Happy New Year to you all!
Position Updates
We continue to work through the positions that were approved last year and are currently actively searching for three subject specialist librarians (Entrepreneurship and Innovation and two STEM specialists), Head of Licensing and Acquisitions, and a Digital Repository Analyst. Thanks to all of you who continue to participate in the interview process. I also wanted to share that we have approval from the Provost for three replacement positions – a Conservator, a Social Sciences/Instructional Designer, and an Associate University Librarian for Research, Curriculum and Access Services.
UCL Budget Hearing
As I mentioned in a previous message, we are currently preparing for our Budget Hearing on February 2nd. The questions being asked are similar to those in the past and include our current financial health, how we will manage projected operating deficits through FY19, major financial strengths and weaknesses, our use of external resources, and any new external funding opportunities that may exist.
Meetings with the Provost and Deans
This week I had the opportunity to meet with the new interim dean of CLAS, Davita Glasberg to discuss the Library goals and how we can continue to work with CLAS in the coming year. I am looking forward to my first official meeting with Provost Teitelbaum in early February. I have also been meeting with deans across the institution to talk about the state of the Library. These meetings began with Dean Polofroni from the School of Nursing and Dean Faustman from CAHNR so that we can address the impact of both the recent round and project future cuts from our Health Sciences budget.
Staff on the Web
There is a lot of great information to be had out there and I am always pleased to read things from our own staff. Janice recently forwarded me some articles written by Rich McIntyre that were great reads. Currently working as a Library Technician on his way towards an MS in both Library and Information Science and Information Systems at Drexel University, Rich’s focus has been on ensuring that people have access to high quality medical information and also feel comfortable asking for help. Like you, I believe tackling these two issues is at the heart of being a librarian. In these two articles he touches on both of these topics, first from the perspective of a librarian and how we can enhance our customers experience by examining the five step approach that Apple employs in its retail stores. And secondly, by taking a look at the assumption that all Millennials have superior searching skills.
And the other great piece of material I’d like to suggest you take some time to read is the process that our own conservation and digital production labs have used in their project to digitize the rare Latin American newspapers. I am certainly aware of the good work happening in these areas, and have no doubt in our ability to manage such complex conservation needs in order to provide access to important historical documents, but what I was not prepared for was how beautifully Michael Bennett told the story, with both photography and video highlighting each step in the process. This article has already been shared in the well-known photography site PetaPixel and perhaps a not so well-known site Gizmodo. Here is Michael’s original post.
One Good Thing
Keep the wonderful comments coming. Here are a couple more:
Fred Rick is always helpful and quick in assisting me to resolve any issues.
Valori Banfi is adaptable, tireless, smart, talented, and a positively positive workhorse (and friend).