ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

AGENDA

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

2:00 PM

Paley Library Lecture Hall

Attending: Rachel Appel, Steven Bell, Brian Boling, Jim Bongiovani, Olivia Given Castello, Carla Davis Cunningham (chair), Kristina De Voe, Matt Ducmanas, Leanne Finnigan, Andrea Goldstein, Justin Hill, Josue Hurtado, Sarah Jones, Jessica Lydon, Karen Kohn (recording), Molly Larkin, Joe Lucia (ex officio), Urooj Nizami, Stefanie Ramsay, Fred Rowland, Brian Schoolar, Adam Shambaugh, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Katy Rawdon, Jackie Sipes, Margery Sly, Holly Tomren, Emily Toner, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner, Sarah Yerger

1. Approval of minutes from the January and November meetings (Karen Kohn)

minutes were approved

1. Introductions:

Olivia Castello (Steven Bell) Olivia started February 1 as Head of the Business, Social Science, and Education Unit within LRS. She comes to us from Bryn Mawr.

1. Dean’s update (Joe Lucia)

There will be hard hat tours of the new library building starting next week. The first one had been scheduled for tomorrow but was postponed due to expected snow.

Fundraising is ongoing for the Charles Library. There is a gift that will be used to create an endowment for the library.

1. Update on Merit/Annual Report form (Kim Tully) and timeline (Karen Kohn)

Kim presented her task force’s proposed changes to the Annual Report form. The form has been reorganized to mirror the criteria for merit. Karen presented a proposal from the Merit Committee, which included changes to the timeline and a description of what kind of information should be included in the narrative.

Questions were raised regarding timing of supervisor due dates. There were no objections to the proposals.

1. Report from Faculty Senate representative (Josué Hurtado)

The Faculty Senate held a special meeting about the multi-purpose facility (stadium), which President Englert attended. A number of faculty expressed concerns about the stadium in terms of necessity, impact on the local community, as well as ethical considerations given what we are learning about the long term health of football players. At this meeting the Senate voted 24-1, with three abstentions, to oppose the construction of the stadium.

There was a recent questionnaire about disability sent out to faculty.

TAUP has recommended that adjuncts be included in the Faculty Senate Steering Committee.

Dan Berman, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies spoke to the Senate.

The Senate is looking at standards for communications on social media, in response to some faculty who had been harassed.

1. Old business

none

1. New business

There has been a change at the university level, and staff are no longer allowed to spend university money on snacks for internal events. Food can only provided if there are outside attendees.

Carla was asked to provide a list of AAL members who would be willing to meet as a group with the Dean’s Review Committee. She has provided a list of 8 names. There is also an opportunity for other people to provide feedback to the committee by emailing deanreview@temple.edu. As a memo from the Provost had stated that only non-anonymous feedback will be taken into account, Caitlin explained that in fact the review committee will not see the names of staff who submit feedback using this email address. The requirement of non-anonymity in this case means that when comments are received at this email address, the Provost will verify that the sender is affiliated with Temple, but the content of the email will be sent to the committee anonymously..

1. Adjournment

Adjourned at 2:30.

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

2:00 PM

Paley Library Lecture Hall

MINUTES

Attending: Rachel Appel, Steven Bell, Aslaku Berhanu, Brian Boling, Jasmine Clark, Carla Davis Cunningham (chair), Kristina De Voe, Matt Ducmanas, Erin Finnerty, Andrea Goldstein, Anne Harlow, Josue Hurtado, Sarah Jones, Delphine Khanna, Karen Kohn (recording), Rebecca Lloyd, Jill Luedke, Jessica Lydon, Joe Lucia (ex officio), Greg McKinney, Urooj Nizami, Stefanie Ramsay, Katy Rawdon, Fred Rowland, Brian Schoolar, Cynthia Schwarz, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Jackie Sipes, Emily Toner, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner, Sarah Yerger

1.Approval of minutes from the November meeting (Karen Kohn)

Due to a mix-up, the November minutes had not been sent out prior to this meeting. They will be sent out before the March meeting to be approved at that meeting.

2. Introductions:

Stefanie Ramsay, Delphine Khanna

Stefanie comes to us from Swarthmore College, where she was Digital Collections Librarian. She has no pets.

3. Dean’s update (Joe Lucia)

New Administrative Positions

Jonathan Nyquist has been hired as the  new Director of General Education. Joe is planning to talk with him about information literacy in the GenEd curriculum.

