2006-07 Council on Libraries, Information Systems and Computing
(LISC)
Minutes
March 19, 2007
Attendance: Dan White (chair), Christine Haile, Debra Dickerson
(support staff), Frank D’Andraia, Steven Doellefeld, George Berg, Martin
Fogelman; Thomas Hoey, John Schmidt, Barbara Via, David Wagner,
Maria Chau, Michael Dwyer (grad representative)
I.
II.
III.
Call to Order
Approved Minutes from February 5, 2007
Old Business
A. Email as an official means of communication
Revisions had been made to page 2, first paragraph, first
sentence and last sentence. On page 1, under “IT IS
HEREBY PROPOSED THAT:” change “is” to “as” in sentence
#1 to read, “…of Electronic mail (email) as an official
means…
The Council unanimously moved to pass the email proposal
to the Senate (copy on file with these minutes).
B. How should we proceed with electronic information access
policy discussed in last meeting? It was proposed to table it.
Needs to be resolved before too much time passes. Those of
you who are interested in being involved will get to meet as a
smaller group and then get back to LISC ~ Steve, Tom,
Martin?
C. Staff Support for LISC ~ Christine Haile offered the services
of Debra Dickerson, Support Staff in the Office of the CIO.
IV.
New Business
A. Parliamentary procedure discussion. Steve Doellefeld
suggested assigning certain time limitations to each agenda
item in order to keep within the framework. The Council
voted to establish a stricter parliamentary process with 15
minute (or less) time limits on each discussion item.
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B. New Chair Nominations
If anyone is interested in chairing the LISC, please let Dan
know. Recommend one year in the group as a member or in
the Senate in order to “hit the ground running.” As former
chair, Dave Wagner offered to advise/assist anyone who is
interested in chairing the committee/council.
V.
Reports
A. Chair’s Report (D. White)
1. Honor Code Discussion ~ Get back to Dan White by
March 27th at 6:00 p.m.
2. Senate Meeting ~ nothing to report.
B. ITLAL report (Steve Doellefeld)
1. Not sure LISC is the right place for ITLAL.
2. Couple of positions open
3. Initiating a new program with faculty ~ a teaching
experience program that will help with job market.
4. Continue to work with new director
C. CIO Report (Chris Haile)
1. Chris reported that Information Commons – Phase I was
a big success.
2. Webct was upgraded and is now CE-6. There is a test
version for professors to “play” with. Contact Joy Ewing
in Client Support Services if you are interested. Plans for
full operation of CE-6 for Spring ’08. If LISC would like a
demo, please contact the Office of the CIO.
3. Blog and wiki services are set up in a test environment
with more to come on these services.
4. Classroom technology is a budget item and remains at a
status quo.
5. Plans to convert LC3 back to a classroom driven by the
need for more classroom space.
6. Purchasing of more pc’s for main library; additional walkup kiosks.
7. Wireless in Residence hall for Fall 2007.
D. Dean and Director of Libraries Report (Frank D’Andraia
and Barb Via)
Barbara Via reported on Labstats/Labmaps, a program that
reports which computers are being used and when.
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Report from Frank D’Andraia:
1. UA STUDENTS: Last week I was invited to attend a
Student (IT) Advisory Board meeting. SAB was initiated
by ITS. About 20 students were present. A sample of what
SAB discussion topics have been in the past include the
following: Academic Software, Information Commons,
SUNYCard, VPN software, Information Security, Listserv
Lists, Test Scoring, Clickers, Telephone Service,
Videoconferencing, Cable TV, MyUAlbany, WebCT/eRes,
UA Website, E-mail, Library (My Minerva), Public
PCs/User Rooms, Smart Classrooms, E-space, The SHeD,
ResNet, and Wireless. The focus of SAB is to provide
students with direct access to the CIO (and other
information administrators were appropriate), to bring up
IT related issues and to encourage student interaction.
Some of the topics discussed were as follows:
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“Disconnect” between what Minerva indicates is "on
shelf" and actually finding the book. After some
additional questioning, it appears some students fail
(1) to understanding prefix codes (REF, etc) when
attempting to locate materials and others forget such
factors as follows: item may be in use or circulating,
an item may be miss-shelved or in the process of being
re-shelved.
Difficult to perform searches in Minerva - One student
said he was successful with using Minerva because he
took an “information literacy course.” He expressed
frustration that Minerva is not more transparent to
use.
Full text articles - …the difficulties of finding full text
online... lots of “circuitous navigation, all around and
often leads to nothing…” because text from current
issues may be under embargo and thus available in
hard copy format only.
ERes/WebCT – “Why do we have two systems” (it was
pointed out that they have different features and
different purposes. Students asked why ERes material
was password protected. Students indicated some
faculty handling of ERes/WebCT don't reduce file sizes
and often don't use all the features of the system.
Databases – Some students were confused on how to
select an appropriate database to search and were
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unclear on what our data bases have to offer. Also, a
couple of students indicated they had been "turned
away” from a particular database because of too many
concurrent users.
2. OPERATING HOURS – FINAL EXAM PERIOD
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University Library is, for the third consecutive
semester, will operate 24/7 during the final exam
period.
Science Library, for the first time, will expanded final
exam operating hours as follows:
Tuesday-Thursday: May 8th-10th, 8:00a.m.1:00a.m. (Regular closing, 11:00p.m.)
Sunday: May 13th, Noon-1:00a.m. (Regular closing,
11:00p.m.)
Monday-Wednesday: May 14th-16th, 8:00a.m.1:00a.m. (Regular closing, 11:00p.m.)

