Council of Library Department Heads
Minutes
September 8, 2003
Present: Dr. Binder, Earlene Chelf, Brian Coutts, Connie Foster, Jayne Pelaski, Haiwang
Yuan
The minutes for the August 18 and 25 meetings were approved with minor corrections.
Web & Virtual Library : Haiwang Yuan gave council members a preview of the
revamped library’s Website with the Cherry Hall cupola on a red banner reading “Western
Kentucky University Libraries.” This design and the colors will be more consistent with
that of the redesigned University’s homepage. He also linked to the redesigned Kentucky
Library & Museum online page which was the work of Sandy Staebell, Sue Lynn Stone,
Betty Yambreck, and Adam Moore. Once the dean approves these pages, Haiwang will
launch them.
Community Outreach: Jayne Pelaski announced a date change for the brainstorming
session for the Kentucky Writers’ Conference. The meeting is on October 2 at 5:30 at the
Barnes and Noble community meeting room. Anyone with an interest in ideas and plans
for this conference in the spring is welcome to attend.
She also discussed other plans surrounding the conference and the Book Fest. So far 70
authors (17 of them children’s book authors) have accepted, which is on target with last
year at this time. Of particular interest is Sena Jeter Naslund, author of the historical novel
‘Four Spirits’: Birmingham Sunday about the four African American girls who died in a
bombing at a Birmingham church.
Marketing & Special Events : Earlene Chelf commented on various promotions fo r the
Kentucky Building and distributed a list of events for the fall semester. September 13 is the
Wright Brothers opening with Terry Wilcutt, David Lee, and Steve Parker (director of the
Aviation Museum of Kentucky). Wilcutt is offering a long-term loan of a flight suit, boots,
and helmet. Archives Week in Kentucky will be October 5-11. The mayor will sign a
proclamation on September 27. Sue Lynn Stone and Pat Hodges are preparing a series of
programs featuring collections of letters in the archives from the Civil War, World War II,
and the Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm wars.
On October 18, from 2-5 pm, the Kentucky Tour of Folk Music will be at the Kentucky
Building, as well as Lynwood Montell telling ghost stories at the Felts Log Cabin, crafts,
and other events. For WKU homecoming, University Archives has proposed that a float be
built by the students in the Society of Mechanical Engineers. Also as part of homecoming,
on October 30, Institutional Advancement will host the Summit Awards at the Knicely
Conference Center from 6-8:30 to honor volunteers, such as advisory council members.
Earlene also distributed a list of events and activities to be held in the Kentucky Library &
Museum during the fall semester.
Dean’s Report : The dean and department heads discussed space needs in Cravens with
particular focus on additional expansion for the book collection.
DLPS: Brian Coutts announced that on October 1 David Runner and the library
technology team will move to Helm 8. All new, uninstalled, and obsolete equipment will
be moved there for consolidation and various assembling or disassembling processes.
Security issues were discussed. Louise Pruitt is arranging for David’s former office (Helm
203) to be painted so that Jue Wang can move there. Jue’s current office (Helm 202) will
possibly be used as a staging and receiving area for equipment and supplies that have been
ordered.
In a weekly report, David Runner shared that all surplus computers have been removed
from Helm 108 (the InfoLab). As soon as an inventory of withdrawn equipment is ready
and the equipment in Helm sub-basement goes, the computers on Cravens 3 will be moved
for surplus. Work continues on installation of computers for Kentucky Library & Museum
personnel and clips about the Wright Brothers flight. The five wireless laptops were
infected with viruses and disinfected. Michael Kenney is working with Bryan Carson on
editing the library audio tour.
Brian noted that Elder John Sparks, religious historian and author of The Roots of
Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns, will appear “in
character” on September 11 at 7:00 to kick off the Kentucky Live! series. Janet Colbert,
accounting professor, will lead the Faraway Places series with a talk on Thailand on
September 18.
DLTS: Connie Foster reported that there will not be a Voyager upgrade until late next
semester; in the meantime, we will need to upgrade all PCs to Windows XP in preparation
for this next system enhancement. Bibliographic Access now validates all URLs as part of
its cataloging procedures for all formats; the invalid links are deleted.
Some interesting year-end (FY 2002-03) statistics are the following: over 15,000 books
(new purchases and gifts) were added to the library’s collections; the unit value of a serial
was $298, and the unit value of a microfilm title was $478.
Connie has two meetings with Facilities Management staff about space allocation and
unnecessary cables on the floor in hopes of improving appearances and workflow (and
safety).
Some general discussion about Gordon Wilson storage and its description (with photos) on
the library’s site and the need to meet about the Sara Tyler award completed the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at noon.
For the Council,
Connie Foster