There is a search underway for a Vice Provost for Enrollment Management. This is not an entirely new position but has a new title and a slightly different focus than the previous position. This person will think strategically about which ways are appropriate for Temple to grow or which areas of recruitment to focus on.

Joe’s Fifth-Year Review Joe is undergoing a fifth-year review process. There is a committee reviewing him that may contact AAL as a body.

New Library Building

The steel frame of the new library building has been completed.

The plan is that the current Paley building will be the home for the College of Public Health, with extensive renovation.

PALCI Collections Summit

Yesterday Joe attended a PALCI Collections Summit, held at Penn. The attendees involved a collection strategies team and people involved with EZBorrow. One topic of emerging interest was licensing digital content as a consortium. There will be a year-long process of trying to define/envision PALCI as a facilitator of 21st century collections.

4. Report: Procedures for Missing/Lost Materials (Karen Kohn)

Karen has been developing a process for regularly reviewing books and other materials that are lost or missing from Paley or Kardon and determining which items to replace using the general Replacements fund. Subject Specialists will be able to see which items are not replaced using the Replacements fund so that, if they choose, they could purchase some of these as firm orders.

The process will not be retrospective and will only consider items marked as missing or lost since the migration to Alma last July. Items will be considered once they have been lost or missing for 6 months. Review will happen twice a year.

5. Old business

6. New business

We discussed upcoming changes to the merit process. The Task Force on the Annual Report (comprised of Kim Tully, Brian Boling, Molly Larkin) will have recommendations soon. Based on the recommended changes to the Annual Report, the Merit Committee will propose new guidelines for the merit narrative. The Merit Committee will also propose changes to the timeline, so that the applications are submitted closer in time to when Annual Reports are due.

7. Adjournment

Adjourned at 2:45.

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

2:00 PM

Paley Library Lecture Hall

MINUTES

Attending: Rachel Appel, Jasmine Clark, Matt Ducmanas, Erin Finnerty, Leanne Finnigan, Andrea Goldstein (chair-elect, presiding), Justin Hill, Josue Hurtado, Sarah Jones, Delphine Khanna, Karen Kohn (recording), Molly Larkin, Dave Lacy, Joe Lucia (ex officio), Urooj Nizami, Katy Rawdon, Matt Shoemaker, Cynthia Schwarz, Jackie Sipes, Gretchen Sneff, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner, Sarah Yerger

Not Present: Carla Davis Cunningham (chair)

1.Approval of minutes from the September meeting (Karen Kohn)

Minutes were approved.

2. Introductions:

Patrick Lyons, Innovation Librarian

Patrick was not present. We will introduce him at a later date.

3. Dean’s update (Joe Lucia)

He has been working closely with David Washington on fundraising for the new building. There are prospects for some very large gifts, including a potential gift that would include naming rights for the building. The goal is to raise $20-25 million as an endowment. This would provide yearly income for operating the building itself, i.e. maintenance, technology infrastructure, and programming.

Joe is undergoing a fifth-year review process, which is standard for Deans. The staff may hear from the committee that is reviewing him.

He mentioned that there will be some activities to prepare us for working in the new building. This will start early Spring 2018.

4. Faculty Senate update (Josue Hurtado)

Josue has attended three Faculty Senate meetings. Joe presented at one of the meetings. There were a few concerns about the new library, but overall faculty were comfortable with the building and said positive things about library staff. The Senate talked about issuing statements related to DACA and other political events. Review of the RCM budgeting model has been completed, and a report will be forthcoming. It will include input from other schools.

5. Slack: what, why, how (David Lacy)

Slack can be used for private or group conversations. Many conversations about Primo have taken place on Slack. Conversations within a channel are open and can be a place where ideas are generated that get incorporated into the formal development process.

Invitations have been sent out in the past, but anyone who would like an invitation who doesn’t have one can contact Dave, Cynthia, or Jim.

Other organizations, such as LITA, have Slack channels that are open to the public, so people can use it for conversations outside Temple also. Some groups are private (such the Paley channel, which is invitation-only) and others are open, depending on the community that set it up.

The Libraries pay for Slack, so it is ad-free, but the company uses our data for studying  communication in workplaces. It is actually an acronym for System for Logging All Communication and Knowledge. We don’t know the level of privacy of our conversations. The administration at Temple is not able to view private conversations between staff members, but these may still be included in the data that the company analyzes.

