Present: Nancy Boerner, Becky Cape, Erika Dowell, Marion Frank-Wilson, Jian Liu, Jo McClamroch, Bob Noel, Mary Popp, Andrea Singer, Mary Strow, Suzanne Thorin, Gary Wiggins

Guests: Julie Bobay, Yolanda Cooper

Substitutes: na

Absent: na

The minutes were approved from the March 26 BLF meeting.

1. Revision of the document “Peer Committee for Annual Merit Review”. Nancy Boerner distributed relevant documents on 3/28/03 regarding the current policy, and the BLFC was to review this and make any necessary changes in this meeting. The last time the current version was amended was July 2001. Based on the minutes of the March 26 BLF meeting, the following suggestions were made:

• On page 1, delete the second bulleted statement in the Purposes section and add a sentence to the “Shared Values” section stating that the peer review process should identify librarians who are not meeting expectations.

  Becky Cape suggested that the second bullet under Purposes, “Identify possible problems for supervisory review” carried with it a negative connotation, and that is one reason why it may not be desirable to have it included. The committee concluded that the Shared Values section should remain as is.

  It was agreed we strike the 2nd bullet, and change section B. Purposes, to Purpose:
  “Make recommendations to the University Dean of University Libraries on the merit portion of the annual salary distribution to individual librarians.”

• On page 4, it was agreed that supervisors should write brief justifications for each level III rating, and the same should be done for each level I rating.
• On page 5, section IV “Communicating the Results of the Peer Review Process”; there was some discussion about the use of the word “statement”. It was agreed that we would strike the word “statements” in the last sentence of the first paragraph and replace it with “comments”. Based on the page 4 changes, page 5, section IV should read “(including justifications for overall Level III and Level I ratings)”.
• On page 5, section V “Calendar”, the two March 31 entries were merged into one. The final calendar entry was changed from April 15 to April 20, “Responses to the Peer Committee ratings from individual librarians due to the Dean.”

After Yolanda reviewed the document with the suggested changes, it was approved unanimously. The Election Committee will submit the revised document to the BLF for ratification.

2. The Dean gave a report on Virtual Library Resources, and she provided some background and context. In December last year, the Committee on Academic Excellence began looking into the question “what’s common for all Indiana University Libraries?”, and Doug McKinney has spent some time compiling data and answering several “what if” questions regarding access to resources. Related to OhioLink, with which Chancellor Brehm is familiar, it would cost Indiana $3.5 million dollars for all IU, state-wide to have access to everything IUB has. IUPUI offered a counterproposal that was half as much as that. Of all the campuses, IUB is coordinating this study, and the other campuses have much to gain when we settle on a single, system-wide virtual library. The Dean distributed three spreadsheets; one was an alphabetical list of all Degree Programs, including terminal degrees and number of majors for each campus as of Fall 2002; the second sheet listed all programs listed by total credit hours taken, and grouped with like programs; and the last was a working list of commonly held electronic resources listing which campuses currently have access. The last time the Council of Head Librarians met and discussed this, it was a tumultuous meeting. How a single virtual library will come into existence, and how it will be paid for, continues to be hammered out, with ideas such as developing an algorithm based on number of FTE students; this may govern how much each campus would contribute. It has not been settled yet, and another CHL meeting is scheduled for June.

3. Reports. Gary Wiggins gave a P&T Review Committee report. Sue Eklund met with the committee and learned about the faculty review process. Mary Popp gave a report on the Bloomington Faculty Council. The BFC has only met twice since the last BLFC meeting. Topics discussed include:

• the common pool of virtual library resources.
• the SEVIS system, new procedures for international students.
• A committee on testing and training for international AIs has submitted recommendations suggesting a training program. This may be of interest to us as we work with students in reference and instruction graduate student positions the library.
• A revision of the intercollegiate athletics policy.
• A proposal to require Freshmen and Seniors to attend an assessment course where their general education learning can be assessed for use in accreditation documents was discussed. It will get more discussion in the fall as we discuss various ways to assess learning. We will want to watch this to see if or how information literacy skills will be represented.
• Mission Statement for the Campus—The Long Range Planning Committee has slightly revised the draft mission prepared by the Strategic Planning Committee. Send e-mail to Mary with suggestions and she will share with all the library BLFC representatives.

The Dean reported on
1. the libraries’ new Organizing Committee, chaired by Mary Strow. This committee will attempt to review how librarians and library units relate/ communicate with one another, what sort of changes, if any, in reporting relationships and lines of communication should be made. A web survey posing many questions related to this is posted, and the due date for that is April 16 at 5:00.
2. The Integrated Access Task Force will look at digital products and determine how they’re interconnected, and how they can best be acquired and arranged for the university.
3. The ARL Conference on Scholarly Communication will be held this Fall. The ARL Board approved a one-day post-conference, targeting Directors of Libraries. Rob Kling has agreed to give an overview of the sciences; Stan Katz will cover social sciences; and John Unsworth will do humanities.

Other: Cecile Jagodszinski is chairing the search for Preservation Head.
Harold Shaffer’s position (PA-12), was posted.
Dina Kellams (Archives) is chairing the search for the “Hamilton Papers” position that is open.
Four biweekly staff positions are currently open.

Meeting was adjourned at 4:52 pm.

Bob Noel, Recording Secretary

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