I know we all have so much going on, it's hard to keep track. I thought I would update you on what's going on in Library Services. I'm in and out of my office this spring...at HBC, at the campuses, at the Service Center, back to HBC...so you may or may not see me as I drive by. Here's what's up...
South AustinSAC is still going to be opening for the fall semester 2006. Staff positions are being advertised and hired for this spring and will be employed beginning July of 2006. We received significant money for materials and staffing positions, have a great second floor, floor plan (@8,300 square feet) and are looking forward to a big opening in the fall. The official name of the campus is "South Austin Campus." As you may know, the campus is located at the northeast corner of Stassney and Manchaca. On the southeast corner is Crockett High School and on the northwest corner is the Manchaca Branch of the Austin Public Library. The Manchaca Branch is closing this spring for remodeling and won't reopen until Spring of '07. Due to these hours, we are discussing extended Saturday afternoon hours for the first year SAC is open to serve community adults.
Cypress CreekThe Cypress Creek Campuses newest building - where the new library is located - will open later than expected - probably summer '07. We have completed our spreadsheets of needs/budget requests, but those decisions will not be made until summer'06 when next year's budget is approved. Our IRT space is going from @2,000 square feet to over 8,200 square feet. We are on the first floor and have a good floor plan as well.
SAC's/AccreditationThere are three areas of Southern Association/Accreditation issues I am working on. They include:
1. How we support distance learning students who take classes through the Virtual College of Texas
2. A discussion of the substantive changes related to the South Austin Campus
3. A discussion of the substantive changes related to the Cypress Creek Campus
This work includes preparing documents that provide answers to SAC's questions including questions like: How do you measure the satisfaction of DL/VCT students? How do you know the materials we are providing for South Austin meet the needs of South Austin students and faculty? The process is well organized but includes many steps such as college managers meet and review questions, I prepare answers to questions -getting assistance from LLT as needed, I send a draft to Richard and he incorporates his content, he sends the content to Roslyn in OIE and then she standardizes text, she sends drafts back to us, we review content and approve and meet to finalize the content. Typically my content starts out much longer (the South Austin was 37! pages, the VCT/DL was 19 pages) and then after editing is typically 10 to 15 pages in final form.
General Staffing IssuesNRG - We have an opening for a Library Assistant and applications are being reviewed. Interviews should be taking place in the next few weeks.
EVC/RVS - We have interviewed for the open AA position and are forwarding our choice to HR in the next few working days. We were pleased with our interviews and final candidates. Look for an announcement next week or the week after.
RGC - We have interviewed for the open Head Librarian position and were pleased with our interviews and final candidates. We will be making our final decision mid-next week and will forward our decision to HR. We hope to have an announcement soon.
SAC - We will advertise for our SAC positions this spring. The positions include: Head Librarian, Librarian, Principal Library Assistant, Library Assistant and Hourly support money.
CYP - We have requested new positions in next year's budget and will find out this summer what positions we can fill. Keep your fingers crossed.
General Facilities IssuesAll reports indicate that the NRG library seems to be unaffected by the construction, which is great!
RVS library had a leak that staff were (cleverly) on top of, immediately.
CYP library reports no additional problems related to e-outages due to construction.
Technical Services staff (as with RVS when we expanded that campus many years ago) needed to assess TS space and design for unique work teams who will be putting together SAC and CYP for the coming year. They have created a wonderful workspace for us. Stop by and see them and thank them for setting things up.
ACC I.D. CommitteeI serve on the ACC I.D. Committee. We have been working for this past year and just recently reviewed bids and selected a vendor to provide a new "generation" of smarter ACC I.D.'s. They should meet our needs for the next few years.
ACC Copier CommitteeCary and Jon serve on ACC's Copier Committee. They are reviewing request for bids. Cary also - through working with the current copier bid - got several LS copiers replaced. Say thank you!
Compensation CommitteeI serve on the ACC Compensation Committee and all ACC content is at the consultants and we will be getting draft job descriptions in the next few weeks. Other results will be coming this spring. Since we had such significant changes this past year (consolidated library assistant descriptions, raises for many circ who moved to consistent levels) I don't foresee many changes, but we'll see. Thanks to everyone who participated.
AuthenticationThe Authentication Committee started some time ago. I serve on the larger committee who are currently are hiatus while a smaller workgroup - with Margaret as a member - in finalizing authentication processes. Plans are underway to have two pilot authentication campuses this summer, with a review and then additions of campuses as we move into next year. This authentication process will include a user authentication screen for each computer (public access in the libraries included) so primary use will be for ACC students, faculty and staff.
WirelessACC will be piloting wireless throughout the South Austin Campus when it opens. This wireless will allow students using their own laptops access to college networked resources with authentication, throughout the campus. This too will be expanded throughout the college while IT works on the best rollout.
BudgetHL's should be working with campus staff (you guys!) to determine library/library staff needs for next year's budget. I need to "sign off" on requests by the end of April.
GeneralInformation Literacy: I have been so thrilled with the IL Teams "Know How" program. They are reviewing their goals and successes and deciding what they need to do for next year.
ACC Web: ACC's new website will be kicking off this spring. The LS Web Team will be making some changes in our website as well following ACC's kickoff. More as this happens.
Surveys: We are currently surveying library staff for opinions on the use of AA's (as they move among campuses) and on the laptop checkout service we have. Thanks for offering information back to us. We need your opinions and ideas to make decisions.
College/Curriculum: The RTF program is moving from NRG to PIN and will be anchor program before the fall '06 semester. Bibliographers will work with faculty to move materials as needed from NRG to PIN.
My Schedule: I am determined not to lose vacation this year. While a HL's may take a week or two at a time, I
am taking a day or two at a time on and off this spring. You can always tell if I am "in" by my ICAL and when I am gone, I leave someone in charge - as you know - but am still available by cell phone and email.
As always, keep me posted. Thanks for all the good work you all do, all year long.Julie
