As usual there is much to tell here at ACC ....
Updates on LS Activities include:
Facilities
CYP: We reviewed a number of floorplans and have now seen the final plan. Library and Media space are about 15% smaller, but the entire building is 15% smaller. Managers are now working on the final FF & E list (furniture, fixtures and equipment) and on three scenarios for materials costs/funding needed. Our initial concerns (ex. lack of staff space, outdoor recreation areas contiguous to library study space) have now been addressed to our satisfaction and we are pleased with the plans to date.
SAC: Again, the changes to the outside/front of the SAC campus did not affect inside square footage or design. I turned in the spreadsheet with the LS needs for the bond/project into Facilities early in January. It included bond money requests, however, we also have a current spreadsheet ready to go for operating money requests for SAC.
RGC: As I stated in February, to our knowledge nothing has happened on the RGC project.
RVS: As I stated in February, to our knowledge nothing else has happened on any RVS LS issues, that is, there are currently no discussions for any internal remodel.
EVC: There is no EVC Open House scheduled for the new HS building and for our new library space.
Round Rock Higher Education Center: ACC Library Services has been meeting regularly with the Texas State library staff for planning for the library area at the RRHE Center. Classes are scheduled to begin September '05. Luanne Preston is the ACC contact/manager of this project. ACC will offer classes in the daytime and some in the evening. We now know what classes that ACC is offering and we are planning for reserves, web access and information literacy. We shouldn't forget that the library area is VERY small, only slightly larger than a classroom, has no shelving planned and only computer workstations.
Questions they are working on include:
What is their service plan?
How many shelves (in back of the circ desk/staff work desk) will ACC have access to?
There are no "study” tables…only pc workstation tables, how many are being purchased?
What will the hours of service be?
We now have a staffing plan and job descriptions. Leslie Navarro is the ACC LS manager involved and Texas State is hiring (with Leslie on the committee) a full time librarian and a higher level library assistant, comparable to our principal level.
Again, we will close our Round Rock evening ACC library services site in August of '05. We will not hire staff to work at RRHEC (as I stated in earlier emails) and are designing a training plan for TSU staff to begin mid summer.
AVP's Position
Two rounds of applicants did not yield candidates to interview. Richard will continue in this role at this point in time and is still doing a great job doing the bulk of Ron's job. For the rest of this year - until August of '05 - I will continue to serve on several committees for the AVP position as well.
Committees I serve on for the AVP's position include:
ACC's Quality Initiatives Committee - We coordinate the college's collegewide and campus-based customer service surveys.
ACC Professional Development Committee - I chair this one and we support the faculty and staff professional development initiatives, Terry and Susan's group.
ACC ID Committee - I am a member. Our goal is to determine the various scenarios possible for upgrading ACC's ID's. We have submitted a proposal for the Master Plan.
Other committees and projects I am still working on include:
Transfer Data Committee - I am a member - primarily in my capacity as the Dean in charge of Honors and we meet to determine data needs for tracking student information between and among institutions to better meet the needs of our students.
IRT Administrative Leadership Team - I am a member and we meet about every three weeks or so. We're reviewing our charge/mission. Right now it is basically an information exchange with college administrators.
Institutional Planning Committee - I am a member. This year we are working on the Master Plan and U-Lead.
IRT Cluster - I am a member and it is a group of managers who work together on strategic planning information for the college's plan and on outcomes/U-Leads.
Other projects:
-We are awaiting data from a student (SGA) survey to complete our LS q & a for student and faculty tech information.
-A LLT subgroup is preparing information on LS classified staff levels, etc. for HR. ACC managers can't submit PAR's two years in a row...but these positions will be assessed in the classified level study which includes a market analysis.
-I completed a document for OIE and Steve Kinslow on our library faculty position needs for the next two years. We should know in the next few months about the possibility of new positions.
-I'm working on a document that has questions (no answers) for the Student Services AVP to answer on student dress codes. (ongoing)
-We have submitted a request to the collegewide technology committee to justify putting public service laptops back in to the collegewide replacement plan (other faculty and staff laptops were in the plan but were removed.)
