Tags » Area Directors

Present:   Shel Sax, Mary Backus, Mike Roy, Mike Lynch, Carol Peddie, Danna Gianforte, Terry Simpkins, Chris Norris and Doreen Bernier

Guests: Space Team (Joseph Watson, Peggy Fischel ,Hans Raum, Kellam Ayres, and Lisa Terrier) & Sheila Andrus

The Space Team presented two possible scenarios for the Music Library move to Davis, with scenario 1 as their recommendation.  This scenario relocates monographs and scores to the shelving adjacent to the Panther Reading Room on the upper level of Davis.  N class collections would move to the main floor and part/all of P class collections would move to the lower level.  A bay of compact shelving would be installed in the southeast corner of the lower level.  Dance monographs will be placed in the LC sequence on the upper level, the reference collection and bound and current periodicals from the Music Library will be integrated into existing collections in Davis, and the audio CD collection will be placed behind the Circulation Desk.

We followed this with a detailed discussion followed about whether we should purchase an extra bay of compact shelving now, anticipating further shelving needs, or wait until we are certain the need exists.

The ADs approved scenario 1, but requested pricing information for the compact shelving.  The ADs agreed that we should expand to incorporate an extra bay of compact shelving, if financially feasible.

We also discussed creating a new Recreation & Recognition Group within LIS to recognize staff accomplishments.  This group would consist of volunteers from staff to, for example, plan social gatherings, develop and implement an employee-of-the-month program, and other activities and semi-formal means of recognizing the excellent work accomplished by LIS staff.  Danna and Carol will prepare a charge and present a proposal to the ADs at a future meeting.

Thanks for reading,
Terry

Present:  Chris Norris, Danna Gianforte, Mike Roy, Shel Sax, Carol Peddie, Mary Backus, Mike Lynch and Doreen Bernier

Carol presented a summary of the MISO survey data.  Most of the meeting was devoted to this discussion.  Results of the survey will be discussed at this month’s all-staff meeting.

Mary proposed creating a new taskforce to regularly review client/device processes (i.e., what works well, what doesn’t, etc.).  A formalized proposal will be prepared and presented to the ADs for further discussion.

Upcoming meetings and primary agenda items:
Managers Meeting Agenda (12/9 9:00 a.m., LIB145)
* LIS Values discussion

All Staff  Meeting Agenda (12/15 9:00, Harman)
* MISO survey results

Thanks for reading,

Terry & Doreen

Present:  Shel Sax, Mike Roy, Mary Backus, Mike Lynch, Danna Gianforte, Chris Norris, Terry Simpkins and Doreen Bernier

Chris Norris gave the group an update on the Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Plan.  Chris, Danna and Mike L. have reviewed the policy and discussed possible outcomes.  We need to identify Tier 1 services and create an RFP for a combined security risk assessment and gap analysis to send out for bid. CMD also need to propose a budget for this project, and add the project to the project directory (done).  Chris, Danna and Mike L. will be meeting weekly through December.This was followed by a discussion of communication of updates and information, focusing on what the admin group needs in order to do its work.  We noted that there could be improvement in how college-wide initiatives (e.g. changes to the academic program that might require library or IT support) could be brought to the ADs sooner than is the current norm, and that it would be helpful for us to be “at the table” before decisions are made.  Two specific suggestions: 1) ask Joy Pile (Foreign Languages liaison) to meet with Dana Barrow in the Language Schools on a regular basis to discuss any upcoming changes and report back to the ADs; 2) ask Joseph Watson (building coordinator) to meet regularly with Mary Stanley in facilities.

Next up was a discussion of some Security Team recommendations. Chris noted that an action plan has been created for the CAS-ification of the Middlebury Google Apps instance.  Manual password resets will no longer be needed, post CAS-ification.  Chris and Adam Franco will be responsible for the change.  This change will need to be communicated to the current users of the MGA instance, and also put into a change management document (done).

The admin group will invite managers and team leaders to the January AD retreat.

