Hurtling Toward the Finish Line: Should the Google Books Settlement Be Approved?
February 16, 2010
Ivy Anderson, Director of Collections
California Digital Library
"Late last week, Google and the plaintiffs filed their final briefs in defense of the Google Books Amended Settlement Agreement (ASA) that is before the New York Southern Federal District Court. As the rhetoric around the Settlement heats up to white-hot intensity in the final days before the Fairness Hearing on February 18th, I’d like to offer a few personal thoughts from my vantage point at the California Digital Library."
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
UCSF Discussion of the Future of UC Libraries
On Monday, February 8, LAUC-SF hosted a local discussion about the future of UC libraries and the evolving roles of librarians. Members of LAUC-SF attended, as well as senior library leadership including university librarian Karen Butter. We invited the entire library staff to attend, and a few interested staff members (including a circulation assistant who recently earned his MLIS) were also in attendance.
Prompted by the table reports from the December Assembly in Berkeley, as well as the CDC concept paper on the 21st century collection, a healthy discussion ensued. There remains a gap in conceptions of whether we have a UC "collection" or "collections," and continued discussions are needed about how to balance a campus's rightful ownership with more widespread access. There was a general consensus that our roles needed to evolve in order for librarians to remain relevant, but into what is less clear.
At UCSF we've taken a somewhat different approach to the concept of "library as place," with the Library's active involvement in the development of the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) to open in 2011. The TLC will replace a floor that used to be devoted, in part, to more traditional functions such as housing bound journals. Although there were initial concerns about "losing space," most library staff now see the TLC as a positive development that will cause us to develop new services and ways of teaching. We are not advocating clinging to the building for the building's sake, but rather converting our physical assets into more vital space that benefits the aims of the Library in tandem with those of the University.
Space, mission, roles--all of these are in flux right now. Following the meeting, our UL pointed us to a useful paper by Paula Kaufman of the University of Illinois that addresses similar themes: "Carpe Diem: Transforming Services in Academic Libraries." The gathering at UCSF led to a productive discussion, and I hope many more follow.
Marcus Banks
Chair, LAUC-SF
Prompted by the table reports from the December Assembly in Berkeley, as well as the CDC concept paper on the 21st century collection, a healthy discussion ensued. There remains a gap in conceptions of whether we have a UC "collection" or "collections," and continued discussions are needed about how to balance a campus's rightful ownership with more widespread access. There was a general consensus that our roles needed to evolve in order for librarians to remain relevant, but into what is less clear.
At UCSF we've taken a somewhat different approach to the concept of "library as place," with the Library's active involvement in the development of the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) to open in 2011. The TLC will replace a floor that used to be devoted, in part, to more traditional functions such as housing bound journals. Although there were initial concerns about "losing space," most library staff now see the TLC as a positive development that will cause us to develop new services and ways of teaching. We are not advocating clinging to the building for the building's sake, but rather converting our physical assets into more vital space that benefits the aims of the Library in tandem with those of the University.
Space, mission, roles--all of these are in flux right now. Following the meeting, our UL pointed us to a useful paper by Paula Kaufman of the University of Illinois that addresses similar themes: "Carpe Diem: Transforming Services in Academic Libraries." The gathering at UCSF led to a productive discussion, and I hope many more follow.
Marcus Banks
Chair, LAUC-SF
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Library Buildings -- UCDavis Sleep-In
This past weekend February 5-7, the Peter J. Shields Library was the site of a "sleep-in" to protest the rise of student fees and budget cuts throughout the UC system. Students remained in the library throughout the weekend, holding talks on the progress of the budget, hanging posters, operating coffee stands, and, of course, studying.
The event represents another turn in a string of creative protests at UCDavis. In the fall quarter, Davis students staged a rally on the central quad clad in their underwear to protest fee hikes. At a later date, demonstrators occupied Mrak Hall, the site of the Registrar's office and refused to leave. Some were forcibly removed and there were arrests on-site. When I told my Dad about the library sleep-in, his response was "Why a library?" I said that this is in the tradition of activism from the 1960s where our very own UC Berkeley helped to make history with occupations of university buildings. "I know all that," he said. "But those were symbols of power. Usually people take over administrative buildings. What do they plan to do with a library?"
Why indeed? It appears that what transpired did not quite follow anyone's original vision but was more of an evolution. Earlier in the week, the library and the Chancellor's office received notice that the library would be occupied by students over the weekend. Since, as we know, the library closes for part of that time, in the case of the Shields Library at 6pm on Friday to reopen at noon on Saturday, this announcement was distinctly challenging with the threat of conflict. Linda Katehi, newly appointed Chancellor of UCDavis responded with an announcement that the university recognizes the difficulties upon students imposed by the budget crisis and hopes to assist them by holding extra library hours. So, indeed the library remained open all weekend. Library AULs and acting co-ULs staffed the circulation desk through both Friday and Saturday night. The scene that unfolded was a benign one. Friday evening began with a series of talks on the budget crisis during which the only disruption was when a union speaker was asked to cut his remarks short to make room for student speakers. There were workshops on self-defense and various crafts, coffee stations provided and run by the students, and motivational posters hung up throughout the building. In addition to quoting the likes of Oscar Wilde and Dr. Seuss on various metaphysical truths were several thanking "our wonderful librarians and staff." Mostly students did indeed study and occupied their usual niches throughout the building.
In answer to "why a library building?" this episode, I think has, potentially, much to say about the physical space of the library building in the context of change in education. Players which have sometimes been potentially at odds--the administration, the library, and the users--through political strategy, flexibility, and a spirit of cooperation managed to turn an event that could have been ugly and full of conflict (police dragging people out of a library would be much more inflammatory than dragging people out of the registrar's building as has been replayed on UCDavis TV monitors for weeks) into one that was not only benign but productive. Lo and behold, the mythical library coffee shop, which is often discussed but seldom realized, materialized on its own along with other activities and an "information commons." Perhaps this merging and temperate harmonizing of elements is what the library can offer to campuses in a period of change.
The event represents another turn in a string of creative protests at UCDavis. In the fall quarter, Davis students staged a rally on the central quad clad in their underwear to protest fee hikes. At a later date, demonstrators occupied Mrak Hall, the site of the Registrar's office and refused to leave. Some were forcibly removed and there were arrests on-site. When I told my Dad about the library sleep-in, his response was "Why a library?" I said that this is in the tradition of activism from the 1960s where our very own UC Berkeley helped to make history with occupations of university buildings. "I know all that," he said. "But those were symbols of power. Usually people take over administrative buildings. What do they plan to do with a library?"