-LLT is now assessing all LS administrative rules for any needed revisions/updates.
-LLT submitted our needs in terms of ACC general help desk kinds of information. We will get back scripts soon.
-There is a Master Plan initiative for college-wide authentication.
-I am hopeful that the college will begin to address college/higher ed issues regarding the Patriot Act.
-CIL met and have chosen our IL focus group for marketing. We are choosing focus group dates and should meet with them by the second week of May.
-We are hard at work on legislative issues...our big goal is to save TexShare databases - both in number and for such low cost.
If you have any issues you want me to comment on, please let me know and I will add to this blog or create a new one.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
A belated welcome to Spring '05....
Updates on LS Activities include:
Facilities
CYP: I received and reviewed a preliminary floorplan from the Cypress Campus Expansion project. Richard Smith and I identified issues and met with architects to review our concerns. The space is around 8,300 square feet and the contiguous areas seem to work, that is media, open access computing, etc. are where they need to be. The issues we shared with architects include no staff space identified, some areas were not the correct size and the space immediately outside the library's primary vista was a food/recreation area and wouldn't work in that location. The architects are changing the areas as we requested, firming up the linear feet available for library and media shelving and will return the floor plan to us in the next few weeks. At that time LS and ITDL will work with respective managers on the available space, furniture needs, hardware and software, staffing requests, etc. This information will then be put in both the Master Planning and the Operating Budget process.
SAC: The changes to the outside/front of the SAC campus were not to affect inside square footage or design. I turned in the spreadsheet with the LS needs for the bond/project into Facilities two weeks ago. It includes bond money requests, however, we also have a current spreadsheet ready to go for operating money requests for SAC.
RGC: To our knowledge nothing has happened on the RGC project.
RVS: To our knowledge nothing else has happened on any RVS LS issues, that is, we reorganized books, but there are currently no discussions for any internal remodel.
EVC: The EVC Open House for the new HS building and for our new library space, will be on Friday, April 15, 11:30 to 1:30. We will send out additional invitations to this event nearer to this day.
Staffing
We've had a number of people leave IRT, several out on reduced work/FMLA and our true loss of Donna Davis, our Riverside Adjunct. I appreciate your kindness and patience at this time as we try to hire and train new staff, assist IRT as needed and adjust and recoup from our losses.
Reminders....
Yeah, I know we all know these things, but bear with me...
1. There is to be no studying at public service desk..either workstudy studying or staff studying or leisure reading of newspapers or novels, etc. If you need work to do while at the desk, we will point you to web tutorials for learning new things, etc.
2. There is to be no overt food and drink at public service reference or circulation desks. Your breakfast, lunch and dinner breaks need to be away from public service areas and obviously either outside work time or if during the work day, during your alloted time. Snacks are NOT to be eaten or be in plain view at circ or ref. Spilled drinks, sticky fingers, food such as breakfast tacos, muffins, sandwiches, drinks (especially without lids!!!) are not to be in public service work areas.
3. Need time off? Schedule as much in advance as possible...have an emergency? contact your supervisor as instructed. There isn't a single "unavailable" supervisor as they should be identified to location by ICAL, whiteboard or schedule posted AND by cell phone. If you don't know where your manager is, you should.
Have questions? Well, my schedule is on my ICAL and I am always on cell at 415-1805.
Facilities
CYP: I received and reviewed a preliminary floorplan from the Cypress Campus Expansion project. Richard Smith and I identified issues and met with architects to review our concerns. The space is around 8,300 square feet and the contiguous areas seem to work, that is media, open access computing, etc. are where they need to be. The issues we shared with architects include no staff space identified, some areas were not the correct size and the space immediately outside the library's primary vista was a food/recreation area and wouldn't work in that location. The architects are changing the areas as we requested, firming up the linear feet available for library and media shelving and will return the floor plan to us in the next few weeks. At that time LS and ITDL will work with respective managers on the available space, furniture needs, hardware and software, staffing requests, etc. This information will then be put in both the Master Planning and the Operating Budget process.
