Author Archives: reagor

Led by Mary Lowery, the group discussed interest by the Friends of Fondren Library (FoFL) Membership Committee in heightening staff and faculty engagement. Various measures were proposed to increase FoFL exposure and better understand staff and faculty interests FoFL might address. Faculty already play a large role in FoFL activities, e.g in delivering lectures.

Led by Sandi Edwards, the group discussed staff incentives for above and beyond performance. New university awards were discussed and creative ideas for library-specific recognition will be explored. Fondren already has a built-in event every other month in which service anniversaries are celebrated. These events could also be used for additional forms of recognition.

Led by Sara Lowman, the group began discussion of John Doerr’s book, “Measure What Matters.” Sara shared that the university administrators read this book as a group, but that full discussion has not yet taken place there. Denis Galvin noted that Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as described in the book are already in wide use in IT circles.

The group discussed the current strategic plan version including action items. Comparisons were drawn to the planning documents of 3 other university offices (Dean of GPS, Dean of Undergraduates and Provost’s Office), but there is no need for our plan to look exactly like theirs. Our plan is now no longer a draft and will no longer be labeled as such. Issues raised recently, such as the lack of backup laptops and textbooks for lower-resourced students, should be addressed. The role of managers and chairs of key committees in the Fondren planning retreat was very significant. This group could possibly be of enormous help in the “care and feeding” of the plan over time. Lisa Spiro and Melinda Flannery will confer about these ideas and share with the group.

Various staff tuition and class opportunities were discussed, including a free leadership certificate from the Jones School (https://business.rice.edu/graduate-leadership-certificate-glc). The group will explore showcasing staff activities in these areas at an upcoming Town Hall meeting. Testimonials may be more effective than HR presentations to remind staff of these opportunities at Rice.

Sara Lowman reported briefly on Board of Trustee meetings. An important topic was ensuring student success across the economic range. The Board’s Building & Grounds Committee reported that the next Fondren renovation is likely to be scheduled on the late end of the Capital Campaign. Less major renovations to the Brown Library (e.g. furniture, paint) may be possible before the larger effort takes place.

Sara asked the group to brainstorm discussion topics for the fall meetings scheduled: 9/13, 10/11, 10/25, 11/8, 12/6, 12/20.

Topics generated included:
Patron data, privacy and decision-making
Action Planning update
Fondren Fellows (a new endowment may allow expansion of the program by fall 2019)
Friends engagement by staff and faculty
SWOT analysis of Executive Committee roles (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats)
Quad 4.0 initiative—background preparations
Assessment—business intelligence analytics
Institutional Repositories—local and collective roles
Open Access—publishing opportunities, platforms and costs
Alma/Primo update (short)
Law
Review of Fondren’s memberships and their costs (annual)
Data management across the university—effectiveness, challenges and possible commercial rivals
LSC space study fall 2018, expansion prospects
Hiring timelines, possible efficiencies

Sara will assign topics to meeting dates in Google Calendar. She invited members to lead topic discussions, possibly assigning relevant background readings.

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.

RiceWorks changes: The group discussed these changes and their impact on the mechanics of the hiring process, using an example provided by Angela Lipari of HR through Sara.

Research Data team charge: Lisa invited discussion of a previously distributed broader charge for this existing Fondren group, prompted by low campus interest in its previous narrower focus on data management. Lisa will share with Fondren staff the text of the new charge.

Planning process debrief and discussion of the Library Committee discussion of alignment between Fondren’s plan and the recently-released Rice plan (https://v2c2.rice.edu/). The Library Committee discussion focused on four areas in the Rice plan that are not heavily represented in the current draft of the Fondren plan, dividing the committee into subgroups:

Build Renowned Graduate Programs
Invest in Faculty to Achieve Preeminence (discussed together with Elevate Research Achievement and Reputation)
Expand Access, Diversity and Inclusiveness
Extend Rice’s Reach and Impact

Executive Committee members are grateful to Debra Kolah and Amanda Thomas for helping devise the meeting plan and facilitating two of the four groups. Those present raised many interesting ideas, some of which would involve library partnerships with other campus units or initiatives. The Fondren strategic planning team will meet the week of March 5 to assess where we are and plan next steps. Sara has been asked by the provost to present the Fondren plan to the Dean’s Council as it exists on April 12, with no requirement the plan be in final form.

Miscellaneous: The group discussed potential expansion of the Fondren Fellows program, not necessarily by having more fellows but rather by supporting them more deeply.

December 14, 2017

Stravinsky collection: Fondren has acquired 48 items from the son of composer Igor Stravinsky, purchased from both Woodson and general collections funds.

Charge to Web Team on identifying tool to facilitate access to staff information: Denis Galvin reported that he has asked the team to reorganize its report to separate the main recommendations from auxiliary observations and recommendations. The revised report should be available shortly.

