Budget Education – discussed how the budget lines for LIS are organized, focusing on the IT/Tech side. The fund structure was created years ago and reflects the divisions of the organization at that time. We talked about potentially redesigning the accounts to better reflect the new realities of funding programs and services for MIIS, language school 2nd sites, etc. Software budget is a challenge, as annual licensing costs are increase significantly for enterprise-wide products (such as Banner, Hyperion) and grow in proportion of expenditure relative to specialized software for academic/curricular purposes.
Process for Planning Budget Cuts – Mike wants us to think about how various budget cut proposals would affect us in the short-, medium-, and long-term; what constituencies would be most affected by various cuts; etc. We’ll want to look at things that are desirable but not necessary, or speed up certain things we’re already thinking about, such as looking at our phone services for students. It’s probably worth modeling changes in our service hours.
Area Goals due by mid-November. Will share with Faculty LIS Advisory Committee (FLAC) – posted on wiki https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/wiki/LIS/LIS_Goals_2008-09
Brainstorm how to get more of LIS to engage in discussions surrounding re-org – Mike will send out update via LISt on new proposals that have appeared on the blog. How can we lower the barriers to getting more staff comfortable using the Restructuring blog? We will ask for volunteers from each area to help folks get comfortable reading and posting to the Restructuring blog and send out email/LISt post.
LIS Suggestion Box – creating a physical suggestion space to go along with the online suggestion box; Bryan Carrie and Mike have agreed to respond to all serious questions/suggestions; also encourage LIS folks who hear suggestions to post them either online or in the physical space
Manager’s Meeting De-Brief – finding common topics for such a large group is difficult; hard to get to the heart of the topic within such a limited time frame; picking some tangible and specific topics might help focus conversation; the group may value the meeting as a way to interact more with Mike, and genuine expressions of interest or questions from Mike might be well-received