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Minutes, January 22, 1997
Attendance: Susanne Whitaker, Lee Cartmill, Ann Dyckman, Ann Gray, Lenore Coral, Martha Hsu, Diane Hillmann, Lynne Personius, Barbara Berger, John Hoffmann, Catherine Murray-Rust, Ed Weissman, Katherine Margolis, Ross Atkinson, Barbara Prior, Steven Rockey, Tom Hickerson, Patricia Schafer, Susan Barnes, Ved Kayastha, Don Schnedeker, Christian Boissonnas, Gordon Law, Peter McDonald, Patricia Court, John Saylor, Susan Currie, David Corson, Paul Constantine, Elizabeth Fontana, Sarah Thomas (chair)
Sarah Thomas convened the meeting. She told the group that she had asked Catherine Murray-Rust to take the minutes at the meeting and she would draw lots for the names of those who would be responsible for the minutes of future meetings. Those selected can either produce the minutes themselves or arrange for another person to take them. The names drawn for 1997 are as follows:
Updates
SMG
Sarah informed the group that she is chairing the weekly SMG meeting. This fall, the group followed up on the digital library reports and the general meeting in November. A summary of that meeting is due later in January. SMG is also serving as a sounding board for a variety of issues as well as information technology concerns.
Tactical Plan
The need for a tactical plan for the Library was mentioned at earlier meetings. Priorities for such a plan were discussed with the senior staff during the fall semester. In 1997, Sarah's purpose is to reach agreement on broad goals, objectives and target dates based on those goals, and performance plans for individuals. Ed Weissman is preparing a document merging various planning papers, budget documents, and SMG reports into a discussion piece that will be brought back to the Council of Librarians and other groups during the second semester.
Question about CU-LIB
John Saylor asked about the proposal to make CU-LIB a closed list. Sarah explained that this was discussed by SMG at her request. She would like the list to go to all CUL staff, but not to those outside of the Library. She reminded everyone that staff could choose to forward messages to others at their discretion and there is no plan to have the list monitored.
Budget
Lee Cartmill told the group that the Library Administration has not received the endowed library budget from Day Hall. He expects the guidelines next week and more information about the salary improvement pool soon He explained that the Library expects to implement the second year of the budget reduction with cuts that were identified and planned in the last round. Lee reminded the group that necessary reallocations to fund the offsite facility, preservation, technology staff and the digital library initiatives would be discussed this spring. Lenore Coral asked about funding for the offsite facility. Sarah stated that the building was approved and that she expects the university to provide all of the construction and project funds. There will be no debt service for the Library and no commitment to use the Kroch bequest. Katie Margolis asked about the dramatic increase in the charges that the university assesses the Hotel School. Lee responded that although he had not heard anything about the changes at Hotel, the university is changing its cost allocation process to adapt to the changes in the way the federal government handles the overhead from grants and contracts. When the government disallowed special studies and required the university to use the default methodology for indirect cost recovery, the university altered its internal accounting. Lee and Sarah agreed to investigate the Hotel situation. (Lee later reported that the bill the Hotel School receives from the university includes an amount the university attributes to the school and this amount has risen in recently years. However, the charge is listed for information purposes only and the Hotel School is not required to pay it.)
Security
Because of incidents during first semester (primarily thefts), the Library is again focusing on security issues. Catherine Murray-Rust reported that several steps have been taken recently. The Access Services Program Committee in consultation with Lynn Brown scheduled two training sessions with the Cornell Police for staff to learn about personal safety and preventing violence in the workplace. The CU Police have offered to teach similar sessions in the evening for groups of staff who are not available during the day. The program committee will begin to revise the Safety and Security Manual after they work through the changes associated with the installation of NOTIS 6.3.
Catherine reminded the group that whenever the Cornell Police are called to a library on campus, a record of the incident should be sent (by phone or e-mail) to 201 Olin. Early warning about problems can help prevent them from spreading from one library to another. All members of staff are strongly urged to sign up for the new police list serve which includes helpful information about weather and other possibly disrupting events. Lee drew attention to the university's new health and safety policy. His office will be coordinating the Library's response.
Library Logo Project
Catherine introduced Beth Fontana, a new member of the staff of the Library's External Relations (formerly Development and Public Affairs) Department. Beth explained that she was working part-time on a temporary basis to shepherd the logo project. She will be working with the campus graphic designers and library staff, especially the public services web committees. She distributed a photocopy of the design for CUL and promised that more information will be coming out soon about how the units will select the images for their logos. She encouraged the units to begin thinking about their choices, cautioned copyright infringement for images, and urged anyone with questions to contact her directly.
Grants
Peter McDonald reported on his efforts to promote grantsmanship. Following up on earlier meeting of the council, Peter announced that workshops are being organized to help staff develop skills and ideas. The first is scheduled for March 14. He is proposing a group of successful grant getters whose charge is to inculcate a culture of grantsmanship at CUL. The committee will bring together a resource packet to assist potential grant getters. It will list policies, mentors and key players. The group will review the job descriptions of those who have administrative responsibility for grants to ensure that this responsibility is recognized, create a group of mentors to help provide advice and encouragement, and distribute $25,000 of library funds to promising projects within the Library. Sarah added that she is hopeful that the Library will be able to diversify the organizations and individuals from which it seeks grants and gifts.
NYCRL
Ross Atkinson reported on a recent meeting of the New York Comprehensive Research Libraries (NYCRL, formerly called the Big 11). The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Making of New York project, which is the beginning of a long-term effort to create a New York State digital library.
The discussion centered on attracting funding from the New York State legislature by involving other libraries in New York State. Members propose to discuss the project with the members of the New York Library Association's Legislative Committee. The New York State Library has set up a web-site for the project. The New York state government will put out bids for contracts to be evaluated in the summer of 1997.
RLG/CompuServe
Ed Weissman reviewed the history of the problems with RLG Internet service and outlined the steps RLG and Cornell have taken to resolve the problems. Cornell will receive service through a special arrangement with CompuServe.
RLG has offered this service without additional charge until the end of the RLG fiscal year (August 31, 1997). So far the response time has been acceptable and there has been a minimal loss of data. Both RLG and Cornell are committed to thoroughly testing and comparing the service from RLG's Internet provider, BBN Planet, and CompuServe.
BIBCO
Diane Hillmann reported that Cornell joined the Program on Cooperative Cataloging's (National Coordinated Cataloging Program) in the fall. BIBCO's purpose is to increase the number of institutions providing records nationally and internationally. Staff were trained in December and are now in the review phase when the records they create are being reviewed by trainers elsewhere. Eventually two Cornell staff will be designated as trainers.
Staff Web Server
Diane Hillmann distributed copies of the information on the Library's new staff website. She urged everyone to log on and sent her their comments and suggestions. (http://www.library.cornell.edu/staffweb)
Library Training Update
Lee announced that the Library Administration recently appointed Susan Markowitz to work half-time with Ann Dyckman on a training plan to help the Library take advantage of the efforts associated with project 2000 and other university initiatives. The funding for this half-time position is being made available from an unfilled line within Human Resources. Lynn Brown, who ably coordinated the Library's training program for several years, will be continuing to teach in the program.
The next meeting of the Council of Librarians is scheduled for Wednesday, February 19 at 10:30 a.m.
CM-R 2/6/97
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rev. 7/24/97 dih