Why indeed? It appears that what transpired did not quite follow anyone's original vision but was more of an evolution. Earlier in the week, the library and the Chancellor's office received notice that the library would be occupied by students over the weekend. Since, as we know, the library closes for part of that time, in the case of the Shields Library at 6pm on Friday to reopen at noon on Saturday, this announcement was distinctly challenging with the threat of conflict. Linda Katehi, newly appointed Chancellor of UCDavis responded with an announcement that the university recognizes the difficulties upon students imposed by the budget crisis and hopes to assist them by holding extra library hours. So, indeed the library remained open all weekend. Library AULs and acting co-ULs staffed the circulation desk through both Friday and Saturday night. The scene that unfolded was a benign one. Friday evening began with a series of talks on the budget crisis during which the only disruption was when a union speaker was asked to cut his remarks short to make room for student speakers. There were workshops on self-defense and various crafts, coffee stations provided and run by the students, and motivational posters hung up throughout the building. In addition to quoting the likes of Oscar Wilde and Dr. Seuss on various metaphysical truths were several thanking "our wonderful librarians and staff." Mostly students did indeed study and occupied their usual niches throughout the building.
In answer to "why a library building?" this episode, I think has, potentially, much to say about the physical space of the library building in the context of change in education. Players which have sometimes been potentially at odds--the administration, the library, and the users--through political strategy, flexibility, and a spirit of cooperation managed to turn an event that could have been ugly and full of conflict (police dragging people out of a library would be much more inflammatory than dragging people out of the registrar's building as has been replayed on UCDavis TV monitors for weeks) into one that was not only benign but productive. Lo and behold, the mythical library coffee shop, which is often discussed but seldom realized, materialized on its own along with other activities and an "information commons." Perhaps this merging and temperate harmonizing of elements is what the library can offer to campuses in a period of change.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Futures Discussion
Below is the online discussion growing out of the Fall 2009 LAUC Assembly. The broad topic of the future of librarianship in California has been divided into nine topics labeled below. The post for each topic summarizes the work of the group assigned to that topic at the assembly. Please add comments to particular topics via the "comments" link at the bottom of each post.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Discussion group 9: organizational culture
• Org culture – how we do business, may be overt or covert
o how slow change occurs, attachment to how we currently do things, resistance to change
o many impediments to change
o culture is rarely questioned & smothers new ideas
• LAUC’s relevance – is it? need to make ourselves more visible
o lots of librarians not outward looking, only focused
o Librarians not viewed as essential to research, teaching
o disconnection between with services we deliver & perception of who makes these available
o Not effective at telling our story
• We don’t know what to let go of, what to take on
• Who else is equipped to handle UC’s research needs
• Strike balance between just in time and just in case
• Great faith and belief in our systems – this attitude works against new ideas and approaches – fear of unknown, of looking bad, huge problem of how to deal with everything that’s gone on before (retro catalog?) – how much to our students care about this?
• Just in time vs just in case
• quick vs slow
• innovation vs tradition
• experimenting vs inertia
• empowerment vs micro-management
• willing to take a risk vs fear of punishment for mistakes/looking bad
o how slow change occurs, attachment to how we currently do things, resistance to change
o many impediments to change
o culture is rarely questioned & smothers new ideas
• LAUC’s relevance – is it? need to make ourselves more visible
o lots of librarians not outward looking, only focused
o Librarians not viewed as essential to research, teaching
o disconnection between with services we deliver & perception of who makes these available
o Not effective at telling our story
• We don’t know what to let go of, what to take on
• Who else is equipped to handle UC’s research needs
• Strike balance between just in time and just in case
• Great faith and belief in our systems – this attitude works against new ideas and approaches – fear of unknown, of looking bad, huge problem of how to deal with everything that’s gone on before (retro catalog?) – how much to our students care about this?
• Just in time vs just in case
• quick vs slow
• innovation vs tradition
• experimenting vs inertia
• empowerment vs micro-management
• willing to take a risk vs fear of punishment for mistakes/looking bad
Discussion group 8: library networks
Recorder name and email: Lisa Sibert
Focused on UC Library Networks
Addressed issue off timelines, i.e. 5y, 10y; short-term v. long-term
Networks in place:
Springer e-boooks
YBP approval, plans are linked
NGM—networked across UCs collaboration with outside entity
Shared print
Networks under development and/or consideration:
NGTS efforts
Western states coordinated plan for managing
Permanent retrospective print collections (issue: how will this affect stats for ARL libraries?)
Collaborative approval plans (print & electronic)
Collaborative e-book purchasing
Focused on UC Library Networks
Addressed issue off timelines, i.e. 5y, 10y; short-term v. long-term
Networks in place:
Springer e-boooks
YBP approval, plans are linked
NGM—networked across UCs collaboration with outside entity
Shared print
Networks under development and/or consideration:
NGTS efforts
Western states coordinated plan for managing
Permanent retrospective print collections (issue: how will this affect stats for ARL libraries?)
Collaborative approval plans (print & electronic)
Collaborative e-book purchasing
Discussion group 7: campus roles
Campus Roles - Where does the library fit in on campus?
Recorded by Susan Mikkelsen and Ann Frenkel
What is your first order of business?
Library space, services and collections are integral part of every UC Campus. As librarians we understand that we are critical to the academic success of students and faculty. But we don’t always do a very good job at self-promotion or educating our campus communities about the value of our services. We need to find new ways to communicate to others on our campuses about what librarians have to offer, and make library spaces and services an indispensible component of research and study on every UC campus.
DISCUSSION POINTS (Note: There was not consensus in the group on all points)
Library Spaces
As collections move to the online environment, library spaces must be repurposed to meet the needs of the learning community. The creation of the Information Commons is a growing trend in academic libraries that has developed in response to the need for a more user-centered approach to resources and services. The Information Commons supports and enhances student learning and research by providing state of the art technology and resources in an academic environment that promotes collaborative work. The new Teaching & Learning Center at UCSF is a tailored version of an Information Commons that includes a simulation and clinical skills education center, technology-enhanced active-learning classrooms and computing labs. Other possible models for future Information Commons include creating spaces for students to play with and receive instruction with technology (video-editing, presentation software, poster production, etc).
Instruction
Information literacy skills need to be integrated into the academic curriculum. A for-credit library course would be desirable in some ways, but this is unlikely to be accepted by the University as librarians do not have faculty status. A better approach may be to work with academic departments to get information literacy objectives written into course outcomes. Although librarians across campuses have been fairly successful in collaborating with individual faculty members, faculty and librarian turnover make these partnerships tenuous. Programmatic collaboration provides a more stable platform for continuity in library instruction. Librarians need to advocate with department chairs and other key stakeholders to get information literacy standards integrated into course curriculums.
Academic Senate
If librarians want a voice in the in the academic senate, they will need to fight for faculty status.
Campus Consultants
Librarians need to be willing to act as research consultants for other units on campus. This means that we may have to say yes when asked to be involved in some projects that we previously would not have accepted. Ann Frenkel (AUL - UCR) gave two examples from her campus. (1)An academic committee at UCR asked for librarian assistance using ISI for impact factor/citation analysis. Their librarians wrote searches for citation information in response to this request. (2)The photography museum approached the library with a request to catalog images and place them in the library collection. Though this request was not feasible, Ann saw this as a great opportunity. Opportunities like these exist on all campuses, particularly with the Office of Research (impact factor questions can lead to opportunities to inform about other research metrics) and the Office of Development (research on potential donors).
