Cornell University Library
Minutes of the Academic Assembly
Sept. 4, 2003

Call to Order
The regular monthly meeting of the Cornell University Library Academic Assembly was held Thursday, Sept. 4, 2003 in Clark Hall room 700. University Librarian Sarah Thomas called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

1. Welcome and Introduction of New Librarians and Staff: Sarah Thomas
Sarah Thomas introduced new members of the Library staff:

Jim Alberts is the new Assistant Music Librarian at the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance. James received his MLS from the University of Maryland at College Park, he also holds an MFA in Music History from Brandeis University as well as a Masters of Music and Bachelors of Music from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. James was most recently employed as a Catalog Librarian at the Milton L. Rock Resources Center at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Terry Ehling has joined the Digital Library and Information Technologies team as Director of Electronic Publishing. Terry comes to us from MIT Press where she most recently worked as the Director of the Digital Projects Lab the Press's innovative publishing unit. She also designed and implemented their first on-line catalog and set up their first Unix-based web server. Terry is no stranger to upstate New York, she received her BFA from Syracuse University.

Beth Katzoff is the new Head of Public Services for the Asia Collections. Beth received her PhD in History and Masters of Philosophy in History from Columbia University. She also holds a M.A. in Regional Studies East Asia from Harvard University and a B.A. in Government and Asian Studies from Cornell. She most currently worked as a Reference Librarian in the Japanese Section of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress.

Matthew Morrison is the new Reference Librarian at the Law Library. Matthew received his MLS from the University of Kentucky at Lexington, he also holds a JD from the Mercer University School of Law in Macon GA and a B.S. from Virginia Tech. Matthew most recently worked as the Reference/Electronic Information Services Librarian at the Alvin E. Evans Law Library at the University of Kentucky.

2. Staff Changes/Promotions
Sarah Thomas reviewed recent promotions within the system

Don Schnedeker has accepted the Directorship of both the JGSM and Hotel Libraries. Don will ensure that the two libraries work closely together, optimizing their resources by coordinating their services, while at the same time promoting the unique character and strengths of each library.
Lynn Brown has been named Associate Director of both the JGSM and Hotel Libraries. In this capacity she will provide leadership in instruction and reference for both libraries, as well as provide assistance in management.

3. Staff Achievements:
Sarah Thomas announced a number of recent achievements among members of the Library staff:

Surinder Ghangas has been elected chair of the Endeavor Mid Atlantic Users Group (EMAUG). She will be the program chair for the fall meeting of EMAUG to be held at Princeton University in October.

Ali Houissa, Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian, has been elected to ALA Council for 2003 2006.

Ira Revels has been elected to the Executive Board of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) for 2003-2005.

Phil Dankert, Erla Heyns and Tom Turner were all honored with the SUNY Chancellors Award for Excellence in Librarianship this spring. They were recognized for their skill in librarianship and service to the profession. Phil Dankert has personally selected more than half of the materials in the ILR's stacks collection a collection that is almost certainly the best collection on labor relations in the country. Erla Heyns is responsible for embedding the Flower-Sprecher Veterinary Library into the environment of the college by strengthening instruction, computing and public affairs programs. Tom Turner was recognized for his pioneering work as Metadata Librarian. He was a key contributor to the ongoing development of the Library Gateway, the geospatial system, CUGIR, and Cornell's work on EnCompass. Tom Turner passed away in March of this year but his contributions to the Cornell Library will endure forever

Ed Weissman has been elected to represent Nylink on the OCLC Members Council. He will be advising on the development of policies and products of interest to academic and research libraries.

4. Announcements of Upcoming Events

Sarah Thomas announced the upcoming inauguration of Cornell University President Jeffery Lehman.  She also announced the coming of members of a Library External Review Board on October 1st and 2nd  and the new term members of the Academic Assembly Steering Committee:


* denotes continuing members

Petrina Jackson (RMC) announced a talk by CU Professor Margaret Washington entitled The Spirit and the Word: Spreading the Abolitionist Messageto be held in Kroch 2B48 from 4:00-5:30 pm.

5. Establishment of a University Club: Peter Stein (Introduction by Katherine Reagan)
Katherine Regan (RMC) introduced Professor of Physics, Peter Stein of the University Club Task Force who discussed a new initiative to start a University Club for Cornell Faculty and Staff. Professor Stein provided the Assembly with background information on the initiative, described the range of services the Club would provide, and reviewed a number of the challenges faced by the Task Force including recruiting support, funding issues and identifying a location to house the club. During the question and answer period, Diane Hillman raised concerns about the proposed dues structure and Brenda Marston (RMC) offered the suggestion of naming the club after Cornell's Alice H. Cook. The Assembly voted in support of the Library endorsing the establishment of the club. A website is available at http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/UniversityClub/ as well as a petition for individuals may also register their support.

6. Parental Leave Policy: Joy Paulson

Joy Paulson (Mann) discussed the new Parental Leave Policy as drafted by the Academic Personnel Policy Committee.  She covered the highlights of the new policy and explained that the policy complements and clarifies aspects University policy to better address the needs of Library staff.  Susan Markowitz took questions from the audience along with Joy.  Various concerns were raised about the application of the policy including the effects of child-age restrictions carried over from the University policy.

 7. Economic Status of Librarians-Proposal to Change the Charge: Academic Assembly Steering Committee

(It was established that a quorum was present for voting purposes)
David Banush provided an overview of the Academic Assembly Steering Committees proposal to change the charge of the Economic Status of Librarians (ESL) Committee, which included modifying the standard report produced by ESL from an annual report to one produced every other year.  The proposal also provided for the committee to produce a supplemental report on a topic related to the compensation of academic librarians every other year.  The Assembly moved to discuss the proposal and listened to comments from members of the audience. Phil Davis (Mann) provided comments and put forth an amendment/counterproposal to the Academic Assembly Steering Committee proposal, which recommended that the ESL Committee continue to produce annually, only the part 1 (CUL Internal Salary Comparison Report) of their traditionally two-part report.  He then moved that the Academic Assembly Steering Committee proposal to create a new charge be amended in the regard that the report produced by the ESL committee would be an annual report that only consists of part 1 (CUL Internal Salary Comparison Report) of the traditional report.  This motion was then seconded, and a discussion of the amendment was held.  After a period of discussion, Ed Weissman motioned for a vote to amend the proposal put forth by Academic Assembly Steering Committee with the counterproposal as put forth by Phil Davis.  This motion was seconded and the Assembly voted in favor of the amendment to Academic Assembly Steering Committees original proposal.  The Assembly then voted in favor of the newly amended motion, by which there will be an annual part 1 (CUL Internal Salary Comparison Report) prepared by the Economic Status of Librarians Committee every year, and no part 2 (CUL External Salary Comparison Report).  [Based on the will of the Assembly, the Academic Assembly Steering Committee will amend the charge for the Economic Status of Librarians Committee for the upcoming term.]