SAC: The changes to the outside/front of the SAC campus were not to affect inside square footage or design. I turned in the spreadsheet with the LS needs for the bond/project into Facilities two weeks ago. It includes bond money requests, however, we also have a current spreadsheet ready to go for operating money requests for SAC.
RGC: To our knowledge nothing has happened on the RGC project.
RVS: To our knowledge nothing else has happened on any RVS LS issues, that is, we reorganized books, but there are currently no discussions for any internal remodel.
EVC: The EVC Open House for the new HS building and for our new library space, will be on Friday, April 15, 11:30 to 1:30. We will send out additional invitations to this event nearer to this day.
Staffing
We've had a number of people leave IRT, several out on reduced work/FMLA and our true loss of Donna Davis, our Riverside Adjunct. I appreciate your kindness and patience at this time as we try to hire and train new staff, assist IRT as needed and adjust and recoup from our losses.
Reminders....
Yeah, I know we all know these things, but bear with me...
1. There is to be no studying at public service desk..either workstudy studying or staff studying or leisure reading of newspapers or novels, etc. If you need work to do while at the desk, we will point you to web tutorials for learning new things, etc.
2. There is to be no overt food and drink at public service reference or circulation desks. Your breakfast, lunch and dinner breaks need to be away from public service areas and obviously either outside work time or if during the work day, during your alloted time. Snacks are NOT to be eaten or be in plain view at circ or ref. Spilled drinks, sticky fingers, food such as breakfast tacos, muffins, sandwiches, drinks (especially without lids!!!) are not to be in public service work areas.
3. Need time off? Schedule as much in advance as possible...have an emergency? contact your supervisor as instructed. There isn't a single "unavailable" supervisor as they should be identified to location by ICAL, whiteboard or schedule posted AND by cell phone. If you don't know where your manager is, you should.
Have questions? Well, my schedule is on my ICAL and I am always on cell at 415-1805.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Blog Update
We've all been busy and I keep thinking, "when this gets resolved, I'll post" or "when we finish this, I'll post" but I don't think anything is resolved or finished YET, so I'm going to post to this anyway.
South Austin Campus
What I know/what I think is accurate, is:
South Austin Campus
What I know/what I think is accurate, is:
- There is going to be a campus on the current Stassney/Manchacha corner.
- Since the original designs for the campus and library are completely out the window, the current/latest design is a "shoebox" or rectangle.
- The library is on the second floor and we got back some of the space originally cut so it should be a little over 9,100 square feet.
- The library/IRT floorplan is "L" shaped.
- No patio, lots of windows.
- We are finishing a spreadsheet that outlines furniture/tech needed with estimated $'s.
- We are finishing three cost scenarios for resources that include 3/4 full, 1/2 full, 1/3 full.
Cypress Campus - New Campus
There are no floor plans yet, although Richard and I have seen a rough schematic of what the footprint of the campus will be. We - at this time - are slated to be in the new building, which is great. Square footage - so far- has us at a little less than 8,500 square feet. The style of the campus is sort of "craft." The first rough sketches were good looking. Can't wait to see a floorplan.
LS Dean Information
We have redone the Dean's information page (second level linked from the LS Staff Directory page under my name) as stated earlier. LLT agenda's and minutes will be linked off the page as well as the Blog. We're also redoing the LS Internal Dean's page and linking my Staff Directory page to that as well.
As you want to, review LLT agendas (we usually send them out a few days before LLT meetings) and the minutes in the weeks following. You should read these both and work with library managers to ask questions/get answers as needed.
Round Rock Higher Education Center
ACC departments are planning for the RRHE Center right now including which classes will be offered and classes should be scheduled to begin September '05. Luanne Preston is the ACC contact/manager of this project. ACC will offer classes in the daytime and some in the evening. As soon as our ACC Deans let us know what classes they will offer, we will move to establish plans for reserves, etc.
