LSSC Meeting Minutes--August 20, 2015
Meeting held in Room 428, Main Library
Convened at 11:07am
Present: Dani Postula, chair; Becky Burner, Jim Cotter, Lisa Renee Kemplin, Kyle McCafferty, Debora
Pfeiffer (minutes), Shoshana Vegh-Gaynor, Sandy Wolf
I.
II.
Dani opened a discussion of preparations for Associate University Librarian for User Services interviews by LSSC committee members
A.
The two candidates’ CVs, plus the position announcement were passed around so that we could all have a look. (It was noted that the proposed start date for the position was
August 16.)
LSSC committee members are scheduled to meet with the candidates at the following times and locations:
A.
Wednesday, 8/26, 10:30-11:00am: Meeting with Kenneth Burhanna
Location: Room 230 B (This is the small meeting room in the University Librarian’s Office area.)
III.
B.
Friday, 8/28, 9:30-10:00am: Meeting with JoAnn Jacoby
Location: Room 230 B
AUL User Services Candidates Presentations will occur at the following times and locations:
A.
Kenneth Burhanna: Wednesday, 8/26, 2-3pm at Grainger Commons
B.
JoAnn Jacoby: Thursday, 8/27, 11:00-11:50am at Grainger Commons
(N.B.: Several LSSC members present mentioned that they would not be able to attend many of these meetings.)
IV.
We discussed a number of questions and topics for discussion which we would use during
V.
our meeting with Ms. Jacoby and Mr. Burhanna.
Dani will print out the list of questions for the meetings with both candidates. We agreed that we would like to have each LSSC member ask a question, but that there might not be enough questions to go around, and that we might not have enough time to ask all the questions. More topics of discussion on this subject:
A.
Mr. Burhanna might appreciate an explanation of the nature and function of the LSSC.
Jim volunteered to get brochures from Skye and give them to both candidates.
B.
We agreed that the questions we plan to ask will not be mailed to the candidates in advance of the meetings.
C.
Dani will send a preliminary email to both candidates, introducing the LSSC and herself as chair person.
D.
We discussed the prospect of including a question about specific issues mentioned in the AUL job description during our LSSC meeting with the candidate. The consensus was that questions not specifically related to library staff might better be posed to the candidates after the candidates’ presentations.

E.
We discussed the idea of reading the job description very carefully with the possibility of creating more specific questions for the candidates. It was noted that, though the focus of this position is user services, the incumbent would also interact with staff.
VI.
Committee Reports
A.
Lisa Renee reported that Shuyong Jiang is now Division Coordinator for Area Division
Studies.
B.
Sandy Wolf reported that at the Administrative Council meeting, John Wilkin advised everyone to attend as many meetings with the candidates for the AUL position as possible. He also requested members to attend the Library Updates meeting which will be held on Thursday, 8/27 from 2:00-3:00pm in Room 66.
C.
Jim reported that the Division of Special Collections met to discuss their field trip to the local Antique Car and Fancy Hat Museum. Scott Schwartz arranged the trip with the thought that there might be a future collaboration with this private local collection and the UIUC Special Collections.
D.
Dani reported that CPS met yesterday, 8/19, to discuss the 5% reduction in state funding for the Library.
1.) This discussion lead to remarks regarding the reduction of hours at the libraries which had been open much later in the past: Central Circ (Main), UGL, Grainger.
2.) We discussed the way that the new schedule might impact students, their safety, their study habits, and their use of course reserve material.
VII.
We also briefly discussed the fact that our LSSC meeting times (fourth week of the month) occur during vacation periods during the months of November and December. We agreed to discuss this matter at a future meeting.
This meeting was adjourned at 11:52am.

"Operationalizing Current Research in User Services: Please discuss current research trends and emerging practices in user services, with particular attention to the challenges that institutions face both in implementing and sustaining new services, as well as cycling out services that are of declining value in the academic environment."