Promotion to Librarian II with Tenure

We have received word from the Provost that he has approved the promotion and tenure of our candidates this year effective July 1, 2009 subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees at their June meeting. Congratulations to our colleagues!

• Jan Carver, promotion to Librarian II with tenure
• Kazuko Hioki, promotion to Librarian II with tenure

Promotion to Librarian III

I’m pleased to report that two of our librarians – Sarah Glassmeyer and Deirdre Scaggs – have been promoted to Librarian III effective July 1, 2009, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees. Promotion from Librarian IV to Librarian III is the first step in our promotion and tenure process. Congratulations Sarah and Deirdre!

Contract Renewal

Earlier this academic year, we concluded the annual contract renewal process for our untenured librarians. The contracts of the following librarians were renewed.

Jennifer Bartlett
Doug Boyd
Michelle Cosby
Ryan Valentin
Susan Foster-Harper
Karen Nuckolls
Susan Smith

Libraries' Annual Diversity Report

With the help of Reinette Jones and the Diversity Committee, I have submitted the Libraries’ annual Diversity Report to the University. That reports (and those for the past few years) are on the Libraries’ SharePoint site for the Office of the Dean in the Diversity folder. Highlights include:

• Sponsorship of the National Diversity in Libraries Conference in October 2008
• Presentation and campus visit of Judge Denise Clayton, Kentucky’s first African-American woman appellant judge
• Participation in the ASERL-HBCU librarian exchange program hosting Eddie Hughes, Southern University in Louisiana
• Libraries’ participation in the Come See for Yourself program, Minority College Awareness Program on library careers and other outreach and presentations

Sound Assessment

At the most recent ALA Midwinter meeting, Mary McLaren heard several speakers who do free acoustical reviews. She invited them to visit the Young Library and we asked them to look at three areas – the atrium, the work space in Reference and Information Services, and the work space in the Office of the Dean. They have provided us with a brief assessment (and actually provided more detail on site). We’ve added that to the SharePoint site for the Office of the Dean under Misc Documents.

Student Budget and Wages

At a meeting earlier this month, the Executive Committee reviewed the student budget requests for next fiscal year. Because of the need to reduce the operating budget, we made the decision to reduce all allocations by 5%. In addition, units will have to absorb an increase in the mandatory minimum wage from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. We estimate that this increase costs the Libraries more than $60,000 which, unfortunately, will have to be absorbed by the division budgets as well as the 5% reduction. As a result, we have determined that we cannot sustain the usual longevity increases for students who have worked for the Libraries for more than two semesters. Those students will see an increase in their base paid up to $7.25, but no longevity increases.

New Web Page for ARL/IMLS Career Enhancement Fellows

Our three library fellows will begin to arrive in May. The Working Group has created a web page to introduce the fellows to you – check it out at http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/page.php?lweb_id=937. The fellows will be with us for 8 weeks each working in the areas note below:

Anissa Ali – R&E
Mentor = Mary Molinaro
Supervisor = Toni Greider
Dates – June 15 through August 7

Bethany McGowan – MCL
Mentor = Mary McLaren
Supervisor = Tag Heister
Dates – June 15 through August 7

Katie Henningsen – SCDP
Mentor = Gail Kennedy
Supervisor = Deirdre Scaggs
Dates = May 26 through July 16

I’m also pleased to announce that Katie Hennigsen has been selected to receive the CLIR 2009 Rovelstad Scholarship which will fund her attendance at the annual meeting of the World Library and Information Congress in Milan, Italy, in August. See more details at http://www.clir.org/pubs/issues/issues68.html#rovel

Lyrasis and FoKAL Sign Agreement

FoKAL’s new agreement with Lyrasis has been reported in Library Journal. “Lyrasis (the successor organization to SOLINET and PALINET as of April 1) has announced a Consortial Licensing Program (CLP) agreement with Federation of Kentucky Academic Libraries (FoKAL) to manage the consortial purchasing activities for its 50 academic library members. FoKAL’s first official CLP undertaking with Lyrasis is an inventory project covering subscription databases. The purchases of each FoKAL member will be reviewed so that commonalities across the membership can be established and group buying power can be improved.”

World Digital Library to launch April 21

From American Libraries Direct

World Digital Library to launch April 21

On April 21, the Library of Congress, UNESCO, and 32 partner institutions will launch the World Digital Library, a website that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world. The brainchild of Librarian of Congress James Billington, the site will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs—available unrestricted to the public and free of charge. The browseable, searchable site will function in seven languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish)and offer content in dozens of others....Library of Congress, Apr. 7

Print no longer the default MLA citation style

From American Libraries Direct

Print no longer the default MLA citation style

Even in citations, print is the default no more. The seventh edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, released March 9, states that the Modern Language Association no longer recognizes print as the default medium and suggests that the medium of publication should be included in each work’s cited entry. Moreover, MLA has ceased to recommend inclusion of URLs in citing web-based works—unless the instructor requires it or a reader would likely be unable to locate the source otherwise....Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 11

Digital Library Federation Merges with CLIR

From American Libraries Direct

Digital Library Federation merges with CLIR

The board of the Council on Library and Information Resources voted April 14 to merge the Digital Library Federation into CLIR as a program of the council, starting July 1. The vote follows recommendations by a DLF review committee in March to merge the two organizations, and a unanimous vote of consent by the DLF board on April 8. With the merger, DLF’s current members will become “charter sponsors” of the DLF program at CLIR....Council on Library and Information Resources, Apr. 14