6. Library groups and committees (Nancy Turner)

Nancy presented the results of her data collection on groups at Temple, which was done in preparation for creating the beta Strategic Steering teams.

The Steering Committee expressed interest in seeing a list of what committees currently exist and who is on them. There is a page on the existing website called Roster of Working Groups and Committees (https://library.temple.edu/about/committees/roster), but it is out of date. Cynthia is working on an inventory of website pages, so when the website re-design is done, responsibility for maintaining this roster can be assigned to someone.

7. Old business

8. New business

9. Adjournment

Adjourned at 2:55.

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

2:00 PM

Paley Library Lecture Hall

MINUTES

Attending: Steven Bell, Brian Boling, Jasmine Clark, Carla Davis Cunningham (chair), Kristina De Voe, Matt Ducmanas, , Erin Finnerty, Andrea Goldstein, Justin Hill, Josue Hurtado, Latanya Jenkins, Sarah Jones, Delphine Khanna, Karen Kohn (recording), Joe Lucia, Jill Luedke, Jessica Lydon, Urooj Nizami, Katy Rawdon, Brian Schoolar, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Jackie Sipes, Margery Sly, Gretchen Sneff, Sandi Thompson, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner

1. Approval of minutes from the May meeting (Karen Kohn)

Minutes were approved.

2. Introductions:

Steven Bell introduced Sarah Jones, Science and Engineering Librarian, who joined us in July. She is liaison to Chemistry, Biology, Bioengineering, and Physics. She has a cat named Simone.

Sandi Thompson introduced the two new Resident Librarians, Jasmine Clark and Urooj Nizami. Urooj is currently doing her first rotation in RIS, supervised by Adam Shambaugh. She has a cat named Opie. Jasmine previously worked for Temple University Libraries as an undergraduate student in Digital Library Initiatives. She is doing her first rotation under Matt Shoemaker in the Digital Scholarship Center. She has one dog and two cats.

Patrick Lyons, Innovation Librarian at HSL was not present and will be introduced at a future meeting.

3. Urban Archives 50^th anniversary observances (Margery Sly)

The Urban Archives were founded in 1967 by the History department and will be celebrating their 50^th anniversary this fall. Programming to celebrate the archives will include exhibits, a film screening at International House on Thursday, October 19, and a symposium Friday, October 20. More details will be shared with the Libraries closer to the dates of the events.

4. Dean’s update (Joe Lucia)

New Building The official opening of our new library building will be in the summer of 2019. Construction is underway. The bidding process for movers is expected to start this fall. The moving process is expected to take five months, beginning in Spring 2019. There will be conversations to come about how to provide library services during the move. We will be receiving mock-ups of staff work stations in October. There will also be a bidding process for furniture for the new building.

Provost Joe met with the Provost yesterday. She is interested in increasing the educational impact of the library. The conversation also touched on potential shared positions between the library and other departments. There may be a new model for determining the library budget in the future, as a result of the review of RCM that took place in the Spring.

Re-organization There will be communication soon about the next steps forward in the library reorganization. So far the changes are proceeding according to the timeline that has already been shared.

Alma Migration There will be a celebration of the completion of the Alma migration. Joe noted the ongoing challenges, particularly with Discovery, but appreciates the ways the staff is moving forward.

Annual Report The Library Annual Report has been completed and will be disseminated in the fall.

5. Physical Collections Working Group (Justin Hill)

The barcoding project will be concluded imminently. The committee has been discussing de-selection of LPs, educational kits, and bound periodicals. Some conversations have taken place with Macquarie University in Australia, which is also an Alma user that has an ASRS.

We are in the process of identifying duplicate monographs that we can donate to the University of the Arts to replace items destroyed in a flood.

6. Old business

Following up on the conversation in May about integrating the Merit process with Annual Reports, there is now a task force that is reviewing the annual report form. Task force members are Molly Larkin, Brian Boling, and Kim Tully. The goal is to have a new process in place for July 2018. The Merit committee will be responsible for setting a new timeline to be followed in the 2018-19 academic year.

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017

2:00PM

PALEY LIBRARY, LECTURE HALL

MINUTES

Attending: Rachel Appel, Steven Bell, Brian Boling, Jim Bongiovanni, Anastasia Chiu, Kristina De Voe (chair), Matt Ducmanas, Carla Davis Cunningham, Erin Finnerty, Justin Hill, Josue Hurtado, Latanya Jenkins, Molly Larkin, Rebecca Lloyd, Joe Lucia, Jill Luedke, Jessica Lydon, Karen Kohn (recording), Katy Rawdon, Fred Rowland, Brian Schoolar, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Jackie Sipes, Sandi Thompson, Emily Toner, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner

1. Approval of minutes from the January meeting (K. Kohn)

Minutes were approved, with the added updates on the Alma migration timeline.