Schedule for performance appraisals: The group will discuss in January after recess.

Town Meeting December 20: The agenda items are Central Quad 4.0 and Customer Service training.

Careers@Rice training: Supervisors are receiving invitations to participate in a series of four training sessions, to precede general training for all staff prior to the implementation of this new position grading system in FY19.

Printing: In response to library user requests for better access to color printing capability, Central IT is relocating a color printer from the Mudd Building to the first floor of Fondren. A resume printer, utilizing acid-free paper, will also be relocated to the library.

Strategic planning: Following anticipated Board approval in January of the final draft of the university’s strategic plan, activity will resume in Fondren to further refine the library’s plan in support of identified university priorities.

January 11, 2018

The group discussed further details of the Careers @ Rice program.

Performance appraisals: All completed appraisals library-wide are due to Sara by March 23. Library managers are free to set schedules in their areas so as to meet the March 23 deadline. Though the library has not yet received the budget letter (so that the salary pool is not yet known), it is likely we will use the same merit rankings and bonus levels as last year. Self-evaluations by Executive Committee members are due Feb. 2.

The group discussed sending Fondren representatives to the GWLA OER (Open Educational Resources) conference.

Having received earlier January 11 the recommendations about subgroups for the Alma implementation project, the group agreed to review the recommendations and discuss them at the next meeting.

Sara shared that she had met recently with the Executive Committee of the Staff Association, learning that they plan to update the organization’s bylaws and procedures.

August 10, 2017

Sara reported on her trip to North Carolina academic libraries, accompanied by President Leebron, Provost Miranda and Matt Taylor, Associate Vice-Provost for Academic Affairs. The Rice group visited the libraries at Duke University, North Carolina State University (NC State) and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Duke’s $160 million renovation and addition by Shepley-Bulfinch included a classroom shared with IT, a pavilion, a GIS center and a conference center. NC State has a new Engineering/Agriculture library with high-density storage and interesting furniture and a very creative renovation of their main library, including faculty and graduate school commons spaces. UNC had done some renovations but not as major as the other two. Back at Rice, both President Leebron and Provost Miranda took extensive walking tours of Fondren. The net impact of the trips and the tours was heightened interest at the highest administrative levels in more investment in the library.

Sara also shared that the Sewell staff temporarily housed in Fondren study rooms this summer should be moving to the BRC.

Kerry reported she is still working on the requested study of possible alternatives to building a new LSC bay. She reminded the group that there has been campus interest in storage of art and archival records in addition to library materials.

Sara reported on a meeting of the Texas ARL library directors, held at Fondren on August 9. The group discussed possible future collaborations, including group action with respect to broad or narrowly targeted deals with vendors, archiving/access rights, APCs (article processing charges), author rights and sharing online special collections exhibits and OERs (open educational resources). Any group negotiations with vendors are likely to be narrowly focused.

Melinda shared a summary of the latest report from the Linked Data Working Group. Executive Committee members showed appreciation for the group’s experiment showing that “sharing our collections via Google” is a complex and partial process governed by Google’s primary interest in revenue-generating information. The report is available at: https://wiki.rice.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?title=Reports+-+Library-wide&spaceKey=FONDREN (login required).

Kerry is moving forward on collections budget allocations for FY18.

Sara is working on summarizing input from Fondren committee chairs as followup to the Communications Task Force recommendation that all committees be reviewed.

Sara will start working shortly on the new round of ROARs (Rice Outcome Assessment Reports)/SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) documentation. She will ask Executive Committee members where she needs help.

Lee reminded the group of Fondren’s participation in the upcoming Houston Archives Bazaar on September 10.

Kerry and Sandi Edwards will be participating in an O-Week (Orientation Week) event on Sunday, August 13, the first of many O-week appearances by Fondren staff.

August 24, 2017

Sara led the group in a discussion of the presentation on which she has been asked to work with Matt Taylor in connection with the University’s planning process. The topic is Central Quad 4.0 (the quad west of Fondren and space use in the buildings which border it) and the 15-minute presentation is one of four that will be made to the Rice Board of Trustees on September 13.

Discussion of Central Quad 4.0 included the role of cloisters as connection/protection when traveling among buildings, graduate student needs for offices and commons, undergraduate needs for classrooms and study spaces and faculty needs for a mid-sized event space and possibly a conference center. A central question is: what functions work best in which building? Twenty-four hour functions are likely best located in Fondren.

Other agenda items were postponed:

Review of Fondren committees
Progress toward migration to a new library service platform (LSP)
Proposal to digitize remaining masters theses and dissertations

April 13, 2017

The group discussed the Library Service Platform working group report.

April 20, 2017

No meeting.

