2012-13 Council on Libraries, Information Systems and Computing (LISC)
Minutes
April 1, 2013
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
AS-122
Attendance: Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair; Christine Haile; Jean Guyon; Evgeny Dikarev;
Eliot Rich; Bill Ziman; Cary Gouldin; Debra Dickerson; Mary Casserly; Kimberly Van
Orman; John Delano; Mark Wolfe. Guests: Chris Moore, ITS; Kabel Stanwicks, Library.
1. Report from the Chair: Elizabeth Gaffney
The March 4, 2013 minutes were put to vote and unanimously approved by the
Committee.
2. Dean of Libraries – Mary Casserly
Water Emergency in Science Library
Mary reported there had been a water emergency in the lower level of the Science
Library on Wednesday morning last week when the fire sprinkler system was being
tested. Approximately 2,000 books were impacted and had to be moved and sorted.
Most of the volumes had minor wetting, black staining, and a black layer of
particulate debris that came from the sprinkler lines. The vast majority of these
books have now been safely recovered by air drying. We are in the process of
cleaning the books and reshelving them. Many have cockled pages but should still
prove serviceable. Those that were more heavily damaged are in the Preservation
Lab, and some will need to be rebound. Only seven items were so wet that they had
to be frozen so they could be treated at a later date. A number of incidents like this
have occurred in the Science Library over the years. Most of the problems date back
to SUCF’s poor oversight of the construction of the building. The Library is working
with Facilities and the Office of Environmental Health and Safety to try to avoid
future problems when testing sprinkler and other systems occur.
Presidential Portraits
Portraits of Karen Hitchcock and Kermit Hall have been hung in the Presidents
Reading Room on the second floor of the University Library.
Another High Speed Book Scanner Purchased
The Library has purchased another high speed book scanner for the University
Library. We now have two at that location and one each in the Science and Dewey
Libraries. These are very popular. Scanning and printing from the Information
Commons and wireless printing have largely replaced photocopying.
LISC Meeting
April 1, 2013
Self- Checkout Machine
A self-checkout machine is being placed in the University Library adjacent to the
circulation desk. It will be moved out and ready for use by April 1 or 2, with the
hopes that the students like it.
Program on Digital Preservation
The University Libraries will hold a seminar on Digital Preservation on May 3th from
1:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Standish Room. This is free and open to the public. Ms.
Emily Holmes, Assistant Director, Preservation, Reformatting & Digitization at
Columbia University Libraries will lead an introductory seminar on the fundamentals
of digital preservation. The contact is Karen Brown at kebrown@albany.edu for
interested parties.
3. Report from CIO – Christine Haile
Chris welcomed Chris Moore and Kabel Stanwicks to the LISC meeting. Chris and
Kabel were invited to present on the merger of ERes (electronic reserves) and
Blackboard and the improvements it offers to the user environment.
Chris reported that ITS is in the midst of project and budget planning for 2013-14.
She has a meeting with President Jones on May 1 to discuss. The new Data Center
construction is on schedule; and Chris has already scheduled a couple of walkthroughs. Construction completion is scheduled for next year (2014).
4. Presentation on the Merger of ERes and Blackboard – Chris Moore and Kabel
Stanwicks
ITS and the University Libraries announced recently to faculty and staff the
improvements to Blackboard and Electronic Reserves. These enhancements
simplify faculty use of Blackboard features and make it easier for students to access
course materials online.
Electronic Reserves were integrated into Blackboard, providing a single point of
access, eliminating the need for separate E-Reserves passwords. It will be easy to
set up your reserve reading, even if you’ve never used Blackboard or don’t use its
other features. During summer sessions, faculty will have the opportunity to use
Electronic Reserves in Blackboard; in the fall, all Electronic Reserves will be
accessed via Blackboard. No E-reserve data has been deleted and everything in ERes will be preserved. This presents an opportunity now to reach out to the new
faculty about the benefits of using Blackboard.
ITS and the Libraries will provide instructions, tutorials and workshops on using
Blackboard and E-Reserves. An all-day web-enhanced Blackboard training
workshop will be held on May 16, 2013.
Elizabeth thanked Chris and Kabel for taking the time to present to the Committee.
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LISC Meeting
April 1, 2013
4. Other Business
Elizabeth had sent out an email to the Committee members inquiring as to their
interest in serving on the committee in the upcoming year. She asked that those
members who have not responded to please send her an email with their decision.
Chris Haile announced that Online Teaching Forums are scheduled for April 4th in
the uptown and downtown campuses with the Provost.
John Delano stated that the Library Committee is meeting Thursday, April 4th at
3:00 p.m. in Mary Casserly’s Office.
Adjournment
The next meeting is scheduled for May 6, 2013 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in AS-122.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
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