LAUC-B 2023 Fall Assembly Committee Reports
Submitted for the Fall Assembly on November 27, 2023
Committee on Diversity
Report by Kendra K. Levine
Members:
Kendra K. Levine, Chair (2024)
Angela Arnold, (SDC Representative,
Adam Baron (2024)
Ruth Haber (2025)
Melissa Stoner (2025)
Recent Activities:
The Committee launched the new Library Partnership Program during the Spring of 2023. It’s an expansion of the committee’s old Librarians/Staff Mentorship Program, updated to meet the current needs of library workers across the campus. The revamped program was developed during the Spring, and included consultation with the Staff Development Committee and Roundtable. The first cohort of partners were matched in the Summer 2023 and included 20 participants in 10 pairs of library workers across many different libraries. We will be issuing a call for the second cohort early in 2024.
Committee on Research and Professional Development (R&PD)
Report for the 2023 LAUC-B Fall Assembly
Prepared by Timothy Vollmer and Claude Potts
November 27, 2023
Committee Members
Claude Potts, Co-chair, 2024
Timothy Vollmer, Co-chair, 2024
Corliss Lee, 2025
Julia Larson (Affiliated Library Representative, 2025)
Dean Rowan (Affiliated Library Representative, 2024)
Ann Glusker (Statewide R&PD rep, ex officio member)
Activities
LAUC Research Grants
On October 2, 2023, the statewide research & professional development committee sent out the call for proposals for LAUC Research Grants. In the fall, LAUC members may propose research grants ($5,000 maximum), mini grants ($500 max), or presentation grants ($600 max). Proposals were due to our local R&PD committee on November 13, 2023, and a reminder was sent to LAUC-B members on October 24. Our committee received one full grant proposal, one mini-grant proposal, and two presentation grant proposals. Julia Larson and Dean Rowan reviewed proposals, which were subsequently shared with LAUC statewide rep Ann Glusker for consideration by the full statewide R&PD committee.
The next round of submissions due in spring 2024 will be for mini grants and presentation grants only.
Townsend Center for the Humanities Fellowships
R&PD encouraged UCB librarians and staff to apply for the Townsend Fellowship for Library and Museum Professionals program. Deadline was November 14, 2023.
New(ish) Librarians Event
In early 2024, Corliss Lee, Claude Potts, and Tim Vollmer will begin planning for the New(ish) Librarians Event, which will take place in May, still to be determined if this event will be in-person, on Zoom, or hybrid. We hope this annual event will be followed by an in-person happy hour at Free House as it was last year. All librarians and library staff will be invited to attend the New-ish Librarian event and the happy hour.
Nominating & Elections Committee
Submitted by Kiyoko Shiosaki, outgoing chair
- The 2023-24 members of the LAUC-B Nominating & Elections Committee are as follows -
- Melissa Stoner (2024)
- Salwa Ismail (2024)
- David Eifler (2024)
- Kate Peck (2025)
- Gisèle Tanasse (2025)
The incoming Nominating & Elections Committee will be holding its transition meeting (to be convened by the outgoing chair) in mid-November.
2. Following recent practice, the 2023 LAUC-B elections were conducted online using Qualtrics, from June 14 through 30, concurrently with the LAUC Statewide Election.
- 80 LAUC-B members participated in the election.
- Vote tallies were recorded by the Chair on July 3 and will be disposed of (per committee procedures on confidentiality) after the Fall Assembly.
- Election results were reported to the LAUC-B Secretary and Chair, via email, on July 3.
3. The following LAUC-B members were elected to LAUC-B executive offices -
- Chair: José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez (2025)
- Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Christina Velazquez Fidler (2026)
- Secretary: Michael Sholinbeck (2024)
- Treasurer: Jackie Gosselar (2025)
- Library Representatives: Jennifer Brown (2024), Misha Coleman (2024)
- Affiliated Libraries Affairs Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Cyrana Dowell (2025)*
*Serves as CALA Vice Chair/Chair-elect in 2022-23, and as CALA Chair and Affiliated Rep. in 2023-24.
4. The following LAUC members were elected to LAUC Statewide offices -
- Vice-President/President-Elect: Jennifer Nelson
- Secretary: Catherine Busselen (UCSB)
5. The committee made recommendations to the LAUC-B Chair for appointments to local, staff, and statewide committees. The following members were appointed:
LAUC-B Nominating & Elections Committee
- Kate Peck (2025)
- Gisèle Tanasse (2025)
LAUC-B Committee on Research & Professional Development
- Julia Larson (2025)
- Corliss Lee (2025)
LAUC-B Committee on Diversity
- Melissa Stoner (2025)
- Ruth Haber (2025)
LAUC Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Kendra Levine (2025)
Committee on Appointment, Promotion, and Advancement (CAPA)
CAPA Members 2022-2023
- Hilary Schiraldi, Chair (2023)
- Susan Xue (2023)
- Imadeldin Abuelgasim (2023)
- Jennifer Nelson, Position Announcement Coordinator (2024)
- Samantha Teplitzky, Interview Coordinator (2024)
- Ramona Collins (2025)
- Liladhar Pendse (2025)
The chair would like to thank all the members of CAPA and the ad hoc committees for their work this year. The chair would also like to thank Ricky Brown of the Library Human Resources Department and Maria Ruiz of the Academic Personnel Office.
