Executive Committee Meeting Summaries (March 12-April 9)

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March 12

No meeting.

March 19

No meeting.

March 26

Lowman shared notes from a meeting with the university Policy & Planning group. An overhaul of many university policies is underway. Policies about minors on campus, weapons, and emergency management planning are among those being revised. Disaster plans throughout the university are being gathered in connection with the emergency management policy review. The national meeting of Chief Financial Officers in Higher Education (COFHE) will take place on the Rice campus the week of March 30. A recent letter to the editor of the Rice Thresher noted there has been a 135% tuition increase at Rice over the past 15 years. The university budget office presented data comparing Rice’s tuition increases to those of peer institutions.

Flannery shared notes from a recent Administrators’ Forum regarding the reorganization of Facilities, Engineering and Planning under new Associate Vice President Jim E. Alty.

The group discussed planning for participation in the university-wide job review known as Careers@Rice.

April 2

No meeting.

April 9

Guests: Joe Hatfield, Janet Thompson

Planning for first floor renovations was discussed. The library group advising on new furniture is now meeting. The renovation, scheduled for this summer, will also include carpet, paint, lighting and both electrical and data outlets. The group explored the need to dispose of old furniture and relocate some first floor collections during the renovations. A small group will be convened to plan, stage and implement such moves. A new color scheme will harmonize with the colors used in the 2008 renovation. Signage will be needed.

The group reviewed initial HR documentation for the university-wide job review, Careers@Rice.

New Concur Tips

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The Staff Travel,Training and Development Committee has posted additional tips on reporting travel expenses on the Concur Tips page:

Auto mileage-70220- Because Fondren limits the transportation amount to 1/2 of a normal (coach) airfare it’s probable that you will not be able to use the Mileage Calculator link, which cannot be itemized between reimbursable and personal expenses. You will want to approximate as closely as possible the amount approved for transportation on the Staff Travel Request Form. To calculate this, enter a mileage amount in the required “Distance” field that will result in the desired reimbursable amount. For example: if you have been approved for $100 in transportation expense, enter 174 in the Distance field. You may wish to add a comment that the amount is the reimbursable portion of round trip mileage expense to the destination.

Hotel/Accommodations-72344- Staff have found that the Concur system prefers that the Vendor field, which is not required, be filled in. While there is a drop down to select major hotels, you can also simply enter the name of your hotel in the field. Concur will accept a new name in the field.

Thanks to Scott Vieira for sharing his experiences in the system. We look forward to hearing from you all as you have additional questions about the Concur process.

Executive Committee Summaries (February 26 and March 5)

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February 26

The Executive Committee discussed the new organizational structure for IT.

The Executive Committee discussed the charge to the Horizon Committee to facilitate strategic planning. The Committee will arrange for leaders of educational and research initiatives across Rice to make brief presentations about their work.  The Horizon Committee will facilitate breakout sessions in which library staff will discuss potential ways that the library might support these initiatives, then synthesize the recommendations.

March 5

The Executive Committee approved a change to the Horizon Committee strategic planning charge that will extend the timeline and hopefully allow more staff to participate.

The Executive Committee discussed with whom Ithaka should meet when they come to Rice to share results of their upcoming survey. Meetings will be set up with the library committee, library staff, and groups interested in particular reports, such as research data.

Lowman gave an update on the budget meeting.

CMACS Social Media Meeting February 18

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Sean Rieger, Web Developer for Rice University Office of Public Affairs, gave a presentation to CMACS on Rice University’s social media: best practices, their adoption of new social media channels, engaging users, tracking and analyzing user behavior and engagement, and risk management. It was very insightful!

CMACS is planning a Fondren Library Social Media Town Hall most likely in late May, and we have asked Sean to speak, and basically give the same presentation to the full library staff. Then we will have some time to talk about Fondren Library social media channels, and the goals of our social media.

Concur Revisited

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The Staff Travel, Training and Development Committee has offered a second series of classes to allow staff to ask questions about uploading receipts into Concur for preparing expense reports. The meetings were held in the Collaboration Space on two dates: at 9:30 AM on Friday February 13th and at 1:00 PM on Wednesday February 18th. This is the second series of classes provided by the STTD committee to help provide support for the transition to the Concur system for reporting expenses. The first series, held in December 2014, provided training in creating a personal profile for staff in the system.

There was a demonstration of the process of creating travel expense reports and uploading receipts into the report in a test environment for those attending. Staff members were encouraged to ask questions about particulars related to their travel expense experiences. The committee gathered helpful information from the discussions and will create a list of tips for Concur based on the feedback from users. The Concur Tips page will be uploaded to the Staff Travel, Training and Development home page in Fondranet.

As you discover issues or helpful items please contact the committee and we will add your suggestions to the Tips page. Your Staff Travel, Training and Development Committee are: Dara Flinn, Lauren Mueller, Nadalia Liu, Shannon Kipphut-Smith, Judy Howell, Mary Brower, Andy Damico, and Nyssa Juneau-Kimbrell.

Tips for Concur:
1. Travel expense reimbursement requests must be submitted within 60 days from the last day of the trip.
2. Itemized receipts must be included for each expense of $25.00 or more. There is an option to enter an expense if you have lost the receipt which can be found in the drop-down under “receipts” in your expense report.
3. Meals and parking should be paid for separately, rather than included with lodging in your hotel bills. This will simplify the audit process from the Concur side.
4. It’s possible to submit multi-page receipts, or add pages to receipts already in the system.
5. Any alcohol (such as a glass of wine with a meal) must be itemized and the alcoholic beverages account used for the expense (70880).

