SCOPA Meeting Minutes
March 26, 2002

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Present: Jae Williams, Steve Jones (recording), Richard Boursy, Pamela Mann, Diane Turner, Mary Caldera, Cecile Mandour, Todd Fell, Rochelle Smith, Eric Friede.

Jae convened the meeting at 3:00.

Meetings
The first topic was meetings. We meet next Tuesday, April 2nd at 3:00, as we have a lot of business to discuss.
The new librarian orientation is 12 April from 12:00 to 1:30 in the Sterling Spoon.
We meet again on 16 April at 2:30 just before the Orbis 2 forum.
We meet 13 May and we return to Monday meetings from here on.
For the summer we will meet once a month, to be scheduled, unless we need to convene an additional meeting.

Forums
Jae will miss the grants forum on 24 April at 1:30 in the lecture hall.
Jae reminded those who volunteered to invite the new librarians to the orientation to do so as
soon as possible. Barbara Rockenbach from M&PSA will also attend.
April is all set for forums but we need more for May and the rest of the summer, at least one more forum per month.
Mary suggested a forum on some post September 11th topic and suggested posting a message to attract a speaker. Jae said that we should talk to friends and network to see if we can find someone interested from the public or academic library community (especially from lower Manhattan, Steve thinks).

Jae said Barbara Rockenbach may have some connections about censorship and copyright issues.

Jae reminded us that the administration needs to be informed of potential forums, but that we should feel free to suggest topics and speakers. A point-counterpoint approach may be the best approach to a potentially controversial program. We must remember to tell prospective speakers that SCOPA can only pay transportation and lodging if necessary (i.e. no honorarium). We also pay for meals.

Grant Discussion
Diane arrived at 3:15 to discuss an issue brought up by one of the current grant awards.
Members of LMT had questions around the grant's contribution to the library, implications for foreign travel, and supervisory approvals and use of release time. A discussion ensued about the objections to the grant. The decision was reached to rework the grant proposal; the grant recipient will work with the UL and AUL for Public Services to accomplish this. It was decided that this particular grant will be considered an anomaly and awards for personal research are not part of SCOPA's mission.

Richard passed out copies of the grant guidelines and the committee discussed potential revisions. The guidelines must state up front that release time must have the supervisor's approval and a signed document attesting to this was discussed. Also, personal time may need to be used at the supervisor's discretion instead of release time, depending on the project. Diane said we need language directly addressing foreign travel in the guidelines. Mary and Jae suggested a statement about approval for time off. Jae again spoke about departmental documentation regarding time off. Pamela, Todd and Richard all seemed in favor of this. Jae also mentioned a hole in the guidelines omitting that final approval came from the liaison, Diane. Diane suggested instituting a final meeting before awarding the grant to resolve any problems. Jae and Mary pointed out that the note referring to supervisory approval on the bottom of the guidelines page is not specific enough. Jae said that the line between library related and personal research must be clearer in the guidelines. Mary asked if "library community" means just Yale or broader.

Richard and Jae will work up another draft of the guidelines for us to discuss and for Diane to present to LMT.
Diane will check past grants to see what projects were awarded.
Jae wants to check grants not awarded and Pamela said Ellen Doon found those in the SCOPA archives. Mary said she will check.
Diane, Jae and Richard said they would discuss the grant issues with the candidate. The idea of revision was pronounced a feasible and legitimate solution by Jae.
Diane said Alice has been very supportive on this issue.
Pamela said foreign travel online information should be linked to the guidelines.
Diane said the foreign travel requirements are on the forms page and should be included as part of orientation.
Jae asked if Alice created a new description of LMT and LMC. We would like to use it for the orientation on the 12th. Diane said Alice had drafted them and we could get a copy from Katy.
Diane said orientation booklets are available in her office. Andrew can provide them.
Diane thanks everyone.
Jae adjourns the meeting at 3:50p.m.

Submitted by Steve Jones