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Meeting Notes

Regional Campus Libraries Discussion Group
ALA Annual Meeting
Sunday, June 26, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Palmer House Hilton, Sandburg 5

1. Attending:

  • Anthony Blackie (Florida State University, Panama)
  • Beth Burns (Ohio-Mansfield)
  • John Brandt (California State University, Stanislaus-Stockton)
  • Linda Frederiksen (Washington State University Vancouver)
  • Harvey Grover (Washington State University Tri-Cities)
  • Loree Hyde (Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland)
  • Katalin Mouyal (University of Maryland -- Shady Grove)
  • Carole Svensson (University of Washington, Tacoma)
  • Mem Stahley (University of Central Florida at Cocoa)
  • Darby Syrkin (Florida State University, Panama City)

 

2. Recorder: John Brandt (California State University, Stanislaus-Stockton)

3. Old Business/Updates

  • Listerv – http://lists.pc.fsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/rcl-dg
    51 members subscribe to the email discussion list, but the traffic is generally very light. D. Syrkin asked for feedback on how to encourage discussion via the listserv. Members recommended having more questions posed to the group, thereby fostering more discussion. The discussion can be about anything, but preferably with a regional campus-specific “spin”.
  • Toolkit – http://www.tacoma.washington.edu/library/rcl/toolkit.html
    The Toolkit is an idea from our Midwinter Meeting and is designed as a resource for new and experienced regional campus librarians. Ideally, the toolkit will be a repository of information other regional campus librarians can use or modify to fit their own needs. Discussion group members are encouraged to submit collection development policies, library procedures, outreach letters, and similar materials; submissions can be sent to dsyrkin@pc.fsu.edu.
  • Directory- The Regional Campus Library Directory project has climbed to over 500 entries. The Directory team (J. Brandt, L. Frederiksen, T. Schneider, and D. Syrkin) will eventually make it available as an online database with searchable fields.
  • NABCA – D. Syrkin discussed the session she presented with colleagues from Florida State University at the National Association of Branch Campus Administrators Conference. Handouts from this presentation are now available in the RCL DG Toolkit (http://www.tacoma.washington.edu/library/rcl/toolkit.html). D. Syrkin discussed the value of presenting information about library services to campus administrators. The NABCA Conference is held every two years, and approximately 70 people attended the April 2005 meeting in San Antonio. Currently NABCA’s presence on the Web is limited to conference information. RCL DG members will volunteer to help NABCA create a general Website for their organization.

4. New Business/Announcements

  • University of Maryland Collection Development Project - K. Mouyal discussed her ongoing research and ALA poster session on Collection Development of the University of Maryland-Shady Grove Campus. Library staff coded incoming books by subject, allowing the usage of books to be compared to the disciplines taught on the campus. The results will be used to inform future collection development strategies. K. Mouyal will submit her poster session and article synopsis to be placed in the RCL DG Toolkit.
  • The Face of Regional Campus Libraries and Librarianship: A National Study – Discussion group members were asked to review survey questions for a study being conducted by J. Brandt, L. Frederiksen, T. Schneider, and D. Syrkin. The results of this research will be presented at the Twelfth Off-Campus Library Services Conference, to be held in Savannah, Georgia in April 2006. M. Stahley offered to provide her previous research and list of contacts for multi-campus institutions.
  • Discussion group leadership – Because the DG has now been operating one year, D. Syrkin asked how long the DG leadership position should be held and volunteered to step down if someone else wanted to take the helm. Leaders of other discussion groups generally have a 2-year term, but the practice appears to be flexible. The members expressed confidence in and appreciation for D. Syrkin’s leadership, supported her continuing direction of the group, and agreed to address the issue again in the future. Accordingly, D. Syrkin will remain the DG leader until next ALA Annual Meeting.
  • Midwinter meeting date/time preferences – Sunday meetings, from 1 to 3 PM seem to be an agreeable time to meet for many of our members and does not conflict with any Distance Learning Section meetings. D. Syrkin will apply for the same time to meet during the 2006 ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio and will notify the group when the date/time/place have been determined.


5. Discussion Topics

  • Keeping up with literature, listservs, trends, etc.
    As regional campus librarians have often have duties in many/most areas of library services and it seems especially difficult to keep up with professional development and discussion on this very wide range of topics.

    It was suggested this group could share citations to literature regarding time management skills and/or any other relevant topic that might be particularly useful to the rest of us.

    We also mentioned it is difficult to keep up with all the information shared on all the larger listservs but agreed that some listservs aren’t really worth our time. Accordingly, it might be good to share our own impressions of the listservs to which we subscribe. We can tell others what is worth subscribing to and what might be something to do without.
  • Professional development
    Extensive discussion centered on the importance of professional development, service, and research on obtaining tenure or permanent/continuing status. Tenure/status/promotion committees are often based at the main campus. Expectations are often not changed for regional campuses, even though regional campus librarians often do not have the same time or opportunity to pursue professional development activities. It was noted how important it is to make members of review committees, including main campus librarians and faculty from other disciplines, aware of the unique environment, requirements, and restrictions placed upon regional campus librarians. More discussion and more study needs to be directed toward the issue of tenure and promotion of librarians on the regional campus. This discussion can continue on the DG listserv.