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KULSS Exec

Meeting Minutes

Thursday, Nov. 1st, 2007
Watson B, 10:00-11:30am

Present: Jill Becker (Chair), Nishon Hawkins (Vice Chair); Angie Rathmel (Secretary); Denise Swartz (Group 1); Kevin Fussell (Group 2); Julie Warrick (Group 3); Robert Szabo (Group 4)
Absent:

Approval of 10/4/07 and 10/18/07 meeting’s minutes.
DONE

Approval of previous meeting’s action items (you can cut and paste or fill-in from agenda)

WHO?                     BY WHEN? WHAT?

Denise

ongoing

Bring up with Shannon again re: SEYA plaque: Rebecca says might be a year or more b/c of KU Libraries Donor Board in the works. Can get plates for existing CEYA plaque, but still requires approval from Shannon.  She has emailed Shannon about this.

Angie

DONE

Flyer for Fall Gen Mtg and send out to kulib-l

Angie

DONE

Communicate with Ola and/or staff about HR/Self-Study, Health and KPERS changes

Jill

DONE

Personal invite to Holly, LFA chair

Jill

DONE

Shannon, Denise, Lorraine, Donna about Gen Mtg content

Denise

DONE

Food for General Meeting

Angie

DONE (with more edits)

Update Maggie and Meredith on membership.

Group Reports:
Grp 1:  Acq/Ser, Reference, Collection Development, Administration, Facilities

  • Donna Brewer is resigning February. Maybe sooner depending on employment.

Grp 2: Cataloging

  • New chairs at their cubicles (similar to East Asian)

Grp 3: Access Services, Mail Room, ILL

  • Cristen Caton kudos for fire alarm incident.
  • Still TBD if Library services desks (Wat/Ans) will be closed on the additional holiday
  • Interview recommendation sent up for Eleanora and Greg’s positions
    • Search Committees are: Eleanora Drury, Laura Skarka, Jim Richey // Pamela Bonham, Daniel Sodders, Eleanora Drury

Grp 4: Anschutz, Annex, Art, Engineering, Music, RCL, Spencer   

  • ANSCHUTZ
    • Everything is going well in Anschutz - we are FULL.
    • The new small laser jet at the public computers is very popular. I don't think it is being exploited by students.
  • ANNEX
    • Open House
    • Completed interviews for the LA position  (funded by KState to cover that workload)
  • ART
    • No report
  • ENGINEERING
    • No report, but Jeff McAdams reports from University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA):
  • MUSIC (Submitted by Nancy Hawkins)
    • I can't remember if I told you that George has been displaying jazz materials at the Lawrence Public Library and hosting various speakers there every Friday evening through Nov. 9, compliments of an NIH grant that he was awarded this year.
    • And even bigger news, we have a NEW laser printer that actually works!
  • RCL
    • No report
  • SPENCER (submitted by Mary Ann Baker)
    • The staff got to see a copy of the Spencer self-study put together by the Kenneth Spencer Research Library (KSRL) leadership group and to which we were not asked to provide input.  We're expecting a consultant in late November for a 2 day visit. She will help Lorraine determine the future direction of Spencer. 
    • Toni and Meredith are settling in and learning their duties.  Kathy is happy that T & M are taking over their duties so she doesn't have to do 3 jobs. 
    • Rick just got back from his Utah trip where he interviewed for a library dean position. 
    • I can't convince Barry to change his mind about retiring in mid next year.

 

Committee Reports
University Support Staff (USS) Senate (Submitted by Mary Ann Baker)
10 October 2007

Dennis reported on some Kansas Council (Classified staff reps from other Regents' schools and reps from KUSS (!) doings:
1) There's a proposal calling  for an increase of our leave time accrual so that in a year’s time what we earn matches what unclassified staff receives to be discussed at the next Regents' COBO (Council of Business Officers), and ultimately by the Regents. 
KU will not stand in the way of the changes in the accrued leave.  The proposal is:
      employees with less than five years of service would earn 3.7 leave hours per pay period
      employees with more than 5 but less than 10 would earn 5.5 hours per pay period
      employees with more than 10 years of service would earn 6.7 hours per pay period.
      304 hour cap.
2)  The group will seek to form a "council", similar to the ones of university presidents and business officers that report and advise the Regents' of Classified & KUSS concerns and issues.
3)  A November 5th meeting will finalize the Council's position paper to be shared with the 2008 KS State legislators.

