Future of the Libraries – Lib Committee

November 4, 2014 - Meeting #2

8th Floor Classroom, Central Library

Agenda

1. Documents Distributed

2. Questions/issues from our first meeting, or about the charge?

3. Opinions/expression of interest about focus group meetings

4. Documents/statistics you would find useful to include in our information gathering?

5. Who would you want to talk with/have presentations by?

6. Other issues?

1. Sharepoint site =

  1. Read EAB report first.
  2. Suggest topics and questions for discussion.

2. Comments on first meeting or charge

  1. Reflect on the boundary between talking about the future of the library system in relationship to what you can accomplish in 5-6 months.

a1. What key assets do we have locally that can distinguish our library going forward?

--compact campus

--proximity of divisional libraries

--we are unique and have assets that are unique.

  1. Are there things we can dial back or stop doing in order to do more strategic and important things?
  2. No expectation of consensus(both across the two sub-committees, or even within the library committee).
  3. Question: On the scope of charge – Is this committee to create a blueprint for hiring the next library leader or are we most concerned about library development? What will be the title of the new library leader – Dean or Director?
  4. We can shape our agenda together. The library has had a strategic development over the last 4-5 years. We are already doing some of the things the EAB recommends, but we haven’t articulated strategic directionwell .
  5. Is there a change of direction for the library?
  6. Don’t hide opinions.

3. Focus Groups

  1. Be strategic in forming them. Some should be done just with the library section of the Future committee, but some should be done jointly with the faculty section of the Future committee.
  2. Can we get some training re: leading focus groups or hire a professional to lead the focus groups?

4. What would be useful to the committee?

  1. A presentation on the current library system – structure, user data, etc.
  2. Assessment

b1. What are the rubrics used by the various accrediting bodies?

b2. Where are the gaps between what we do and what people think we do?

b3. What data do we already have/ (LibQual, user data, etc.)

b4. Get data sets for ARL libraries and use as benchmarks.

b5. US News & World Report v. ARL – What are the metrics used to establish each

ranking?

b6. ARL rubric – collection size, budget, etc.

b7. The ARL investment index is a new metric.

  1. How does the library development differ from and complement IT development?

[Wash U has both a centralized library system and a centralized IT system. How is that working?]

  1. How do the libraries relate to faculty and to students?

e. VIRG would be a good resource for information. We can request reports. What do you

want to know?

6. Issues

a. Students

a1. How/when do undergraduates research?

a2. What do they know when they matriculate?

a3. How do students seek information? Buildings v. websites?

b. Faculty

b1. Patterns of research

b2. Services needed and expected

c. Skill sets of staff

c1. In connection with IT developments

c2. Do we have duplicative services in boutique libraries, as Paul Gherman described

our library system?

d. The Law library is not represented in the EAB or Berkeley reports. Is the Law library

going to be left out of system-wide planning?

7. Going forward

a. Discussions should be centered around the categories contained in the two reports.

b. The library does not currently produce an annual report other than providing data to

the ARL.

c. Use of statistics – Where we go is not predicted by past statistics.

d. Are we moving from an ownership to an access environment?

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