April 27, 2017

1) Sara reported that President Leebron and Provost Miranda have responded very positively to the library’s “pitches” about future big ideas for the library. Mary offered to visit Seattle libraries to take pictures on an upcoming trip.

2) Sara clarified that the Fondren planning process can gear back up later in the summer, to sync with the university’s planning schedule.

3) The group reviewed the library’s current memberships in collaborative organizations and considered both cuts and new membership opportunities.

4) Kerry shared the need for tightening access policy for LSC items in certain restricted categories.

5) Sara shared recent discussions on the need for signed agreements from users who make use of Fondren’s new lockers.

6) Mary asked about protecting the painting across from Access Services by anchoring any nearby seating or adding a protective railing in front of the artwork. She shared that a member of the Friends of Fondren is interested in doing an online general or art-focused tour to encourage Friends to become more familiar with Fondren. Other members offered to share what has been done in the way of online tours and invited the individual to make use of those building blocks. Mary also shared that the Friends’ Homecoming event will spotlight local music archives in the Woodson Research Center (WRC).

May 4, 2017

No meeting

May 11, 2017

No meeting

May 18, 2017

1) a) Sara shared that Norie and Debra Kolah have been working with Fondren Ambassadors to plan spending $100,000 in money available to the library from the KTRU endowment. The seating areas outside Rm. 156 and in front of Access Services are targeted for improvements. Room 412, to the L of the Studies in English Literature offices, has been assigned as a gathering place to a new association of retired faculty under the sponsorship of the provost.
b) This summer, five Rice Design Alliance staff members will be officing temporarily in Fondren, during the renovation of their offices. The architecture school has made a donation to Fondren in response.
c) Sara shared what she is learning about the university-level planning process. So far, the Fondren process is tracking well with the university process, in terms of elements, level of detail, etc.
d) Sara reported that the Rice Board of Trustees approved the budget and that salary letters should go out before the end of June. The library received an additional $500,000 for collections for FY18 to slow the impact of inflation on our purchasing power.

2) The group discussed the draft of the strategic planning document, making revisions and inviting Lee to provide language to represent WRC strategic directions where appropriate in the document. The strategic planning group will host additional staff meetings to discuss the new version of the plan, and will also be sharing a draft with some university departments in the fall.

3. The group discussed the request of the Horizon Group for a clarification of its charge following the valuable advice shared on the planning process. Currently, members do not have a new research need.

4. Updates: There will be a Town Hall meeting May 24 to share the “pitches” to President Leebron. The Kyle Morrow Room will be out of commission for tech upgrades for the month of June. Scott Vieira will co-chair the Web Team. The report of the Library Service Platform (LSP) group is being reviewed. The Friends gala net profits are not yet final but seem to be approaching $185,000. The 2018 gala will be held March 23 at the River Oaks Country Club and will honor the Crownovers. Catherine and Brian James will co-chair the event; student workers will be needed. Other events are being slotted into the Friends calendar for the upcoming year.

May 25, 2017

No meeting.

June 1, 2017

The group discussed the report of the Communications Task Force. This report will be made public with plans for action once Executive Committee discussion is completed. Main recommendations include increased visibility of administration, a review and simplification of committee structures and improved tools for staff communication.

June 8, 2017

The group continued discussion of the communications report and began to propose plans of action to address recommendations. Additional issues raised in the report include adding a communications officer, improving staff orientation, improving staff knowledge of the work of departments other than their own, more training in the areas of communication and running meetings, and better communication among managers.

At the next meeting, the group will review Fondren’s current committee structures. Sara has asked Denis to draft a proposal for improving online staff information tools; this proposal will also be discussed at an upcoming meeting.

Feb. 2, 2017

1) The group planned the agenda for the University Committee on the Library meeting February 14 at noon. A discussion, with presentations, of the Fondren Fellows was planned, along with a guided discussion of the ways the library can improve its support for research and experiential learning.

2) Lisa and Melinda updated the group on the strategic planning process and the agenda for the Town Hall planning update on February 10.

3) The group agreed with Denis’s proposal that we retain in the system user information only for the current and one previous checkout. There will be a spring purge of the database.

4) Visitor privileges, such as checking out books and accessing electronic resources, were discussed. In general, off-campus access to electronic resources requires some official status as current faculty, staff or student. Some electronic resources are available to Rice alumni via the Alumni Association website.

Feb. 16, 2017

The group discussed salary administration for FY18.

Mar. 2, 2017

1) The group discussed proposed library hours for the academic year 2017-2018. Announcing early closure on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the day before the Winter Recess continues not to be advisable before the President has confirmed early closure for the university. In recent years, this confirmation has been issued in plenty of time to announce a change in library hours. Gate data for days classes are not in session was reviewed and found not to support eliminating evening hours on those days.

