1999 Fall Assembly


LAUC-B FALL ASSEMBLY
16 November 1999

Handouts: Agenda; Draft LAUC-B Spring Assembly Minutes; Committee Reports;
Proposed Librarians' Salary Scale

I. Welcome

Barbara Glendenning, LAUC-B chair, called the meeting to order at 8:35 and welcomed the members.

II. Announcements & Introductions

(1) Glendenning announced the names of new librarians (T. Salazar, N. Robinson), as well as the Executive Board, Committee Chairs, and Committee Representatives.

(2) W. Lowell announced the "Bridging the Bay" exhibit opening in the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery in early December, representing the collections of 8 campus libraries.

(3) The LAUC Calendar is on the web site; send announcements to B. Glendenning for posting.

(4) The Distinguished Librarian reception is this afternoon in Morrison, 3-6; the program begins at 4:30.

(5) The Research & Professional Development Committee's program on Internet searching is tomorrow in Sibley Auditorium, 8:30-10.

III. Speaker: Patsy Inouye, LAUC President

(1) Statewide committee chairs have met and established goals and tasks for the year. The report calendar is now as follows: Fall -- Appointment to committees; Spring Assembly -- Interim committee reports; Fall Assembly -- Final reports & new appointments announced.

(2) The president has initiated a dialog with LAUC chairs regarding the definition of the librarians' distinguished step, particularly important as the expansion of the librarian series.

(3) Inouye reviewed progress toward restructuring the librarian series. Professional Governance Committee presented its report to LAUC Fall Assembly in December 1998; it was accepted at the Fall Assemly and forwarded to UCOP. A proposal for 4 additional steps was taken from the proposal and forwarded to UCOP January 1999.

University Librarians reviewed and together with LAUC prepared the current final proposal (Reading copies presently are available at GSSI Ref Desk.)

The Proposal is the first restructuring since 1975. It has three goals: 1) to provide adequate career growth (it projects 30 years to traverse, versus the current 19 years); 2) to establish a competitive entry salary ($35,568); 3) to raise the salary scale (by dropping ranks at the bottom and adding ranks at the top; and by providing above-scale salaries for special cases).

The proposal was approved by the Council of Vice Chancellors in October and is now at UCOP; an implementation plan is being drafted. The problems the plan addresses were the subject of much discussion by LAUC-B members. Questions included: Would librarians be reduced in rank (if not in salary) to implement the plan ? (Unclear; possibly.) Would librarians who have crossed major boundaries -- advancement to full librarian, to the distinguished steps -- have to cross the boundaries again ? (No.) Would librarians' salaries be linked again with faculty salaries for COLAs? (Probably not; it's a collective bargaining issue.) What model was used when steps were added to faculty ranks ? (They didn't lose rank OR salary.) Additional points made were that librarians present did not want to lose rank in the implementation; they want a system mirroring the faculty's; their problems are being addressed late, and there's concern that without the linkage with faculty the salaries could decline again.

Inouye thanked LAUC-B members for their thoughtful responses; members suggested meeting again when the implementation plan is issued so feedback could be provided the University Librarians and UCOP.

IV. Minutes of the LAUC-B Spring Assembly were corrected and approved.

V. Reports

(1) Chair
- LAUC Executive Board endorsed Affiliated Librarians in their request that librarian representatives from the Affiliated Libraries be added to the Council’s membership.
- a copy of the the LAUC-B document on the upward evaluation of supervisors was provided to the UL with a cover letter listing reasons for implemention with an offer to assist in the implementation or revision of the document. Lowell reported that the issue of stipends for librarian managers is still being explored by the Executive Vice Chancellor.
- The Library purchased a minidisk tape recorder for use in taping LAUC programs, Early Birds, etc. It is housed in the Media Resources Center and available for checkout. The technology allows for mounting taped information on the web.
- LAUC-B donated funds to the Friends of the Library at UCR as a memorial to Pat Flowers who died last spring.
- The LAUC budget went forward to the Vice Chancellor on Oct. 14th.
- LAUC-B Exec Board recommmended that a former Townsend Center fellow be added to the Research & Prof Development Committee in order to more broadly share information about the work of the Fellows and to stimulate interest in librarian applicants to the Fellows position.

(2) CAPA -- A. Jensen reported that the workforce is out of balance: 60% are in upper ranks; and we were unable to hire several new librarians due to low salaries. She also noted that CAPA, HRD, and Administrative Services are developing written guidelines outling the responsibilities of each in librarian recruitments.

(3) Affiliated Libraries -- C. James announced the Affiliated Libraries Fall Assembly for December 1 in the Goldberg Room, Boalt Hall; speaker will be Prof. Andrew Whittaker, Associate Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Center.

(4) Other reports were noted as attachments.

VI. Speaker: Tom Leonard, Chair, Academic Senate Committee on Libraries
(1) The Committee is meeting every 3 weeks, and the chair meets the University Librarian in the interval between meetings; communications are good between the Library and the Committee.

(2) The Doe Library "core" is a major concern; the committee toured DOE last month and commented on the need for "quiet zones" (i.e., without laptop computers); the arrangement of books on the fixed and movable shelving in the Gardner Stacks; the need for improvements in the Reading Room and reference desk.

(3) LAUC questions: Can Senate Library Committee minutes be circulated to LAUC ? (Leonard has no objection, and will check into it.)

(4) Should there be regular communication between the Senate Library Committee and the branch "subject" libraries' faculty advisory committees ? (Leonard will consult the Committee; in any event, he'd like to know more about the branches.)

VII. Old Business:
None

VIII. New Business:
There was further discussion about the need for LAUC-B to sponsor meetings to discuss the salary proposal and implementation plan.

IX. Adjournment:
B. Glendenning adjourned the meeting at 9:45.

Submitted by David Farrell, LAUC-B Secretary