Attending:  Lee Cartmill, Joanne Davenport, Elaine Engst, Anne Kenney, Susan Markowitz, Ellen Marsh, Janet McCue, Jean Poland, John Saylor, Ed Weissman.
Visitor: Xin Li 

1) Announcements
        Anne reported that she and Joanne had traveled to New York City on Monday to meet with members of the Library Advisory Council in preparation for the Council meeting that will meet on campus April 29-May 1.  Anne also reported on the Academic Deans Meeting on Tuesday.  Alan Paau, Vice Provost for Technology Transfer and Economic Development, attended and Anne said that the Library will be inviting him to talk with us about marketing library developments, specifically VIVO (The Virtual Life Sciences Library) and DPubS (Digital Publishing System.) The deans discussed the diversity strategies that Provost Biddy Martin highlighted in her Academic State of the University address last week (see http://www.cornell.edu/provost/academicStateUniv2007.cfm) and also her comments on improving teaching and learning, including the possibility of making peer review of teaching a condition for tenure and promotion. 
        John reported that the Cornell University Scholarly Communications Council held its first meeting earlier in the day and that the group was off to a good start.  The Council charter, membership and goals for 2007 are available at < http://wiki.library.cornell.edu/wiki/display/culpublic/Cornell+University+Scholarly+Communications+Council >
        Janet announced that the renovated Mann Library is scheduled to be open for hard hat access by staff on May 21 and staff access without hard hats on June 11.  She also reported that the University will be submitting a proposal to the National Science Foundation related to cyberinfrastructure in July and that the Library would be an integral part of this proposal. 
        Jean announced implementation of four new web sites created using the CommonSpot content management system. These are for:  Associated Science and Technology Libraries (ASTech) < http://astech.library.cornell.edu/ast/index.cfm>; Engineering Library < http://astech.library.cornell.edu/ast/engr/index.cfm>; Math Library < http://astech.library.cornell.edu/ast/math/index.cfm>; and
Physical Sciences Library < http://astech.library.cornell.edu/ast/phys/index.cfm>. She also announced that she was working with Bonna Boettcher to plan for a Music Library BorrowDirect meeting at Cornell later this year.
        Ellen announced that Library Communications was coordinating events at Mann, Duffield Atrium, and Willard Straight in early April to publicize the new and improved Find It! (WebFeat..)  This is aimed primarily at undergraduates.

2) Research and Assessment Unit
        Xin Li, Director, Service Innovations and Resource Planning in the Public Services Administration Division, presented an overview of the role of the Research and Assessment Unit (RAU) role and its plan for the coming year.  The Unit's role is to provide the Library with "business intelligence"--to synthesize and mobilize data to enable more effective decision-making.  The plan for the coming year is to a) learn the assessment trade and to build skills, b) learn about the data providers and customers, and c) make the data  the Library already has, for example, the CUL Annual Statistical Report, more useful.   The Library Management Team (LMT) voiced its support for the plan and asked that Xin periodically report to LMT on the Research and Assessment Unit's work and its findings.  LMT members are interested in a wide range of information, such as how library users are finding information; user needs that are not captured in regular user satisfaction surveys; gaps in process; and market research on needs/use of institutional repositories, print and e-resources by disciplines and by patron types.  With regard to publicizing research findings, LMT advised Xin to establish access controls for different audience categories, for example library staff, the university community, and the world beyond the university.  The Library must think about the expectations we set up when we do user research and be prepared to respond to needs when they are identified.  Therefore, it is important not only to report on assessment findings but also what the library intends to do to address problems and gaps that we find.


Edward Weissman