Minutes: Public Service Task Force October 8, 1998 Meeting Minutes (meeting #6)

Present: Lissa Bell, Phyllis Bischof (co-chair), Nensi Brailo, Alison Brandt, Agnes Concepcion, Corlis Lee (co-chair) Rick Love(recorder), Chris Tarr, Roy Tennant, Bill Whitson

New Member: Michael Shepler

Guest: Katherine Mitchell

Announcements

1A. Michael Shepler was welcomed to the task force as PSAG-TS representative in place of Lynn Jones.

1B. It was announced that plans were being finalized for our October 23rd panel discussion, "Our Users Speak". The panel will be composed of 2 faculty members, Prof. George Chang (Nutritional Sciences) and Prof. Alan Dundes (Anthropology and Folklore). Two graduate students as well as two undergraduate students will also be selected to speak. The format for the presentation was discussed. Panelists will be asked to respond to 3 specific questions as well as questions from the audience. Deborah Sommer will be asked to be the moderator.

1C. Phyllis Bischof announced the Regina Minudri would be our speaker on our November 18th presentation. The topics that she will address include outreach to a user community in the light of bad publicity, empowerment of staff, and cooperation between Public and University Libraries.

1D. Alison Brandt and Roy Tennant reported that they had contacted John Ober of the California Digital Library and that he is open for a December date. [December 15, 8:30 AM] Ober suggested that Laine Farley also participate in the presentation because they share public service responsibilities at CDL.

1E. Nensi Brailo distributed handouts from the workshop she attended in Sacramento. The workshop, "Customer Service as if Your Library Depends on It", was sponsored by the Continuing Education Committee of the CLA.

1F. Prof. Laura Demsetz of the Civil Engineering Department, who serves on the Academic Senate Library Committee, reported on the Faculty Use Study which she is designing on behalf of the Senate Library Committee. She talked about the fact that the way the library is used varies greatly across disciplines. She queried the group as to our perceived differences in the way the library is used in different academic areas. We will discuss the faculty use study in more detail at our next meeting.

1G. Facilitated Discussion with Katherine Mitchell. The group was led in a very lively and productive discussion. These included such topics as a review of the goals of the Task Force, a discussion of the ways we have to identify user needs, and a brainstorming session on user needs and areas of concern in the Library.