Minutes Meeting No. 1 September 21, 2004
LAUC-B Executive Committee Meeting September 21, 2004
10:00 - 12 noon
Deans Conference Room, Boalt Hall
Present: Chris Tarr (Chair), Lily Castillo-Speed (Vice Chair/Chair-Elect), Allan Urbanic (Past Chair), Kathleen Gallagher (Library Representative), Carole McEwan (Library Representative), Paul Atwood (Affiliated Libraries Representative), Barbara Glendenning (CAPA Chair), Jane Rosario (recorder, substituting for Juliet Demeter). Guests: CAPA members Randal Brandt, Lucia Diamond, Jean McKenzie, Mary Ann Mahoney, Corliss Lee, and Charles James.
Absent: Linda McLane (Treasurer), Juliet Demeter (Secretary).
I. Announcements
The LAUC-B Fall Assembly will be held on October 13th, 8:30am to 10am in the Morrison Room. AnnaLee Saxenian, of UC Berkeleys School of Information Management Systems, will be the guest speaker.
The LAUC Statewide Fall Assembly will be held November 4th at the Chevron Auditorium of the International House here at UC Berkeley, from 9:30am to 3:00pm. Members can register at http://lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/fallassembly04/ .
II. Reports
A. Treasurer's Report - L. McLane
Balance is $57,526.18.
A. Meeting with the University Librarian C. Tarr, L. Castillo-Speed
Chris and Lily met with UL Tom Leonard on September 2nd and briefed him on the Fall Assemblies and ExComms meeting with CAPA to discuss the review process. Workload was discussed; Tom acknowledged that librarians are being stretched. Tom encouraged librarians to attend the Early Bird on Thursday, September 24th. Principal Investigator status for librarians was discussed but there is no progress to report. Tom requested that LAUC-B present him with an agenda prior to monthly meetings with the LAUC-B Chair and Chair-Elect.
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B. Senate Library Committee Report L. Castillo-Speed
No meeting was held in September.
III Continuing Topics
1. Benefits Due Retiring Librarians C. Tarr
Chris has updated the chart outlining retirement benefits for librarians and emeritus librarians. All the information can be found in the MOU and through the Retirement Center (http://thecenter.berkeley.edu/connect.html).
ACTION: LAUC-B Chair Chris Tarr will announce the availability of the chart to the membership.
2. Principal Investigator Status C. Tarr
Librarians are not automatically listed as Principal Investigators with the Sponsored Projects Office; the list must be set up.
ACTION: LAUC-B Chair Chris Tarr will contact Debra Harrington (Human Resources, Labor Relations) to check status.
3. Budget
ACTION: LAUC-B Chair Chris Tarr will submit as soon as possible.
4. New Topics
A. Distinguished Librarian Award Committee
As Past Chair, Allan Urbanic will chair the DLA Committee.
B. Rename Distinguished Librarian Award?
A suggestion to rename the DLA was submitted for ExComm's consideration. The suggestion was discussed, with ExComm agreeing that: 1) we should solicit a written rationale for doing so, and 2) the entire LAUC-B membership should have input into the decision, in the form of a vote. Voting logistics and procedures still to be discussed.
ACTION: LAUC-B Chair Chris Tarr will seek a written rationale for the renaming.
C. LAUC-B Web Committee
The LAUC-B Webmaster is a new position, begun this last year, to remove the onus of Web maintenance from the LAUC-B Secretary, and create order, uniformity, consistency, and accuracy for the LAUC-B Web site. Randy has worked to keep the LAUC-B Web site up to date and its links live. Randy suggested that a task force be appointed to review the LAUC-B site and suggest changes.
ACTION: LAUC-B Chair Chris Tarr will call for volunteers for the task.
IV. Meet With Committee on Appointment Promotion and Advancement (CAPA)
A. Review of 2004 Review Process
CAPA reported on the past year's review. A full report will be submitted at the LAUC-B Fall Assembly.
B. Streamlining of Peer Review
Streamlining the merit review was discussed, including options such as using check boxes, limiting the dossier to three pages, etc.
There was discussion as to whether or not the peer review process is perceived as cumbersome. There are differences of perception within the membership, some feeling that the process is opaque and complex, others feel that there is nothing wrong with it. It was noted as well that anxiety makes the process cumbersome, and that allaying anxiety must come from the top -- from the UL.
The possibility of having redacted examples of well-written files was discussed. LAUC mentors and review initiators have an important part to play in assisting candidates to compile well-written, appropriately documented dossiers.
The role of review initiators to help the candidate compile a dossier and to highlight the candidate's important achievements in their own letters, not to simply parrot what is in the candidate's narrative, was discussed. This is something that could be addressed through educating the review initiators.
It may be that the process itself is innately cumbersome, since candidates must make the case for themselves to a diverse audience. Sometimes it will take more than three pages, no matter how tightly written, to make one's case. It is felt that the guidelines cannot and should not be proscriptive.
CAPA does comment on excessive documentation in dossiers, but this information does not get to the candidate unless she/he requests redacted copies of confidential materials.
It was noted that overall on campus, what is expected of librarians on the whole is intentionally left open. What specifically we need to do to get promoted is not spelled out. Again, this speaks to the flexibility and diversity of our careers. Each candidate's career path is unique. Each candidate must also make the case for himself/herself, and how well he/she does this is part of the review. For example, serving on a local committee may be as significant as serving on a national committee, depending on one's impact/contribution. This points up why the LAUC mentor program is important. It is also good to speak to an ex-CAPA member when preparing a dossier.
There were concerns that so few librarians (18 out of more than 80) attended the Brown Bag discussing peer review last summer. Having another Brown Bag was discussed.
The need to compare the peer review process on other campuses was discussed. Allan pointed out that the Systemwide Committee on Professional Governance (Ron Heckart is the LAUC-B representative) came out with a study comparing the campuses on this point. (http://www.ucop.edu/lauc/pg/report-spring-2004.doc)
ACTION: LAUC-B Chair Chris Tarr and CAPA will communicate these issues to UL Tom Leonard, particularly stressing review initiator education and participation in the process. CAPA will present its formal report at the LAUC-B Fall Assembly.
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Next LAUC-B ExComm meeting will be held on Thursday, October 14, 10am -12pm, Dean's Conference Room, Boalt Hall