LAUC-B 2020 Fall Assembly Committee Reports

LAUC-B Fall Assembly Committee Reports
Submitted for the Fall Assembly on November 17, 2020

Committee on Appointment, Promotion and Advancement (CAPA)

DATE: November 17, 2020
TO: Ramona Collins, Chair, LAUC-B
FROM: Elliott Smith, Chair, Committee on Appointment, Promotion and Advancement (CAPA)
RE: CAPA 2020 Fall Assembly report

CAPA Members 2019-20

  • David Eifler (2020)
  • Marlene Harmon, Affiliated Library Representative (2022)
  • Kendra Levine, Affiliated Library Representative, CAPA Interview Coordinator (2021)
  • Toshie Marra (2020)
  • Michele Morgan (2022)
  • Lisa Ngo, Position Announcement Coordinator (2021)
  • Elliott Smith, Chair (2020)

The chair would like to thank all the members of CAPA and the ad hoc committees for their extraordinary dedication and persistence under unprecedented circumstances, and designee David Eifler for coordinating the ad hoc committees. The chair would also like to thank AUL Susan Swarts and the staff of the Library Human Resources Department for their exceptional efforts to ensure that the review process could proceed in a secure, confidential, and timely way.

CAPA Members for 2020-21:

Incoming Chair: Lisa Ngo
Position Announcement Coordinator: Marlene Harmon
CAPA Interview Coordinator: Michele Morgan
Incoming members of CAPA:

  • Imad Abuelgasim, Original Cataloger, Catalog & Metadata Services
  • Hilary Schiraldi, Business Librarian, Social Sciences Division
  • Virginia Shih, Curator for the Southeast Asian Collections, Arts & Humanities Division

Interviews

CAPA interviews all candidates for positions in the Librarian series to share information related to the Librarian review process and evaluate the candidates’ potential for obtaining career status at Berkeley. Since May 1, 2020, CAPA has conducted ten interviews for five positions:

  • Digital Project Archivist (The Bancroft Library) - 4 candidates for 2 positions
  • Data Services Librarian - 3 candidates
  • Systems and Discovery Librarian (Library IT) - 2 candidates
  • Head, Collection Services Division (extended search) - 1 candidate

Position Descriptions

CAPA reviews position descriptions for openings in the Librarian series. Since May 1, 2020, CAPA has reviewed no new job descriptions.

Librarian Review

In the 2020 review cycle CAPA met weekly between early March and mid-May to review 30 cases, 25 in the University Library and 5 in Affiliated Libraries. CAPA was able to complete its reviews on time with the exception of one University Library case that was submitted several months late. Members of CAPA have continued to work with LHRD and APO staff this summer and fall on the review process and timelines for the 2021 cycle, and on transitioning the process to an online system.

Career Status and Promotion Reviews

Six ad hoc committees were convened to review five career status and five promotion cases; my thanks again to the librarians who served on these committees.

Congratulations to the five librarians awarded career status in 2020:

  • José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez, The Bancroft Library
  • Nicole Brown, Head, Instruction Services Division
  • Lynn Cunningham, Arts & Humanities Division
  • Lara Michels, The Bancroft Library
  • Melissa Stoner, Ethnic Studies Library

I would also like to congratulate the five librarians who received promotion from Associate Librarian to Librarian in 2020:

  • Susan Powell, Engineering & Physical Sciences Division
  • Stacy Reardon, Arts & Humanities Division
  • Elliott Smith, Life & Health Sciences Division
  • Samantha Teplitzky, Engineering & Physical Sciences Division
  • Emily Vigor, Environmental Design Archives

Review outcomes 

The University Librarian agreed with the recommendations of CAPA and the ad hoc committees for all eight career status or promotion cases in the University Library, as did the Vice Provost for the Faculty in the two career status or promotion cases in the Affiliated Libraries. 

CAPA recommended greater than standard merit increases in seven cases; the University Librarian agreed with CAPA in three of the four cases in the University Library, while the Vice Provost for the Faculty agreed with CAPA’s recommendation in all three Affiliated Library cases.

