Communications Committee Meeting
January 15, 2004

Attendees:
Diane Turner Faye Kandarian Katy Hall Pamela Mouzon
Mary Caldera Dana Peterman Karen Reardon Teresa Mensz
Jessica Linicus Mark Gentry Shirley Armstrong-Thimas Jeff Larson
Kevin Pacelli

Absent:
Mark Engsberg Tania Grant Maureen Malone-Jones Bobbie Pilette
Kate Reynolds

Introductions:
- Introduction of group to new member Amy Apodaca, who will serve as recorder for committee meetings - brief descriptions of names & locations
- Review of meeting purpose and agenda: Continue conversation from last meeting regarding charge, membership, and work moving forward.

Announcements:
- Kate Reynolds suggested STOD committee make a short presentation (10 - 15 minutes) regarding "Each One Teach One" database at next meeting - would like committee's feedback (Mary Caldera)
- Received suggestion via web proposing a print suggestion box to be placed in SML Spoon (Mary Caldera)
o Particularly convenient for staff who do not have regular access to email or for those who would like to make anonymous suggestions - only to be opened by communications committee members
o Suggestions can also be mailed directly to committee members
o Product Advisement & Creation sub-committee will be responsible for creation of suggestion box
- Nancy Kuhl invited Communications Committee to present SCOPA forum - suggested date would be in late February - short discussion of what should be included in presentation followed:
o List of accomplishments
o Desire to allow time for input and to receive additional suggestions from audience about improving communications, specifically what is working or not working in the units (Diane Turner)
o Should we organize by sub-committees and have each sub-committee chair give an overview? (Diane Turner)
- YUL International Party, Friday, January 16, 2004, there will be food, music, and the unveiling of the recent renovation to the Spoon (Katie Hall)
- LHR extended an invitation to five members of the communications committee to attend the Library New Staff Orientation held on January 29, 2004 as a way to incorporate existing staff. Please contact Diane Turner by January 16, 2004 if you are interested in attending. (Diane Turner)
o Mary will send an email to Communications Committee group to present opportunity.
- In absence of Diana Timlin, would like to take this opportunity to say that the Office of Development has expanded from focusing primarily on development, to now include Development and Communications. Development & Communications Office responsibilities now include handling press releases - if you have anything you would like advertised please let them know and they will provide support. (Katie Hall)
- Microcosm group is coming to closure on work and will be preparing a final report and forum (looking for dates in March) to present accomplishments and announcing completion of its business (Diane Turner)
- Library wide survey will be sent out on January 27, 2004 - have until February 3, 2004 to complete. An announcement will go out next week from Alice, additionally, another reminder will be sent to those who do not complete the survey immediately. (Diane Turner)
- This will be Faye's last official meeting with the communications committee (Faye Kandarian)
- The work from Microcosm, the Communications Committee, & SCOPA was hailed by VP John Pepper (Diane Turner)

Work Since Last Meeting:
- Measurements & Systems Subcommittee (Dana)
o Kate passed out an additional survey and suggested the possibility of using focus groups
o Note: There will be another joint meeting of the Measurements and the Product Creation subcommittees coming up on January 26, 2004 - the results obtained since the last meeting will be reported at this time.
- Product Advisement & Creation Subcommittee (Karen)
o Presented draft of Committee Participation Guidelines pamphlet (handout given to committee members for review)
o Group envisions a tri-fold pamphlet for distribution - this will also be made available on the web. Diane suggests adding a section to the pamphlet on "How To Join A Committee" which would include the URL for standing committees and guidelines.
o Katy stated that the subcommittee had discussed the creation of a group database for those interested in being on a committee.
o Faye suggests adding a section on "Running Effective Meetings" similar to what LMC uses.
o Mary notes that STOD holds a class on how to chair committees
o Group will continue to look into ways to streamline the Communications Guide so that final product is less dense - will have something for Communications Committee to review by next meeting
o Also, the subgroup is Kate Reynolds' netiquette website (http://www.library.yale.edu/training/netiquette/) - to be used as a learning tool for effective email communication. Group will send suggested revisions to Kate Reynolds.
- Process Creation Subcommittee (Jeffrey)
o Had joint meeting with Measurements & Systems Subcommittee (see above)

Communications Committee Overall Review:
(Continuation from last meeting)
1. Charge - main unresolved issues were roles of members, particularly liaison roles. People have been reassigned, but some of members still have not had departmental meetings (i.e., BRBL, Document Delivery, LSF, Walpole, Security, & Shipping are missing meeting dates with liaison).
a. Diane suggests the possibility of holding one-on-one sessions which may be more appropriate for smaller departments such as Shipping & Receiving
2. Composition of the Committee -
a. Term: 2 year appointment, staggered (1/2 of membership go off each year), additionally the new term will start on July 1, 2004 - ex officios include Diane Turner, Jessica Linicus, Katy Hall, & Amy Apodaca
b. How do we bring in new members: For those departments with permanent appointments Diane suggests asking units to appoint a member preferably from a volunteer base. The remaining seats would then be open to the whole library community - both C&Ts and M&Ps. Also notes that subcommittees may invite non-Communications Committee members to join
c. Rotation of the chair & Election of new chair - Mary has agreed to serve as chair for another 6 months. Chair term is 1 year.
d. Number of membership: Currently, there are 18 official members of the committee. Decided to keep "around" 18 members due to the charge and scope of responsibilities of the Communications Committee.
e. Departmental Representation: List of departments with permanent assignments on Communications Committee - Medical/EPH, Social Sciences/MUDD, Law Library, Acquisitions, RSC/Area Studies, Arts, Sciences, BRBL/Walpole, & Access Services

Things To Think About For Next Meeting:
- Who will be willing to continue appointment to ensure continuity of the committee?
- Also start thinking about chair elect
- STOD presentation
- Introduction of Diana Timlin
- Also wanted to look at where to publicize ongoing library committee meeting times

Next Steps:
- Moving forward with suggestion box
- Mary will respond to Nancy Kuhl about SCOPA Forum
- Mary will email rest of cc committee regarding Library Orientation invitation from Diane
- Diane will send a remind about strategic planning meeting
- Karen will send out Committee Participation Guidelines and link to netiquette site
- Diane will invite product development committee to LMC to present Communications Committee documents.
- Next meeting was scheduled on February 19, 2004 from 9:00 - 12:00, however Microcosm will not be able to attend therefore the Communications Committee meeting will be held from 10:00 - 12:00. Subcommittees are encouraged to use the time from 9:00 - 10:00 for small group meetings

Bulletin:
- Topics to be mentioned in next bulletin include upcoming suggestion box, as well as, the library wide survey