2. Elections (E. Finnerty and J. Bongiovanni)

Ballots had been previously distributed by email. There had been two tied votes prior to the meeting, so Erin passed out paper tiebreaker ballots at the meeting.

3. Dean’s Update (J. Lucia)

New Building – Joe reported that some of the proposed cost-saving measures for the new building have turned out not to save money and may not be implemented. He did not have any specifics at this time.

Alma Migration – The Alma migration is on schedule to happen at the end of June.

Learning Management Systems – The University is going to be migrating off Blackboard and onto Canvas in the next academic year.

Philadelphia History Museum – Joe has been in conversation with the Philadelphia History Museum to determine a possible formal relationship between the museum and Temple. The relationship will likely involve faculty from the College of Education, Tyler School of Art and the College of Liberal Arts developing coursework and programming that utilize the museum’s collections. Temple’s contribution would be in program development for the museum, which would continue to be funded by the city’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs.

Exhibit by Tyler School of Art Students – Jill Luedke was contacted by students who wanted to stage an art exhibit, including a performance, in the library. Because the request was made with very short notice, there was not as much time as would’ve been ideal for planning the location of the exhibit within the library and communicating about it to the library staff and the rest of campus. Nevertheless, Joe hopes that this exhibit will lead to more art exhibits in the new library building. He has not heard any feedback on this exhibit.

4. Discussion about Merit timeline (K. De Voe & C. Davis Cunningham)

Kristina and Carla led an open discussion about the timeline. One option that came up repeatedly was submitting the documentation close to the time of the Annual Report. Carla asked if it would be feasible to submit and review applications in the summer, particularly since the Merit Committee is typically not appointed until later in the year. A solution could be to submit merit applications in the summer and then have the committee review them in the fall.

Some pros and cons of timeline changes were noted. As supervisors need to review similar documentation for merit and PARA, keeping these processes close together could avoid the need to review the documentation twice. However, writing PARA support letters and merit recommendations at the same time is time-consuming for supervisors. Writing PDPs and merit recommendation letters at the same time would be similarly burdensome.

A question was raised about changes to the merit process itself, which Nancy Turner had proposed earlier in the year and which the Merit Committee has considered. Carla indicated that one of her intentions as next year’s Steering Committee chair is to work on adjusting the Merit timeline and improving the process, an idea which several people supported. The development of new processes is expected to take place over the next year, but there will not be time for AAL to approve new procedures in time for the 2017-18 merit cycle.

The Assembly seemed to have a general agreement to consider moving the timeline closer to when the Annual Reports are due, in anticipation of a likely merging of the Merit and Annual Report processes in the future.

5. Committee Annual Reports
6. Steering Committee (K. De Voe)

The initial members of the 2016/17 Steering Committee were Kristina De Voe (Chair), Carla Davis Cunningham (Vice Chair/Chair Elect), Karen Kohn (Recording Secretary), Matt Ducmanas (Member-at-Large), Leanne Finnigan (Member-at-Large), and Dean

Joe Lucia (ex-officio). Sarah Yerger was elected to fill a vacated member-at-large position mid-year when Leanne Finnigan went on family leave.

Shared AAL Calendar — Following an idea presented to and supported by the Assembly last year, a shared Google calendar listing AAL meetings, events, and deadlines was created and distributed among AAL members. Committees were encouraged to add their events to it.

Change to Bylaws Regarding Resident Librarian Participation — Following an idea proposed by last year’s Nominations and Elections Committee, the Bylaws were amended to incorporate language concerning participation opportunities on the Steering and Continuing Education committees for any hired Resident Librarians. The changes were discussed and voted on by the Assembly, passing in January.

As mentioned in more detail below in the report from the Selection & Appointment Committee, there was a discussion this year between the Steering Committee, the SAC Chair, and the Dean about ways to improve communication between search committees and library administration. As AAL chair, Kristina also spoke with the Director for Administration (Richie Holland) concerning standardized opportunities during onsite librarian candidate interviews for discussions between candidates and librarians of the AAL and its varied processes.

