December Library Office Notes

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HR NEWS

FACILITIES

EVENTS AND TRAINING



ANNOUNCEMENTS: University Librarian Note
Check back in the new year for a new Note from Dean Wilkin.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Strategic Planning Update
Lisa Hinchliffe, Coordinator for Strategic Planning

Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback or joined an open discussion session on the draft Framework for Strategic Planning. It was very gratifying to hear so many positive comments as well as ideas for improvements.  In the coming week, the Strategic Planning Steering Team will review all of the suggestions and comments and finalize the document, which will be discussed at the Executive Committee meeting on Monday, December 7. The end is in sight! Just in time to turn the Framework over to the group planning at the Library Retreat in January!

Strategic Planning Office Hours are scheduled in Library 434 in December at the following times:

  • December 2, 10am-11am
  • December 3, 10am-11am

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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Library Retreat
John Wilkin, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries

I write to invite everyone to the Library Retreat on Friday, January 15th, 8:30 am-12:30 pm (registration information below). I’ve asked Beth Woodard to work with the Associate University Librarians to plan an opportunity for us to work together on moving forward our new Framework for Strategic Action. I’m looking forward to a lively discussion of our Library’s accomplishments and future directions.

To facilitate participation, the University Library will be closed until 1 pm that day. I want to encourage all Library employees to attend the Retreat so that we have as broad and inclusive a strategic planning process as possible. A continental breakfast will be provided in the morning and we will conclude with a lunch as well. In light of that, I need to ask that each person register so we have accurate counts for catering and retreat materials. Please do so using this online form on the Events calendar (http://tinyurl.com/uiuclibraryretreat2016) by December 15.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to Lisa Hinchliffe and the rest of the Strategic Planning Steering Team (Peg Burnette, Jim Dohle, Valerie Hotchkiss, Lisa Renee Kemplin, Bill Mischo, Lisa Romero, David Ward, and Lynn Wiley) for so capably leading us through the year of discussion and planning that led to this point. The Team is on target to share a final version of the Framework in December, prior to the retreat. I am extremely pleased with the process and the resulting Framework.

I look forward to seeing you all on January 15!
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: 2015 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award Reception
For those heading to ALA Midwinter, the reception for the 2015 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award will be held on Saturday, January 9, 2016, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. in room Flagship A of the Seaport Hotel (One Seaport Lane, Boston). Click HP Kids Read for more information about the Award and the 2015 recipient.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Demand Driven Acquisitions
Lynn Wiley, Head of Acquisitions

University Press books are offered for sale in many ways. The presses offer print copies via the big academic vendors, via Amazon and then many other online and store venues like Barnes & Noble. The ebooks are sold differently. Some options are: packages, as part of a database of selected titles like American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), title by title or as part of a demand driven purchase program. A press may hold back the eformat waiting for higher print sales and set up agreements with a whole host of third party agencies. Those cover the nonprofits like JSTOR and Project Muse and then the for profit ones under ProQuest (ebrary, EBL soon to be ebook central) EBSCO and lots of others besides them that cater to the non-institutional marketplace. The vendor options can mean headaches to libraries because the content is often restricted with digital rights management (DRM) and user options are limited. The readers are different as is the price.

The Library is experimenting with access to the scholarly content as published by the university presses via JSTOR and Project Muse. Neither of them cover all the presses and there is overlap between them. Cambridge and Oxford and other major presses do not sell their content via those agencies. The bulk of the content sold is in the Humanities and Social Sciences and also includes International and Area Studies. Chapters can be downloaded and use is unlimited and access is often enhanced with better indexing and full text search options of the tables of contents.

The two projects are to gauge interest in the ecopies, to see what content is held back as far as new output, to explore the access issues, the prices and how easily they are then utilized by our users and if a demand driven model is sustainable.

We are doing an EBA or “evidence based model” of demand driven acquisitions (DDA) for Project Muse. Over 30,000 records with links to the full text are in the catalog but these ebooks are also available to our users via Google Scholar and on the Project Muse platform. In 3 months we have had 7,763 section downloads that cover 770 titles. In the EBA model a library pays a set amount ahead of time and then “selects” the owned titles post use. After a full year of use (July 2016) a Collection Development Committee (CDC) task force will make recommendations to select the titles to be owned and will report those to CDC. A brief report describing the use and the platform along with all use statistics will be sent to CDC along with the project description and an analysis of the titles loaded by subject, publisher and copyright date. Background material on past purchases of the Project Muse titles will be appended.

JSTOR is a different model and users trigger purchases after nine chapter downloads. All three Illinois campuses participate and all get a copy of the title in perpetuity at 1.5 of the price of 3 copies. Access to JTSOR ebooks were activated October 31. Users immediately found them via Google Scholar, Easy Search and while searching for content on the JSTOR platform. We have not loaded the records yet but will soon. The record set was deduped against Project Muse and ACLS and based on use seen so far, the older content was removed to leave a 21K record count. In 20 days 2,000 titles have been accessed with 6,000 downloads and or chapters read online. We have purchased 70 titles. The same CDC task force will look at use and provide a brief report back to CDC on the impact of this program. The task force will be looking at title discovery for both these models, the mechanics, implementations and budgeting issues for both of the models as well to highlight how ebook are explored and used. Reports on title searches and chapter downloads will be available.

