Author Archives: lspiro

1. Sara Lowman announced that a preliminary design for the new LSC module has been selected. The Rice Board of Trustees will need to approve the new module, likely at the February/ March meeting.
2. The Executive Committee discussed the trend of some researchers using disciplinary repositories such as arXiv rather than institutional repositories. This practice does not appear to remove the need for an institutional repository. Not every discipline has a repository, and often researchers who make available  their work through a disciplinary repository are also willing to share it through an institutional repository.
3. The Executive Committee also discussed the increasing efforts of publishing companies to move into research analytics and data services. Exec members will read a recent report on the topic to inform potential next steps.
4. Denis Galvin described how Fondren currently handles privacy. As we move to Alma as our library service platform, it will be easier to anonymize patron data. Denis is working with Fondren IT to improve privacy practices, following emerging library best practices.
5. Lisa Spiro shared suggestions from Fondren staff who recently attended the Library Assessment Conference. These suggestions include making assessment data and reports available in a common area (such as the new staff portal); offering training on topics such as IRB, privacy, and analytical tools; getting started on ROARS assessment activities earlier in the academic year; building assessment into new project plans (including conducting user analysis and feasibility studies at the beginning and evaluations at the end); and promoting a culture of inquiry and trust.

1. Sara Lowman shared strategic goals from the university’s academic units. The Executive Committee will review Fondren’s action plan in relation to these plans as well as John Doerr’s Measure What Matters.

2. Planning for new storage space is underway, with funding available in FY19. Additional storage space will lay the groundwork for a future renovation of Fondren Library.

3. Alma update: August 1, 2019 remains the go live date for Alma. Many Fondren staff have been working on clean-up projects, including in acquisitions, cataloging, and resource sharing. The Primo team spent this summer benchmarking other institutions’ implementation of the same platform that we will use. The benchmarking process raised questions and ideas that will inform usability testing and training programs.

4. The Executive Committee discussed an external group’s request to book the Collaboration Space. The request was denied because of concerns about the technology demands and need for the space by library staff.

1. The Executive Committee congratulated Kerry Keck on her retirement and conveyed their best wishes.
2. Assignments were made for writing Fondren’s annual ROARS (Rice Outcomes Assessment Reporting System) reports, which are due August 12.
3. Sara Lowman announced that Sandi Edwards will serve as the Interim Assistant University Librarian for the Research Services Division. Sandi will work closely with David Bynog and Janice Lindquist on managing the collections budget, while Scott Vieira will take on an expanded role in managing licenses.

1) Careers@Rice rollout

Salary letters and Careers@Rice packets will be distributed on June 4, with follow up meetings scheduled for June 4-16. HR made all of the changes to career profiles that had been requested by library managers. New changes will need to be made after July 1.

2) Power outage procedures.

The power outage procedures policy, originally written in 2013, was revised. The revised document can be found on the Fondren wiki (login required). Revisions include:

• Clearing the book drops is now mandatory
• Staff should gather in the south reading room so that the area near the Circ desk is kept clear.
• A chain of communication is specified: Sara Lowman, then Kerry Keck, then Sue Garrison.
• If the power is out during business hours, during the academic year with classes in session, and if power is available at the Pavilion or Rayzor Hall, essential personnel will remain an additional hour at one of these locations to see if power returns and the library can reopen.

3) Symphony migration: Fondren IT is migrating the Sirsi Symphony servers on June 24, which is a Sunday (when the library is closed). Symphony will be offline that day.

4) Visiting/online/collaborative patrons. Denis Galvin noted that IT receives around 10 tickets from visiting scholars and online students per semester regarding the inability to access library resources from off-campus. There is a libguide for online students at http://libguides.rice.edu/onlinestudents. Online MBA students should be treated like all other students, as they go through regular admissions processes and pay full tuition. Visiting scholars typically cannot be granted off-campus access to library databases because of licensing restrictions.

1) Denis Galvin informed Exec that it will be necessary to upgrade SirsiDynix Symphony before the LSP migration. The upgrade should happen in the middle of May.

2) Mary Lowery invited staff to attend two upcoming Friends events (both events are now full):

• Meet the Author with Diana Strassmann (Thursday, February 15, 6:00 pm): http://www.library.rice.edu/event/meet-author-diana-strassmann
• The Books That Shaped My World, featuring David Leebron (Tuesday, February 20, 6:00 pm): http://www.library.rice.edu/event/books-shaped-my-world-featuring-david-leebron

3) Exec discussed the Research Data Management Team’s idea to collect information about the range of skills represented on Fondren’s staff through a survey. Lisa Spiro will draft a survey that will be discussed and refined.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, September 28, 2017

1)   Debra Kolah reported on the results of the Survey of All Students. See UX Office update: Survey of All Students, Ambassadors, and UX Question of the Week on the libstaff blog.

2)   Denis Galvin presented the charge for the LSP platform group, which was approved.

