Library Staff Support Committee Meeting Minutes—Friday, Nov. 20, 2015
In Attendance:
Becky Burner (Physical Sciences & Engineering)
Jim Cotter (Special Collections)
Lisa Renee Kemplin (Area Studies)
Kyle McCafferty (Central Access Services)
Lucy Moynihan (Life Sciences)
Debora Pfeiffer (Technical Services)
Dani Postula (Central Access Services)
Laura Poulosky (Residence Hall Libraries)
Shoshana Vegh-Gaynor (Arts & Humanities)
Sandy Wolf (Social Sciences)
New AFSCME 698 Contract:
The AFSCME 698 Bargaining Team wishes to inform you that our membership voted to accept the terms
of the tentative agreement presented for ratification Nov. 18-19. Council 31 Staff Representative Dave
Beck will notify the University that the agreement has been ratified by our members, and will try to
expedite the processing of our retroactive 2.5% wage increase back-pay to August 2014. Staff will
receive back pay for the amount of this increase to the present in the form of a lump sum separate from
normal pay dates. Staff should see the 2.5% raise applied to their regular paychecks beginning in
December.
Sandy Wolf’s Upcoming Retirement: Sandy Wolf will be retiring from the University Library on Dec. 31.
We will miss Sandy very much, in her roles in the Social Sciences Division, at GSLIS, and as a devoted
member of LSSC. Thank you, Sandy, for all of your hard work and for being so amazing! Kyle McCafferty
has volunteered to attend the Administrative Council meetings, to replace Sandy there. Sandy will show
Julie Bumpus how to post the LSSC meeting minutes to our website. We will discuss at next meeting who
will replace Sandy at the Faculty Meetings.
Lisa Renee Kemplin’s Term on LSSC Ending: Lisa Renee’s two-year term serving on LSSC comes
to an end this month. So far, no other staff from the Area Studies Division has volunteered to
serve on the committee. Thank you so much, Lisa Renee, for all of your time and talent that you
have given to the committee. We appreciate it, and we’ll miss you at the meetings!
Meeting Reports:
ClimQUAL: Kyle has been meeting with the ClimQUAL committee every couple of weeks as
they discuss how to address specific issues raised by survey responders. The committee
expects to send out an update with action items soon, around mid-December. Please let Kyle
know if you have questions or concerns that you would like him to raise with the committee.
Arts & Humanities Division: Shoshana reported that the Arts & Humanities Division discussed
the search for a new Music & Performing Arts Librarian, since John Wagstaff will be retiring
soon. The Library is doing an internal search for John’s successor.
Life Sciences Division: Lucy reported that the Life Sciences Division meeting focused mostly on
a discussion of the budget and of the 3% / 5% / 7% budget reduction exercise. The Prairie
Research Institute Library will close on Dec. 16th. Its materials are being transferred to ACES,
the Main Stacks, and Oak Street. A lot of these materials have already been transferred, but
there are still more to move. Librarian Susan Braxton will move from the Prairie Research
Institute Library to an office in the ACES Library as of Dec. 16th.
Area Studies Division: Retiring Music & Performing Arts Librarian John Wagstaff attended the
meeting to speak about Promotion & Tenure. The Area Studies Division is planning updates to
their website, including posting their Division minutes. The Mortenson Center will be starting
web forum series discussions in April. Topics will include how to promote global peace,
engagement, and understanding.
Administrative Council Meeting: Sandy reported that the AC meeting revolved primarily around
the 3% / 5% / 7% budget reduction exercise, and how to use ideas that have already been
considered in order to move forward as efficiently as possible.
Central Public Services Division: Dani reported that CPS also discussed the 3/5/7 % budget
reduction exercise. The Main Library has already cut some of its hours in order to save money.
The student budget is being reconsidered, as are other means of streamlining and improving
efficiency. The Undergraduate Library has shifted most of its computers to login use because of
database permissions, but has left a few computers open to general public use (without access
to those databases). There is discussion of creating “guest” logins for patrons from the public.
Residence Hall Libraries: The Residence Hall Libraries have been promoting the One Book One
Campus book, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. They have held book club discussions of
this book at Allen, Busey-Evans, FAR, and Ikenberry Libraries. RHL Librarian Gretchen Madsen
Webb will host the final book club discussion at Illini Union Bookstore on Tuesday, Dec. 1 st, at
7:00 pm. Students who sign up and participate in one of the book clubs get to keep a free copy
of the book, provided by the Residence Hall Libraries. The Illini Union Bookstore is selling
copies of the book, and the Residence Hall Libraries have copies of the book available to check
out, as well. The author will be speaking at the Illini Union I-Rooms on Tues, Dec. 8th, at 7:00
pm. A reception and book signing will immediately follow the event.
Technical Services and Physical Sciences & Engineering: These Divisions have not met since our
Oct. LSSC meeting.
Special Collections Division: The Special Collections Division met to tour the ACES Library, but
Jim had to cover the desk in the Maps Library, so he was unable to attend that meeting.
Next LSSC Meeting: Our next LSSC meeting will be on Friday, Dec. 18th, since our regular
meeting time would have fallen on Christmas Eve.