MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOARD

Minutes of the Meeting of May 2, 2003

C. Andrews; N. Burckel; E. Feste; M. Frenn; J. Hossenlopp; W. Kos, Chair; J. Krugler; C. Miller; M. Pate, recording; J. Simms; W. Thorn

1. The Chair, Dr. William Kos, called the meeting to order in the Memorial Library 1st floor conference room at 2:00 pm.

2. The minutes of the Board meeting of December 5 were approved as distributed.

3. Dean Burckel made the following announcements:

   1. Move to Raynor from Memorial and Science libraries: a page showing the moving schedules to Raynor Library beginning with the move of pre-1990 bound periodicals to the Science Library on May 23 was distributed.  Dr. Burckel distributed a sample page from MARQCAT to illustrate how the online catalog will refer users to detailed information regarding the location of those bound periodicals that are moving.  He also described where periodicals would be housed following the renovation of Memorial (pre-1990 to be paged from Science Library storage; post-1990 bound periodicals will be on publicly accessible mobile compact shelving in the lower level of Memorial).

   2. The new online information service, “AskUs! Live” (virtual reference), is available from any Marquette PC desktop.  This is also available by Mac computer set in basic mode.  The distributed green information sheet prompted some discussion.

   3. There will be a general books/serials acquisitions increase of 5.5 % for fiscal 2004.
      
      This announcement occasioned a number of questions regarding the relative status of Marquette Libraries in comparison with those of other institutions.  President Wild has said that he would like Marquette to be known as one of the 3-4 best Catholic Universities in the country.  How can the Library meet that challenge?  It was agreed that status would not necessarily be measured by the size of collections.  Another measure is how close the Library comes to meeting the perceived needs of its faculty and students.  Can we identify the resources that would be needed to meet these needs?  Marquette is a Research I institution by Carnegie classification.  Dr. Burckel pointed out that Marquette is not in the prestigious Association of Research Libraries (ARL), which is composed of over 100 of the largest and most respected academic libraries in the country.  Only three Catholic institutions are ARL members – Georgetown, Notre Dame, and most recently, Boston College.  Members asked what it would take to bring Marquette into this group.  Dr. Burckel agreed to investigate ARL requirements.

   4. Dedication of the Raynor Library will be on Friday, September 19. Dr. Burckel asked if it would be appropriate for at least one faculty member from each department to be in attendance and in academic garb.  All members of the Library Board will be invited and are encouraged to attend the dedication ceremony.

   5. Update on the RoweCom bankruptcy issue:  Dr Burckel reported that many publishers have agreed to “grace” subscriptions that have been included in the RoweCom failure.  Marquette is preparing a list by discipline of the at-risk journals not included in the gracing.  This will allow the Libraries to decide the best means of servicing faculty and students when articles are needed from these journals.

4. Opening the Raynor Library: a number of issues and questions were raised:

   1. The University is going to fund 24 hour/7 days per week open hours during the academic year.  (main floor of Raynor only after 11:45pm)  A concern was expressed that the MU shuttle service should also meet these hours.

   2. What challenges will there be in opening the new library?

      • getting familiar with the building
      • establishing the library as the primary center for academic pursuits
      • establishing the services of the Center for Teaching and Learning

   3. Will there be an evaluation process in place for reviewing the new building and its services?

      • Surveys or points of service questionnaires?
      • What about the Noel-Levitz program?
      • Senior Surveys?
      • Repeat of LibQual?

      The staff is working up a number of approaches in its annual goals and objectives process for evaluating student and faculty response to the Library.  The Libraries Strategic Plan also describes means of evaluation.  This was updated in 2001 and is available on the Library Web site at www.marquette.edu/library/plans/stratplan.html.
      
      

   4. To what degree will the (non-library) services and spaces in the Raynor be available to students?  The meeting and conference spaces in Raynor Library are designed primarily for academically related events (i.e. not for purely social gatherings) and student groups will be welcomed to participate in this use by reserving space through the Dean’s office and through AMU Events services.  Marquette University Student Government (MUSG) is already closely involved with the Library, and MUSG anticipates this as a continuing relationship in keeping students on top of library issues.

   5. A faculty question:  could the Library mount a fund raising program that could be directed at enrichment of collections, programs and services?  The library is already the major goal for construction and endowment in the current university campaign for Raynor Library.  University Advancement will need to be involved in future efforts in this regard.  It should definitely be a priority if Marquette commits to achieving ARL status.

5. The next Board meeting was tentatively scheduled for the fall of 2003.

cc: Dr. Madeline Wake
      Members of the University Library Board
      Faculty Library Representatives       Academic Senate