3)   Sara Lowman updated the committee on the outcomes of the Communications Task Force.

1. The birthday lunch has been scheduled for those with October birthdays.
2. Departments should invite Lowman to one of their meetings.
3.   Lowman received feedback from the chairs of all committees. A few (e.g. the sign committee and the public access ad hoc committee) will be removed from the staff wiki, since they are no longer active.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, October 19, 2017

The executive committee briefly discussed Fondren’s draft strategic plan.  We will evaluate whether there are holes in our plan, especially in comparison to Rice’s strategic plan. We will wait until January or February to seek feedback from outside Fondren.

Sara Lowman provided an update on follow-up to the recommendations of the communications committee:

•      The first birthday lunch was held in October and went well.
•      Each department should invite Sara to attend a meeting.
•      The accessibility committee has been reconstituted and there are new members of LTTD.

Denis Galvin gave an update on the library service platform (LSP) project. The oversight committee will hand off the project to the implementation group.

Lisa Spiro provided an update on the new Harvey Memories project, a digital archive of stories and artifacts related to Hurricane Harvey. Harvey Memories is a collaboration among Fondren, Rice faculty, UH Libraries, Houston Public Library, and Harris County Public Library and is modeled after similar archives such as Hurricane Digital Memory Bank and the Our Marathon archive.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary, November 3, 2017

The executive committee discussed how to proceed with Fondren’s draft strategic plan. Since the library’s strategic plan was written prior to the university’s, both the strategic planning team and the executive committee will identify gaps in Fondren’s plan and align it with the university’s. Fondren’s plan will be rewritten so that it reflects the style and structure of the university’s plan, putting forward an argument for each goal rather than a list of objectives and action items. Departments and interdepartmental teams will draft action items in support of the revised plan.

Executive Meeting Summary, November 16, 2017

Jeff Koffler, Michael Chiles and Jeanette Sewall visited to discuss plans for upcoming customer service training. CMACS has been working with Melinda English (Organizational and Professional Development Consultant in HR) to create a two-session course on providing excellent customer service. The pilot course will take place in January. Plans for the training will be presented at a Town Hall meeting tentatively scheduled for December.

The executive committee reviewed and approved the library hours for summer 2018 through spring 2019.

Lowman gave an update on Rice’s strategic planning activities. The executive committee and strategic planning team will work to align Fondren’s strategic plan with Rice’s in January, when the final plan is expected to be released.

1. The Executive Committee met with Kathy Weimer and David Bynog to discuss how the library will approach the recommendations of the Staff Communications Task Force. The Task Force will present its work at a town hall meeting scheduled for August 25 at 10 a.m. Following the town hall, the report will be shared with library staff.
2. The Executive Committee discussed next steps for Fondren’s strategic plan. Lisa Spiro and Melinda Reagor Flannery will confer with the strategic planning team to determine how best to solicit input from Fondren staff. In early fall, we plan to begin sharing the plan with the rest of the campus and inviting feedback.
3. Mary Lowery announced upcoming events sponsored by the Friends of Fondren:
   1. the Friends of Fondren Annual Meeting and Membership Dinner will occur on September 6 and will feature a presentation by Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda.
   2. Meet the Author: Featuring John Boles (co-sponsored by the Association of Rice Alumni and the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies) will take place on September 14 from 6:00-08:00 p.m.
   3. the Houston Folk Music Archive Celebration (co-sponsored by the Woodson Research Center) will take place on November 9, during Rice Homecoming.
   4. The library tours previously held during Homecoming and Families Weekend will not occur this year.

June 29, 2017

1) The Exec Committee discussed the status of the Careers at Rice program.

2) Lowman invited input on goals that the library should report on for the Rice Outcome Assessment Report (ROAR). Library staff will be asked to write brief assessment reports on research data, library ambassadors, Fondren 101, and collection assessment. Lowman also requested suggestions for projected ROAR goals for FY 2017.

3) The committee explored how to approach the recommendations of the Communications Task Force. At the next Exec meeting, the group will review committees and their charges. Denis is working on a charge on technology tools and communications. Communications will be discussed at a Town Meeting to be held in August.

July 13, 2017

1) Lowman solicited suggestions for topics for the August Town Meeting. Suggested topics include:

• Discuss the report of the Communications Task Force
• Share the Library Service Platform committee’s recommendations
• Provide an update on the strategic plan

2) The Executive Committee discussed a GWLA recommendation to adopt a new ILL system. Fondren decided to delay this move until staff members have more time to implement it.

3) The Executive Committee discussed how to handle the Communications Task Force’s recommendations that committees be examined to ensure that staff time is spent most efficiently. Lowman will ask staff chairs for their input. After receiving this input, Exec will explore how to ensure that committees are most effective.

4) Lowman announced that the Faculty Senate is interested in having Fondren staff present the draft strategic plan. The next Exec meeting will focus on strategic planning.