LAUC-LA Executive Board Meeting 07-1
Tuesday, September 19, 2006, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Schoenberg Music Building 1230

Present: Keri Botello, Debe Costa, Miki Goral, Andrea Lynch, Michael Oppenheim, Maureen Russell (Chair), Heidi Sandstrom, Libbie Stephenson, Deborah Whiteman, Kristen Wilson (Recorder)

1. Call to order

The meeting was called to order at 1:07 p.m.

2. Agenda review and announcements

All present introduced themselves.

3. Secretary’s Report ( Wilson)

The minutes of the August 15, 2006 transitional meeting of the LAUC-LA Executive Board meeting (taken by the former secretary, Cynthia Lewis) were approved with no changes made.

4. Chair’s report (Russell)

Ken Wade, past chair of the Committee on Professional Governance, will have the new language for Standing Rule 1 back to Maureen by September 25, and Maureen will have Donna Gulnac post the new language on the LAUC-LA Web site.

Committee appointments have been completed and each committee has its basic charge.

Management Council has not yet met, and there is no news from the Academic Senate.

Two issues were discussed that LAUC-LA may address this year: understanding the disparities among LAUC funds (professional development funds) at different UC campuses and the matter of the barrier step for librarians between steps 5 and 6 (the Distinguished Librarian step).

Supplements to LAUC funds: While each librarian at UC is guaranteed $735 to use for conferences, workshops, etc., ULs at a few campuses supplement that, awarding as much as $2000 per librarian (at UCSD). There was a discussion of where the funds come from and how to effectively campaign for more. Questions were raised about how much money goes to administrative travel, and whether the campuses that supplement the guaranteed funds are growth campuses with more discretionary money for the ULs to use. UCSD has offered to share the documentation they used to argue for the supplement from their UL, Brian Schottlaender. It was noted that professional development funding is a recruitment and retention issue. Maureen proposed that when the time comes, the best way to broach the subject would be to invite Gary to a meeting to discuss the request, and Debe added that after the meeting the board should send him a report. The Research and Professional Development Committee will look over the matter and give information to the board, and Maureen will accept UCSD’s offer of their documentation. Other matters that came up in the discussion: the LAUC funds used to be paid out differently, with more paid if you presented at a conference than if you just attended, more for newer librarians, etc. the LAUC-LA Board used to get an audit of unspent money in the spring and a second call would be sent out so that undistributed funds could be claimed by people going to meetings before the end of the fiscal year. Maureen will request a spreadsheet with this information from Linda Taketomo. It is a unique UCLA Library policy to require that airfare be ordered through the travel service to be reimbursed by the library. Flights tend to cost more, biting further into limited funds, which is a further argument for supplementary funding. Miki suggested a survey of what librarians paid out of pocket for professional development over the previous year.

Barrier step: Questions about the barrier step included Why is it there? Why is it awarded inconsistently across campuses? Why isn’t it between steps 6 and 7 (the final step)? Can it be separated from salary increases? Could it be more like the staff Performance Award? This may be an issue better addressed by LAUC statewide.

5. Vice Chair’s Report (Sandstrom)

Heidi has been sitting in on the Call meetings and would like the board to consider changing some of items in the Call which may be artifacts of previous conditions.

She sought clarification of her charge to check Library job postings. This is a watchdog function, and it was concluded that she should bring to the attention of the board individual postings or trends in postings that could compromise librarianship at UCLA, such as too many or extended temporary positions, librarian positions not requiring a library degree, or librarian positions being changed into LA positions.

6. Committee Reports

Committee Report – Committee on Library Plans and Policies (Oppenheim)

Michael brought up the idea of investigating a law now going into effect about the use of computers in libraries that are open to the public which may restrict public use. It was suggested that the charge may be too broad for the committee.

Committee Report – Committee on Professional Governance (Botello)

The committee’s first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 10 at 1 p.m., at which time they will have their official charge.

Committee Report – Committee on Research and Professional Development (Stephenson)

Many UCLA librarians find research projects difficult to pursue because they are pressed for time, so the committee may put together information on ways to stage their research activities. Also, when proposals call for doing surveys or collecting data, there seems to be a lack of understanding of what the proposal needs to include. Libbie will propose to the RPD Committee that they work on providing details on the Web to support librarians in these areas. No other UC campus appears to provide information on data collection. There may also be a brown bag presentation about putting together a research proposal, or a series, although this can likely not be organized in time for this year’s research grant deadlines.

The RPD Committee has been charged to look at the way the travel funding is distributed. Should it be done evenly across the board or should we, for example, go back to awards based on level of participation, or provide more funds to newer librarians?  A record of past spending will be obtained from library administration.

CAPA Update (Botello and Goral)

Botello: CAPA 2005-6 is reviewing one file and has two ready, it has rescheduled the Brown Bag for October 5 at 11:30 am, and the Call will be distributed to librarians at the end of September. Their briefing meeting with the UL has been scheduled for October 9.

Goral: CAPA 2006-7 is trying to set a date at the end of October for their briefing meeting with the UL, at which point their work can begin.

7. Other Business (Russell)

Kristen asked for volunteers to take over recording duties in November and perhaps January and February. The request remains open.

Maureen confirmed that Board meetings will take place in the Green Room ( Schoenberg Music Building 1230) through the fall term.

Maureen announced that David Gilbert will be the Statewide Professional Governance representative.

8. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 p.m.