Faculty Library Committee
Year-End Report
The Faculty Library Committee consists of:
Schools
(three)
Thomas
Stanton, College of Technology
Sally
Brewer, Curriculum & Instruction (fall) / Scott Richter, HHP (spring)
Humanities
(One)
Bob
Acker, Modern & Classical Languages
Sciences
(One)
Social
Sciences (One)
Mansfield
Library (Two)
Staff
(One)
Year-end-summary
The Faculty
Library Committee (FLC) met on a monthly basis throughout the 2005-2006
academic year in order to conduct its charge of facilitating communication
between the libraries and the faculty senate, and reviewing and advising on
matters pertaining to the library budget, collections, and services. This included one meeting held at the Library
of the College of Technology in order to focus on issues pertaining to the COT
Library. The committee was faced with
high rate of turn over due to both illness and academic leave. In addition, the Mansfield Library was
operating with an interim dean this past year.
Despite these issues, the FLC covered a wide range of items in its
meetings and participated in the search process for the new Library Dean.
Activities
and discussion topics of the FLC during the 2005-2006 academic year included:
(1) encouraged and reviewed a Mansfield Library Info Fair and Library
Representatives Meeting; (2) discussed
the pros and cons of the library seeking membership in the Association of
Research Libraries ultimately deciding that ARL membership is not a feasible
goal at the present time; (3) held one meeting at the COT Library and discussed
the specific needs and challenges facing the COT Library; (4) reviewed a
presentation on the acquisitions budget and later in the year, sent letters to
Robert Duringer, Vice President for Administration & Finance, and to Dan
Pletscher, the chair of the Strategic Budget and Planning Committee requesting
that a proposed cut to an inflationary increase in the Mansfield Library’s
Acquisitions Budget be reconsidered; (5) discussed a report on the extended
hours project; (6) participated in the search for a new Library Dean; (7)
arranged a meeting between the chair of the FLC and the faculty of the
Mansfield Library; and (8) had a lively discussion on reviewing the charge of
the Faculty Library Committee in order to more effectively conduct our
business. Details of these items can be
found below.
(1) Info Fair and Library Representatives Meeting
With encouragement and input from the FLC, the Mansfield Library held an Info Fair and Library Representatives Meeting in October of 2005. One of the intended aims of the meeting was to better inform the department library representatives about the allocations process and discuss different methods departments use in choosing how to use their allocations. Departmental library representatives responded favorably to the event and the library is planning on hosting another such event in the fall of 2006.
(2) Membership in the Association of
Research Libraries
The FLC discussed the possibility
of the Mansfield Library pursuing membership in the Association of Research
Libraries. The Mansfield Library
currently benefits from the ARL LibQual Survey initiative. Membership in ARL is based in part on a
formula and the Mansfield Library does not currently have the staffing levels
or volume of collections to qualify. In
addition, “Doctoral Extensive” designation for the University is required for
ARL membership. The sense of the FLC was
that this may be a desirable long-term goal for the library but it is not a
feasible goal for the foreseeable future.
(3) College of Technology Library
The COT Library has 20,000 print collections
and 2,250 media collections. The library
supports 34 programs in 6 areas and it has one of the largest culinary
collections in the state. Eighty percent
of the acquisition orders for the COT Library are related to program
requirements. The COT Library has very
few computers but is equipped with wireless Internet connection.
(4) Acquisitions budget
At the February 2006 meeting of the FLC, Barry Brown, Head of Access and Collection Services for Mansfield Library, gave a presentation on changes in the acquisitions budget. Highlights of this report were presented to the Faculty Senate in a report from the FLC at the April meeting of the Faculty Senate.
Library Dean’s approval has been added to level II curriculum changes. It is important that the library be informed of new programs to plan for needed collections. The acquisitions budget needs to stay in line with grant funding and inflation.
Due to budget constraints, there is a proposed cut to the inflationary increase to the Mansfield Library’s Acquisitions Budget for FY07 (the proposed decrease is from 9% to 3.95% resulting in a decrease of funds of $156,000). The FLC sent letters to Robert Duringer, Vice President for Administration &Finance, and to Dan Pletscher, the chair of the Strategic Budget and Planning Committee, requesting this cut be reconsidered. Both responded regretfully that the cut was necessary. VP Duringer was optimistic that the proposed decrease would be for one year only.
(5) Extended hours pilot project update
Interim Dean Oelz
presented a report on the Library’s extended hours pilot project. To date, the cost of the project has been
supplemented from the administration. In
an informal survey, Library patronage is low during the early morning hours (
(6) Library Dean search
The FLC met with each of the candidates for the Library Dean. Details of this were reported to the Faculty Senate in April. On April 20, 2006, it was announced that Bonnie Allen will assume the position as Dean of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library on July 10, 2006.
(7) Meeting of the FLC chair and the faculty of the Mansfield Library
As detailed by the
Faculty Senate’s charge to the FLC, the chair of the FLC met with the faculty
of the Mansfield Library. Topics
discussed included the FLC possibly collaborating with the library faculty in
reaching out to new faculty members and help make them more aware of the
resources available to them at the Mansfield Library and a concern from a
library faculty member that the FLC needs to do a better job to communication
of information to the Faculty Senate.
(7) Discussion of the FLC charge
The committee had
a number of discussions concerning the charge of the FLC. A number of committee members felt that the
charge was potentially vague and misleading in a number of areas. In addition the possibility of more detailed
action items could be added to the charge.
The committee has begun a process of reviewing and revising the charge
of the FLC.