Change to Merit Timeline and Process — The Steering Committee discussed altering the Merit timeline so that it would not overlap with the PARA Committee’s recently changed timeline for contract renewal/regular appointment/promotion. The Committee asked the Library-wide Salary Advisory (Merit) Committee to make recommendations and is currently reviewing their proposal. Also, given the large pool of merit applicants in recent years, the Steering Committee, in conjunction with the Merit Committee, has suggested that the Dean return to the practice of appointing three individuals to the Library-wide Salary Advisory (Merit) Committee, instead of appointing just two, as having a total of six members may help better distribute their workload.

As a general reminder, minutes of the Steering Committee are available on the S: drive for viewing.

1. Continuing Education Committee (R. Lloyd)

The 2016-2017 AAL Continuing Education Committee members were Michael Carroll, Matthew Ducmanas, Noa Kaumeheiwa, and Rebecca Lloyd (chair), with Richie Holland serving as an ex officio member.

The committed selected the theme Evolving Communities for this year and organized five programs, each focused on one or more areas that are “evolving.”

The first event, in September, was a Staff Carnival. This was held in conjunction with the Staff Coffee Hour and consisted of tables staffed by 16 different library departments and locations. Library staff visited tables to learn more about the work of their colleagues. There were requests for this event to repeat on a regular basis.

November’s event was a panel on Supporting Temple’s International Students. Speakers were Neal Conley (Director, Academic Resource Center), Leah Hetzell (Assistant Director, International Student Affairs) and Elisabeth Ursell (TESOL & Conversation Partners Program Coordinator, Writing Center). In December, John Pettit presented a screening of Unedited North Philadelphia, a compilation of news footage held in the SCRC pertaining to North Philadelphia.

In the Spring, the committee hosted a panel on Evolving Digital Ecosystem: Faculty perspectives on digital media and communication. Panelists were Sherri Hope Culver (Director, Center for Media and Information Literacy), Jan Fernback (Department of Media Studies and Production), and Dustin Kidd (Department of Sociology).

The final, forthcoming, event will address the topic of researchers, libraries, and privacy in the digital realm. This event will feature guest speakers from other institutions: Alison Macrina (Founder and Director, Library Freedom Project), Denise Agosto (College of Computing and Informatics, Drexel University), and June Abbas (School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma).

1. Faculty Senate Library Committee (C. Shanley)

The Committee met twice in FY16-17, once in December and once in April. The December meeting focused on updates from Joe Lucia about the new library building. During the April meeting, Joe shared a number of updates about new and

ongoing activities. He shared the PowerPoint slides that he had made for the full Senate and again shared some information about construction of the new building. He discussed the Digital Resource Fee, the new discovery tool, and library’s role in teaching critical information evaluation.

1. Selection & Appointment Committee (J. Sipes)

The Selection and Appointment Committee in 2016-17 consisted of Jackie Sipes (Chair), Kim Tully, and Justin Hill. Doreva Belfiore served until her departure from Temple University on March 24, 2017.

In FY 2016-17, the Libraries had three TAUP searches.

• Doreva Belfiore served as the AAL representative on the Digital Projects and Services Librarian search. This search led to the successful hire of Rachel Appel.
• Jackie Sipes served as the AAL representative on the Science and Engineering Librarian and Learning Specialist search, which led to the successful hire of Sarah Jones, who will begin her position on July 5, 2017.
• Kim Tully is currently serving as the AAL representative on the Resident Librarians search.

The Selection and Appointment Committee also wishes to note that during the search for the Digital Projects and Services Librarian position, a second position, Technology Projects Librarian, was created in the Library Technology Department and offered to one of the finalists from the ongoing search. The creation of position resulted in the successful hire of Emily Toner. The search committee for the Digital Projects and Service Librarian was not notified that a separate position had been defined until after an offer had been made. The Steering Committee and SAC chair discussed with Dean Lucia the need to increase communication between search committees and the administration moving forward.

1. PARA Committee (M. Larkin)

This year’s committee was comprised of Aslaku Berhanu, Adam Shambaugh, Molly Larkin, and Andrea Goldstein (chair). Molly presented the committee report on behalf of Andrea. The committee reviewed nine applications and made positive recommendations for all. Matthew Ducmanas, Leanne Finnegan, Erin Finnerty, Josue Hurtado, Karen Kohn, Rebecca Lloyd, Matt Shoemaker, and Kim Tully all received 2 year contract renewals. In addition, Matthew Ducmanas and Josue Hurtado have received a promotion to L2.  Brian Boling received regular appointment and a promotion to L3.  The committee extends its congratulations to these employees for their well-deserved appointments.