We have a list of what we think we need in general, but more along the lines of "if there are ACC English Comp classes, we need..." kind of content. I have sent Joan Heath, Director of Library Services at Texas State, a set of questions on their space at the Center. It is VERY small, only slightly larger than a classroom, has no shelving planned and only computer workstations. As soon as I get answers to the questions below, I will put together an email to send to our ACC Deans on services (or the lack thereof) offered.
Questions posed to Joan/TSU include:
- What is their service plan?
- Will we have access to brochure racks to post ACC Library Services information?
- How many shelves (in back of the circ desk/staff work desk) will TS have and where exactly will they be located?
- The floor plan doesn't indicate that there are any "study” tables…only pc workstation tables, please clarify.
- What will the hours of service be?
- What is your staffing plan…i.e. you’ve said you will have a full time librarian…will you also hire hourly libs to fill in the hours when you are open but no librarian is there?
- What is the/are the job description(s) for your staff there? I’m assuming they will be different as this is a new setup/design for you.
We will close our Round Rock evening ACC library services site in August of '05. We will not hire staff to work at RRHEC (as I stated in earlier emails) but will work with the TSU staff for training to meet our ACC RRHEC student's information literacy needs.
Eastview Library Renovation
We're on schedule with this renovation. Since the HS Building II project had cost overruns, we are getting the classroom contiguous to us (thank you, Tyra!) but the walls are not being completely knocked down. Instead, they are putting in "openings" and refinishing the classroom. We are currently buying the shelving and the remaining HS materials will move from RVS to EVC over the winter holiday break.
The HS Building II project does have some money to buy LS some additional furniture (tables and chairs and reconfiguring carrells) to add seating.
Emerson
We are not buying the Emerson property.
Rio Grande Campus
The company assessing student, community and faculty input has completed their project and has submitted a document to the administration. It has generated a great deal of discussion over cost of the parking, others costs, etc. I have no specifics, but will pass them along when I do.
San Marcos
I don't know anything more.
AVP's Position
The first round of applicants were reviewed and the search was reopened. The position description was rewritten and taken to Educause and to the League for Innovation conferences. Al Purcel, Interview Committee member, rewrote the interview questions to match the new job description. I am hopeful we will have applicants and interview in the spring. Meanwhile, Richard is doing a great job doing the bulk of Ron's job. I am serving on several committees for the AVP position as well.
Committees I serve on for the AVP's position include:
ACC's Quality Initiatives Committee - I chair this one and we are redoing the college's collegewide and campus-based customer service surveys.
ACC Professional Development Committee - I chair this one and we support the faculty and staff professional development initiatives, Terry and Susan's group.
ACC ID Committee - I am a member and we are meeting to determine the various scenarios possible for upgrading ACC's ID's.
I know you're thinking, yes, but what does she DO all day? Other committees and projects I am on/working on:
Transfer Data Committee - I am a member - primarily in my capacity as the Dean in charge of Honors and we meet to determine data needs for tracking student information between and among institutions to better meet the needs of our students.
Sabbatical Committee - I am a member and we meet once a year to review applications.
Administrative Leadership Team - I am a member and we meet about every three weeks or so. We're reviewing our charge/mission. Right now it is basically an information exchange with college administrators.
Institutional Planning Committee - I am a member. Last year we concentrated on the Strategic Plan, we are currently reviewing what we will be doing as well.
IRT Cluster - I am a member and it is a group of managers who work together on strategic planning information for the college's plan and on outcomes/U-Leads.
Other projects:
-I'm drafting a LS tech q & a for student and faculty information.
-A LLT subgroup is preparing information on LS classified staff levels, etc. for HR
-I'm preparing a document for Richard Smith (and the rest of the ACC administration) on our library faculty position needs.
-I'm working on a document that has questions (no answers) for the Student Services AVP to answer on student dress codes.
