Announcements by Sarah Thomas:

• Reclaiming Scholarly Communication - a lecture by Kenneth Frazier, Director of the General Library System at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be held on Friday, May 10, 2002 from 9:00-10:00 AM in Clark Hall, Room 700. Refreshments and social at 8:30.

  A key figure in the current debate on the reform of the scholarly communication system, Kenneth Frazier will contribute to our understanding of the issues affecting the rapidly changing electronic environment in which research information is disseminated. Frazier has challenged the academic community to think about the online environment as an opportunity to ensure the widest possible access to research literature. This lecture will enable us to hear Frazier's perspective on the present state of scholarly communications and his vision for the future.

  Kenneth Frazier has been the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison General Library System since 1992 and a member of the UW-Madison library staff since 1978. He is a past president of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Frazier is also a founding member and past chair of SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), which is an ARL-sponsored initiative dedicated to reducing the cost of research information by promoting competition and technical innovation in scholarly publishing.

• ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award Presentation Ceremony: April 24th from 3:30 5:00 in the Sage Hall Atrium. The award presentation will begin at 3:45. All staff are invited.

• Stuart Basefsky, Senior Reference Librarian at ILR, has been selected by the Ithaca Rotary Club to receive their eighth annual Pride of Workmanship Award. This award is given to recognize creativity, outstanding performance and leadership in providing services to the Ithaca community. Stuart was on the Site Based Council for the Boynton Middle School in the mid-1990s, and he has served as President of the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) since its inception in 1996. Stuart will officially receive this award at a Rotary Club presentation in the late spring.

State of the Library by Sarah Thomas:
Sarah compared some information from the annual report from 1951-1952 to our present status.

• There is a great deal of talk these days about “flattening” the organization structure. Sarah unfurled a large organizational chart from the 1951-1952 annual report. It was flat.
• Plans for the new Mann library were underway.
• Circulation statistics were up from the previous year’s totals. Circulation was 539.000 items.
• Reference statistics were down, perhaps due to classroom instruction.
• The library was experiencing severe space limitations.
• The library owned 52,000 itemsabout 1/3 of our current holdings.
• The materials budget was $195, 000. Our current budget is $1.5 million.
• The library produced many displays with departments, i.e. “Books Fatal to Their Authors” and “Birth of a Book” with CU Press.
• Plans were underway for the new vet college, the new engineering college, and the college of architecture.
• There were improvements in the cataloging department. For a while, catalogers were expected to turn in a daily work log. This practice was discontinued, as it had a negative impact on morale.

Please note that the following section is in the spirit of an April Fool’s Day joke and is in no way intended to be serious.
In order to reduce the library budget, Sarah suggested the following strategies:

• Freeze vacations
• Sell our duplicates on e-Bay
• Adopt a new business model, i.e. the economy of scale offered by the WalMart model.
• Have a box for donations at the door of the library
• Have a pledge week each year

Sarah shared some notes from patrons that expressed their satisfaction with the library in glowing terms.

The CUL Master Plan has ten major goals: [bulleted items indicate ways we are currently striving to meet these goals]

GOAL I: Build the knowledge base of print, digital, and other materials using selection criteria that 1) reflect the academic priorities of the University, 2) significant research in all areas of study pursued at the University, and 3) current collection strengths.

GOAL II: Provide digital ‘life-cycle’ production services.

GOAL III: Support electronic publishing, scholarly communication, and creative expression.

• ArXiv
• PROLA
• Math publishing
• NSDL
• D-Lit

GOAL IV: Support more effective organization and presentation of information for diverse audiences.

GOAL V: Provide expert assistance, and instruction, and an innovative suite of user services.

• Alumni access project.

GOAL VI: Create and maintain a physical environment that fosters learning and research through enhanced intellectual discourse and exploration.

• See current construction projects.

GOAL VII: Foster a culture that is agile, resilient and flexible, embraces change and encourages teamwork.

GOAL VIII: Secure the resources to meet the goals of the master plan.

GOAL IX: Effectively market the library’s products and services, and expand outreach to new and underrepresented constituencies.

GOAL X: Develop Strategic Alliances in support of CUL’s master plan.

• Ivies + MIT, Chicago and Stanford
• DLF
• EMANI
• DLI International
• NYHEI
• NSF

Sarah congratulated us on the ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award.

Lee Cartmill presented the 2002-2003 budget for CUL.
Highlights included:

• Total budget, including the medical library, is $46.1 million:
  • Salaries 42.0%
  • Materials 32.2%
  • Operating expenses 13.5%
  • Fringe benefits 10.8%
  • Student wages 1.6%
• Sources of funds:
  • University appropriation 63.0%
  • Designated 14.3%
  • State appropriation 12.2%
  • Sponsored programs 3.6%
  • Endowments/gifts 6.9%
• Endowment funds reached a peak in 2000 and decreased for 2001. It has demonstrated a further decrease for 2002 to date.
• University Initiatives/Issues include:
  • Workforce planning [review of administrative functions]
  • Hiring Freeze
  • Faculty and Staff Salaries
  • Facility Projects
  • Budget Outlook
• Library Initiatives/Issues include:
  • Masterplan will establish priorities, identify resources
  • Current commitments
  • Other facilities projects
  • Budget outlook
• 2002/2003 budget Outlook:
  • Pay Improvement Program funded by university
  • Employment benefit rates up 1%
  • Materials budget increase 3%

A question and answer session followed the presentations:

Q. Any chance for an increase in the student worker budget? The library pays less than other student jobs.
A. We need to talk about that.

Q. What about fund raising initiatives?
A. Sarah will be spending more time with “friends” and the Library Advisory Council. She will do fewer speaking engagements. David Corson will also take on a more active role in fund raising.

Q. Is there a way to partner with campus wide fund raising initiatives?
A. Sarah will be investigating how the Library can be integrated into the $500 million campaign for the new life sciences, since there are likely implications for our information services in this priority area of the university.

Pat Viele, Secretary
Academic Assembly Steering Committee

04/25/02 vwb