Talking Points for the Library
Librarians need to be equipped with talking points about the library to effectively communicate with faculty and other key stakeholders about libraries services/resources/initiatives.
Publish outside the Library Literature
Publishing outside the library literature and attending conferences in other disciplines has the potential to make library services more visible to campus stakeholders. For example, Josephine Tan UCSF librarian recently published an article in an academic medical journal with several UCSF faculty members.* We are aware that some social science librarians have also published outside of the library literature, but these efforts need to be encouraged and expanded.
Communicate the Message “Use It or Lose It”
We need to send the message that library resources are costly to acquire and maintain. None of the resources that students and faculty use on a routine basis would be available without librarian expertise. Instruction librarians should deliver this message during instruction sessions to help raise awareness of all the behind-the-scenes work done by librarians. As an additional awareness raising event, the group proposed a “day without resources” when access to library resources would be completely turned off. Along with restricted access, users would receive a message about the cost of the resources.
*Chen HC, Tan JPG, O’Sullivan P, Boscardin C, Li A, Muller J. Impact of an Information Retrieval and Management Curriculum on Medical Student Citations. Acad Med 2009 84 (10 Supp): S38-S41.
Recorded by Susan Mikkelsen and Ann Frenkel
What is your first order of business?
Library space, services and collections are integral part of every UC Campus. As librarians we understand that we are critical to the academic success of students and faculty. But we don’t always do a very good job at self-promotion or educating our campus communities about the value of our services. We need to find new ways to communicate to others on our campuses about what librarians have to offer, and make library spaces and services an indispensible component of research and study on every UC campus.
DISCUSSION POINTS (Note: There was not consensus in the group on all points)
Library Spaces
As collections move to the online environment, library spaces must be repurposed to meet the needs of the learning community. The creation of the Information Commons is a growing trend in academic libraries that has developed in response to the need for a more user-centered approach to resources and services. The Information Commons supports and enhances student learning and research by providing state of the art technology and resources in an academic environment that promotes collaborative work. The new Teaching & Learning Center at UCSF is a tailored version of an Information Commons that includes a simulation and clinical skills education center, technology-enhanced active-learning classrooms and computing labs. Other possible models for future Information Commons include creating spaces for students to play with and receive instruction with technology (video-editing, presentation software, poster production, etc).
Instruction
Information literacy skills need to be integrated into the academic curriculum. A for-credit library course would be desirable in some ways, but this is unlikely to be accepted by the University as librarians do not have faculty status. A better approach may be to work with academic departments to get information literacy objectives written into course outcomes. Although librarians across campuses have been fairly successful in collaborating with individual faculty members, faculty and librarian turnover make these partnerships tenuous. Programmatic collaboration provides a more stable platform for continuity in library instruction. Librarians need to advocate with department chairs and other key stakeholders to get information literacy standards integrated into course curriculums.
Academic Senate
If librarians want a voice in the in the academic senate, they will need to fight for faculty status.
Campus Consultants
Librarians need to be willing to act as research consultants for other units on campus. This means that we may have to say yes when asked to be involved in some projects that we previously would not have accepted. Ann Frenkel (AUL - UCR) gave two examples from her campus. (1)An academic committee at UCR asked for librarian assistance using ISI for impact factor/citation analysis. Their librarians wrote searches for citation information in response to this request. (2)The photography museum approached the library with a request to catalog images and place them in the library collection. Though this request was not feasible, Ann saw this as a great opportunity. Opportunities like these exist on all campuses, particularly with the Office of Research (impact factor questions can lead to opportunities to inform about other research metrics) and the Office of Development (research on potential donors).
Talking Points for the Library
Librarians need to be equipped with talking points about the library to effectively communicate with faculty and other key stakeholders about libraries services/resources/initiatives.
Publish outside the Library Literature
Publishing outside the library literature and attending conferences in other disciplines has the potential to make library services more visible to campus stakeholders. For example, Josephine Tan UCSF librarian recently published an article in an academic medical journal with several UCSF faculty members.* We are aware that some social science librarians have also published outside of the library literature, but these efforts need to be encouraged and expanded.
Communicate the Message “Use It or Lose It”
We need to send the message that library resources are costly to acquire and maintain. None of the resources that students and faculty use on a routine basis would be available without librarian expertise. Instruction librarians should deliver this message during instruction sessions to help raise awareness of all the behind-the-scenes work done by librarians. As an additional awareness raising event, the group proposed a “day without resources” when access to library resources would be completely turned off. Along with restricted access, users would receive a message about the cost of the resources.
*Chen HC, Tan JPG, O’Sullivan P, Boscardin C, Li A, Muller J. Impact of an Information Retrieval and Management Curriculum on Medical Student Citations. Acad Med 2009 84 (10 Supp): S38-S41.
Discussion group 6: Library buildings
1. Does remote access to info make academic libraries irrelevant as a place?
1. Well, yes (thank you very much)
2. Not necessarily
What we know is that “Academic libraries are not ends in themselves.” (to quote Lorcan Dempsey)
2. What are the best uses of library space –
1. Open,
2. well lighted …
3. welcoming with comfortable spaces …
4. few draconian rules …
5. A place with areas for quiet study segregated off …
6. but many more areas where group study and meaningful conversation about life and / or research can occur.
7. A place with classrooms – to maximize the integration of the university mission … to have the teaching embedded within our facilities.
8. Many group study rooms.
3. Print collections …
1. For most of us print collections will be … smaller.
2. Not to be overly superficial but possibly
1. “fresher” … with research items (infrequently used) in shared print storage collection & or massive uc google book shared online / print collection off site ...)
3. We will prune our collections (monographs journals) aggressively
4. We will have a shared collection hub (regional hubs like the regional library facilities) …
5. We will come up with a reasonable method of sharing all the older items.
6. Print on demand may be prominent.
4. Library Service Desks
1. The service desk will be open, without barriers to the greatest extent possible …
2. We will be available … on call … available via text message request or chat or email or whatever …
3. But the desk will be a shared work space with the user.
4. We will be flexible – will be movable (perhaps) –
5. We will bring our service desk to you, if you prefer. If you're on the fourth floor there may be a space we can share to talk about the research.
6. The fewer barriers, the fewer the formal desks and barriers the better.
5. Group study
1. Huge emphasis on group study.
2. It is how we work as a civilization, a society – we work together in teams.
6. Social gathering places – we are.
1. We must be places that are w/out rules for rules sake.... We must be welcoming and comfortable with the type of furniture that makes much of the library space an effective, comfortable social gathering place / study lounge / library …
2.
What really happened:
So we begin our conversation on library buildings discussing timelines of all things.
