After several delays, the Blog is now located on a new server home in Sys.  During this time we’ve seen developments to the following initiatives:

(1)  At Michele’s request and on behalf of the Domestic Approval Plan Review Committee, I’m working to set meetings between the Blackwell reps and library staff over the next three months. Blackwell’s is set to become our new domestic approval vendor starting July 1, 2008. Here’s the working dates arranged so far:

-On March 25th, John Laraway will meet with several library staff in small groups to discuss the tech services/workflow review and profiling stages that are part of setting up a new approval plan.

-During the week of April 14^th – 17^th, Blackwell’s will send John Laraway & Robin Champieux, Consultative Services Specialist, to examine ordering and processing workflows, and if necessary, make recommendations to better implement their services. John & Robin will visit the libraries for a 3 – 4 day period and will work primarily with staff in the Acquisitions, CM Support, and Cataloging areas.

-During the week of May 5^th – 9^th, the four-person team of John Laraway, Robin Champieux, Kim Anderson, and Carol Hausauer will spend approximately 3 – 5 days working with selectors to build approval plan profiles and provide preliminary training.

(2)  The Search Committee for the vacant position of Electronic Resources Librarian (members: Jason Fleming, Chair; Jay Wiese; Matt Loving; and Laura Jordan) has identified three top candidates from the pool, conducted phone interviews, and submitted a proposed interview schedule. The slate of three candidates and the proposed interview schedule must be approved by the Library Directors. If given the ok, the committee is hopeful the three candidates can be brought in for interviews during the month of April.

(3)  The Library’s Reorganization has passed the early stage of getting official clearance – last week 66% of the library staff and faculty voted on whether to accept or not accept Dean Russell’s newest proposed reorg chart. A majority voted in favor of acceptance; and if the Library Faculty Assembly also agrees, the proposed reorg chart will be presented to the University Faculty Assembly for vote. On the new org chart the CM Support Unit is marked to be incorporated into our dept. – whether this CM unit is kept as a separate entity or is completely/partly absorbed into the existing dept. structure remains unclear.

Until next time, Steve 

Dean Russell has asked attendees of the Council to provide a summary to their departments or units of the more important agenda items discussed at each meeting. The last Council meeting was this past Thurs. (2/28) and included the following:

1) Domestic Approval Plan Committee report: Peter McKay, with minor assistance from Michele & Steve, gave a thorough summary of the report and recommendation the committee submitted to the Directors a few weeks ago. The committee began work last June to review the current approval plan and compare it to other vendor’s plans; the committee was then supposed to make a recommendation on which vendor and plan is the best choice for the UF Libraries. The committee composed a criteria chart that compared the three vendors selected for review; interviewed other librarians using the three vendors; and brought in each vendor for extended vendor presentations highlighting their plans and services. The committee recommended Blackwell’s for a number of reasons – including great customer service and technical support, in-depth profiling, and a smart new database system using the Endeca front-end platform. For more details on the committee and its charge, visit their web site: http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/committees/dap/index.htm

2. Library Mail: the UF Libraries have forged a new bargain with the campus USPS mail staff to have the mail dropped off directly at each building or site – in other words, it won’t go through Facilities first. This will not affect campus mail/courier service from library to library, just the regular mail. More information on this will be forthcoming after Rob Roberts meets with staff.

3. Budget Crisis: the materials budget is estimated to have a shortfall of approx. 400-475K, most of which was caused by the budget recall of last year that hit the libraries for over $300,000. The A & L managers and staff are already taking steps to meet the cuts that will need to be made going into next Fiscal Year, as another cut of approx. 800K is expected. Stay tuned.

4. Reorg: no new news. The two committees are still doing their things: the one with the long, long name of “Joint Administration and Faculty Assembly Committee on University Library Reorganization,” is still meeting all the time it seems. For updates on their progress read Raimonda’s blog entries. The other committee - the Library Faculty Assembly - is continuing to meet to discuss issues affecting the faculty (such as ‘tenure home’) and will be the first group to hear the final report produced by the ”Joint Admin. & Faculty Assembly..” before it goes before the University Faculty Senate.