CAPA also supported two special reviews in 2020.

CAPA Involvement

CAPA is composed of your LAUC-B peers. If you would like to be considered for CAPA service in the future, watch for the twice-yearly calls in winter and summer to register your interest in CAPA via the Nominating & Elections Committee’s LAUC-B volunteer form, or contact a current member of CAPA.

Upcoming opportunities for service will be on the ad hoc committees. This provides a glimpse of the review process from the reviewer’s perspective and is good experience to build prior to CAPA service. To serve on an ad hoc committee: 

  • You must already have career status
  • You will work as a member of a team of 3 librarians to review one to three career status and/or promotion cases
  • You must be available between late January, when ad hoc appointments are made, and the end of March, when the work of the ad hoc committees is completed. 

To serve on CAPA:

  • You must hold the rank of Associate Librarian or Librarian
  • You must already have career status
  • Service on an ad hoc committee or two is preferable

Two or three CAPA appointments are made in the late summer or early fall each year. CAPA attempts to maintain representative membership including librarians with different work experiences and functions, from different units and divisions, and from both Affiliated and University libraries. This balance of members is essential to CAPA’s peer review role. If you have indicated interest and have not yet been invited to serve on CAPA, we encourage you to continue volunteering.

Affiliated Libraries

Report submitted by Joe Cera

Members:

  • Joe Cera, Chair (2021)
  • Kate Peck, Vice Chair (2021)
  • Kendra Levine, TALAG Chair (2021)
  • Susan McElrath, ex-officio, LAUC-B Vice-Chair (2021)

Recent activities:

The Committee on Affiliated Libraries Affairs had planned a Affiliated Library Spring Assembly for April 2020 that did not happen due to the closure of campus and the excitement of figuring out shelter-in-place. This assembly had been organized by the outgoing chair, Emily Vigor, covering the current and future landscape of Affiliated Libraries at Berkeley. We are going to hold on to this topic for a future Affiliated Library Assembly as the future landscape is unknown but is increasingly interesting. We will be hosting an Affiliated Libraries Fall Assembly in early December to talk about how each Affiliated Library responded to pandemic conditions and various near future plans for library services.

Conference Planning Committee

Presented live at the 2020 Fall Assembly by Shannon Kealey and Corliss Lee, no written report submitted.

The Conference Planning Committee is meeting monthly and working on the budget proposal for the upcoming Conference. The Planning Committee includes members from other UCs as well this year to encourage participation.

Distinguished Librarian Award Committee

No report submitted.

Committee on Diversity

2020 Fall Report: LAUC-B Committee on Diversity 

Report by Christina Velazquez Fidler 

Members: 

  • Christina Fidler (LAUC-B Chair, 2021) 
  • Immaculate Adesida (LHRD Representative, 2021) 
  • José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez (Statewide Representative, 2021) 
  • Claude Potts (LAUC-B Member, 2021) 
  • Osman Celik (LAUC-B Member, 2022) 
  • Aisha Hamilton (SDC Representative, 2022) 
  • Stacey Reardon (LAUC-B Member, 2022) 

Outgoing Members: 

  • Mohamed Hamed (LAUC-B Co-chair, 2020) 
  • Stella Tang (LAUC-B Member, 2020) 
  • Neda Salem (Affiliated Staff Representative, 2020) 
  • Michael Lange (SDC Representative, 2020) 

Recent activities: 

The Committee on Diversity hosted two microaggression workshops 1) Microaggressions scheduled for March 16, 2020 and 2) Implicit Bias scheduled for April 27, 2020. Both of these events had to be reimagined as the Covid-19 shelter in place went into effect on March 17th. Working with facilitator Julie Shackford-Bradley from the Restorative Justice Center, the Committee on Diversity was able to host these two workshops over the Zoom platform for remote participation on May 18, 2020 and June 1, 2020 respectively. Both workshops were well attended and participants provided important feedback for future workshops. The workshops were co-sponsored with the Library Staff Development Committee. 