Also, Richie Holland consulted with Andrea for the hiring level of three new hires this past year.

1. Merit Committee (F. Rowland)

The committed consisted of Jim Bongiovanni, Karen Kohn, Kim Tully, Matt Ducmanas, and Fred Rowland (chair).

Eighteen TAUP librarians applied for merit in January 2017. This is believed to be the largest applicant pool ever. The merit pool consisted of 54 units. Due to the large number of applications, the committee considered whether it would be advisable to appoint six members to the committee next year but has not made a recommendation. (See item 5a for the Steering Committee’s recommendation.)

The Merit Committee was asked to think about an alternative to the current merit process. In a discussion on April 20, 2017, it came up with a proposal that was delivered to the AAL Steering Committee. The chair of the Merit Committee will meet with the Steering Committee on May 16, 2017 to discuss this proposal.

1. Faculty Senate Representatives (J. Hurtado)

Katy Rawdon and Josue Hurtado attended ten meetings as representatives to the Faculty Senate.

At the September meeting, President Englert reported figures related to enrollment. First-year enrollment in 2016 was 5,100, which President Englert says that was “robust.” Total enrollment was expected to be around 39,000. A Presidential search will be starting this summer. A review of RCM budgeting is underway, almost complete. The Senate discussed the stadium.

The Provost announced that ten Temple students had received Fulbright. She also announced the appointment of a new Dean of the Tyler School, Susan Cahan, and of the Law School, Greg Mandel.

Dean Lucia reported on library accomplishments.

Ken Kaiser, the CFO, noted that tuition comprises 80% of Temple’s budget, while state aid is 10%.  This year’s budget is $1.4 billion.

Justin Miller from the Resnick Academic Support Center for Student Athletes reported on the academic success of student athletes. The overall GPA for student athletes in Spring 2016 was 3.23, and graduation rates are 88%. This leaves Temple ranked 15th nationally in graduation rates for student athletes. In addition, the annual academic progress rate is 98%.

The Senate discussed the issue of sanctuary campuses for undocumented students.

Lastly, the Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution entitled “Standing Up to a Threat to Diversity,” which called on Temple’s leadership to reach out to legislators voicing their opposition to giving institutions of higher education a role in immigration enforcement and their support of immigration policies that encourage international students and scholars to attend institutions in the United States.

1. Nominations & Elections (E. Finnerty)

The committed consisted of Erin Finnerty and Jim Bongiovanni.

There was one special election in January to fill Leanne’s 2-year term (2016/17-2017/18) as member-at-large for Steering Committee. Sarah Yerger was elected to complete this term.

At the May General Assembly Meeting, the committee pioneered the switch to using Google forms ballots, as concerns about privacy and vote duplication were remedied by new Google Form options that ensure that each participant only vote one time, without recording their email address. Online voting closed at noon on the day of the General Assembly meeting. Paper ballots were made available at the meeting for any last-minute voting.

The ballot distributed prior to the meeting included 2 special elections. One was to fill the second year of Noa Kaumeheiwa’s position on the Continuing Education committee, as she will only be serving for one year. The other was to replace Doreva Belfiore on Selection & Appointment.

Results of the election are listed in agenda item 7.

6. Pet and Plant Show (S. Yerger)

There was much cooing.

7. Election Results (E. Finnerty and J. Bongiovanni)

Steering Committee Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Andrea Goldstein

Member-At-Large: Kim Tully

Representative, Faculty Senate: Adam Shambaugh

Continuing Education Committee, 1-year term [Special Election]: Kristina De Voe

Continuing Education Committee, 2-year term, Chair-Elect: Latanya Jenkins

Continuing Education Committee, 1-year term: Jill Luedke

(The Continuing Education Committee will select a 2017-18 chair from amongst its members.)

Nominations & Elections Committee: Karen Kohn

Selection & Appointment Committee, 1-year term [Special Election]: Josue Hurtado

Selection & Appointment Committee: Emily Toner and Matt Ducmanas

Promotion and Regular Appointment Committee: Jim Bongiovanni, Rick Lezenby

8. Old Business

9. New Business/Announcements

Fred proposed a day each week that would be designated for no library meetings. There was some discussion of whether there could be fewer meetings in general. Kristina suggested a future program on running effective meetings.

10. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:20.