When do we build the library of the future ? Five years, ten years down the road? Things are changing. It may be wise to wait for the shared collection idea to be fleshed out more fully before building the bookless library :)
So yes, students want to be here (the library) but what makes a building a library?
Some libraries are losing space to other academic disciplines.
Conversation migrates to shifting low use materials to the NRLF and SRLF.
Part of the question, someone says, is what is the future trend.
Print material , leaving special collections aside, added content will be digital. That material that is in print will be in some shared environment.
A space for library collections at UCSF had a floor taken over by the School of Medicine – sort of a UL partnering issue with School of Medicine.
KG UCSD : Brings up the example of ucmerced – how they have a large building … that is largely empty of books but has many classrooms etc.
Classrooms are important elements in future library bldgs.
So why in the library ? How do we define what value we bring to this
Is it a library bldg simply because we are there , librarians, as facilitators.?
Strong impetus to move to
New bldg at UCSC – Classroom space … there will be a cafe (food) … A real cafe area that will not be inside the actualo library space.
The new bldg at UCSC has a couple of academic departments inside the bldg. But there is a separation from the collections space and faculty office space. There are of course access issues and the different access rules for faculty in bldg versus library visitors.
So we are migrating away from print toward remote storage facilities etc.
Sit in conversation …. How the budget has impacted our hours service etc.
There have been studies to try to determine higher use moments. And yet there is a problem with limiting library hours.
Think of merced where there are 75 laptops …
print on demand.
Collections.
1. Well, yes (thank you very much)
2. Not necessarily
What we know is that “Academic libraries are not ends in themselves.” (to quote Lorcan Dempsey)
2. What are the best uses of library space –
1. Open,
2. well lighted …
3. welcoming with comfortable spaces …
4. few draconian rules …
5. A place with areas for quiet study segregated off …
6. but many more areas where group study and meaningful conversation about life and / or research can occur.
7. A place with classrooms – to maximize the integration of the university mission … to have the teaching embedded within our facilities.
8. Many group study rooms.
3. Print collections …
1. For most of us print collections will be … smaller.
2. Not to be overly superficial but possibly
1. “fresher” … with research items (infrequently used) in shared print storage collection & or massive uc google book shared online / print collection off site ...)
3. We will prune our collections (monographs journals) aggressively
4. We will have a shared collection hub (regional hubs like the regional library facilities) …
5. We will come up with a reasonable method of sharing all the older items.
6. Print on demand may be prominent.
4. Library Service Desks
1. The service desk will be open, without barriers to the greatest extent possible …
2. We will be available … on call … available via text message request or chat or email or whatever …
3. But the desk will be a shared work space with the user.
4. We will be flexible – will be movable (perhaps) –
5. We will bring our service desk to you, if you prefer. If you're on the fourth floor there may be a space we can share to talk about the research.
6. The fewer barriers, the fewer the formal desks and barriers the better.
5. Group study
1. Huge emphasis on group study.
2. It is how we work as a civilization, a society – we work together in teams.
6. Social gathering places – we are.
1. We must be places that are w/out rules for rules sake.... We must be welcoming and comfortable with the type of furniture that makes much of the library space an effective, comfortable social gathering place / study lounge / library …
2.
What really happened:
So we begin our conversation on library buildings discussing timelines of all things.
When do we build the library of the future ? Five years, ten years down the road? Things are changing. It may be wise to wait for the shared collection idea to be fleshed out more fully before building the bookless library :)
So yes, students want to be here (the library) but what makes a building a library?
Some libraries are losing space to other academic disciplines.
Conversation migrates to shifting low use materials to the NRLF and SRLF.
Part of the question, someone says, is what is the future trend.
Print material , leaving special collections aside, added content will be digital. That material that is in print will be in some shared environment.
A space for library collections at UCSF had a floor taken over by the School of Medicine – sort of a UL partnering issue with School of Medicine.
KG UCSD : Brings up the example of ucmerced – how they have a large building … that is largely empty of books but has many classrooms etc.
Classrooms are important elements in future library bldgs.
So why in the library ? How do we define what value we bring to this
Is it a library bldg simply because we are there , librarians, as facilitators.?
Strong impetus to move to
New bldg at UCSC – Classroom space … there will be a cafe (food) … A real cafe area that will not be inside the actualo library space.
The new bldg at UCSC has a couple of academic departments inside the bldg. But there is a separation from the collections space and faculty office space. There are of course access issues and the different access rules for faculty in bldg versus library visitors.
So we are migrating away from print toward remote storage facilities etc.
Sit in conversation …. How the budget has impacted our hours service etc.
There have been studies to try to determine higher use moments. And yet there is a problem with limiting library hours.
Think of merced where there are 75 laptops …
print on demand.
Collections.
Discussion group 5: collections
For at least 100 reasons
1. It’s premature to take the “s” off collection and we already do act as if there is no “s” as much as we can.
2. Perhaps the whole university will have to re-think the way it does business before we can even seriously think collection in the singular.
3. Shared print with local patron-driven collecting is possible as lon as no restrictions are placed on what campuses can do.
4. We should think about CDL negotiating consortial ebook licenses.
5. The UCs must cooperate with each other whenever possible—and then some.
6. It was really dumb to cut CDL funding during a time when cooperative action is so crucial.
1. It’s premature to take the “s” off collection and we already do act as if there is no “s” as much as we can.
2. Perhaps the whole university will have to re-think the way it does business before we can even seriously think collection in the singular.
3. Shared print with local patron-driven collecting is possible as lon as no restrictions are placed on what campuses can do.
4. We should think about CDL negotiating consortial ebook licenses.
5. The UCs must cooperate with each other whenever possible—and then some.
6. It was really dumb to cut CDL funding during a time when cooperative action is so crucial.
Discussion Group 4: Technology
Recorder: Phoebe Ayers, psayers@ucdavis.edu
Group members: Amy Chatfield, Rebecca Hyde, Phoebe Ayers, Lucia Orlando
Notes:
• Areas of technology:
o Making technology a separate area of discussion is problematic, because it affects every area of our jobs, and every topic of discussion -- from public computers in the building, to the way we access our information resources, to how we help patrons, etc. Technology is a major driver that bears on every one of the topics discussed.
• Adopting technologies to provide:
o just because a technology is new and shiny -- do we have to adopt it? should we adopt it? (do people really search databases from their iphones on the bus? maybe!)
o for instance, are online books really preferable? Many (most) people seem to still prefer physical books
• Information product interfaces:
o how do you get technology to give people the best results?
o how do we work with database interfaces, google, etc., to help patrons get the best results? Should we work more on information design?
o our own websites (mobile interfaces)
• How far do we want to go to meet people in the library with technologies they use?
o for instance, why don't we have unlocked public computers? (this varies between campuses)
o library facebook, twitter? do people actually want/need this?
• Front end and back end technologies
o technology means both the front end that the patron sees (the website and the back end that we work with, e.g. sfx
o should we concentrate on making the back end better, as well as our sites?