-I'm working on a document that will go to the collegewide technology committee to request and justify putting public service laptops back in to the collegewide replacement plan (other faculty and staff laptops were in the plan but were removed.)
-I am preparing professional development information for a committee (they haven't ever been called together, but I am pushing for it to meet) to review $'s for collegewide professional development guidelines.
-As soon as Cary returns we will begin to aggressively assess all LS administrative rules to be updated.
-Someone should soon start to work on the plan to consolidate ACC help desk kinds of information and we will work with them when they do.
-A hold has been put on the more costly plan (that was unfunded in the Strategic Plan) to provide college-wide authentication, but IT is still working on what might work in the interim with no- or low-cost software.
-I'm still pushing for the college to address our issues regarding the Patriot Act.
-I will be meeting with teams to discuss PR ideas and have already gotten a great set of ideas from CIL on what we could do to market LS IL.
A final note. We have several illnesses and serious health problems of ACC LS employees. Our heartfelt concerns go out to all staff who are in this situation. This increases the anxiety level of all of us as we worry about our friends and colleagues and adjust our schedules for the benefit of the group. Thank you for your patience and support at this time. We're all in this together and many of us are rounding our quarter of a century mark together and some of us our third decade working together! There isn't a finer group of people or a better staff anywhere. Thanks for all you do.
If you have any questions, you know where I am and how to reach me.
Monday, October 11, 2004
What's New?
Well, I wish I had definite information about ANYthing these days. What's happened and why?
The Facilities Director/AVP, Bronson Dorsey has left the college. There were issues surrounding EVC building 2 and cost overruns...absolutely no impropriety here, but the project is over budget. I am sorry to see him go as he has been very supportive of us. Current facilities issues include:
-SAC floorplans are back to the drawing board and aren't good yet...big steps backwards and we're trying to recoup...not square footage but arrangement...no timeline yet
-EVC is not clear...the project overruns may have an impact on our last project, but we don't know...we're working on it
-RGC -nothing new
-CYP - we're down to 8,450 square feet from the original 9,100 proposed...still the largest space and in the new building...things look good right now...
-Emerson - no news....no one is talking about a great deal
-San Marcos - all I know is what I read in the paper and my guess is you read it to...a gift of 30+ acres to us and possibly the proviso that we build on it within two years....more discussion after I hear more
-Round Rock - Leslie and I are working on a document on what we need. Although it was announced in a meeting that courses had been decided on, no one has responded to either Richard or me about what courses they ARE....we're working on it...
On a community note...we still need volunteers at the Book Festival..please consider doing so...and to the www.texasbookfestival.org and sign up...great authors this year
The Facilities Director/AVP, Bronson Dorsey has left the college. There were issues surrounding EVC building 2 and cost overruns...absolutely no impropriety here, but the project is over budget. I am sorry to see him go as he has been very supportive of us. Current facilities issues include:
-SAC floorplans are back to the drawing board and aren't good yet...big steps backwards and we're trying to recoup...not square footage but arrangement...no timeline yet
-EVC is not clear...the project overruns may have an impact on our last project, but we don't know...we're working on it
-RGC -nothing new
-CYP - we're down to 8,450 square feet from the original 9,100 proposed...still the largest space and in the new building...things look good right now...
-Emerson - no news....no one is talking about a great deal
-San Marcos - all I know is what I read in the paper and my guess is you read it to...a gift of 30+ acres to us and possibly the proviso that we build on it within two years....more discussion after I hear more
-Round Rock - Leslie and I are working on a document on what we need. Although it was announced in a meeting that courses had been decided on, no one has responded to either Richard or me about what courses they ARE....we're working on it...
On a community note...we still need volunteers at the Book Festival..please consider doing so...and to the www.texasbookfestival.org and sign up...great authors this year
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Dean's Information -- ACC Library Services
Dean's Information -- ACC Library Services
Although my ultimate goal is to update once every two weeks and then once a week, here is your September Update of the information posted in August plus a little more.
