July Library Office Notes

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HR NEWS

IT NEWS

FACILITIES



ANNOUNCEMENTS: University Librarian Note
Perhaps the only good news in the state’s inability to pass a budget is that restrictions on spending have also resulted in fewer job searches. You may have noticed the monthly Academic Search Update is smaller. For budget-related reasons, the campus imposed a brief moratorium on hiring civil service employees. And of course you may be feeling this tailing off of activity in the number of search committees on which you serve. After a sustained and probably unprecedented period of hiring, this is a good opportunity to take stock. Read more…
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Literatures and Languages Library and Classics Library Merger
Paula Carns, Head, Literatures and Languages Library and Acting Classics Librarian

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that the Literatures and Languages Library (LLL) and Classics Library have merged. The new combined unit is called the Literatures and Languages Library. The current Literatures and Languages Library’s collections have already been relocated into the Reading Room (200 Library) on the shelves along the walls and on free-standing shelves located at the south end. The Reading Room will continue to be open to all scholars and students as a grand and inviting space for research and study and all existing user seating at its tables will remain in place. Click to view the floorplan: Humanties v4 Model

The LLL circulation desk has moved from 225 Library to the center of 200 Library. This will be the sole circulation point for the combined unit. The south hallway door to 225 Library will remain open. The librarian and staff offices will remain in 225 Library, albeit with slightly different arrangements for some staff: Stuart Albert and Carl Graves will now be in 225D Paula Carns in 225F; Marek Sroka in 225H; and David Morris in 225I.

The Classics Library (CL) permanently closed on Friday, June 10, at 5pm. The CL’s collections moved to 225 Library with the exception of the unbound serials, which will be interfiled with the LLL unbound serials in 200 Library. The Classics materials will remain in Dewey. While a part of LLL, the Classics materials will be informally called “The Classics Library Collection.” The catalog location codes for the Classics materials will be prefaced by “Lit and Lang-). Kim Lerch, the sole staff member of the CL, will be 25% at LLL and 75% at the History, Newspaper and Philosophy Library when she returns from vacation in August.

The 28 plaster busts that have long adorned the CL’s shelf tops will be moved to the new space in 225 Library after being cleaned in-situ by the Spurlock Museum.

This merger would not be possible without the hard work, creativity and dedication of a number of individuals and units. The individuals, in alphabetical order, are: Stuart Albert, Kirstin Dougan (as former interim head of CL), JoAnn Jacoby, Kim Lerch, Lesli Lundquist, Mary Laskowski, Carissa Phillips, Jeff Schrader, Cherie’ Weible. The units are: Central Access Services (CAS), Collection Management Services (CMS), Information Technology (IT), Facilities and Research and Information Services (RIS).
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Update from the Task Force to Create a Promotional Path for Academic Professionals in the Library
During its weekly meetings in May and June, the task force has been engaged in the following:

  • Analysis of other institutions’ (the Penn State University Library and the University of Michigan) and other campus programs’ promotional paths for academic professionals (College of Engineering and AITS) in order to identify elements that are desirable for a Library promotion program. The task force invited Maria Bonn to help better understand the University of Michigan Library’s program.
  • Early stage drafting of a recommendations document for the promotion program that outlines Eligibility, Procedures, Promotion Award, Review Criteria, and Supporting Documents.
  • Met with the L-CAP group to report the progress so far, answer to questions, and assess the expectations for the outcomes.

Next steps:

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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Research and Publication Committee Congratulates Recipient of Funding
The Research and Publication Committee (RPC) congratulates the following June recipient of RPC funding:

  • Dan Tracy, for graduate hourly help and participant incentives to support his study titled “Understanding Ebook User Behavior among LIS Students: Workflows and Workarounds.” This study seeks to understand ebook user behavior by taking a closer look at how academic ebook users—in this case, LIS graduate students—engage (or refuse to engage) with ebooks in both required (aka class textbook) and unrequired scenarios.

The Research and Publication Committee (RPC) encourages Library faculty and academic professionals who need support for their research activities to submit an application. There are no deadlines for submission; applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Contact Carissa Phillips (choller@illinois.edu), RPC Chair, with any questions.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Recognizing Excellence

Please forward elected and invited external service appointments, honors, and awards information to Dan Tracy.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: CAPT Meeting Minutes
The most recent meeting minutes of the Content Access Policy & Technology (CAPT) Committee are posted at http://www.library.illinois.edu/committee/capt/New_Capt_/minutes_agendas/2016-2017.html.

May Meeting Highlights:

  • Bi-monthly reports were given by the following working groups:
    • Digital Production
      • Collection titles and descriptions from Medusa now appear in the Digital Library application, https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections
      • Finalizing processes to merge administrative and descriptive metadata so that CONTENTdm collections can be migrated this summer
      • Medusa can now be used to manage digitization projects and work queues
      • Finally, an overview of the new Media Reformatting Lab, with pictures, was provided
    • Repositories, Preservation, and Access
      • Helenmary Sheridan is the new Repository Coordinator
      • Illinois Data Bank is live
      • IDEALS was upgraded to the latest version which includes a REST interface, batch uploader, and performance improvements
      • ProQuest deposit is now optional for theses deposited into the Vireo ETD system
    • Web
      • Working on a new header template which can be used across the Library
      • Suzanne Chapman is developing content author and style guides to improve consistency across web pages
      • Beginning to work on a new staff directory application
      • A CAPT task force was established to develop a Library intranet
  • The need for graphic design support was discussed

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HR NEWS: Faculty and AP Searches
Below is a summary of current academic searches as of June 30, 2016 (click on graphic below to enlarge). A more comprehensive listing is sent via LibNews each month.

search-status-july2016

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HR NEWS: Retirements

  • Madeline Gibson, June 30, 2016
  • Melanie Krueger, May 31, 2016

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HR NEWS: In Memoriam

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IT NEWS: Library IT Personnel Changes
It is with mixed emotions that we announce several staffing changes in Library IT.

  • Tim Vruwink’s last day will be Friday, June 24th. Tim has been an outstanding contributor in the Infrastructure Management and Support (IMS) group and will be missed. However, he isn’t going far; Tim is moving North of Green to work with our colleagues at Engineering IT Shared Services.
  • Lillian Helms, who has been a steady and helpful presence at our Help Desk, is also leaving us. Lillian’s last day is Friday, July 1st. Lillian has a new job in her chosen profession of Aerospace Engineering. Congratulations to Lillian.
  • Without any mixed emotions, we are very pleased to announce that Michael Nelson, our new Data Analyst, will be starting on Friday, June 24th. Michael comes to us from the University of Illinois Alumni Association.

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IT NEWS: Intranet Task Force
As an important step in our progress towards a more user-friendly and modern library website, CAPT has charged a cross-departmental group to investigate, plan, and execute the creation of a separate, employee-focused website. We estimate that about half of the 16,000 pages we have on the library website are specifically for library employee needs (e.g., meeting notes, reports, forms, etc.). As you can imagine, this makes it difficult for library users to find what they need and for us to find what we need! The project is in the early stages of needs gathering and identifying available platforms, but more information will be available in office notes as the project progresses.  For more information, you can contact Megean Osuchowski, mosucho2@illinois.edu, who is chairing the group.
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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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If you would like to submit content for the August issue of Library Office Notes, please submit it to John Wilkin, JoAnn JacobyBeth Sandore, or Tom Teper by Friday, July 22, 2016.