• Instruction
o should we team up with campus systems to teach classes about technologies (word, excel, etc)?
o one barrier to offering nice computers and software to the campus population are expectations of support -- we might have to train people/ support it
o library technology bootcamp? could we offer focussed, serious programs? (like ICSPR bootcamp for social science grad students)
o but we also need to teach basic library skills -- how to use a catalog
o we make a lot of assumptions that students know how to use computers, and tech because they are young, but that might not be true at all
• Technology programs
o for something like e-science -- it's a big, expensive problem; we could help make connections between people
o should something like escience be something that should be worked on centrally, like the CDL; we don't have money, resources, expertise -- but people like local technology programs for the prestige, like local data archives
o something like the ICSPR -- they store datasets and articles based on the data; institution based out of michigan
Group members: Amy Chatfield, Rebecca Hyde, Phoebe Ayers, Lucia Orlando
Notes:
• Areas of technology:
o Making technology a separate area of discussion is problematic, because it affects every area of our jobs, and every topic of discussion -- from public computers in the building, to the way we access our information resources, to how we help patrons, etc. Technology is a major driver that bears on every one of the topics discussed.
• Adopting technologies to provide:
o just because a technology is new and shiny -- do we have to adopt it? should we adopt it? (do people really search databases from their iphones on the bus? maybe!)
o for instance, are online books really preferable? Many (most) people seem to still prefer physical books
• Information product interfaces:
o how do you get technology to give people the best results?
o how do we work with database interfaces, google, etc., to help patrons get the best results? Should we work more on information design?
o our own websites (mobile interfaces)
• How far do we want to go to meet people in the library with technologies they use?
o for instance, why don't we have unlocked public computers? (this varies between campuses)
o library facebook, twitter? do people actually want/need this?
• Front end and back end technologies
o technology means both the front end that the patron sees (the website and the back end that we work with, e.g. sfx
o should we concentrate on making the back end better, as well as our sites?
• Instruction
o should we team up with campus systems to teach classes about technologies (word, excel, etc)?
o one barrier to offering nice computers and software to the campus population are expectations of support -- we might have to train people/ support it
o library technology bootcamp? could we offer focussed, serious programs? (like ICSPR bootcamp for social science grad students)
o but we also need to teach basic library skills -- how to use a catalog
o we make a lot of assumptions that students know how to use computers, and tech because they are young, but that might not be true at all
• Technology programs
o for something like e-science -- it's a big, expensive problem; we could help make connections between people
o should something like escience be something that should be worked on centrally, like the CDL; we don't have money, resources, expertise -- but people like local technology programs for the prestige, like local data archives
o something like the ICSPR -- they store datasets and articles based on the data; institution based out of michigan
Group 3 discussion report: Library Personnel
- At UC, the status of the librarian series is under pressure on the one end from paraprofessionals whose work seems to overlap with ours (the Career Compass initiative at UCB is potentially spreading to other campuses) and at the other end from persons hired in the Analyst series who do similar work but are hired outside the librarian series so they can be paid higher salaries.
- Technical skills are essential for librarians but they are not the only skills we need. Management and interpersonal skills are equally essential.
- As a profession we need to promote ourselves as having these and other skill sets.
- Current librarians need the time to read, research, and be involved in professional issues; ideally more librarians would be hired to allow this. This is a professional issue and a retention issue.
- Librarians should reach out to library and information schools and let them know what skills and values we want future librarians to have.
- Should LAUC lead a discussion on what are the values and philosophies unique to librarians? When we digitize books, for example, we do so through the lens of promoting public access, preservation, standards of quality, and the needs of present and future scholars and readers. Google may share some of these values – what distinguishes us?
Corliss Lee, UCB (recorder)
Dana Peterman, UCI
Dean Rowan, UCB
Socrates Silva, UCLA
Jill Woolums, UCB
Michael Yonezawa, UCR
Group 2 discussion: Relationship to Information Providers
Recorder name and email: Lucia Diamond
How can universities and faculty influence providers? Librarians don’t have the clout except through consortial arrangements and CDL, for example, has been successful in some negotiations.
We should do more to get control over what the university (i.e., the faculty produces and make better use of and provide more access to this material for the student users, who are faced with increasing textbook costs. Need to look to some models of compensation for the creator of the product (as opposed to the publishers who only do marketing and distribution). Lecture notes could become content that publishers might purchase and distribute. Don’t want every user to have to pay individually for what they need. Want to be able to borrow e-books as we do print.
Multiple models of providing information, peer-reviewed e-publishing, working papers, etc.
How can universities and faculty influence providers? Librarians don’t have the clout except through consortial arrangements and CDL, for example, has been successful in some negotiations.
We should do more to get control over what the university (i.e., the faculty produces and make better use of and provide more access to this material for the student users, who are faced with increasing textbook costs. Need to look to some models of compensation for the creator of the product (as opposed to the publishers who only do marketing and distribution). Lecture notes could become content that publishers might purchase and distribute. Don’t want every user to have to pay individually for what they need. Want to be able to borrow e-books as we do print.
Multiple models of providing information, peer-reviewed e-publishing, working papers, etc.
Group 1 discussion: Reference
Participants: Kathryn Wayne (Berkeley); Miki Goral (UCLA); Penny Coppernoll-Blach (San Diego); Teal Smith (Merced); Gayatri Singh (San Diego); Ken Furuta (Riverside).
Note – I’ve rearranged these notes along topics instead of chronological.
What do we know about the current students?
Perhaps not as much as we think we do. We make assumptions about how they like to communicate, etc. But how valid are those assumptions? We should conduct a more formal study of current students.
Future of the physical reference desk
Physical reference desk statistics have been dropping. However, these was no consensus on the future of the physical reference desk.
Many thought personal contact was very important. However, Merced doesn’t have a physical desk. At Merced, students at the service desk are the first contact. Patrons are referred to librarians if more depth is needed.
Some libraries, such as the San Diego and the UCLA Biomed Libraries, have altered staffing. San Diego implemented on-call scheduling; UCLA merged the desk with circulation. Other libraries have instituted “roving” students who, wearing “uniforms,” circulate through out the library and contact others needing assistance. That led to a brief discussion as to whether an MLS was necessary to staff the reference desk. Again, there is no consensus.
Given the above, we wondered if we are entering an era where we are more general approach in reference where we do a little of everything. This may especially hold for the larger campuses with numerous branch libraries.
[As the reporter (Ken) I’d like to drop in a comment. I’m struck by the variety of approaches different UC Libraries have adopted. For me, this diversity can be a strength if we can learn from each other’s solutions and assessments of the results.]
Text & Chat
All of the participants staff chat reference. There was consensus that the current capabilities of QuestionPoint for chat reference could be improved. It should be more reliable and upgraded to include other options. We also agreed that it has served as a “gateway” to other avenues of contact with the student. An example is the complex question where the best answer is to visit the physical reference desk.