The ADs accepted the recommendation of the Discovery Tool TF to move ahead with a budget request for Summon, 360 Link, and 360 Counter.  We did not agree to the suggestion of a head-to-head trial of Summon and EBSCOhost, since the TF seemed united in its preference for Summon.  We also talked about the recommendations from the DAT, which were also generally accepted.  Specifically, we

• need to allocate space and money, and personnel for the creation of a Digital Center.
• agreed to the concept of a Digital Committee to prioritize projects; the precise details of both still need to be fleshed out.
• accepted the recommendation that DSpace be phased out as a content management system, with existing content to be migrated to ContentDM
• accepted several specific recommendations regarding individual digital projects.

This completes the DAT’s charge, and we also accepted their proposal to disband with gratitude for the good work they accomplished.  Thank you to Mike L., Rachel Manning, and the team members for the time and energy they invested in this.

Thanks for reading,

Terry

Present:  Mike Roy, Mary Backus, Terry Simpkins, Shel Sax, Carol Peddie, Chris Norris, Danna Gianforte, Mike Lynch, Doreen Bernier

Guest: Adam Franco

Adam Franco joined us to present an overview of the Identity Management Project plan.  The IMP provides a way to organized people and identities through our various systems, especially outside of Banner.  It includes two core components: an evaluation of our business rules for how we define people (profiles) and the technology to pull this information through Banner and other systems.  It provides role-based access using a single login for all Midd accounts, alumni and guests.  Adam and Danna are joint managers of the project.  More dedicated time by team members will be needed in order to continue to advance this project.  No hardware requirements are needed.  The ADs requested monthly updates.

We had our annual discussion of system downtime during Christmas break.  Mike R will ask Alison Byerly for the go-ahead to shutdown all systems on Jan. 1 and ½ day on the Jan. 2, 2011 for necessary maintenance and upgrades.  There is perennial difficulty finding time for this, since the system availability at the end of the calendar year is crucial for Advancement to process year-end donations.

Mike R has added the Fall Focus document to the website and has asked ADs to review and update.

Mike has also created a list of potential topics for the LIS Blog, eNewsletter and as a foundation for next year’s annual report.  The topics have been extracted from the AD weekly updates.  We would like to write-up 3 of these each week to feed the maw of our insatiable and ravenous LIS blog.

Thanks for reading,

Terry

Area 51 notes, Sept. 23, 2010

Present:  Mike Roy, Shel Sax, Carol Peddie, Terry Simpkins, Chris Norris, Mike Lynch, Mary Backus and Doreen Bernier

The ADs reviewed and discussed a preliminary response to the Curricular Technology Team regarding their recommendation for a course hub and pilots of Moodle and Sakai.  Modifications were made to the response document and Shel will send to the Curricular Technology Team.

The continued hosting of Segue1 was discussed and it was decided that it will be shutdown as of June 30, 2011.  Currently it is in a read-only mode with very minimal activity.

ACTION: Mike Roy will send out an announcement and Shel will ask Alex Chapin to write-up a Change Management Document.

The HEAT Change Management document was discussed and approved.

Mike Roy needs to discuss with Tim Spears and Alison Byerly about closing the library one day during fall break to hold an in-service/staff appreciation day.

Please note: The admin team did not meet on Oct. 14 & 21

Area 51 meeting notes, Oct. 28, 2010

Present: Roy, Lynch, Sax, Backus, Simpkins, Gianforte, Norris, Bernier

Guests: Digital Archives Team/Discovery Tools Task Force

Mike Lynch led a discussion of NAS/Mac issues that involve challenges that Mac users have connecting to MiddFiles. We continue to investigate options, with no clear front runner yet identified.

The Digital Archives Team presented their recommendations for moving ahead on digital library projects.  Their primary suggestions center around the creation of 2 centralized groups to approve and manage digital projects, writing a collection development policy to guide digital collection creation, as well as several recommendations regarding some current projects.  The ADs will discuss and make a decision soon as to whether or not to approve the recommendations

The Discovery Tools Task Force also presented their report looking at various products that enhance the discovery of library-related resources.   They looked at a variety of products, and most closely at Serials Solutions’ Summon, EBSCO’s Discovery Service, and OCLC’s WorldCat Local.  The ADs will discuss and make a decision soon as to whether or not to approve the recommendations.