SCOPA Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2001
Present: Ellen Doon (chair), Todd Fell, Calvin Hsu, Pamela Mann, Richard Boursy, Jae Williams (recording)
Forums
The feedback from the New Librarians orientation co-sponsored with LAS has been positive for the most part. The questionnaires that were filled out were returned to Kate Reynolds as she is working on improving the full orientation program. Ellen received some informal feedback. The biggest criticisms were that the program is a bit too long, and that we should make sure to have the chair of the Promotion Review Committee.
Bill Wallach is still scheduled to give his workshop on grant writing this coming Friday from 10am - 12noon in the Sterling Spoon. Ellen asked the other committee members to let people know that there is still space, but that seating is on a first come, first served basis. 35 folding chairs will be set up in the room in addition to the usual seating. There will be computer and projector available for his presentation. Mr. Wallach will be having lunch with Richard Szary and Christine Weideman of MSS&A, but SCOPA will still pay for his meal.
Kris Hammond of Intelligent Information Labs has just replied to an invitation that was issued in January. He has expressed interest in coming. Ellen estimates that it would cost $500 to bring him here to speak. SCOPA only has approximately $1500 left in the budget for this year, and needs to be conscious of the fact that we need rollover money for next year's programming. As not all SCOPA members were present at the meeting it was decided to discuss this via email after each person looked at the website of Intelligent Information Labs.
The Traveling Librarian series will commence shortly. Patricia Thurston and Matt Wilcox will present on November 6th from 1:30 - 2:30 in the lecture hall, as arranged by Calvin. This idea will be developed into a series by Rochelle. The members discussed how best to contact people to participate in the series. It was suggested that area curators should be contacted as they often travel for their jobs. SCOPA has also received a list of librarians who have traveled for work recently from HR. However, the point was made that these people may not want to speak. The ideas of putting out a general call to YULIB, asking for people to submit abstracts, or putting out an "invitation for nominations" were suggested. No final decisions were made as Rochelle was not present. This will be discussed again at the next meeting.
Elaine Koretsky of the Research Institute of Paper History and Technology was contacted about the possibility of giving a forum on the history of paper. Koretsky stated that she normally receives a fee for her lectures but would still consider coming. She will be contacted again, informed that her expenses will be covered, and appropriate topics will be discussed.
The scholarly editing projects forum is still not scheduled. This project may have to wait until next year. If so, Ellen will pass this project on to another committee member.
The minutes from the Alice Prochaska Q&A session were written up and approved by all necessary parties. They have been posted on the SCOPA web site, accessible from the forums page. SCOPA is still waiting for the power point presentations of Dan Greenstein and others from the Digital Projects Forum in September. These will also be posted when they are received.
Julie Linden suggested at the New Librarian Orientation that a forum be held for LI's and LII's who are still a year away from promotion review. She feels that hearing more technical details early in the process would make it easier to prepare. As there is already an open forum each year about promotion review, this suggestion will be discussed with Diane Turner before any decision is made.
Publications Page
A query about whether being the webmaster of a site counts as a publication was discussed. This lead to a larger discussion about the true purpose of the Recent Publication of Yale Librarians page, and the definition of a publication. Previous discussion of the page in the minutes of April 99 and September 99, the year the page was created, were cited as perhaps being able to shed some light on the question. It was decided that the purpose of the page seems clear: to publicize recent contribution of Yale librarians to the professional literature, to foster communication between professionals in the YUL system, and to act as a collection point for information regarding the research interests of Yale librarians. The discussion continued about what should be included in this list. It was decided to continue the discussion at the next meeting in the hopes that all members would be able to attend.
Next meeting will take place on October 29.
Submitted by Jae Williams
Web site comments to Jae Williams