I. Introduction

Jae Rossman, SCOPA chair, introduced Alice Prochaska, Yale University Librarian and reminded the assembled group of two upcoming SCOPA lectures.

Alice thanked everyone for attending and explained that as it is one year and six weeks since her arrival here at Yale, she views this forum as her one-year progress report. The minutes of this forum will be sent to the Yulib list server, and posted to the LMC and SCOPA websites. Alice encouraged comment and feedback.

II. Reflections on September 11, 2001

Alice thanked Kate Reynolds, Bernadette Cioffi, and everyone who helped yesterday in making the Sterling Lecture Hall a place of reflection on the first anniversary of 9/11. The Library also participated in the Day of Caring by delivering over 250 books donated by staff to an assembly of kindergarten and first-graders at the Wexler-Grant Elementary School. Alice stated her commitment to continue the Library's connection to this school, and hopes other staff will have the opportunity to meet the students and donate more books in the future.

III. Achievements/Highlights of the Past Year

A. Orbis2 Migration. Alice thanked and congratulated all who have worked so hard to make the migration to the Endeavor database system. It marks a great achievement for the Library's efficiency and capacity for innovation. There was a round of applause for the dedication of Audrey Novak as the project manager. Alice reminded everyone that they are actively soliciting and acting upon feedback from staff and users. The latest round of training, which Audrey Ho is about to kick off, will reflect the feedback received thus far. Alice also thanked M&PSA, and especially Marsha Garman and Bernadette Cioffi, for arranging the Obris2 Fest, to be held on Friday, September 13.

B. Retrospective Conversion. Another huge accomplishment of the Library over the past year was the completion of the Recon project, in half of the projected time. This project has made accessible for the first time huge numbers of collections not properly cataloged. With Recon2 continuing, there is a huge quantity of work to drive the Library forward in providing the best possible access to collections.

C. Digital Initiatives. Alice highlighted several on-going projects in the digital initiatives arena, including
1. SFX implementation (followed by MetaLib), which allows users to link online to the text of what they are searching for, as well as to the traditional bibliographic information,
2. working with Luna Imaging Inc. on various electronic initiative programs,
3. Electronic Library Initiative (ELI), in which the Library works closely with faculty to design and assess course materials and remote teaching materials and,
4. the Yale Electronic Archive (YEA).

D. New Staff. The past year was marked by the appointment of many high quality new staff at all levels to work with the excellent staff already in place. Alice mentioned four senior appointments, which are emblematic of the quality of all staff:
A. Sandy Peterson, Director of Social Science Library and Information Services
B. Katherine Haskins, Director of the Arts Library
C. Ellen Hammond, Head of the East Asian Collection
D. Bobbi Pillette, Head of Preservation (beginning at the end of September, 2002).

E. Strategic Planning. Progress continues in developing a strategic plan to guide the Library over the next five years. Alice held three open forums in July to inform staff and gather feedback. The LMC website now contains the summary of those forums, along with comments and responses. It also contains the full text of the Goal Group reports, which kicked off the strategic planning process, as well as the work in progress on the mission, vision, and values. The Management of Collections and International Programs Objective Planning Groups presented their reports to LMC on September 10, and the full text of those reports will soon be posted. The Bibliographic Control (Recon2) and Integrated Library Objective Planning groups will present their reports to LMC on September 25. The Microcosm Group will report on September 27. Alice explained that the Microcosm Group is a large group representing all Library staff (all parts, all levels) that is looking at ways to ensure that the Library acts and responds to users and staff, communicates well, and is capable of change. The group has already given Alice lots of recommendations and feedback, especially in the area of communication, which Alice stressed must flow in both directions.

F. Communications/Staff Relations. Along with these twice-yearly forums, Alice mentioned several other initiatives and activities meant to keep the lines of communication open among staff. She emphasized her commitment to continue to visit departments, and is actively seeking invitations. She will continue to hold monthly "teas" as informal get-togethers, and tries to hold these events outside of Sterling when possible. She has hosted lunches with Library staff, deans, and faculty at the Medical and Divinity Libraries and would like to do this with other departments. She also reminded those present that she has office hours every Monday morning, from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Alice encouraged staff to keep talking to each other, throughout all levels and departments, and to actively develop new contacts.

Alice explained that the YUL has recently worked with the UConn Library and the New Haven Free Public Library to sponsor a fund-raising event for the American Library Association's Spectrum Scholarship program, which provides opportunities for people of color to join the library profession. Hosted at the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, the event included speeches by past scholarship recipients Soraya Magalhaes-Willson (YUL) and Astoria Ridley (NHFPL). The YUL will continue to support such activities in the future.

IV. Difficulties of the Past Year

Alice explained that while there were a number of successes and accomplishments over the past year, there have also been a few difficult situations that must also be addressed.