Dewey Graduate Library final exam operating hours
remain unchanged.
3. INFORMATION COMMONS PHASE III: The Libraries, in
conjunction with ITS, are in the final stages of planning
for Phase III of the Information Commons initiative:
Under Phase III the IC housed in the Science Library is
being expanded. The changes contemplated include,
among others, more new computers, a consolidated help
desk, entry access direct from the podium level, and a
display screen that allow students to quickly identify
computer stations not in use. Under Phase III, the
University Libraries are scheduled to receive new
computers, new seating, and other up-grades that
improve student ability to access information.
4. ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES:

ARL 75th Anniversary: This fall the Association of
Research Libraries celebrates its 75th birthday. The
Association’s Executive Director, Duane Webster, has
accepted an invitation to speak here at UA on the
future of research libraries.
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ARL Management Skills Institute: UA in
collaboration with ARL will offer a Management Skills
Institute here at UA June 6-7-8. Approximately 30
managers from ARL and non-ARL institutions are
expected to attend.
5. DEVELOPMENT:

The Libraries have acquired the personal papers of
Harold V. Goldstein, better know too many by his
stage name, Harold Gould. Hal Gould has appeared in
more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion
pictures, and over 100 stage plays. A native of
Colonie, New York, Gould earned his degree from the
University at Albany in 1947. After returning from
Army service in WWII he earned both a Master of Arts
(1948) and Ph.D. (1952) in theatre from Cornell.
Gould has had a number of notable roles in his long
and distinguished career and audiences have been
especially fond of a number of screen and television
roles, such as Rhoda and Brenda Morganstern’s father
in the hit television series Rhoda and in his screen
portrayal of Kid Twist in the Oscar winning 1973
movie The Sting. Hal Gould has appeared in a
number of other popular television series, such as The
Golden Girls. He has received Emmy nominations for
his roles in Rhoda, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Mary,
and Moviola. In 1969 Hal Gould won an Obie Award
for his work in The Increased Difficulty of
Concentration, written by the distinguished Czech
playwright and statesman Vaclav Havel.”

The papers of U.S. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert
have been acquired by the Libraries. His papers
include approximately 500 boxes and stand as record
of a long career serving the people of New York. The
Congressman served on the Select Committees for
Intelligence and Homeland Security. In addition he
served as chair of the House Science Committee and
as a member of the Committees of Transportation and
Infrastructure.

On Friday afternoon June 1st alumni, library donors,
and library personnel are invited to attend “The book
Lovers Road Show.” The program will include a 10-15
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minutes talk by Jack Walsdorf, a noted bibliophile, on
the “ABC’s of Book Collecting.” The road show portion
of the program consists of audience members bringing
forward books for discussion and appraisal. More
specifics will be provided as June approaches.

The Libraries endowment has doubled in the last 18
months.
6. SUNY CENTERS
SUNY Center Library Deans and Directors are meeting on
April 4 here at UA. Joining the group in the afternoon is
SUNY Provost Risa Palm. The SUNY Provost has
indicated an interest in learning more about the needs of
Center Libraries.
7. KUDOS:
Karen Brown, a member of the Library faculty, has been
notified that her application for $38,500 for
Conservation/Preservation assistance has been approved
by the State Education Department.
8. FACTOIDS:
The Libraries currently employ 121 individuals (excluding
students) and 40 or 33% of our personnel are UA Alums.
More specifically, 4% of our classified employees, 52% of
our librarians, and 58% of our professional personnel are
UA Alums.
9. OTHER
All computers will become uniform, which has been a
disadvantage.
Request for the Library to go 24/5 is with the Provost for
approval.
The coffee shop proposal has been withdrawn.
Next Meeting: April 23, 2007
Adjournment: 4:25 p.m.
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