March 11, 2014

by Brian Boling

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TUESDAY, March 11, 2014

2:00 PM

Law School, Klein Hall 7A

(Please note the location!)

MINUTES

Attending:  Jenifer Baldwin, Brian Boling (recorder), Carla Davis Cunningham, Mark Darby (Chair), Erin Finnerty, Leanne Finnigan, Anne Harlow, Margaret Janz, Noa Kaumeheiwa, Molly Larkin, Joe Lucia, Jill Luedke, Kate Lynch, Katy Rawdon, Fred Rowland, Adam Shambaugh, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Margery Sly, Sandi Thompson, Eugene Tsue, Nancy Turner

Meeting called to order at 2:06pm.

  1. New Staff Introductions (J. Lucia)
  1. Nancy Turner comes to us most recently from Syracuse.  She grew up in Philadelphia and studied at UPenn, then went to graduate school at University of Chicago.  Following that, she lived in Maine, Albequerque, Atlanta (earning her MLS at Clark University), Louisville, and Las Cruces.  She likes dogs and cats.  She has three cats, two of which live with her.
  1. Remarks by the Dean of Libraries (J. Lucia)

Dean Lucia reported on two meetings at the Snohetta office in New York.  The design is proceeding from vague premises and broad concepts to, at the second meeting, five detailed renderings of conceptual shapes.  Snohetta is unique in its iterative design process; they have listened to feedback from Library Administration and will use this information to refine their concept.  The library is going for a minimum of LEED gold certification.

The plans for the Digital Scholarship Center are proceeding and there has already been faculty interest in working on projects.  Liaisons can expect to be mediators for the center’s services.  Dean Lucia states that the DSC will be transformative to the library’s service mission.

Dean Lucia reported that the Temple University Press Executive Director search is proceeding well.  We have hosted Dean Smith, currently with Project Muse, who was a strong candidate.  Mary Rose Muccie, currently with JSTOR, is expected to be equally strong.

  1. Approval of Minutes

The General Assembly approved the minutes from January’s GA meeting.

  1. Guest speaker, Professor Hector Postigo, Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications, and Mass Media in, School of Communications and Theater, Temple University. “Libraries as Creative Citizen Advocates:  Looking Beyond Institutional Roles.”

Dr. Postigo is the author of The Digital Rights Movement (M.I.T. Press, 2012), as well as several articles on gaming, crowdsourcing, and their relationship to commercial enterprise.  He spoke about the need for librarians to act as the “voice of the people,” advocating for all users and not just institutional stakeholders.  He encouraged us to think of systems that will continue to allow users to engage creatively with cultural materials, pointing out that the design of platforms reflect the politics of the designers.

  1. Old business

Mark Darby will contact the PARA committee about procedural changes related to January’s mentorship discussion.

  1. New business/announcements

Anne Harlow announced that there are two lunchtime concerts featuring the music of Debussy planned for March 26th and April 2nd in the Lecture Hall.

Adjournment at 3:07pm

This entry was posted in Minutes.