UPDATE on "Just some of the information we need to focus on this year includes:"
Facilities issues:
South Austin
Gee, I wish I could tell you something meaningful here. My review of the latest SAC plans (which Richard and Bill and I look at and then take to managers and then bring to meetings such as all-librarians, etc.) revealed huge and bad changes. My guess is (which was supported in Project Manager discussions) that in trying to get the costs of the project down, they gave the plan to someone not familiar with our program discussions and this architect was told to "make it fit." I did a huge assessment of each IRT section and then passed it to Richard for him to add his comments from his perspective. We then passed this master list along to the ACC Project Manager, Bill who is good and understands our needs and issues.
Along with our section by section comments, I asked for our original architect to be back on board (Chad from PSP) and for the major overhaul. Bill indicated we might get a new plan either this week or next....so keep in mind we went from one okay plan to one better plan to one good plan to one awful plan. I await their comments....what is different about the site?
-no more patios anywhere on the campus as they are so expensive
-we have restored space BACK from the adjunct faculty member pod so back to the original better amount of square feet
-no more wings...most of the campus is a larger/box building connected to another -box/connected to the parking garage
-the community committee voted NOT to have the music focus and I don't know where that vote will go/whether or not music will now stay at NRG for the time being
-the community committee did not want visual communications design unless it is a basic workforce (participants can get jobs after they take the courses) offering. Depending on the numbers then, it may or may not go. What's left you say? General Education, for sure.
Cypress
We've had two meetings and a third one this week. Right now the square footage for us is estimated to be at 8,800, but we haven't met with them to specifically say what we need. The questions for us will include:
-is the 8,800 identified in the draft program (which ACC facilities put together) have all the correct space estimated together? That is, how much space is for ITDL and is it in the 8,800 amount?
-will IRT space be in the main area/current building?or in the new building?
-is this the space we'll get? more? less?
The new building will be 100k but only 67k assignable square footage.
RGC
We had one very good meeting with the 3-D firm who has been hired to get a sense of how the building might be re-done. I thought they did a wonderful job of moving the group along. There are two town hall meetings planned to get community input for this week. RGC staff will be attending both and we'll gather information on what the community thinks and report back.
Emerson
I don't have a clue. The president explained in our Administrative Leadership Team (ALT)meeting on this last Monday that no decisions have been made because we needed a full financial picture. That is, the site w/buildings was originally estimated at 12million but the remodel would add a great deal more. Emerson will be discussed this fall.
San Marcos
There is MUCH discussion on this because the gift of land/28 acres also had a you-must-build-in-two-years-clause. We asked the president to discuss this in the next ALT meeting. Obviously the promise of this location would go a long way to bringing in a San Marcos positive vote to join the ACC district, however, it would greatly alter our planning by adding a new location to plan for.
Del Valle
Well, they voted to come in the District as we all know. More later on how we will connect further with the community as they are already well connected with Riverside.
Round Rock Higher Education Center
Who knows? There is a small classroom-sized room with computers only and no shelving, which they have indicated is the library. Right now it isn't clear if there are any copiers in the building! I am going to be speaking with Joan Heath this week about what Texas State is currently doing
for the library. She is great to work with and knows we won't be - to our knowledge at this time - hiring hourly, etc. We are all on board to do joint training...we still need to discuss a little shelving for reserves, ITV tapes, etc. More later.
Eastview
The last (we hope) of the construction will begin after the last week of the fall term. We have had several meetings to firm up:
-shelving being purchased for new EVC space for HS materials coming over from RVS
-floorplans that will make maximum room for new seating
-seating/furniture that Facilities will be buying for us
RVS
We have not started meeting with RVS staff to discuss changes. That will happen early in October with Margaret and me and the staff.