2) The Library Service Platform review group submitted its recommendations on Feb. 28. The Executive Committee will discuss the report at a meeting later in March, as the March 16 meeting has been cancelled.

3) Lisa and Melinda updated the group on the strategic planning process. There was discussion of how the “pitches” solicited from the staff will be evaluated by Sara and those she asks to help. The deadline for these pitches has been extended to Mar. 17.

4) Denis suggested that all members encourage their staff members to complete the university IT online security training.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary August 25, 2016

Lowman announced that Pecht and Lowery are new members of the group and that the Executive Committee will now meet every other week.

Galvin reported on conversations about developing a shared catalog with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, or perhaps sharing a discovery layer. It was agreed that the costs and benefits of such a complex collaboration would be better considered if and when Fondren considers a new library service platform.

Lowman shared a historic list of topics that have been discussed at meetings of the University Faculty Committee on the Library. The group meets twice per semester. Possible topics for this year include space planning, Fondren’s support for the current Quality Enhancement Program on experiential learning, outside support for academic libraries (including friends groups), Fondren Fellows projects and Fondren website revisions.

Lowman asked that the group bring to the next meeting ideas for Executive Committee discussion topics. There was brief discussion of mirroring the university’s current focus on research competitiveness and exploring library support for the Deans Council’s continuing focus on diversity. Lowman and Flannery will refine the diversity topic, possibly meeting with Russell Barnes.

Lowman inquired about the library’s need to plan for the upcoming transition from Owlspace to Canvas for course management. As the library’s primary use of Owlspace is not for course management, but rather for projects and committees, our access to Owlspace should not change through the transition. Galvin will double-check how project and committee work will be supported after the Canvas transition.

Executive Committee Meeting Summary September 8, 2016

The group welcomed new WebTeam co-chairs Debra Kolah and Jiun Kuo, and discussed with them the group’s updated charge.

Pecht reported that the WRC has been approached to discuss accepting an important art historical archive.

Lowman reported on a recent Deans’ Council meeting. Emphases for this year are: 1) culture of performance, growth and development, 2) diversity (continued from previous year) and 3) Capital Campaign. Members of the Horizon Group will be asked to the Sept. 21 Executive Committee meeting to discuss working on 1). Lowman and Flannery will begin exploring how the library can address diversity issues (2)) in hiring and promotion. In order to participate well in 3), the library will need to update its planning document. Where we are and how to update the document should be discussed at the Sept. 21 meeting.

Lowman asked the group by Sept. 16 to comment on a very preliminary document developed by Matt Taylor (Associate Vice-Provost for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean of Undergraduates, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Humanities), exploring affinities between the library and the functions of the Center for Teaching Excellence. She noted that space use will be one of the topics on the agenda of the University Committee on the Library.

Flannery offered interim updates on the Acquisitions Data Work Group and the Linked Data Work Group, as well as soliciting suggestions for articles for the fall issue of News from Fondren.

The next meeting will be on September 21, 1-2:30 pm

Executive Committee Meeting Summary September 21, 2016

Horizon Group co-chairs Rebecca Russell and Siu Min Yu attended for discussions of two topics: 1) Fondren’s support for the university’s latest Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) on Experiential Learning and 2) coming up with a library-wide process for a planning document to be completed before the university’s next capital campaign, i.e., by March.

Lowman asked the Horizon Group to plan a staff retreat on Fondren’s support for the new QEP. Relevant Rice faculty as well as current Fondren Fellows and their mentors should be involved. The retreat should occur in the fall. The Horizon Group will meet and then share their thoughts with Lowman.

The university will be gearing up for another capital campaign, the first since the one connected to the Vision for the Second Century. This campaign should be more focused on programs than buildings. Lowman is asking the Horizon Group to come up with a process for involving staff in reviewing and fleshing out Fondren’s planning document. She will visit an upcoming Horizon Group meeting to discuss further.

Janet Thompson visited to discuss time-keeping procedures in light of recent attention to existing and new provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Concern was expressed that the implementation of the current online system decouples signoff from direct supervisory responsibility for time worked. System limitations and a need for central control have been named as the reasons alternative implementations are not possible. Thompson will follow up with Human Resources, and possibly Facilities, Engineering and Planning as well as Athletics. The group discussed the ongoing Human Resources training on the recent FLSA changes.

Lowman noted that the capital budget process is underway. She plans to propose an engineering study on the feasibility of converting the unused bay of the off-campus Data Center to use for library storage. Additionally, she plans to propose a new building study, in which Shepley-Bulfinch would review and revise unimplemented portions of the existing building plan. User studies would be included in the review.

Lowman shared that the Dean’s Council recently reviewed an Enterprise Risk Management Study prepared by the university’s Strategy and Planning Committee. The study identified the top 100 risks to the university along with plans for study and mitigation. The library may undertake a similar study.