Governance / Public Services Committee Meeting: March 22, 2021

Public Services Committee Meeting: March 22, 2021

Conference Call / Zoom

Members attending: Caitlin Archer-Helke (Saint Xavier University), Krista Bowers Sharpe (Western Illinois University), Aaron Harwig, co-chair (College of DuPage), Chad Kahl (Illinois State University), Cynthia Kremer (Joliet Junior College), Nestor Osorio, co-chair (Northern Illinois University), Cory Stevens (Lake Forest College), Lesley Wolfgang (Saint John's College of Nursing)

Member absent: Jessica Bastian (Illinois Central)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Denise Green

Board Liaisons: Spencer Brayton (Waubonsee Community College), Rob Morrison (National-Louis University)

Decisions

  • Minutes approved with edit.
  • Prepare questions or topics for discussion if needed in upcoming program.
  • A planning meeting will be scheduled for moderator and participants in upcoming The Pandemic Made Me Do It Again program.

Announcements

  • Member Announcements:
    • Osorio (NIU): COVID cases are quite low. School doing a lot of advertising of COVID vaccinations. NIU’s Libraries’ Research and Artistry series has an upcoming program, NIU Women Faculty in STEM Fields: A Celebration of Their Accomplishments. Coming up: Celebration of Hispanic women.
    • Stevens (Lake Forest College): There has been a slight COVID uptick, but not a lot. A lot of DEI programming is happening across disciplines.
    • Bowers Sharpe (Western Illinois University): Campus is having discussions about summer and fall. Library may expand occupancy to 50%, up from 25%. Likely a push to in-person, but this is not in stone. Don’t yet know what this would mean for the library.
    • Kahl (Illinois State University): It looks like in-person will happen in the fall. Library work from home agreements will not be renewed when they expire in June, unless there is a special need. Virtual reference will continue through summer. Currently .8% positivity rate among COVID campus testing.
    • Harwig (College of DuPage): Campus is taking baby steps toward normalcy. There will be 57 face to face sessions in the summer. No word yet on fall. Discussions about the possibility of in-person student services in the fall. Facilities are doing tentative measurements but no concrete word at this time. No word on COVID cases at this time.
    • Kremer (Joliet Junior College): Similar to COD, that they are phasing in more in-person labs over the summer; phase in more staff as well. No decision has yet been made on fall.
    • Archer-Helke (Saint Xavier University): Likely moving toward in-person but no information. The university currently has interim provost and interim dean of arts and sciences.
    • Wolfgang (St. John’s College of Nursing): In-person clinicals happened without trouble. Likely moving toward in-person. Most students have been vaccinated. Otherwise a holding pattern.
  • CARLI Announcements:
    • Consortial access to eBooks through FY21. Crowdfunding proposal for eBook access has been sent out to members.
    • Several professional development programs on the upcoming CARLI calendar.
      • Undergraduate research webinar series is full. (Recordings will be available.)
      • Please check the CARLI calendar for several other upcoming sessions of interest.  
    • Alma/PRIMO discussions are well-attended.
    • This Thursday’s office hours: focus on user records, getting ready for the end of the school year. Tips on identifying graduating students, updating expiration dates, and so on. Should be useful to circulation/access services folks.
    • Upcoming presentation on issues to consider when accepting donated collections.

Tasks Assigned

  • Minutes taken by Caitlin Archer-Helke.
  • Cynthia will reach out to speakers, begin meeting scheduling process.
  • Denise and Elizabeth will set up a Zoom meeting.
  • Chairs will prepare a rough draft of the Committee’s Annual Report for the next meeting.

Discussion

  • Need to remember the Internet Quarterly article.
  • Annual project update: everything turned into the Board of Directors, which went well.
  • Committee Annual Report
    • Will need to turn in summation of annual projects. This will be due in May, likely before the end of the month.
    • Prepare rough draft summary for the April meeting; polish it in or by May.
  • Upcoming program
    • Title set: Oops! The Pandemic Made Me Do It Again: Escape Rooms, Digital Displays and More
    • Available on the CARLI Calendar but registration is not yet open. Will likely open later this week.
    • Projects to be discussed: Take Five Guides (Amy Chellino) and Google Escape Room (Leslie Starasta)
    • Will these two topics provide sufficient time? Will we need to come up with additional discussion points?
    • Time may have been left relatively open; looking at the likelihood of short presentations.
    • Ten-fifteen minutes likely a good time frame.
    • Subgroup meeting to hammer out parameters, prepare ahead of time.
    • Better ways to call on people? Due to instability of Zoom hand-raising, will likely have to continue with PSC in chat.
  • Potential projects
    • Is there a desire for a summer program?
    • Summer is a strange time—many people work ten-month contracts.
    • Wait until the next program, see if there is interest from attendees.
    • Will it be a different environment, post-COVID vaccinations?
    • Will anyone even be around in the summer? Would be worried that there would be no one around if we offered a program in real time.
    • Suggestion of showcasing some of the material already created during the Getting Ready for PRIMO VE program. Material would likely have to be updated; Instruction Committee would need to be involved as they worked with this as well.
    • Suggestion: seek feedback for what attendees would like.
      • Would keep the form vague.
      • No suggested dates.
    • Kudos to all.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Public Services Committee Meetings will meet next on April 26, 2021 from 12:00-1:00pm.

Deadlines: Friday, April 23: Oops! The Pandemic Made Me Do It Again: Escape Rooms, Digital Displays and More