Master Planning - College-wide
I serve on the Institutional Planning Committee. We have asked for a college-wide planning discussion to pull together information on:
-the current Master Plan/update
-the planned rfp that the college is putting out for a geographic visioning process for a 2020 projected look at Central Texas/ACC's current area/future/proposed areas
-the academic master plan that Donetta's academic deans will be working on
Planning LS
CDC is working on planning for a little more (7,500) database money in '05
CDC is creating scenarios for how we might operate given various TexShare funding scenarios
Managers are looking at MP initiatives that we asked for/is there any element we can begin on without funding and we are looking at consequences of no funding
Administration
We have been working closely with the new president in general and on behalf of Library Services. So far so good! He has heard our spiel about resources and services (to the Foundation) and has had a tour of all ls areas. He has received an email for me offering research and search services for our information. He will be adding in our LS information for Board members offering them our help as needed as well. Leslie has worked with him through TACHE as well.
New AVP of IRT
The job description was completed and the job was posted several weeks ago. Richard and I met to propose committee membership and Richard will be taking those names to Steve this next week.
Ongoing is still:
working with HR to assess levels of all Library Assistants and other Technical Services staff (meetings have not started yet...project led by Jeanette and Cherry)
assessing all LS administrative rules to be updated (Cary is leading this)
working with IT to plan for/consolidate help desk kinds of information
working with IT to provide college-wide authentication (we're trying to go forward with as much as we can as we didn't receive any collegewide funding
Other issues:
Patriot Act - ongoing...a collegewide committee is addressing this and we're very involved
Updating LS/patron scenarios for patron/staff interactions (haven't done much on this, some will be driven by the Patriot Act content)
Assisting in ACC's move to Hybrid courses (LS IL, etc.) ....haven't started
Updating weeding processes/training ....haven't started
iii training fall/mid year ...Toma and Cary will be working on this
an even more aggressive integration of IL into ACC college life (example: the debate over the InfoGame that has taken place on the faculty list and subsequent emails on this)
We are dispersing the Cypress laptops as the wireless is not able to work anywhere at CYP and this won't be tackled until the new facilities are designed. After reviewing stats the LLT decided that 2 will go to EVC and the rest and the cart to NRG.
Although my ultimate goal is to update once every two weeks and then once a week, here is your September Update of the information posted in August plus a little more.
UPDATE on "Just some of the information we need to focus on this year includes:"
Facilities issues:
South Austin
Gee, I wish I could tell you something meaningful here. My review of the latest SAC plans (which Richard and Bill and I look at and then take to managers and then bring to meetings such as all-librarians, etc.) revealed huge and bad changes. My guess is (which was supported in Project Manager discussions) that in trying to get the costs of the project down, they gave the plan to someone not familiar with our program discussions and this architect was told to "make it fit." I did a huge assessment of each IRT section and then passed it to Richard for him to add his comments from his perspective. We then passed this master list along to the ACC Project Manager, Bill who is good and understands our needs and issues.
Along with our section by section comments, I asked for our original architect to be back on board (Chad from PSP) and for the major overhaul. Bill indicated we might get a new plan either this week or next....so keep in mind we went from one okay plan to one better plan to one good plan to one awful plan. I await their comments....what is different about the site?
-no more patios anywhere on the campus as they are so expensive
-we have restored space BACK from the adjunct faculty member pod so back to the original better amount of square feet
-no more wings...most of the campus is a larger/box building connected to another -box/connected to the parking garage
-the community committee voted NOT to have the music focus and I don't know where that vote will go/whether or not music will now stay at NRG for the time being
-the community committee did not want visual communications design unless it is a basic workforce (participants can get jobs after they take the courses) offering. Depending on the numbers then, it may or may not go. What's left you say? General Education, for sure.
Cypress
We've had two meetings and a third one this week. Right now the square footage for us is estimated to be at 8,800, but we haven't met with them to specifically say what we need. The questions for us will include:
-is the 8,800 identified in the draft program (which ACC facilities put together) have all the correct space estimated together? That is, how much space is for ITDL and is it in the 8,800 amount?
-will IRT space be in the main area/current building?or in the new building?
-is this the space we'll get? more? less?
The new building will be 100k but only 67k assignable square footage.
