SCOPA Meeting Minutes
November 18, 2002

Present: Jae Rossman (Chair), Todd Fell (recording), Stephen Jones, Richard Boursy, Mary Caldera, Pamela Mann, Cecile Mandour, Eric Friede, Diane Turner

Visitors from the Task Force on Guidelines and Standards: Manon Theroux, Dorothy Woodson, Christine Weideman

Revised Promotion Review Documentation
The Promotion Review Committee's Task Force on Guidelines and Standards was invited to join this SCOPA meeting to discuss the revisions to promotion review process documentation. Copies of the documentation had been sent out to SCOPA members a week prior to the meeting.

The members of the Task Force explained the changes in documentation implemented after several months of work. The major changes included clarification of which parts are to be completed by whom on the Promotion Review Request Form, revising the Procedural Guidelines for Promotion Review to become the central source for information on the process and renaming it Guidelines for Promotion Review, modifying the Professional Standards and Promotion Review document to focus solely on the criteria used to judge performance and renaming it Performance and Promotion Criteria for Yale University Librarians, and lastly, the Promotion Review Committee Guidelines for Writing the Committee Recommendations was revised to include information about the nature of the committee and to clarify the procedures for evaluating candidates. The document was renamed Promotion Review Committee Guidelines. These Guidelines are not part of the Promotion Review Committee's packet of information that is given to candidates. They are for the internal use of the Promotion Review Committee.

The Task Force has also recommended that annual performance reviews be structured to cover the same three criteria used in the promotion review process. As annual performance reviews are an important piece of the promotion review dossier, to focus on the same three criteria would make evaluation by the Committee clearer and easier.

SCOPA members asked questions about the document changes and suggested clarifications to several sections, most notably about the process to request a recusal of a certain person from the review of a particular candidate. Members of the Task Force took notes of the suggested changes and will implement them before the revised documentation is posted to the Library web site. These revised documents have already been reviewed by the LMC.

Diane announced a Promotion Review meeting would be scheduled in the SML lecture hall sometime in early December, which will include a discussion of the revisions. The Promotion Review Committee Task Force on Guidelines and Standards is expected to attend to answer any questions.

At this time, the visitors left.

SCOPA Forum Updates

Steve has scheduled Susan Klopper for December 10, 12-2 p.m. The forum by Susan Cirillo has been postponed until January.

Cecile has scheduled a forum for Abe Parrish on January 16th, exact time to be determined.

Grant Proposals

Richard reported a significant increase in the number of grant proposals this year. Copies of each proposal have been distributed to the members of the Grants Subcommittee as well as Diane and the advisors from LMC. A meeting will be held in December to decide which proposals should be awarded grants.