Alfred University Librarians Meeting 2020-08-18, 10:30 am
Virtual, Zoom
Attending: Kevin Adams, Ellen Bahr, Samantha Dannick, John Hosford, Laurie Lounsberry Meehan, Mechele Romanchock, Mark Smith, Brian Sullivan
I. Approval of Minutes
a. July 23, 2020 minutes approved.
II. Vote on Updated P&T Document and Bylaws a. Updated P&T Document approved.
b. Updated AU Libraries Bylaws approved.
III. Dean and Director Updates
a. Retreat Follow-up – Activity exploring the AU Libraries Commitment to Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression document with staff was
successful. Next steps are to send a message to all students, along with in Alfred Today, to share the document and invite participation in our Libraries Student Advisory Group. Van Frechette International Friendship Park was discussed as a site for a “Progress Pride” flag, along with the flags of the countries represented by our
international students. John has shared the Progress Pride idea with President Zupan and Provost Dobie.
b. Budget – Brian shared the details of the 2020-2021 budget, and how the anticipated 20% cuts will affect our budget.
c. Scholes part time Reference Assistant positions approved for 2020- 2021 – Sherman Clarke & Katie Adams, 20 hours total.
d. Emergency Response Plan metrics for closure are expected soon.
e. ILL Plan – An updated was given on the steps towards resuming physical ILL borrowing and lending.
f. Herrick carpeting – Still waiting!
g. Commuter Students and how we can help – ideas shared
h. Non-traditional classroom spaces in Libraries – professors visiting to take a look. Schedule will be sent by Mechele to all librarians/staff.
IV. Other Updates
a. Librarian Liaisons – Kevin reminded us of the template he created for each librarian to use as we reach out to the faculty in our liaison areas. Several ideas were generated for updating our lists of faculty in each department: email contact list, faculty/staff directory on the website, department chairs, division/department secretaries, and the Provost’s Office. Ellen and Kevin have been working on the LibGuides to update their owners to properly match the new liaison assignments.
b. Personal Librarian Program – Kevin is working on the divvying up the list of students to each librarian. The program will be virtual this year, with no physical cards or letters.
c. Information Literacy & Instruction – Kevin shared some of what he has been working on and planning for this year. He soon will be sharing a draft Information Literacy Plan with us and scheduling a meeting to discuss ideas for the year.
d. RapidILL – This is a new tool we will be using to simplify, speed up, and more frequently automate the ILL process. This will be
beneficial to help supplement journals no longer obtained through Science Direct and to assist Amanda Criss during a year in which her counterpart at Scholes is an unfilled position.
e. Reserves – Several librarians have been exploring a process for providing alternatives to print reserves, primarily via purchasing ebooks and digitizing print books. Public Services is developing a workflow for scanning items requested to be digitized. Collection Management is developing a process for ordering ebooks, in consultation with the liaison librarians.
f. Physical Items Request Process – Ellen, Mechele, and Brett Arno have been working on developing a request process for physical items in the library collections, along with the pickup process at each desk. Public Services staff will be trained and an Alfred Today announcement will soon go out to campus.
g. Rialto – We briefly considered participating in a SUNY pilot program for this collection development tool. Many of us are intrigued about its ability to integrate the ordering of physical and electronic books with Alma. We’ll keep an eye on future opportunities to learn more about Rialto.
h. P&T Process for 2020 – Our newly updated Bylaws require us to revisit the P&T Chair each year when the Director is untenured. Laurie has
agreed to continue serving in this role for the 2020-2021 academic year. We discussed the pros and cons of doing teaching
observations in the opening month of school given that we lost the opportunity to do them in the Spring due to COVID. We decided to continue them, if possible, even if the sessions are remote. It is an important source of feedback for the librarians, and an opportunity to mirror the processes of the faculty in the other Schools/Colleges on campus.
V. Fall & Reopening Planning
a. Mechele shared the progress towards getting each library ready for reopening on Sunday, August 23, along with things still to do (Herrick carpeting, additional signage and stanchions, some PPE still to be delivered, final touches to classroom spaces, etc.). The Public Services Team has done a tremendous job getting the buildings ready for patrons!
Next meeting: 5/20/20, 2:00-3:30, Virtual - Zoom, Secretary - Ellen
Meeting adjourned 12:02 pm
Minutes respectfully submitted by Brian Sullivan