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TUESDAY, November 8, 2016

2:15PM

PALEY LIBRARY, LECTURE HALL

MINUTES

Attending: Doreva Belfiore, Steven Bell, Brian Boling, Mark Darby, Kristina De Voe (chair), Matt Ducmanas, Catherine Dunn, Erin Finnerty, Leanne Finnigan, Andrea Goldstein, Justin Hill, Delphine Khanna, Karen Kohn (recording), Rick Lezenby, Rebecca Lloyd, Jill Luedke, Jessica Lydon, Katy Rawdon, Fred Rowland, Adam Shambaugh, Caitlin Shanley, Margery Sly, Sandi Thompson, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner, Sarah Yerger

1. Approval of minutes from the September meeting (K. Kohn)

Minutes were approved.

2. New staff introductions

a. Sarah Yerger (C. Dunn)

Sarah is the Technical Services Librarian in the Law Library.

3. Change in Bylaws — vote (K. De Voe)

A question was raised about whether the Resident Librarians would have a choice to serve on committees or would be required to. The intention of the proposal was to make it a requirement. Following discussion, it was determined that the Steering Committee will amend the language to say that committee service is encouraged rather than required. The General Assembly will vote on this in January. It was also clarified that Resident Librarians are members of the TAUP bargaining unit, but it is not within the purview of AAL to confirm any procedures related to orienting the Resident Librarians to TAUP.

4. Discussion of request to update search committee processes (K. De Voe)

The Steering Committee was contacted by the Selection and Appointment Committee about the fact that one of the finalists from the Digital Projects and Services Librarian search had been offered a different position within the library, without the search committee’s prior knowledge. As a result of this, the Steering Committee along with Dean Lucia had a discussion about ways to increase communication between search committees and the Dean. The Steering Committee, with input from the Selection and Appointment Committee, will draft recommended changes to search processes in order  to increase communication.

5. Old Business

None

6. New Business/Announcements

The Merit Committee for 2015-16 has been formed. Members are Jim Bongiovanni, Matt Ducmanus, Karen Kohn, Fred Rowland, Kim Tully. Chair tbd.

7. Adjournment

Adjourned at 2:45.

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TUESDAY, September 13, 2016

2:00PM

PALEY LIBRARY, LECTURE HALL

AGENDA

Attending: Doreva Belfiore, Steven Bell, Brian Boling, Jim Bongiovanni, Anastasia Chiu, Carla Davis Cunningham, Mark Darby, Kristina De Voe (chair), Erin Finnerty, Leanne Finnigan, Andrea Goldstein, Josue Hurtado, Latanya Jenkins, Noa Kaumeheiwa, Karen Kohn (recording), Molly Larkin, Rebecca Lloyd, Joe Lucia, Jill Luedke, Jessica Lydon, Fred Rowland, Margery Sly,    Adam Shambaugh, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Jackie Sipes, Gretchen Sneff, Kim Tully, Nancy Turner

1. Approval of minutes from the May meeting (K. Kohn)

Approved

2. Dean’s update/remarks (J. Lucia)

1. The Dean expressed optimism about new Provost and President. The Provost is planning to come meet with AAL (possibly all library staff) later this fall.
2. Updates on the new library building – Snøhetta has been working on a re-design in steel rather than concrete, due to the cost of materials. Facilities feels strongly about sticking to our planned opening date of August 2018 despite the changes.
3. The Digital Resource Fee was approved, and the money is in our budget.
4. The Academic Advising Center on Paley 1st floor East will probably not open until the beginning of the Spring semester.
5. The library has made the case to Purchasing for Ex Libris’ Alma. Joe is hoping to begin contract negotiations with Ex Libris in October.

3. Updated PARA Process document (C. Davis Cunningham)

Carla will post the updated document on the website.

4. Change in Bylaws discussion (K. De Voe)

Last Spring the Nominations and Elections Committee proposed the creation of positions on the Steering Committee and Continuing Education Committee for Resident Librarians. As the idea was received positively by the Assembly, this year’s Steering Committee is proposing new wording for the bylaws to incorporate these changes.

Feedback should be sent to Kristina. We will vote on this at the next General Assembly.

5. Old Business
6. AAL calendar (K. De Voe)

There is now a shared Google calendar for AAL meetings and events. Committees are encouraged to add their events to it. The calendar won’t replace the use of email to announce meetings, events, or deadlines, especially if an event might be open to staff who are not in AAL.

6. New Business/Announcements

7. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 pm.

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.

2. 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.

3. Approval of Minutes

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

4. 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.