Executive Committee Meeting Summaries (February 5, 12 & 19, 2015)

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February 5, 2015

RiceWorks upgrade: Jana Callan visited to share plans for upgrading RiceWorks, the university’s hiring management system. The new version should improve reporting and user interface. Job descriptions will be separate from job postings. Training for Fondren supervisors will take place late February or early March.

FY16 Budget preparation: The group discussed each member’s assigned contributions to the budget narrative Sara Lowman must turn in to the university Budget Office, including budget economies taken this year and both projected economies and needs for FY16.

CMACS activities: A plan was shared for posting in each area answers to the question: What are we working on? A CMACS representative will work with each area. The idea is to balance continued emphasis on existing customer service standards with transparency about current projects.

Concur: The group discussed implementation to date of the university’s new expense management system.

February 12, 2015

Dean’s Council: Sara Lowman reported on the Dean’s Council discussion of a proposed program to bring in more research post-doctoral fellows, with the aim of further enhancing Rice’s research profile. Possible roles for the library in supporting such a program were floated.

President Leebron will be asking the university community to help identify Rice’s next Quality Enhancement Program (QEP). QEPs are connected with the university’s periodic accreditation reviews. Ten years ago, the Center for Civic Engagement (now Center for Civic Leadership) came out of the review process. Two years ago, the Center for Written, Oral and Visual Communication (CWVOC) resulted from a mid-term review, and a new QEP could well continue a focus on communication, with possible collaboration between the library and CWVOC.

New manuscript/archival collection : Fondren is working on acquiring an important archive of manuscripts and letters pertaining to French composer Francis Poulenc.

February 19, 2015

No meeting.

Ithaka S+R survey slated for March and April

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Rice University’s Fondren Library has partnered with Ithaka S+R to administer an online survey this Spring to inform and improve library services. Faculty will be surveyed on three topics, including: Digital Research Activities, Data Preservation & Management, and Discovery. Undergraduates and graduate students will be invited to participate in a 10-minute national survey on library services that has been administered at many other universities, including UNC Chapel Hill, the University of Chicago, and Swarthmore.  The faculty survey has been done at Harvard, Tulane, Baylor, and Princeton. The online survey will be offered Tuesday, March 17th to Wednesday, April 8th. Fondren Library will use the results of the survey to inform an upcoming website redesign in July and to generate ideas for service enhancements.

Research staff from Ithaka S+R will visit campus in early May to present the findings to Fondren Library and work with the Rice community to understand the results. The Faculty Survey and the Student Survey will provide a heightened awareness of campus needs and help library leaders to manage changes in the research process.

More information about the survey can be found at the Ithaka S+R website, http://sr.ithaka.org/content/surveys.

For questions or comments about the Survey, please contact: Debra Kolah (dkolah@rice.edu) or Sandi Edwards (edwards@rice.edu).

Executive Committee Meeting Summaries, January 15, 22 and 29

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January 15, 2015

1)    A new version of RiceWorks will be rolled out this spring. Starting on February 3, most users will be unable to create new actions until the new system is up and running.
2)    Fondren will begin a review of library systems this spring. Input will be sought from throughout the library. More details TBA.

3)    New members of the Horizon Group were selected:

  • New Members:  Scott Carlson, Jet Prendeville, Monica Rivero, and Rebecca Russell (two year term, 2015-2016)
  • Continuing Members:  Jean Aroom, Mary Brower, Lauren Mueller, and Nyssa Juneau (two year term, 2014-2015)

4)    Given recent experiences with a problem patron, all staff should be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to RUPD.  The police will need an eyewitness report.

To facilitate sharing information about potential patron-related problems in Fondren, Diane Butler set up a new library-only listserv, fonalerts@rice.edu. Libstaff should continue to be used for all other correspondence.

5)  A plan for salary increases was discussed and will be shared with all Fondren supervisors.
January 22, 2015

1)    Rice is discussing the possibility of offering an enriched spring break educational experience in the future. Executive Committee members discussed potential ways that the library could participate in this program, should it come to fruition.
2)     The Executive Committee explored potential topics for future Library Committee meetings.

January 29, 2015

Angela Lipari visited to share information about Human Resources activities.

New exhibits in Fondren Library, RMC

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The Exhibits Committee recently changed out the exhibits in Fondren and the RMC. Original images from https://woodsononline.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/parties-owls-and-an-alligator-on-exhibit/ Here’s a glimpse:

College Parties Exhibit in the Rice Memorial Center

Houston’s Bayous: One hundred years ago, located on 1st floor

Selections from African American Collections, located on 3rd floor

Cheerleading at Rice, located on 6th floor

 

 

 

 

CMACS November and December meeting notes

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Fondren Research Support fair–we plan on having this event next year again. Debra reported that the Asst. Director of the Office of Academic Advising shared that they were very happy to be a part of the event, and want Fondren to participate in their event during O-Week Orientation.

CMACS will hold Social Media Training in early 2015, but date will be dependent on other events. This will be lecture style, in KMR, but we will offer one-on-one sign-ups at the event for folks that need/want some additional support. Training will include: Facebook posting changes, Best Practices, and our current channels.

CMACS recently completed and will send to the Welcome Center a new script for the library portion of the general Rice University tours.

CMACS will be involved in the Ithaka S+R survey to be implemented in the Spring. CMACS will think of ideas to increase faculty and student participation.