RGC
We had one very good meeting with the 3-D firm who has been hired to get a sense of how the building might be re-done. I thought they did a wonderful job of moving the group along. There are two town hall meetings planned to get community input for this week. RGC staff will be attending both and we'll gather information on what the community thinks and report back.
Emerson
I don't have a clue. The president explained in our Administrative Leadership Team (ALT)meeting on this last Monday that no decisions have been made because we needed a full financial picture. That is, the site w/buildings was originally estimated at 12million but the remodel would add a great deal more. Emerson will be discussed this fall.
San Marcos
There is MUCH discussion on this because the gift of land/28 acres also had a you-must-build-in-two-years-clause. We asked the president to discuss this in the next ALT meeting. Obviously the promise of this location would go a long way to bringing in a San Marcos positive vote to join the ACC district, however, it would greatly alter our planning by adding a new location to plan for.
Del Valle
Well, they voted to come in the District as we all know. More later on how we will connect further with the community as they are already well connected with Riverside.
Round Rock Higher Education Center
Who knows? There is a small classroom-sized room with computers only and no shelving, which they have indicated is the library. Right now it isn't clear if there are any copiers in the building! I am going to be speaking with Joan Heath this week about what Texas State is currently doing
for the library. She is great to work with and knows we won't be - to our knowledge at this time - hiring hourly, etc. We are all on board to do joint training...we still need to discuss a little shelving for reserves, ITV tapes, etc. More later.
Eastview
The last (we hope) of the construction will begin after the last week of the fall term. We have had several meetings to firm up:
-shelving being purchased for new EVC space for HS materials coming over from RVS
-floorplans that will make maximum room for new seating
-seating/furniture that Facilities will be buying for us
RVS
We have not started meeting with RVS staff to discuss changes. That will happen early in October with Margaret and me and the staff.
Master Planning - College-wide
I serve on the Institutional Planning Committee. We have asked for a college-wide planning discussion to pull together information on:
-the current Master Plan/update
-the planned rfp that the college is putting out for a geographic visioning process for a 2020 projected look at Central Texas/ACC's current area/future/proposed areas
-the academic master plan that Donetta's academic deans will be working on
Planning LS
CDC is working on planning for a little more (7,500) database money in '05
CDC is creating scenarios for how we might operate given various TexShare funding scenarios
Managers are looking at MP initiatives that we asked for/is there any element we can begin on without funding and we are looking at consequences of no funding
Administration
We have been working closely with the new president in general and on behalf of Library Services. So far so good! He has heard our spiel about resources and services (to the Foundation) and has had a tour of all ls areas. He has received an email for me offering research and search services for our information. He will be adding in our LS information for Board members offering them our help as needed as well. Leslie has worked with him through TACHE as well.
New AVP of IRT
The job description was completed and the job was posted several weeks ago. Richard and I met to propose committee membership and Richard will be taking those names to Steve this next week.
Ongoing is still:
working with HR to assess levels of all Library Assistants and other Technical Services staff (meetings have not started yet...project led by Jeanette and Cherry)
assessing all LS administrative rules to be updated (Cary is leading this)
working with IT to plan for/consolidate help desk kinds of information
working with IT to provide college-wide authentication (we're trying to go forward with as much as we can as we didn't receive any collegewide funding
Other issues:
Patriot Act - ongoing...a collegewide committee is addressing this and we're very involved
Updating LS/patron scenarios for patron/staff interactions (haven't done much on this, some will be driven by the Patriot Act content)
Assisting in ACC's move to Hybrid courses (LS IL, etc.) ....haven't started
Updating weeding processes/training ....haven't started
iii training fall/mid year ...Toma and Cary will be working on this
an even more aggressive integration of IL into ACC college life (example: the debate over the InfoGame that has taken place on the faculty list and subsequent emails on this)
We are dispersing the Cypress laptops as the wireless is not able to work anywhere at CYP and this won't be tackled until the new facilities are designed. After reviewing stats the LLT decided that 2 will go to EVC and the rest and the cart to NRG.
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