5. Old business

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

6. New business/announcements

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

Adjournment at 3:07pm

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014

2:00 PM

PALEY LIBRARY, LECTURE HALL

MINUTES

Attending:  Jenifer Baldwin, Doreva Belfiore, Steven Bell, Brian Boling (recorder), Jim Bongiovanni, Carla Davis Cunningham, Mark Darby (Chair), Kristina DeVoe, Lauri Fennell, Erin Finnerty, Leanne Finnigan, Anne Harlow, Justin Hill, Richie Holland (invited speaker), Josue Hurtado, Margaret Janz, Latanya Jenkins, Delphine Khanna, Molly Larkin, Jonathan LeBreton, Rick Lezenby, Joe Lucia, Jessica Lydon, Kate Lynch, David Murray, Katy Rawdon, Fred Rowland, Caitlin Shanley, Matt Shoemaker, Jackie Sipes, Margery Sly, Gretchen Sneff.

Meeting called to order at 2:06pm.

1. Approval of Minutes (B. Boling)

The General Assembly approved minutes from November’s GA meeting.

2. New Staff Introductions

1. Caitlin Shanley

Caitlin Shanley is our new Instruction Team Leader.  She received her Masters in Library Science from UNC Chapel Hill and her undergraduate degree in literature from UNC Asheville.  She enjoys empowering young women through involvement in Girls Rock Philly.  She has two cats: Maisie and Miss Mandible.

3. Remarks by the Dean of Libraries (J. Lucia)

We now have a beta of the program for the new library.  Jonathan will be sending corrections and amendments to Bright Spot tomorrow and they will incorporate these changes into a final document that the architects will consult during the design of the building.  The Design Committee (Joe Lucia, Jonathan LeBreton, Steven Bell, Richie Holland, and Sherri Stahler) recently had a first meeting with the architects.  In 4-5 months, we should start to see drawings of the new building.

In response to a question about digital browsing, Joe mentioned the promise shown by ShelfLife, an Open Source software being developed by the DPLA and Harvard.

There will be an All-Staff meeting on Thursday.  On the agenda is a planning and guidance process to encourage creative engagement among library staff.

Dean Lucia mentioned that a Digital Scholarship Center is slated to open in early 2015.

4. Hiring Process for Librarians and Prospects for the Future (R. Holland and All)

Richie Holland discussed the steps involved in the hiring process.  HR does not currently screen librarian applicants except checking for MLS degrees.  They also have a “rule” whereby 50% of referred candidates for a job must be interviewed.  This 50% rule guards against nebulous hiring decisions being used to eliminate candidates.  These factors mean that search committees often need to do many phone interviews to screen librarian candidates.

Richie next discussed issues with the hiring process.  He indicated that Temple’s administrative process is not likely to change significantly.  He also discussed the small candidate pools we’ve seen for librarian jobs.  On the positive side, these small pools do typically have solid candidates.  Future searches may involve the use of more creative and intentional outreach to attract additional candidates.

David Murray asked whether the library had considered offering fellowships to increase the diversity of library staff.  Dean Lucia indicated that he is meeting with the ARL director of diversity fellowships during ALA Midwinter.  Some problems with this approach were mentioned, such as fixed-term librarian contracts contradicting the TAUP contract, issues that can arise for libraries that want to retain fellows after their term, and general uncertainty in libraries with a large staff of short-term employees.

5. Mentor Program for Librarians? A discussion (All)

During Larry Alford’s time as Dean, some librarians had complained about the not knowing what to do regarding the PARA process and a formal mentorship program was discussed.  The issue of mentorship has been raised again, both for PARA support and for other professional development.

David Murray mentioned that PARA has always encouraged candidates to ask questions of any committee member.  The committee has also sponsored information sessions.  At a recent session, candidates had access to PARA documents from the four committee members, allowing them to see the general structure and level of detail used in previous applications.  Various proposals for PARA support were made, such as:  following up with people who asked questions, providing a made-up sample application, an FAQ.

In terms of professional development, Steven Bell mentioned that term “mentor” implies a certain type of relationship that may be unnecessary.  Instead of formal mentors, the library could have “specialists” willing to share knowledge of areas such as publishing, professional organization involvement, etc.

6. Old business

None.

7. New business/announcements

Kristina DeVoe announced that PARA reviewed nine contract renewal applications and one application for regular appointment.  All were approved.  A message about the promotion process will be sent shortly.

Adjournment at 3:23pm.