Minutes Feb. 27 2007

1. Jennie did a training session on the World Bank's World Development Indicators after which we made a schedule of future sessions:
March 6 and 13 are the Drop-in sessions that Leanne and Jennie are doing
March 20 Refworks, March 27 no session
April 3 Border research, April 10 Fun with Gov Docs
April 17 no training, April 24 Grant research
May 1 general reference questions from the spring semester
May 8 discussion of indexes used for historical information.

2. No discard lists were handed out; Pat will work Saturday.
3. Tim discussed the Library Council agenda item of cataloging priorities. The final conclusion was that they need to start again and create a new list of priorities.
4. On the budget request report from Scott, one priority is the student budget. It is planned that the additional money requested each year to keep the library open will be included in the budget and will not have to be requested separately each time. Another top priority is for 2 new positions for the library.
5. USCU is requesting that the library be open until 2 am. According to their figures, it will cost $9,000.
6. There was more discussion of the summer elevator project.
7. The Retro project got $10,000 out of salary savings.
8. No new information on Frank's position.
9. Jennie pointed out a way to bookmark the blog in Firefox and the search box on the International Organizations page.
10. Tim warned about the possible problems for calendars etc. with the earlier daylight savings.
11. Kirsten gave an update in the Grant project: registration is open, more than 20 have already applied and the module teams a have begun work.

Minutes 2/21

The meeting began with a excellent presentation on technical reports by Tim.

Tim started the business meeting with a report from the department heads meeting he attended earlier. Engineering received their first IM reference question, but it was on Sunday and there was no one to answer it. The Information Commons is gearing up, with construction to begin May 2008. Many things remain to be done before that happens. The Reference Dept. is creating a task force in order to reduce the size of the PerRoom by 50%. Other significant work to be done this summer is the construction of lifts from the 4th floor up. This will likely be very disruptive. A major hurdle with this construction is that the lift area is currently occupied by a major telecom closet on the 4th floor. Rhonda's office will be lost and all of AdminServices will likely need to move out during construction. An architect will be selected in April to start work in July. The $5 million secured for funding the Commons includes moving the Reference and Circ Depts to the 2nd floor. However, the rest of the remodeling plan has no money authorized.

Other news from the department heads meeting: Hollis from Special Collections announced that, in recognition of the International Polar Year (which will actually be two years), there will be displays and speakers in Special Collections and an ice fest.

There was a short discussion on politically incorrect activities which included Chief Illiniwek being retired, the Year of the Pig, and yellow sheets.

Tim reported that our student asst Carly found a "gift box" in the UN section, atop a stool Carly was trying to use. It was wrapped in brown paper with a blue satin ribbon and a note written on the box, saying "Open me". Security was called; they notified campus police. We were advised not to pick up any boxes like this, but rather to notify Security immediately.

Martin reported that he had an incident of a patron viewing pornography over the weekend. Martin called Security, who came and escorted the person out. Security later returned with a tech person who looked at the computer where the patron was viewing the material.

The meeting was adjourned.

February 13, 2006 minutes

The Government Publications Staff Meeting opened with a show and tell by Jennifer Gerke that provided an overview of online international organizational websites dealing with globalization. The databases included the OECD, World Development Indicators, International Monetary Fund, and the UN COMTRADE. It was brought to our attention that the international commodity codes are being updated.

The regular meeting opened with a discussion of the whether or not bar codes should be added to microfiche such as the unpublished CIS Hearings that are currently kept in filing drawers without paper sleeves. Tim indicated he will talk to Denise. Generic barcodes are usually used for the in-house use and they will continue to be applied to obtain the count. Denise had an opportunity to discuss this with Tim at the end of the meeting and the decision was made to not barcode the microfiche without sleeves and to continue using the generic code for microfiche for in-house use without going any further. Cataloging and adding barcodes can be added to the sleeved microfiche as part of the ongoing retro project. Another topic of discussion was the note on the Public Health Reports record that indicated that any volumes that are brought back for use from Pascal should remain in Norlin. The decision was made to send the reports back to Pascal. Tim will look into changing the note to alleviate the confusion. Tim reported on the decision by the regional taskforce on digitization to digitize AEC reports starting with 1947/48. 

Minutes submitted for Martha Jo Sani.

Meeting minutes 2/7/07

Jennie gave a wonderful presentation on British documents.

We discussed where to put state docs with color plates, or other tempting content. Decided to put them in the office for now, rather than send them to Pascal.

For records that freeze up when we're working with them, SerCat has a solution. Go back into the record through an item (barcode or item no.) rather than the bib record.

The class that didn't make it to the presentation has an assignment due Thursday, so they will be looking for hearings – most likely unpublished.

Leanne cautioned us about Lexis-Nexis. When clicking on "Find publications associated with a bill or law" it doesn't seem to bring up everything. We need to do that for the House and Senate bill nos. as well as the final law.

Tell Pat which barcode wands aren't working, so she can tell Tim to order more.

Labelmaker is being ordered, as well as caution tape for the stairs.