University Library Committee Meeting Minutes 10/13/14
Call to Order / Roll Call
The meeting was called to order at 4:10 p.m.
Members present: M. Baldridge, M, Maas, S. Shen, M. Semanoff, R. Wakimoto, K. Zoellner
Members absent/excused: B. Brown, J. Iverson, E. Plant, G. Stanley
Ex-officio member: S. Zhang
Minutes from last meeting:
The minutes from 9-8-14 were approved.
Communication Items:

The library’s newsletter, Connections, July 2014 was published. The newsletter was sent to
library donors and the UM departments/colleges/schools.

The library received a federal grant, National Leadership Grant, $49,343, from the Institute
of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), to develop a model to convey Irish American
experience, with primary resources and scholarly contents. This is a collaborative effort with
the Irish Studies Department (Professor Traolach O’Riordain), the Butte-Silver Bow Public
Archives (Director Ellen Crain), the University College Cork, in Ireland, and the Mansfield
Library.

Two library faculty, Sue Samson and Kate Zoellner, gave a presentation on information
literacy and library assessment at the MUS BOR Outcomes Assessment Workshop held at
the UM campus on September 22. It was well received. Our MSU library colleagues asked
to model it at their campus.

October is the Archives Month. The library hosts a photo caption contest and will host a
lecture on October 22nd by Professor Dennis Swibold on the School of Journalism’s history
and the value of preserving history.

We are continuing working on unit plans which help carry the library’s Strategic Plan 20142017.

We are working with the Missoula College on the Developmental Math Lab – the location is
at the east side corner, Level 1, at the library. The funding for the lab will come from a
multi-campus Workforce Development Grant administered by Great Falls.

An open house event was held at the Room 504, a group study room with new furniture and
computers, to be used for student veterans and other students. The Office of the
Commissioner of Higher Education funded the study room upgrades, which include frosted
glass for more privacy. The project was a collaborative effort with the Library and the
Veteran’s Transition Office. Other students can use the room if not reserved by a veteran
student. Veterans can reserve the rooms online for the full day up to three weeks in advance.
Other students can reserve the room for up to three hours on the day of use.

Library’s public programming activities – exhibits and lectures
o Big Read Exhibit, in the tutoring area, Level 3.
o Upcoming exhibit - Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Book
Burnings." This exhibition is produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum (USHMM), from October 26-December 17, 2014. There will be several
lectures related to the subject.
Business Items:

Two members of the Committee are also on the Academic Alignment and Innovation Plan
(AAIP) Taskforce which meets every Monday at 4:00 p.m. Although changing ULC’s
committee time was discussed, this was the only time the Chair could meet. So if members
on the Taskforce cannot make meetings they should consider finding a replacement member.

The Committee was provided with information about the Library’s funding category by Professor
Zoellner (appended). This is fixed nationally for reporting, but the Administration could change
where the Library is considered for budgeting. Vice President for Administration and Finance,
Michael Reid is looking for ideas for the new budget model.
Dean Zhang shared her experience of the library categories at her previous institutions. The
University in Kansas used metrics that measured library efforts (including people, collections, and
services) supporting teaching, research and other things. When it was necessary to cut the budget,
only non-teaching areas were affected. In North Carolina, the cut focused on non-research areas
instead.
This summer the materials cut were high end research items that have a high cost per use. The Dean
of the Business School has communicated the importance of keeping a specific database.
MSU is categorized the same way, but still received the 8% inflationary increase appropriated by the
Legislature and did not have budget cuts. UM is quickly falling behind MSU with regard to
collections and other academic support.
The Committee wondered whether it would be productive to meet with VP Reid. Members should
prepare a list of questions and send them to Camie by October 27th. Chair Baldridge will review these
to determine whether to invite the Vice President to the next meeting.
It would be helpful to have data on how many instruction sessions the Library Faculty teach to make
a case for teaching support. The Committee needs to make the case that collections is part of the
academic core and is essential to the health of the campus. Library resources are the lifeline of the
faculty for teaching and research.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5:08p.m.