Dec. 10

The group discussed new members and the 2016 charge for the Horizon Group. Melinda Flannery and Lisa Spiro will draft a charge and continue to serve as liaisons to the group.

Sara Lowman announced that Marie Lynn Miranda, the new provost, will attend a 2016 Fondren town meeting. She shared information from recent Board of Trustees meetings. Groups working on Rice’s three new strategic initiatives (data science, molecular/nano, research competitiveness) have been named. IT is conducting a process to choose new software for Rice’s development activities. The office building behind the Allen Center will have five floors of offices plus parking. It will not be connected to the Allen Center. The new building is scheduled for occupancy in August 2017.

The group discussed recent library volunteers and work on developing a Fondren fellows program for Rice students.

Dec. 17 No meeting

Dec. 24 No meeting

Jan. 7 No meeting

Jan. 14

Sara Lowman shared with the group that the university uses an international travel service called SOS (http://riskmanagement.rice.edu/Default.aspx?id+38). SOS provides services such as trip registration, illness-related services, evacuations due to terrorism, lost passports, etc. It is possible that, for a fee, SOS can be used to register non-work-related trips. She would like the Library Travel, Training and Development Committee to update the travel forms to include links to this service.

A timeline was established for performance appraisals. All appraisals are due to Sara Lowman by 3/18/16. Self-evaluations for Sara’s direct reports are due 2/12/16, as are salary and bonus recommendations. Sara will send out a libstaff message announcing these deadlines to all staff.

Sara shared that she has attended several meetings on the Careers@Rice project to evaluate all jobs at Rice; she anticipates that the project will continue well into 2016.

The group discussed disposition of the areas managed by Diane Butler, who is leaving Fondren at the end of January.

Additional topics were suggested for the town meeting scheduled for 2/4/16. Marie Lynn Miranda, the new provost, will speak.

November 19, 2015

1) The Executive Committee discussed the recommendations of the Library Services Platform Working Group. It endorsed the committee’s recommendations that Fondren re-visit ExLibris’ Alma and SirsiDynix’s BLUEcloud in six to twelve months to see how they have progressed. In addition, the executive committee is investigating the committee’s recommendation that Fondren hire a consultant to evaluate departmental workflows and assist them in revamping those workflows.

2) Planning for a possible renovation to Brown Fine Arts Library was discussed.

November 26, 2015

No meeting

December 3, 2015

1) Sara Lowman provided an update on the renovation of the South reading room. Only a few final details remain to be completed. To minimize disruptions, collections will be moved back into the space in January.

2) The Executive Committee agreed to ask for student input about how to use Fondren 156 and the two small rooms in the South reading room.

3) A town meeting will be held in February; Provost Marie Lynn Miranda has agreed to speak.

4) The Executive Committee discussed the Horizon Committee’s charge for 2016. Possible new members of the committee will be discussed at the next Exec meeting.

Oct. 15 No meeting

Oct. 22

The group discussed appropriate uses of a $10,000 gift from a Friend of Fondren for Sara Lowman to consider.

Horizon Group recommendations were discussed, with Lisa Spiro and Melinda Flannery delegated to get back to the group regarding its followup responsibilities as well as integrate accepted proposals into the Fondren planning document.

The group discussed UX proposals for paid Fondren Student Ambassador and Fondren Fellows programs. The group agreed to proceed with the ambassador program but had further questions about the need for the fellows program, which would pay graduate students to teach Fondren classes.

The interim report of the Ithaka S + R survey group was discussed. Preliminary assignments were considered for the majority of recommendations.

Recent campus incidents nationwide call for a spotlight on Fondren’s emergency procedures. The Disaster Response Team (DiRT) will be asked to review existing emergency procedures in the Disaster Manual, add procedures for active threat/shooter situations, identify specific gathering places and produce a handy summary document that staff members can find easily in an emergency.

Oct. 29 No meeting

Nov. 5

The group discussed an updated draft policy with procedures to manage use of public computers by non-Rice community members. The draft was produced collaboratively by Research and Access Services. It will go into effect Dec. 1.

Kerry Keck shared information on HATHI membership, a campus quote for New York Times access and ORCID licensing, including costs. The group discussed the benefits of pursuing each of these additions, including access (HATHI) and licensing (ORCID) complexities.

Sara Lowman expressed pleasure at the fact that the renovations underway will be completed early, before finals.

Nov. 12 No meeting