One comment was that “we need more intuitive library websites.” [Reporters comment again. Various librarians through out the system have been interested in using chat reference results to improve their websites. The librarians staffing it are “expert” users in a sense. There hasn’t been anything formal on this that I know, however.]
Web 2.0
UC Libraries have been exploring Facebook and Twitter. Riverside has a presence on both. Three libraries at San Diego are on Twitter.
[Ken’s comments again: In conclusion, it’s not surprising that we didn’t reach consensus on most of the topics. The group is in the brainstorming phase at the very beginning of the conversation. However, we were able to lay a foundation for continued discussion.]
Note – I’ve rearranged these notes along topics instead of chronological.
What do we know about the current students?
Perhaps not as much as we think we do. We make assumptions about how they like to communicate, etc. But how valid are those assumptions? We should conduct a more formal study of current students.
Future of the physical reference desk
Physical reference desk statistics have been dropping. However, these was no consensus on the future of the physical reference desk.
Many thought personal contact was very important. However, Merced doesn’t have a physical desk. At Merced, students at the service desk are the first contact. Patrons are referred to librarians if more depth is needed.
Some libraries, such as the San Diego and the UCLA Biomed Libraries, have altered staffing. San Diego implemented on-call scheduling; UCLA merged the desk with circulation. Other libraries have instituted “roving” students who, wearing “uniforms,” circulate through out the library and contact others needing assistance. That led to a brief discussion as to whether an MLS was necessary to staff the reference desk. Again, there is no consensus.
Given the above, we wondered if we are entering an era where we are more general approach in reference where we do a little of everything. This may especially hold for the larger campuses with numerous branch libraries.
[As the reporter (Ken) I’d like to drop in a comment. I’m struck by the variety of approaches different UC Libraries have adopted. For me, this diversity can be a strength if we can learn from each other’s solutions and assessments of the results.]
Text & Chat
All of the participants staff chat reference. There was consensus that the current capabilities of QuestionPoint for chat reference could be improved. It should be more reliable and upgraded to include other options. We also agreed that it has served as a “gateway” to other avenues of contact with the student. An example is the complex question where the best answer is to visit the physical reference desk.
One comment was that “we need more intuitive library websites.” [Reporters comment again. Various librarians through out the system have been interested in using chat reference results to improve their websites. The librarians staffing it are “expert” users in a sense. There hasn’t been anything formal on this that I know, however.]
Web 2.0
UC Libraries have been exploring Facebook and Twitter. Riverside has a presence on both. Three libraries at San Diego are on Twitter.
[Ken’s comments again: In conclusion, it’s not surprising that we didn’t reach consensus on most of the topics. The group is in the brainstorming phase at the very beginning of the conversation. However, we were able to lay a foundation for continued discussion.]
discussion reports
The next nine posts are the results of the discussion that was held at the last LAUC annual discussion, led by the professional governance committee. Feel free to comment!
Friday, December 4, 2009
discussion outcomes
We finished off the assembly with a breakout discussion on the topics I posted below. There were 9 tables, and everyone went to the one that interested them. Then each group reported back. The discussion seemed to go quite smoothly and there were some interesting ideas. Maybe the most controversial was one from the outreach group, who proposed a "no resources" day: we turn off everything electronic (and have eLinks redirect to a page that tells you what's going on), and see what people have to say! The reasoning was that people use the library's resources, but often without realizing it.
There was quite a bit of debate about this and other topics. Coming up, we will be posting notes from each group on this blog. (I also plan to post my notes about Perry Willit's talk, which I didn't have time to do yesterday).
There was quite a bit of debate about this and other topics. Coming up, we will be posting notes from each group on this blog. (I also plan to post my notes about Perry Willit's talk, which I didn't have time to do yesterday).
Thursday, December 3, 2009
afternoon discussion topics
We are now in the afternoon portion of the program, which is a discussion run by the Committee on Professional Governance.
The nine topics of the discussion are:
#1: Reference:
How to respond to evolving user behaviors
* in-person reference still viable?
* chat, sms reference? (24/7 access?) (see article: "how to be a person")
* web 2.0 challenges and opportunities
* meeting users where they are
#2: Relationship to information providers:
* how can libraries influence the marketplace for information resources?
* new scholarly communication models
* new relationships with publishers
#3 Library personnel
* who is eligible for library education today? Is technology the one determining factor for admission into a library program?
* are greater tech skills the greatest need in library education?
* in the work place,, what of massive retirement? downsizing? what role can technology play here?
* what of competitors for the library candidates? are we going to match their offers?
* is the ability to "organize" or the "love of reading" no longer some of the attraction to becoming a librarian?
#4 Technology
* how can libraries evolve along with the evolution of technology and user behavior?
* will instruction become a much heavier load, more important than subject bibliography?
* The need for ongoing training, evaluation and assessment ...
* Library security redefined
* who will fund the technology?
#5 Collections
* what is the Library Collection?
* "UC Library Collection" -- emphasis on collaboration and sharing
* challenges of silos, including unique and special collections
* institutional repositories
* next-gen tech services, including issues of streamlining, collaboration
* books versus digital
#6 Library buildings
* What's the value of the building as a place? As a library as place?
* how do we work with other uses and roles of the library?
* Library service desks
* space for computers and computer labs
* quiet study; group study
* social gathering: cafes, programs, meeting friends
#7 Campus roles
* instruction -- are we stuck with 1-credit library classes? Is there some other direction to go?
* outreach and publicity -- is there a theme or mode of communication we should work on?
* value of a library credit course
* "library as center of campus?" (are we? as a building?)
* should librarians do research for campus units? (since we're experts, after all)
#8 Library networks
* How can libraries increase partnerships to improve services and increase the breadth and depth of the collections? there are various opportunities with various organizations.
* OCLC, Next Gen Melvyl
* Regional management of retrospective print collections
* shared approval plans
#9 choose your own!
The nine topics of the discussion are:
#1: Reference:
How to respond to evolving user behaviors
* in-person reference still viable?
* chat, sms reference? (24/7 access?) (see article: "how to be a person")
* web 2.0 challenges and opportunities
* meeting users where they are
#2: Relationship to information providers:
* how can libraries influence the marketplace for information resources?
* new scholarly communication models
* new relationships with publishers
#3 Library personnel
* who is eligible for library education today? Is technology the one determining factor for admission into a library program?
* are greater tech skills the greatest need in library education?
* in the work place,, what of massive retirement? downsizing? what role can technology play here?
* what of competitors for the library candidates? are we going to match their offers?
* is the ability to "organize" or the "love of reading" no longer some of the attraction to becoming a librarian?
#4 Technology
* how can libraries evolve along with the evolution of technology and user behavior?
* will instruction become a much heavier load, more important than subject bibliography?
* The need for ongoing training, evaluation and assessment ...
* Library security redefined
* who will fund the technology?