Inspired by the 2019 LAUC-B Shelf Awareness conference, the LAUC-B Diversity Committee formed a monthly brown bag reading group focused on Critical Librarianship. Titled, the Critical Librarianship Reading Group, this collaborative space is designed to discuss critical librarianship readings, and recordings. The group is open to all including staff, student workers, and librarians. The inaugural meeting was scheduled for March 18, 2020 but was adapted for the shelter in place. The first meeting was held on Zoom on May 20, 2020. 

On November 10, 2020 the Committee on Diversity in partnership with the Free Speech Movement Café Educational Programs Committee, Ethnic Studies Library, Library Staff Development Committee, and the American Cultures Center held a film screening for the film Amá. Amá tells the important and untold story of the abuses committed against Native American women by the US Government during the 1960s and 70s. This is a powerful film, and the screening was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Native American Studies Librarian, Melissa Stoner. Panelists included Stephen Curley, Director of Digital Archives with The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) and Katie Keliiaa, Ph.D. Department of History at UC Berkeley, 2019, and UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at UC Santa Cruz. 

Our members continue to make an impact in the Library with representation on the Diversity Librarian Fellowship Task Force (LAUC-B Good IDEA) and the Library’s Task Force on Racial Justice.

Nominations and Elections Committee

LAUC-B Nominating and Elections Committee Fall 2020 Assembly Report

Submitted by Sam Teplitzky - outgoing chair

  1. 2020-21 Incoming members of the LAUC-B Nominations and Elections Committee:
  • I-Wei Wang, Chair (2021)
  • Natalia Estrada (2022)
  • Chris Marino (Affiliated Representative) (2021)
  • Becky Miller (2022)
  • Lisa Rowlinson de Ortiz (2021)
  • Outgoing members:
  • Sam Teplitzky, chair
  • Liladhar Pendse

2. The committee conducted elections for LAUC-B offices in June.

  • The following LAUC-B members were elected to LAUC-B executive offices:
  • Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Susan McElrath
  • Secretary: Sherry Lochhaas
  • Treasurer: Jianye He
  • Library Representatives: Anna Sackmann, Tim Vollmer
  • Affiliated Libraries Affairs Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Kate Peck

3. The committee made recommendations to the LAUC-B Chair for appointments to local and statewide committees.

The following members were appointed to LAUC-B and LAUC statewide committees:

LAUC-B Nominations & Elections Committee

  • Natalia Estrada (2022)
  • Becky Miller (2022)

LAUC-B Committee on Research & Professional Development

  • Ann Glusker (2022)
  • Jeremy Ott (2022)
  • Abby Scheel (2022)

LAUC-B Committee on Diversity

  • Osman Celik (2022)
  • Stacy Reardon (2022)

LAUC Research & Professional Development Committee

  • Celia Emmelhainz 

LAUC Committee on Professional Governance

  • I-Wei Wang

4. Following recent practice, the 2020 LAUC-B elections were conducted online using Qualtrics, from June 22 through July 6. Sixty-nine LAUC-B members participated in the election. The LAUC Statewide Election was held separately from July 29 through August 12 due to COVID-19 related delays. 

Committee on Research and Professional Development

Report for 2020 Fall Assembly
Jessie Sherwood and Susan McElrath
November 12, 2020

Members

Susan McElrath and Jessie Sherwood (outgoing co-chairs)

Jianye He (incoming co-chair), Susan Powell (incoming co-chair), Kendra Levine (Affiliated Library Representative), Lara Michels, Ann Glusker, Jeremy Ott, and Abby Scheel

Recent Activities

The R&PD committee held its transition meeting on September 3d. Jianye He and Susan Powell were elected co-chairs.

The R&PD committee is still receiving applications for LAUC research and presentation grants (deadline is November 13th).

A new librarians event has been scheduled for December 3d. We look forward to hearing from Salwa Ismail, Frank Ferko and Ann Glusker.

The committee is looking forward to planning additional programming for the Spring, including a series of informal virtual chats about professional development.