LLIT Meeting 4/20/2010
Present: Marek Sroka (chair), Bob Cagle, Harriett Green, Tony Hynes, JoAnn Jacoby,
Jo Kibbee, Bruce Swann
The meeting started with a tour of 225 and 200D, which included the following
topics, some of which revisited the Planning Team recommendations.

Public Spaces: The open plan of 225 looked to offer options for good study
spaces and enough power outlets for laptops. The usual IT equipment for
patron use (OPAC's, scanners, and a network printer) will be able to be
incorporated, with network ports spread around the room. The study spaces
could include comfortable chairs, and created spaces designed for
collaborative work. [I would add the possibility of using beanbags, which have
been used to great success in the Law Library, and offer a flexible way to
provide seating.]

Staff Spaces: The existing closed-in office space could have one of several
roles: the office for the unit head (which could then be available to other staff
for private calls, conferences and staff meeting), or as a study space. Should
227 become available for staff offices, there would be additional space in 225
for the provision of services, study spaces, and collections. However, there
will be some challenges to providing adequate staff areas if they are to be set
up in 225. Several options were looked at for 225. The Team looked at the
cubicles in the Illinois Informatics Institute space and in the Education and
Social Sciences Library, and staff area in the Business and Economics Library.
It was noted that in the Planning Team report strong preference was placed
on providing real offices, not cubicles Cagle asked if 227 would be a more cost
effective option. Jacoby indicated that this option was not supported by the
Library Executive Committee or Library Administration neither when it was
proposed by the IAS Planning Team nor when it was proposed by the
Literatures Planning Team. Two of the subject specialists in Literatures and
Languages, Carns and Szylowicz, will have primary offices elsewhere 227
currently accommodates 6 full time staff-–relocating 6 staff to make room for
4 is not cost-effective nor user-centered.

Renovations: In 225 the walls will need repainting, relamping, window
shades, and carpeting (in non-tacks areas), all of which would improve the
look and feel of the space.

Circulation/Service Desk Location: The location of the Circulation/Service
Desk had implications for where the initial service interactions would take
place, on how 225 and 200D would be managed, and where the entry/exit
door would be placed.
o If the Desk was in the Reference Room (200) outside of the entry into
225 and 200D: the doors to 225 and 200D could be locked after
closing. However, the after hours retrieval of books could be done by
Central Access Services staff in 225 should this service be requested.
A possible consequence of this location is that there might be more
general reference being done due to the greater visibility. In this
configuration the current entry to 225 from the West corridor would
then become an emergency exit.
o
o
If the Desk was placed in the existing basic configuration in 225 (by
the West entrance), there would be more foot traffic access directly
from the SW stairs, but it would be further from the Reference Room
and 200D.
The Planning Team had suggested that the Circulation/Service Desk be
located in the East end of 225 near the door to Room 200.

Exhibit Cases: The unit would continue to use the exhibit cases for displays
within 225, perhaps supplemented by additional cases.

Room 200D: In 200D there was much space for serials and there would be
plenty of study space depending on how the space is configured.
Continuing the meeting in 428 a range of topics were discussed:
Timeline
A phased approach was mentioned as a way of getting the unit up and running on a
short timeline. The following components were mentioned:


Slavic will still be operating out of the front (West) end of 225 through
Summer. JoAnn indicated that Slavic has agreed to vacate the East end of
225 by the end of the spring semester, and Jeff has put in a work order to
begin the basic renovations to the east end of 225 (painting, relamping, and
new window shades) as soon as possible thereafter could be started as early
as May. Carpeting can be laid in non-stacks areas and Library Facilities has
set aside enough cast-iron cantilevered shelving to fill 225. .
The International and Area Studies Implementation Team Report
recommended that the English Library space be cleared out by November
2010 for renovations to begin for the eventual IAS move. It was unclear as to
how this would be possible given the amount of material to be processed out
of 321.
Reference Collections
Jo Kibbee relayed the outcome of recent discussions she had with the French
Department:


The faculty accepted the idea that the French reference collection could be
fine if integrated into the Reference Room collection (as stated in the
Implementation Team charge), and were thus not pressing for a large
independent reference collection in 225. Room 200 has the advantages that it
offers the open space for comfortable study and extended access to reference
collections while the building is open.
The faculty did indicate that a small collection of Ready Reference books,
mainly dictionaries, would be a good idea to have close to the print collections
in 225, and the Team Talked about having standard dictionaries in all the
major languages covered available in 225, perhaps in dictionary stands at the
end of Stacks ranges with materials in those languages.
Function and staffing of the Circulation/Service Desk
The usual model of staffing for public service units has a mixture of support staff,
graduate students, and student assistants, and that it functions as a circulation and
first line of reference support. It was mentioned that if the Circulation/Service Desk
was to be placed in Room 200 student assistants might be asked to answer more
complex reference questions than they might be usually be expected to do. This may
not be a problem if reference training was provided, and an appropriate referral
procedure was in place. Paula Carns would be asked to clarify this issue based on
ongoing discussions in the Reference Services Team.