Life Sciences Division Meeting
University Library
Wednesday, January, 2016
10:30 a.m. -12:00 Noon
309 Funk Library
MINUTES
Present: Pat Allen, Melody Allison, Susan Braxton, Peg Burnette, Erin Kerby, Mara Thacker, Kelli Trei,
Sarah Williams
1. Welcome and Agenda Review
Melody welcomed Mara Thacker, new LSD liaison from IAS division.
Melody also welcomed Susan Braxton to the Funk library and to the LSD division.
2. Minutes of the 11/11 (taken by Melody) were approved as is.
3. Announcements – Melody
Copies of the library calendar/annual report are available from the Advancement Office. Melody
passed around her copy.
4. Health Information Portal – Peg
Peg convened an informal group of health, medical and sciences librarians to work as a team to
update the Health Information Portal (HIP). The group met on Dec. 11th to review the existing
HIP and identify areas of interest. Some subject sections will be merged or eliminated and some
new areas will be added. Initially the group will focus on content and not the design of the
portal. Each person was asked to work on one subject page related to their area of interest. The
group will meet again in February.
5. SOM update – Kelli
There were no major developments to report. A group of both UIC and UIUC librarians has been
charged with making recommendations about library support for the COM. The group has not
yet met.
6. PRI update – Pat, Sarah, Susan
Pat – Susan has moved to the 5th floor of Funk library; she will continue to support the PRI, will work
with library data group, and will be part of FUNK reference team.
PRI materials are still being relocated. Some will be moved to FUNK when space has been made
(Google digitization materials will be returned to Oak Street to make space). Serials will continue to
circulated, however some documents will not.
CMS is coordinating all materials movement.
Initially the PRI Library website will be linked from the FUNK page. Susan plans to integrate PRI web
content into FUNK pages and perhaps transition some content to libguides. Sarah suggested adding
a prominent link to PRI as a “collection” of ACES instead of listing it as a separate library.
7. Committee assignments and reports – AC, CDC, others
AC – Melody
John had distributed a written summary regarding budget recommendations. He is confident that the
library can handle budget cuts within the parameters outlined in the document. Some strategies for
reducing personnel costs were retirements, separation, or individuals who might be interested in 9 or 10
month contract. All open positions in process will not be eliminated, but current vacancies not approved
for positions and future ones will be examined for replacement or reduction; there was also a question
about switching faculty to AP status. The library is committed to maintaining faculty status for tenure
track librarians. OCLC funding will be moved to the collections budget.
GA hiring timeline has been accelerated in order to enhance recruitment. There will be a meeting for
GAs who might be interested in position in the library. This may occur in late February or March. Unit
heads or others who hire GAs can arrange times to talk to prospective GAs. The GA portal will also be
updated to better reflect GA interests and skills. Tom Habing asked for feedback related to the new GA
portal.
This year there is a problem with GA training and the calendar. The training was scheduled to begin
before GA contracts begin so GAs would have be paid as academic hourlies during the first part of
training which need background checks. A resolution is pending.
CDC – Kelli
Met on Dec 10; librarians are encourage to spend their funds soon. An A & I review task force is looking
at subscriptions and will send recommendations to subject specialists. The task force is look at potential
overlap and duplication, usage, gaps, etc.
Melody mentioned ongoing problems with user awareness of resources. She brought up the importance
of marketing and promotion. People may be using things that are not the best resources for their needs.
Mara reported that there is a new working group on public engagement and outreach. They will be
doing an environmental scan to see what is currently going on and then will help units develop
programming related to outreach and marketing. Mara is co-chair of this group and will update LSD
regularly.
Kelli reminded everyone that REFWorks will go away this summer. Efforts continue to transition users
and to remove links to RefWorks from the web site.
Ref Management Team – Erin –
1. HUB training schedule was distributed by Beth Sheehan; there will be some concurrent sessions
to accommodate all topics. Some are required, some are optional.
2. Jo Ann Jacoby asked for scenarios for a new service model for main and UGL hub information
services. One option is to renovate the 1st floor for main information services.
RDS – Sarah and Peg
Elizabeth Wilkes sent out invite to the RDS open house which will be on January 20th at Noon in room
308.
The RDS Data Management workshop series will be offered again in February and March. These
workshops can go on the road as well.
The RDSIG will host a panel discussion on January 27th at 3:00 in room 106. All are welcome.
8. Round Table
Mara encouraged LSD members to consider applying for funding for overseas collection development
buying trips to procure unique international materials. Mara is happy to meet with anyone interested in
such a trip.
Melody asked about the status of budget reduction models of 3 to 5 to 7 percent. How would reduced
hours of operation affect overall budget?
Melody asked about grants from Project CERES for digitizing collections; their goal is to help institutions
digitize materials that might not otherwise be able to do so. State or University documents; they are
small grants for focused projects. Deadline is Feb 12. Pat mentioned digitization can be done by library
staff for free. Library staff digitize materials and deposit them into IDEALS.
Erin reported that there are ongoing talks about moving Vet Med to all embedded model. Erin will have
an office at Vet Med but there will be no or a very limited physical collection. This proposal coincides
with Vet Med renovation plans. Erin and JoAnn will meet with CMS to talk about collections. John Wilkin
met with Vet Med dean who expressed concerns about the absence of a physical collection. There may
be a non-circulating collection, however there will likely be no staffing except perhaps a grad hourly or
GA. Erin expressed her support of the plan.
Respectfully submitted, Jan. 13, 2016
Peg Burnette