May 22
No meeting.
May 29
Lowman shared that an architect and a builder have been chosen and that the renovation project kickoff meeting is scheduled for 6/13. She also reported on the Board of Trustees meeting.
The group completed its review of all Fondren’s consortium memberships.
Lowman clarified that 2 7-drawer microfiche cabinets have been purchased for the Kelley Center to improve space use.
The Office of Sponsored Research and the Office of Graduate Studies may be working with Fondren’s Digital Scholarship Services to ease maintenance of the faculty information system by migrating some information from the IR.
The library’s excellent record of assessment and contributions to the SACS accreditation process were complimented recently at a Deans’ Council meeting.
June 5
The group was joined by Debra Kolah, Sandi Edwards, David Bynog and Linda Spiro for a discussion of Fondren’s K-12 initiatives in light of the recent Horizon report on services to the public: http://library.rice.edu/fondren-intranet/horizon-group/Horizon-Group-Report/view
Fondren sends a representative to campus-wide meetings on K-12 efforts. The Welcome Center is primarily responsible for visitors K-8, the Admissions Office handling visitors 9-12 as prospective students. The Fondren paragraph of the script used by student tour guides needs revision. Especially in light of the new room reservation system and the new instructional space (part of the renovation), room reservation policies should be reviewed and revised to best support campus and outreach priorities. Fondren could well emulate the clear guidelines the Welcome Center provides for visitors about group size, duration, etc.: http://visit.rice.edu/index.cfm?p=main.tourrequestform. In Fondren, WRC is asked to provide services for some high schools and Reference is asked to provide services for others, with little overlap. A focus group will be conducted to gather information from visitors about their Fondren experiences. More staff should be given the opportunity to conduct library tours. The need for visitor lockers should be assessed and addressed. Kolah, Edwards, Bynog and Spiro will review outstanding issues; the Executive Committee will revisit these issues later this summer.
The group discussed possible re-uses of the first floor space to be vacated by the obsolete Better Light scanner.
Executive Committee members discussed the proposed library hours for fall and spring semesters.