The USS Work Group is pushing for better merit-distribution training for supervisors and managers.  This training would be provided by KU HR/EO.

It was noted that a lot of supervisors and personnel-related folks are not taking advantage of our new system of job titles and salary bands which is much more flexible that the Civil Service system which was very rigid.

We still have some vacancies on the Senate.  Please ask your constituents about this and have them contact me with questions or to volunteer.

University Senate (Submitted by Mary Ann)
25 October 2007

Kelly Harmon, University Ombuds, and Steve Grabow, Faculty Ombuds, spoke about the services of the University Ombuds office, conferences and work shops they attend and highlighted that their services are confidential, informal, impartial, safe (off the record) and independent (not connected to other university entities).

Bill Crowe, President of the University Senate and the Senate Executive Committee (SenEx) reported that:

1) SenEx has proposed amendments to the University Senate Code that would reduce time limits required for notification and review of proposed changes to the University Senate Code, University Senate Rules, and Faculty Senate Rules.   They also dealt with recommendations about the handling of “technical” amendments to correct errors or to clarify language in the Code and Rules.

2)  Chancellor Hemenway will meet with SenEx on November 27th to review KU’s legislative agenda for the coming session. 
 
3)  On October 30th SenEx expects to discuss recommendations from the Academic Policy and Procedures Committee related to FSRR Article IV, Section 1, on Resident Study: Non-Resident Study, with particular reference to Independent Study Courses offered by KU Continuing Education.   There may also be recommendations on a request from the College to introduce the option for a grade of A+ for undergraduate students.

4) SenEx is preparing to form a Task Force on Learner Outcomes, to be chaired by Prof. Dan Bernstein.

Rick Levy, President of Faculty Senate, reported on a recent Regents meeting:
1)  The Regents have a new mission statement which still advocates for higher education but will proceed with more proactive planning.
2)  They will look at how the K-12 schooling aligns with needs to succeed in higher ed
3)  They approved KUMC and St. Luke's affiliation
4)  They are looking at admission requirements
5)  They have asked the Council of Presidents for a policy on background checks for faculty [I was not aware that KUSS are the only staff on campus who have background checks done on them -- how absurd!]
6)  They will investigate basic competencies of graduates (no graduate left behind) -- The University Senate is forming a task force on learner outcomes to investigate this matter.

There was no report from the Student Senate and the Unclassified Senate reported that they had another nice mini wheat state tour.

Dennis reminded all that Sandy Praeger would be on campus November 14th.
*******
Don't forget to check out Dennis' contribution to the October 8th issue of the Oread:  University Support Staff Merit Pay — A Culture Change.

University Committee on Libraries (UCL)
Meeting Nov. 6th.

Diversity Committee

IS Professional Development Council (ISPDC)

Planning & Resources Committee (PRC)
LFA noticed as we did the PRC recommendation to take on Staff Development, which we had brought up with the Dean.

Meeting Updates
Meeting with Dean and HR Officer
View the agenda with notes here.
Management Council
See posted minutes
More PID discussion
Librarian Search Process (postponed from last meeting).

        • What have we learned
        • What will we improve
        • Phone interview
        • Internal HR authority
        • Job descriptions titles that are make sense (wording should reflect similar jobs across profession)
        • No minimum salary listed
        • seeking out committee members

OCDA Survey
ARL Anniversary (KU is a charter member)
Open Enrollment
Shannon announced travel request changes
Kent motioned service desk update changes back to the architects to have another plan to look at. Still hoping to build over Christmas break.
Homecoming activities

Staff Development Plan (draft)
Approved by KULSS-Exec, will bring to next meeting with the Dean.

HR Interview packets (solicited by Rebecca Smith via email kulib-l)
KULSS-Exec will review last package and bring suggestions to next KULSS-Exec meeting.

Agenda Items for the next Meeting with the Dean
Monday, Nov.19th, 2007
Postponed to next meeting.

 

Action Items for next meeting:

WHO?                     BY WHEN? WHAT?

Jill

 

Thank you to Ola.

Denise

 

Ask Maggie about public .ppt of State of Libraries

Angie

 

Check the deadline for HR handouts

Denise

 

Find a meeting location

All

 

Review HR Interview packet (email

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next meeting will be our on Nov. 15th in Anschutz 305

PARKING LOT:
Follow-up on merit questions from Spring KULSS General Meeting
Orientation Committee updates.