Minutes

Staff Representatives to Library Assembly
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Room 7121, McKeldin Library

NOTES

Present: Kevin Hammett, Ethel Wilson, Dun-Yee Wong, Jeremy Withnell, Lisa Wheeler (Staff Affairs Committee Rep), Kat Cook, Miranda Johnson, Amrita Kaur, Rebecca Wilson, Jill Fosse (chair)

The meeting had two purposes:
I) To select two or three non-budgetary morale booster activities that would be library-wide and that the Assembly could work on.

II) To decide if the Staff Reps need to meet on a more regular basis as a group.

Outcomes

I. Morale Booster
The group decided that the best morale booster to start with would be a library-wide picnic. This would be combined with a chili cook off competition, and sports activities to make it a real event to look forward to. It would be a potluck event, with sign up sheets on Libi to make a balanced supply of food and equipment, and would be open to family members, as long as those bringing family members also contributed to the supplies.

The group decided it would be responsible for organizing this event
a) to give staff representatives more visibility in the Libraries and the Assembly;
b) because this is an all-staff-and-faculty event and if organized by non-faculty, might encourage participation by those members of staff who feel that Library Assembly is nothing to do with them.

A date for the event is yet to be decided. This year the group leans toward the end of July/beginning of August, to give sufficient lead time for organizing. In future years, early June is seen as a better option, as the weather will not be so hot. The group intends to make full use of Libi to advertise the event and be the host for signup sheets.

It is tentatively agreed that a Friday, beginning at 4 p.m., would be a good time, if we can have the event during a time when the Libraries close at 5, so that all staff who are here would have the opportunity of participating as soon as possible.

Although this is only one event, not the two or three for Assembly to work on, it does incorporate three suggested activities (picnic, chili, sports) from the Morale Boosters list and the group also thought that one big activity is enough to start with. It was also agreed that morale boosting events must change every so often or they become routine and boring. Thus the picnic may not last more than three or four years (if it is a success the first time) and then a new activity should be tried.

II. More meetings
Several members of the group said they need more orientation on what Library Assembly is, what the acronyms are, and what the work covers, so that their participation can be more meaningful.

The question arose about the relationship between Staff Affairs Committee (SAC) and the staff representatives of Library Assembly (LA). SAC is actively working on policies that affect staff but not all its members have a vote in LA. The staff reps do not as yet have a real role as a group but do all have a vote. It seems that the eventual logical progression may be to have all the reps be full members of, or constitute in entirety, SAC.

There was a proposal to have a meeting of non-faculty staff to introduce the group as their reps to whom they can bring topics to lay before LA. However, since the reps aren't fully clear on who they are and what they are and how they fit with SAC, it was felt. that such a meeting would be premature and only add to non-faculty staff's confusion. As a stop-gap measure, perhaps listing the reps (with pictures?) on Libi might go some way to make the reps more visible.

The group decided that at present, it will only be calling further meetings to organize the picnic. As its role becomes clearer, more formal meetings may become appropriate in the future.

III. New Business
Miranda Johnson agreed to act as Webmaster for the group for the coming year.