#5 Collections
* what is the Library Collection?
* "UC Library Collection" -- emphasis on collaboration and sharing
* challenges of silos, including unique and special collections
* institutional repositories
* next-gen tech services, including issues of streamlining, collaboration
* books versus digital
#6 Library buildings
* What's the value of the building as a place? As a library as place?
* how do we work with other uses and roles of the library?
* Library service desks
* space for computers and computer labs
* quiet study; group study
* social gathering: cafes, programs, meeting friends
#7 Campus roles
* instruction -- are we stuck with 1-credit library classes? Is there some other direction to go?
* outreach and publicity -- is there a theme or mode of communication we should work on?
* value of a library credit course
* "library as center of campus?" (are we? as a building?)
* should librarians do research for campus units? (since we're experts, after all)
#8 Library networks
* How can libraries increase partnerships to improve services and increase the breadth and depth of the collections? there are various opportunities with various organizations.
* OCLC, Next Gen Melvyl
* Regional management of retrospective print collections
* shared approval plans
#9 choose your own!
Mass Digitization at CDL
Heather Christenson, CDL Mass Digitization Project Manager, is here to tell us what UCOP does in this area.
Quick facts about the mass digitization program:
* we're #2 in the world of the number of books we've digitized (behind michigan)
* 2.5M total digitized books from UC
* You can find them in next-gen melvyl, hathitrust, google books, internet archive, open library... and possibly other digital libraries... e.g. the biodiversity heritage library
* but physically, they are on servers at michigan, indiana (backed up on tape), IA and Google
* 445,000+ of the books are public domain
* books are digitized from the RLFs and campuses
* they have been doing it for about 3.5 years now -- in Oct. 2005, CDL was an OCA founding member
The projects: CDL works with both Google and the Internet Archive locations.
The IA has digitized 200,000 public domain books. The scanning operations have moved back to IA; the space in the NRLF and SRLF has been reclaimed by UC libs. Funding is now more uncertain for this project because of the budget. IA is scanning from the NRLF and SRLF and some other smaller projects, such as the UCD state water resources reports collection.
The Google projects have digitized 2.3 million books, in copyright and out, all languages. Foldout pages are skipped. This project is funded by Google. Google is scanning at: NRLF, Santa Cruz (for Humanities and social sciences), San Diego (for East Asian, International Relations, Pacific Studies, and Scripps); planned to do the Bancroft, UCLA.
Why do this? Many reasons:
* discovery, preservation, possible new textual research, and collection management -- might give us the opportunity to use our space in different ways. Also: to be a leader in this area ... and, carpe diem! Let's get started on this project.
Will books go away?
* No, but there's a lot to explore. We need to do research on what users need.
What do people at CDL do all day?
* CDL's role is to make relationships with partners, provide technical leadership, project management and coordination, guidance to campuses and facilitation, and stewardship of the output. For instance, they are currently working on the IA and Google contracts, and have played a big role in the HathiTrust project.
The Google Settlement:
* There has been a lot of controversy over the Google settlement:
people are concerned that it would give Google a monopoly over book digitization; corner the market on orphan works, etc. On the other hand, the benefits are that it may make many books more accessible; and allows UC to retain its copies of Google digitized in-copyright scans for replacement purposes.
Finally:
things that libraries should advocate for:
* assist and encourage rights holders to release their books in the public sphere
* press for orphan works legislation
* robust privacy controls
* neither we, nor other librareis, need rush to purchase an institutional subscription
What's next?
* digitization continues
* Google books and next, IA books, will go into the HathiTrust
* planning for access mechanisms in HathiTrust, e.g. in WorldCat Local
* making books viewable -- Univ. of Mich. is using a grant to help determine copyright for individual books. Goal is to make as many books viewable as possible.
For more information, see the InsideCDL site.
Quick facts about the mass digitization program:
* we're #2 in the world of the number of books we've digitized (behind michigan)
* 2.5M total digitized books from UC
* You can find them in next-gen melvyl, hathitrust, google books, internet archive, open library... and possibly other digital libraries... e.g. the biodiversity heritage library
* but physically, they are on servers at michigan, indiana (backed up on tape), IA and Google
* 445,000+ of the books are public domain
* books are digitized from the RLFs and campuses
* they have been doing it for about 3.5 years now -- in Oct. 2005, CDL was an OCA founding member
The projects: CDL works with both Google and the Internet Archive locations.
The IA has digitized 200,000 public domain books. The scanning operations have moved back to IA; the space in the NRLF and SRLF has been reclaimed by UC libs. Funding is now more uncertain for this project because of the budget. IA is scanning from the NRLF and SRLF and some other smaller projects, such as the UCD state water resources reports collection.
The Google projects have digitized 2.3 million books, in copyright and out, all languages. Foldout pages are skipped. This project is funded by Google. Google is scanning at: NRLF, Santa Cruz (for Humanities and social sciences), San Diego (for East Asian, International Relations, Pacific Studies, and Scripps); planned to do the Bancroft, UCLA.
Why do this? Many reasons:
* discovery, preservation, possible new textual research, and collection management -- might give us the opportunity to use our space in different ways. Also: to be a leader in this area ... and, carpe diem! Let's get started on this project.
Will books go away?
* No, but there's a lot to explore. We need to do research on what users need.
What do people at CDL do all day?
* CDL's role is to make relationships with partners, provide technical leadership, project management and coordination, guidance to campuses and facilitation, and stewardship of the output. For instance, they are currently working on the IA and Google contracts, and have played a big role in the HathiTrust project.
The Google Settlement:
* There has been a lot of controversy over the Google settlement:
people are concerned that it would give Google a monopoly over book digitization; corner the market on orphan works, etc. On the other hand, the benefits are that it may make many books more accessible; and allows UC to retain its copies of Google digitized in-copyright scans for replacement purposes.
Finally:
things that libraries should advocate for:
* assist and encourage rights holders to release their books in the public sphere
* press for orphan works legislation
* robust privacy controls
* neither we, nor other librareis, need rush to purchase an institutional subscription
What's next?
* digitization continues
* Google books and next, IA books, will go into the HathiTrust
* planning for access mechanisms in HathiTrust, e.g. in WorldCat Local
* making books viewable -- Univ. of Mich. is using a grant to help determine copyright for individual books. Goal is to make as many books viewable as possible.
For more information, see the InsideCDL site.
research update
Michael Yonezawa of RPD gave a quick update; he pointed out that grant applications for this year are due by January 9. Information on the grant process for this year, and last year's grant recipient information, is all posted on the website. There are three types of research grants again this year: grants, minigrants and presentation grants.
The other committee reports are linked on the LAUC website.
The other committee reports are linked on the LAUC website.
hashtag
p.s. the hashtag for twitter et al for the assembly is #lauc09 -- there's a few people posting (despite the lack of outlets in the room).
