1. Building hours: Draft hours were presented by Kerry Keck through Spring 2020 in support of library planning, including Kyle Morrow Room reservations. These hours will be posted on the website close to the time they are relevant. General patterns persist, with a few changes to make hours around Commencement more consistent and an experimental change to Saturday Fall 2018 hours, in response to user requests.
2. The English Department sponsors a four-week theater program for disadvantaged high-school and a few middle-school students. As Hamman Hall will be under renovation, they are seeking space on campus June 12-July 15. Sara Lowman will offer the Kyle Morrow Room and/or Rm 156 for this purpose.
3. Denis Galvin brought up several IT-related issues:
Central IT will be changing the method of campus sign-on to the campus network to Cisco’s ISE (Identity Services Engine). The changes will not start until this summer and we are unlikely to notice them.
Central IT is discussing storage changes.
Central IT will also be continuing to move toward VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) for phone service. Both the LSC and the adjacent PDC (Primary Data Center) have already made the move.
In early June, Fondren IT will be migrating the Symphony (Sirsi) operating system. The move is unrelated to the Alma transition but, rather, required to maintain system security.
4. Careers @ Rice: Sara Lowman updated the group on the status of the new career profiles for all library staff. These are generalized profiles supporting a single transparent job structure across campus, and will be supplemented by more specific detail for specific jobs.
5. Sara Lowman and Lee Pecht noted a good deal of recent publicity for the Houston Jewish Archives, with additional donations continuing to be offered and fundraising being planned. The Houston Chronicle has featured the project and several Rice Board members have shared congratulations.
6. Sara Lowman discussed response to her presentation of the current draft of the Fondren strategic plan to the Deans Council earlier in the day. In addition to several compliments on the library’s work, she received follow-up questions about the Fondren Ambassadors program, faculty research support and library space.
7. The book sculptures by Michael Stilke installed in the library are being repaired through Rice art curator Evan Garza.