LIBRARY LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
MINUTES
NOVEMBER 9, 2015
Present: Dean Connie Foster, Deana Groves, Jonathan Jeffrey, Brian Coutts,
Haiwang Yuan, Sara Volpi, Eric Fisher, Bryan Carson and Jan Renusch
Minutes: The November 2, 2015, minutes were approved as submitted on a motion
by Deana Groves and a second by Brian Coutts.
Dean’s Report/Announcements: Connie discussed the Homecoming reception and
the HODA dinner in regards to attendance and participation. She said that the
Social Media Blitz maybe the way to go as there were over 100 students who
stopped by the tent on Wednesday.
-A copy of the winter and spring library hours schedule was distributed for
review. Brian said to contact him with any discrepancies/errors for
correction.
Literary Outreach: Sara gave updates on Book Fest and other projects:
Author Applications – As of November, 79 confirmed authors and 15 verbal
confirmations; Dollar General grant is a top priority; Sara has reserved 5
rooms and a conference room for Book Fest at South Campus in addition to the
space in the Knicely Center; sending official invites to authors; met with
Gayla Warner last week to discuss sponsorship letter and ideas to redraft
letter; attending Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort Nov. 14.
-Meeting with two potential interns from the English department; poetry
reading in Java City Tuesday at 4:00pm sponsored by the library and English
Dept.
Instruction/Grants/Assessments: Bryan discussed some of the statistics from
the LibQual+ report. He will prepare some charts. The most pertinent
information is as follows:
*The 2015 survey had 821 responses, and was high enough to extrapolate
statistically to almost all groups at WKU, including undergraduate students
as a whole, all levels of undergraduates, all graduate students, Master’s
degree students, and faculty members. The only categories that did not
receive enough responses to be statistically valid were doctoral students and
staff members.
*The overwhelming majority of respondents (80.27%) use Helm-Cravens as their
primary library facility.
*Neither undergraduates nor staff identified any areas where the perceived
level of service was less than the minimum level.
*67.6% of respondents use resources on the Libraries’ premises once a month
or more often, with the largest group using the library weekly (31.18%).
*Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64.43%) report assessing library resources
through the libraries’ webpage at least once a month or more often, with
37.64% accessing them daily.
*On a 9-point scale, all user communities were extremely satisfied with the
way in which they are treated. The overall mean is 7.68.
*On a 9-point scale, all user communities were extremely satisfied with the
way in which the libraries support for their learning, research, and/or
teaching needs. The mean is 7.23 out of 9.
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Systems Office: Eric gave highlights from the Library Systems Office:
-They will be attending the Convergence Conference Thursday and Friday this
week, so requests will be picked up once they return. If an emergency item
arises call Eric Fisher via his cell.
-Testing continues for various sections of ALMA and Primo functionality to
include patron services, email output, etc.
Web & Emerging Technologies: Haiwang has finished updating the podcast of
Susan Bordo’s talk for the Libraries’ “Far Away Places” speaker series. Due
to an inadvertent move, the recording stopped half way during the talk.
Haiwang suggested using two recorders in the future to avoid mishaps like
this.
-At the request of the Communications Plan Committee, Haiwang has been
working on a mechanism to track traffic on the Libraries’ blog using Google
Analytics. He is going to seek help from the IT unit to make things work.
Department Reports:
Dean: Connie reviewed the Sara Tyler Merit Award Fund in the College Heights
Foundation. She is going to contact the Foundation for clarification on use
of the fund and the spendable balance.
-The Action Plans and the Carry Forward funds as well as status of the
Library Staffing Plan II were discussed.
Department of Library Special Collections: Jonathan reported that WKU
Archives had two images included in the WKU Herald’s Homecoming 2015
magazine.
-University Archives showed slides in the Western Room during Homecoming
morning. A few people did come in to watch them. The lobby clerk counted over
400 who came in to use the restrooms.
-Jonathan made a presentation titled “Cooking by the Book: Kentucky
Cookbooks” for the Hopkinsville/Christian County Public Library on November
5.
-Dr. Delroy Hire has agreed to fund an intern for DLSC again next year with
the provision that it be referred to as the Dr. Delroy & Patricia Hire
Special Collections Intern.
-Special Collections is reviewing accessions backlog one more time to assist
cataloging priorities.
Department of Public Services: Brian reported that University of Kentucky
historian Akiko Takenaka will be the next speaker in the Far Away Places
series on Thursday, November 12 at 7 pm at Barnes & Noble, to discuss her new
book Yasukuni Shrine: History, Memory, and Japan’s Unending Postwar,
published this summer by the University of Hawaii Press. The book focuses on
the issues of war, empire and memory. Her book was reviewed by Professor
Chungmei Du of WKU’s History Department in this Sunday’s Bowling Green Daily
News. All Japanese companies with facilities in our region have been sent a
special invitation.
-Sue Lynn McDaniel will talk this Tuesday, November 10 at 10 am in Cravens
111 in the “We’ve Been Everywhere” series on how “Cow Pastures, Courthouses,
and Funeral Home Visitations” blends scholarly research and genealogy.
-October Statistics - Patron traffic was up 9.26% over last year in the HelmCravens complex with 52,906 patrons making this the second busiest month
after April.
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Department of Library Technical Services – No report
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:18 am.
For the Council,
Jan Renusch
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