UC Commission on the Future
There's been a lot of discussion so far about the UC Commission on the Future. Both Lucia Diamond and Janet Lockwood mentioned that the Commission is dealing with issues that affect libraries and should get feedback from LAUC members; Lucia also mentioned that they really value written comments and feedback -- there's a button on the website to leave comments, and you can push it and tell them what you think.
Janet Lockwood
Janet Lockwood of UCOP is currently presenting and taking questions.
Janet Lockwood also talked about the Commission on the Future, as a major UCOP initiative. Lockwood said that can't think of any of the commission workgroups where the libraries don't have an interest (budget, etc) -- and strongly encouraged librarians to give feedback to the commission.
The other major initiative at UCOP is the HR committee on post-retirement benefits; they have been visiting all the campuses. The issue is to present to the campuses the status of the retirement plan, and post-retirement benefits (esp. health benefits). We were assured however that the retirement benefits we have are not going anywhere.
There's also a major study of salaries in the system, including for librarians; with a comparison to 8 other schools (including Harvard and MIT). The report was just posted on the website: see the link to the report.
The report used the salary data of 535 librarians (including ULs and AULs).
Lucia had asked Lockwood to address two additional issues including:
* The distinguished step -- Lockwood mentioned that there are similarities between the distinguished step and step 6 of the ladder faculty; which just got worked on by UCOP. However: there was no consensus in UCOP about step 6, though; it really depends on the local campus. Similarly, Lockwood thinks that UCOP would see the distinguished step as part of the normal merit review process; they wouldn't intervene in that discussion.
* The second question was about the trend of hiring outside the librarian series, especially with technology. Again, Lockwood said that UCOP supports local authority and tries to stay out of the decisions that are made at the local level.
Finally, Lockwood mentioned that the restructuring at UCOP continues; her department has gone from 17 to 8, for instance.
Questions:
A question was asked about the disparity of distinguished step requirements; merit increase requirements are very different on various campuses. The questioner said that it's a little disingenuous for UCOP to say it's up to the individual campuses, since so much is *not* left up to the campuses.
response: UCOP needs a written summary or chart of exactly what role you want UCOP to play in determining the step. OP won't write the criteria, but they are happy to facilitate among the 10 campuses.
Janet Lockwood also talked about the Commission on the Future, as a major UCOP initiative. Lockwood said that can't think of any of the commission workgroups where the libraries don't have an interest (budget, etc) -- and strongly encouraged librarians to give feedback to the commission.
The other major initiative at UCOP is the HR committee on post-retirement benefits; they have been visiting all the campuses. The issue is to present to the campuses the status of the retirement plan, and post-retirement benefits (esp. health benefits). We were assured however that the retirement benefits we have are not going anywhere.
There's also a major study of salaries in the system, including for librarians; with a comparison to 8 other schools (including Harvard and MIT). The report was just posted on the website: see the link to the report.
The report used the salary data of 535 librarians (including ULs and AULs).
Lucia had asked Lockwood to address two additional issues including:
* The distinguished step -- Lockwood mentioned that there are similarities between the distinguished step and step 6 of the ladder faculty; which just got worked on by UCOP. However: there was no consensus in UCOP about step 6, though; it really depends on the local campus. Similarly, Lockwood thinks that UCOP would see the distinguished step as part of the normal merit review process; they wouldn't intervene in that discussion.
* The second question was about the trend of hiring outside the librarian series, especially with technology. Again, Lockwood said that UCOP supports local authority and tries to stay out of the decisions that are made at the local level.
Finally, Lockwood mentioned that the restructuring at UCOP continues; her department has gone from 17 to 8, for instance.
Questions:
A question was asked about the disparity of distinguished step requirements; merit increase requirements are very different on various campuses. The questioner said that it's a little disingenuous for UCOP to say it's up to the individual campuses, since so much is *not* left up to the campuses.
response: UCOP needs a written summary or chart of exactly what role you want UCOP to play in determining the step. OP won't write the criteria, but they are happy to facilitate among the 10 campuses.
Underway
The LAUC assembly is now underway in Barrows Hall on the Berkeley campus. We are now in the introductory morning part of the assembly, with the president's report and a report from Janet Lockwood of UCOP.
Chuck Ekman gave the introduction to the assembly and talked about the importance of discussing professional governance in the library. After some official business, including thanking the local arrangements committee, Lucia Diamond gave her president's report, announcing the four travel awards that were given to attendees and thanking members.
Lucia said that the issues that LAUC is broadly discussing include finding technology that will allow us to communicate across the campuses; the UC Commission on the Future; and the loss of librarians in the system that may not be replaced (in addition, three UL positions are open now). Other major topics include the future of librarianship (to be discussed this afternoon) and the impact of budget cuts on all of us.
Lucia pointed out that this will be just the beginning of the discussion, and that other libraries who are facing the same issues might be interested in our results. Additionally, members of the CPG (who are leading the discussion this afternoon) will be meeting with members on campuses for discussion; and there will also be cross-campus discussion via communication tools, eg. a wiki and blog to be set up.
She also addressed the LAUC budget. LAUC was asked to only do one assembly per year. We also had to send in a LAUC budget; which was approved, but we have to cut the LAUC budget by nearly 1/3 for next year (that's the worst case scenario; might not happen).
Next up is Janet Lockwood's presentation.
Chuck Ekman gave the introduction to the assembly and talked about the importance of discussing professional governance in the library. After some official business, including thanking the local arrangements committee, Lucia Diamond gave her president's report, announcing the four travel awards that were given to attendees and thanking members.
Lucia said that the issues that LAUC is broadly discussing include finding technology that will allow us to communicate across the campuses; the UC Commission on the Future; and the loss of librarians in the system that may not be replaced (in addition, three UL positions are open now). Other major topics include the future of librarianship (to be discussed this afternoon) and the impact of budget cuts on all of us.
Lucia pointed out that this will be just the beginning of the discussion, and that other libraries who are facing the same issues might be interested in our results. Additionally, members of the CPG (who are leading the discussion this afternoon) will be meeting with members on campuses for discussion; and there will also be cross-campus discussion via communication tools, eg. a wiki and blog to be set up.
She also addressed the LAUC budget. LAUC was asked to only do one assembly per year. We also had to send in a LAUC budget; which was approved, but we have to cut the LAUC budget by nearly 1/3 for next year (that's the worst case scenario; might not happen).
Next up is Janet Lockwood's presentation.
Friday, November 20, 2009
LAUC assembly on December 3, UCB
The LAUC Fall Assembly will be held on December 3, at UC Berkeley's Barrows Hall. The website for the Assembly is now live. Fall Assembly reports are posted on the LAUC website.
Friday, May 15, 2009
presentations posted
The presentations from the 2009 Spring Assembly are now posted on the LAUC website:
http://www.ucop.edu/lauc/assembly/
I'm working on getting all the committee reports up as well.
http://www.ucop.edu/lauc/assembly/
I'm working on getting all the committee reports up as well.
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