available.
2. Remarks by the Dean of Libraries (J. Lucia)
A new sound system has been installed in the Lecture Hall. This will provide additional options for different types of presentations.
The Temple University President will be meeting with all deans in this academic year. Dean Joseph Lucia has an appointment for 9/19/2014. They will possibly discuss Kardon and take a tour. Dean Lucia has asked ADC for input on potential topics/issues to share with the President. They may also take tour of Paley Library, but is more likely that this visit will be used as a chance to share issues, concerns and challenges. Dean Lucia invited AAL members to email any contributions or thoughts to be shared with the President on his visit.
In mid-August, Dean Lucia received some cost and schematic design information from Snohetta in regard to the new library. This information covered structural systems, flooring, layouts, material options, and other topics The week of September 15 there will be a next phase of budget review to determine how close to the original financial target the provided plans are. In Spring 2014, Dean Lucia met with Snohetta’s architects and the Temple University President and Provost to share the current state of the design. At that time, the main concern was that the building structure not look like an oddity on Temple’s campus. There will be one more round of presentations to President Theobald, then the Trustees, and then the Board for final authorizations and administrative approval in order to move forward.
Additionally, further refinements are being made on the procurement of the Automatic Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) since it has such a large impact on the shape of the final structure. Once the ASRS and its funding source are finalized, the provided building schematics will be more reliable, and Dean Lucia can gather further staff input on the available plans. They will likely be looking at additional ASRS drawings and information in mid- to late September 2014.
Dean Lucia informed the AAL that a plan has been proposed for layout of the Digital Scholarship Center (DSC). The project is in the Capital Expenditure approval process now. Dean Lucia is hoping that work will begin in October 2014, and take around 3 months to complete. The DSC group will start meeting again next week and will begin discussing relevant, potential new hires.
Dean Lucia reported that Jonathan LeBreton is heading a group to determine a future Temple University Libraries ILS/library system to replace III Millennium. Dean Lucia outlined the ideal timeline as: one study year, one planning year, and then system migration over the following Summer. Ultimately, Dean Lucia would like for system migration to occur early enough to leave one year to work with the new ILS before we move to the new building.
The search for a new Health Sciences Library Director is starting. Stephen Bell is the committee chair.
Mary Rose Muccie will be running a University Press staff retreat on Thursday, 9/11/14.
Dean Lucia will be meeting with the new Vice President of Institutional Advancement, James Dicker, to discuss fundraising opportunities for the new library. They will discuss potential opportunities for both large (example: reading room) and small gifts (example: study areas). Dean Lucia is hopeful that TUL will be able to begin soliciting alumni gifts by Spring 2015.
Dean Lucia is working on compiling a spreadsheet of results from Strategic Planning exercises and will circulate these to the staff once completed. As a result, he is also focusing on unmet staffing needs and is interested in additional, global analysis of how we will meet changing priorities in coming years. This analysis will likely take a couple of years to fully implement.
During the question and answer period of Dean’s Lucia’s report, Jill Luedke, on behalf of Fred Rowland, asked about a potential decrease in the amount of purchased print books. Mr. Rowland had noticed a 22% decrease in amount of print books that have come in over the past year and was curious if this is a trend that will continue. Dean Lucia said that Brian Schoolar would need to weigh in on such perceived patterns, as it may just be an anomaly. Jonathan LeBreton said that there was an 11% budget cut to the base TUL budget over 2 years ago, leaving less money for everything. Print books have received less of the budget, partially to sustain online materials, but also because more book titles are switching to electronic. Mr. LeBreton felt that 22% sounded high, but did project a continued decrease in print book purchasing.
Ms. Luedke asked if the approvals are also decreasing. Mr. LeBreton stated that some of the approval shipments retracted over last year, but that wasn’t necessarily instigated by our instruction to do so. Mark Darby then mentioned that the Coutts approval plan may include holding off on purchasing print approvals to see what will be available in electronic format. This could mean about 30% fewer things than are coming through approval on first shipment. Mr. Darby noted that individual ebooks cost more money than print books, and cataloging processed more titles (including those from MyiLibrary) this past year. Also, electronic books are paid from different funds than print books. He mentioned being surprised when he saw how much came through cataloging despite the perception that less is being purchased.
Mr. LeBreton stated that in terms of the budget, there was a 10% restriction for those types of materials, and that the remainder of the perceived 22% drop is likely made up by the replacement of or diversion to electronic. Dean Lucia stated that the new book count annually is about 15,000 acquired, without gifts. Mr. Darby mentioned that there was a very large backlog of gift books.
Jill Luedke asked if 2019 was still projected to be the first functional year of the new library. Dean Lucia stated there is some ‘softness’ around that date. The current project timeline allows for a 30 month build phase, and about three months to move in. There might be a delay in the Barton building cleanout and take down. Some of the timeline hinges on the completion of the new SERC building and the time it will take to clear out Barton and demolish it. Dean Lucia mentioned that if we are delayed too long before moving to the new building (over the Summer), that it could be pushed back as much as a semester. Dean Lucia projected that the whole project may take a year longer than original expected
3. Old Business
None.
4. New Business / Announcements
None.
Adjournment at 2:46pm.