Look for more information about the use and outcomes from these DDA programs and feel free to send questions to me or Tom Teper.
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HR NEWS: Faculty and AP Searches
Below is a summary of current academic searches as of November 30, 2015 (click on graphic below to enlarge). A more comprehensive listing is sent via LibNews each month.

search-status-december2015
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HR NEWS: Appointment Changes

Faculty

  • Merinda Hensley, Digital Scholarship Librarian and Instruction Liaison – Scholarly Commons, October 15, 2015
  • Carissa Phillips, Interim Head of RIS, October 5, 2015

Academic Professional

  • Jameatris Rimkus, Archives Reference and Accessioning Specialist, University Archives, October 15, 2015

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HR NEWS: New Employees 

Academic Professional

  • Christopher Maden, Visiting Research Programmer, Schlarly Communications and Publishing – Library IT, December 1, 2015

Civil Service

  • Michael Cleveland, Library Specialist, Undergraduate Library, late night shift, November 8, 2015

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HR NEWS: Civil Service Vacancies
Please note, only applicants referred from the register are eligible to interview, unless you are on the current transfer list for the noted classification.  Please direct any questions to Library Human Resources.

  • Central Access Services, Library Specialist, Mid-shift, CLOSED
  • Music and Performing Arts Library, Library Specialist, 50%, CLOSED

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FACILITIES: Project Information
Please visit the Office of Library Facilities web page (http://www.library.illinois.edu/administration/facilities/) for project information
(under Facilities–>Project Information).
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: NISO Two-Part Webinar: Emerging Resource Types – Part 1: Large Data Sets
Wednesday, December 9, 12:00 – 1:30 pm, 428 Library

http://www.niso.org/news/events/2015/webinars/emerging_pt1/

Big Data is the catch-phrase of the day, and for good reason. It appears that everything is being digitized and as such, huge data sets are now suddenly available to researchers and data scientists. But how do they use all of this data? The idea of having anything we need just a few clicks away is exciting, but when the data is not created in a way that is easily searchable and extractable, access is limited. Additionally, there are issues about ownership, management, preservation, and the rights the library offering it may or may not have regarding access. This webinar will discuss these issues and try to find the happy medium between policy and practicality.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Webinar – Create Your Future: A Transformative Goal Setting Workshop
Wednesday, December 9, 1:30 – 3:00 pm, 314 Library

http://www.ala.org/llama/llama-webinar-create-your-future-transformative-goal-setting-workshop

Have you thought about what you want in life, and how to achieve it? Learning how to properly set goals can help you lead a purposeful life, which is the foundation of a fulfilling career. In this fun and transformative webinar, participants will explore the why, what, and how of goal-setting for both personal and professional success.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Chair Yoga Returns for Finals Week
Thursday, December 10 and Tuesday, December 15, 11:00-11:30am, 106 Library

Breathe deeply and release some holiday and finals week tension at two chair yoga sessions with certified instructor Christine Janak! The 30-minute sessions are open to all students and staff, no prior yoga experience needed. They will include gentle stretching that you can do at your desk, breathing techniques to calm and focus the mind, and a short mindfulness meditation to bring you into a peaceful, relaxed state.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Google Apps: Promoting Interactivity and Assessment in Instruction
Thursday, December 10, 2:30 – 3:30pm, 314 Library

This session will offer an introduction to Google Apps and its many uses in instruction, including demonstrating how they can be used to increase interactivity and collect valuable student learning assessment data.  While geared towards librarians providing instructional services, everyone is welcome to attend!  The session will include hands-on experience using the discussed applications.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: NISO Two-Part Webinar: Emerging Resource Types – Part 2: Equipment that Supports the Present and the Future
Wednesday, December 16, 12:00 – 1:30pm, 428 Library

http://www.niso.org/news/events/2015/webinars/emerging_pt2/

We began offering digital information several decades ago. Today, some of that information has been lost because of the way it was saved. One of the major issues with digital information is creating and preserving it in ways that ensure its availability for generations to come. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case, and there are vast amounts of data that have been preserved but in ways that are no longer readable. This webinar will discuss old technology and the data that is imprisoned on it, and how to set this data free, e.g., how to convert it into formats that render it useful not just to us, but to future researchers.
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EVENTS AND TRAINING: Library Holiday Party
The Holiday Party is set for Thursday, December 17, 2015. The location will be the Alice Campbell Alumni Center. More detailed information will follow with a LibNews announcement. The Library Social Committee is once again helping to sponsor a holiday family. A gift board is on display in the Library Human Resources (LHR) Office. Employees are invited to visit the office and take a holiday stocking or ornament with a gift request for the family. Cash and gift cards are also welcome. Deadline for delivering gifts to LHR is Monday, December 14, 2015, by the end of the day. The Social Events Committee will be wrapping gifts and shopping for the family the following week. Employees are invited to bring their cash or gift cards to the holiday party on the 17th if they are unable to purchase a gift before that time. Thank you in advance for continuing to support this annual Library tradition.
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If you would like to submit content for the January issue of Library Office Notes, please submit it to John Wilkin, JoAnn JacobyBeth Sandore, or Tom Teper by Wednesday, December 23, 2015.