A. Beinecke Theft. As most staff already know, the casual worker who stole valuable material from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was caught and is now in jail. The Beinecke, which already had some of the tightest security measures in the YUL system, has made additional improvements to its system. A Security Working Group, chaired by Marcia Romanansky was formed to address security issues throughout the YUL system, and has made numerous recommendations which are being acted upon. Alice stressed that it is important for staff to help users understand that security measures are put in place to enhance their experience in the Library and their use of shared materials.

B. Budget Downturn. Alice explained that due to various other University commitments, the Library did not get the budget allocation she had hoped for. The next budget round is likely to be just as difficult, which means the strategic planning process will have to deal with some hard prioritizations.

V. Forthcoming Activities

Alice highlighted several upcoming outside visitors, including:
1. ARL Special Collections Task Force
2. Ivies + Librarians Group
3. Deanna Marcum (CLIR)
4. Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association.

VI. Future Plans

Alice stated her vision that:

The Yale University Library will be more responsive to all of its staff, more agile and responsive to users' needs, and more proactive in filling and identifying those needs.

The Yale University Library will be more visible, and is gradually building up a reputation for being an exciting place, a place where things are moving…

VII. Questions/Comments (submitted before, during, and after the forum)

A. What happens when the strategic plan is done?
Alice replied that there will then be a good deal of action planning with targets and milestones (both short-term and with a five-year horizon). She stressed that the planning is a dynamic, on-going process which will require reassessments along the way. Ultimately though, this plan should lead directly into the next planning process.

B. What are the different building projects on campus that affect the libraries?
Alice explained that there are several:
1. Divinity School - almost completed, including renovation of the Divinity Library
2. Arts and Architecture Building - currently being renovated, and a new building built alongside it, which will require some moving for the Arts Library
3. Social Science Area - still in the preliminary planning phase, will involve a new library building
4. Beinecke - some renovation work will be begin in 2004
5. CCL/SML Phase II - including almost complete renovation of CCL and some parts of SML, exact start date still not know (though looking less likely that it will begin in spring '04), still waiting for appointment of planning group, will require extensive fund-raising campaign and money from the University.

C. The public library has been steadily faced with budget cuts, as well as the state schools (Southern Ct. State U.) Would a stronger bond between the Yale Library and local libraries help to fend off such cuts or alleviate the impact?
Quoting Alice directly: To respond to your first point; yes, I agree that we could do more with the local public libraries, and I want to wok on this with Jim Welbourne, with whom we did co-host the Spectrum fund-raising event that I mentioned in my talk. The Medical Library has in fact done some very notable work in this area, working both with local libraries and with local schools to increase awareness of source of information about public health, and there is now a public health web site, http://www.med.yale.edu/newhavenhealth ,which is a joint enterprise with new Haven Public Library. I was disappointed that the Yale Bulletin supplement published in the spring which gave an audit of Yale/New Haven relations back in April or May, failed entirely to mention any of the library's work. In addition to what I've just mentioned, we do host school parties, and there is a particularly active program for local schools at the Beinecke. I'd be most interested in receiving ideas.

D. Concerning the recent steam line break - does the Library and/or the University have a policy on dealing with hazardous materials such as asbestos? Library staff could be exposed to harmful substances during an accidental break and library materials could have harmful substances dumped on them. This is distinct from the removal of asbestos under normal conditions. I raise this question in view of the recent findings of health problems in people who were exposed to bad things during the aftermath of Sept. 11, asbestos among them.
Quoting Alice directly: On the question of the steam line break: this particular incident as you know, led to an evacuation of the Law School and Beinecke, and people were only allowed back in when it had been established that there was no asbestos in the pipes that broke. I understand that all dangerous substances had been removed from that vicinity a while ago. Had there been asbestos in the atmosphere, the evacuation would have lasted much longer, and emergency clearance of the dangerous particles would have been undertaken. That said, I do not know exactly what other precautions there are, and I will try to find out.

E. How will the SQI Committee structure fit in with the new Core groups work?
Response submitted by Danuta Nitecki, Associate University Librarian: The Service Quality Improvement Council committee structure reflects both groups of staff working across the Library on a similar service program [e.g. Instruction, Reference, Circulation, ILL] and also teams brought together to address a specific problem [e.g. document delivery improvement, electronic reference, bibliographic presentation in the online catalog]. This year, the SQIC chair, Alan Solomon and I have been discussing how to focus the agenda for the Council and are planning to direct its attention on the broad problem of improving services to assist our clients' work in both the Library's physical and cyber spaces. My sense is that several recommendations from the reports of the Strategic Planning Objective Groups may fall within this broad set of problems. Two of the Objective Groups addressed "core services" and perhaps these are what you mean by "new Core groups?" If so, one of these-Management of Collections-has completed its report to the LMC, the other-Bibliographic Control (also known as Recon2) has not yet filed its report. After these and the other Objective Groups complete their reports, there may be action groups formed to address the delivery of some of the recommendations, as there will also likely be some staff positions asked to assume responsibility for delivery of others. I'm sure the SQI Council will be helpful as a cross-library group of persons committed to service quality improvement, but it may be premature to know exactly how it will relate to the strategic planning group work.