CAPA Roles for 2022-2023
Incoming Chair: Samantha Teplitzky
Position Announcement Coordinator: Liladhar Pendse
CAPA Interview Coordinator: Ramona Collins
Incoming members of CAPA:
- David Faulds, Curator of Rare Books and Literary Manuscripts, Bancroft Library
- Mark Hemhauser, Head of Acquisitions, Collection Services Division
- Naomi Shiraishi, Japanese Cataloging Librarian, East Asian Library
Interviews
CAPA interviews all candidates for positions in the Librarian series to share information related to the Librarian review process and evaluate the candidates’ potential for obtaining career status at Berkeley.
Since May 4, 2023, CAPA has conducted 11 interviews for the following positions:
- Legal Research Librarian, Berkeley Law Library
- Reference Librarian, Berkeley Law Library
- Reference & Academic Outreach Librarian, Berkeley Law Library
- Chemical and Physical Sciences Librarian, Sciences Division
- Literatures and Digital Humanities Librarian, Arts & Humanities Division
- Pictorial Curator, The Bancroft Library
Position Descriptions
CAPA reviews position descriptions for openings in the Librarian series. Since May 2023, CAPA has reviewed four job descriptions.
- Head of Licensing and Electronic Resources Unit
- Librarian for Pictorial Collections, The Bancroft Library
- Head of Resource Sharing Division
- Digital Collections and Metadata Librarian
- Literatures and Digital Humanities Librarian
- Discovery Librarian
- Assistant Head, Sciences Division
Librarian Review
For the 2022-2023 Librarian review year, CAPA reviewed 23 Librarians, including two appointees in Affiliated units and 21 in the University Library. CAPA met weekly from late February through the end of May.
Career Status and Promotion Reviews
Three ad hoc committees were convened to review a total of six cases: two cases requesting both career status and promotion review, one case for career status review alone, and three cases for promotion review alone. Thank you to the nine librarians who served on the ad hoc committees.
Congratulations to the three librarians awarded career status in 2023:
- Jackie Gosselar, Library IT Division
- Katherine Peck, Berkeley Law Library
- Kiyoko Shiosaki, Instruction Services Division
We congratulate Kiyoko Shiosaki on her promotion from Assistant Librarian to Association Librarian, as well as the four librarians who received promotion from Associate Librarian to Librarian in 2023:
- Christina Velazquez Fidler, The Bancroft Library
- Jackie Gosselar, Library IT Division
- Anna Sackmann, Data Services Program
- Naomi Shiraishi, East Asian Library
Review outcomes
- 7 greater than standard merits
- 12 standard merits
- 1 special review
- 3 “above-scale” reviews (see “CAPA Initiatives” below)
CAPA Initiatives
Review of new APO policy regarding merit reviews for top-of-scale non-represented librarians
In March 2023, CAPA was made aware of a letter sent in October 2022 from Vice Provost for the Faculty (VPF) Victoria Plaut to University Librarian Jeff MacKie-Mason, announcing that non-represented librarians at UC Berkeley are now eligible for merit increases after reaching the top increment of UCOP’s published salary scale. Since the Procedures for Review of Librarian Appointments, Promotions, and Advancement (Berkeley Procedures) require that librarians at or near the top of scale undergo a “special review,” not a merit review, CAPA and ExComm wrote a memo requesting clarity and instructions. We received a response last month, but have yet to reach consensus on whether or how to revise the Berkeley Procedures to incorporate this new policy. Our memo to the VPF and her response are both linked in the November LAUC-B ExComm minutes.
CAPA Involvement
CAPA is composed of your LAUC-B peers. If you would like to be considered for CAPA service in the future, watch for the twice-yearly calls in winter and summer to register your interest in CAPA via the Nominating & Elections Committee’s LAUC-B volunteer form, or contact a current member of CAPA. Upcoming opportunities for service will be on the ad hoc committees. This provides a glimpse of the review process from the reviewer’s perspective and is good experience to build prior to CAPA service.
Ad hoc committee requirements:
- You must have career status
- You will work as a member of a team of 3 librarians to review one to three career status and/or
- promotion cases
- You must be available between late January, when ad hoc appointments are made, and the end of March, when the work of the ad hoc committees is completed.
CAPA membership requirements:
- You must hold the rank of Associate Librarian or Librarian
- You must have career status
- Prior service on an ad hoc committee is preferable
Two or three CAPA appointments are made in the late summer or early fall each year. CAPA attempts to maintain representative membership including librarians with different work experiences and functions, from different units and divisions, and from both Affiliated and University libraries. This balance of members is essential to CAPA’s peer review role. If you have indicated interest and have not yet been invited to serve on CAPA, we encourage you to continue volunteering.