LAUC-B 2024 Fall Assembly Committee Reports
Submitted for the Fall Assembly on November 21, 2024
Committee on Appointment, Promotion, and Advancement (CAPA)
CAPA Members 2023-2024
- Sam Teplitzky, Chair (2024)
- Jennifer Nelson (2024)
- Ramona Collins, Interview Coordinator (2025)
- Liladhar Pendse, Position Announcement Coordinator (2025)
- David Faulds (2026)
- Anna Sackmann (2026)
- Naomi Shiraishi (2026)
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 2024-2025
- Incoming Chair: Ramona Collins
- Position Announcement Coordinator: Anna Sackmann
- CAPA Interview Coordinator: David Faulds
Incoming members of CAPA:
- Sine Hwang Jensen, Asian American Studies Librarian/Comparative Ethnic Studies Librarian, from the Ethnic Studies Library
- Jeremy Ott, Classics & Germanic Studies Librarian, from the Arts and Humanities Division
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 7, 2024, CAPA has conducted 19 interviews for the following 7 positions:
- Deputy Director, The Bancroft Library
- Head, Resource Sharing Division
- Licensing Librarian
- Science Instruction Librarian
- Digital Collections and Metadata Librarian
- Optometry and Public Health Librarian
- Head, Social Sciences Division
Position Descriptions
CAPA also reviews position descriptions for openings in the Librarian series. Since May 2024, CAPA has
reviewed five job descriptions.
- Acquisitions and Collections Control Librarian, Bancroft Library
- Head of Social Sciences Division
- Head of Acquisitions
- Discovery Librarian
- University Archivist
Librarian Review
For the 2024-2025 Librarian review year, CAPA reviewed 27 cases, including 5 appointees in Affiliated units and 22 in the University Library. CAPA met weekly from early March through the end of May.
Career Status and Promotion Reviews
Three ad hoc committees were convened to review a total of 7 cases: one case requesting both career status and promotion review, three cases 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 four librarians awarded career status in 2024:
- Adam Baron, Head of Metadata Services in the Collection Services Division
- Ruth Haber, Librarian for Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Philosophy and Rhetoric in the Arts and Humanities Division
- Julia Larson, Digital & Collections Archivist in the Environmental Design Archives
- Jen Brown, Undergraduate Learning & Research Librarian in the Instruction Services Division
Congratulations to the four librarians awarded promotion from Associate Librarian to Librarian in 2024:
- Once again, Jen Brown, Undergraduate Learning & Research Librarian in the Instruction Services Division
- José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez, Curator of Latin Americana, Bancroft Library
- Osman Celik, Resource Acquisitions Librarian & Interim Head of Acquisitions in the Collection Services Division
- Becky Miller, Natural Resources Librarian in the Sciences Division
Review outcomes
- 6 greater than standard merits*
- 18 standard merits
- 3 special reviews
Other notes:
- 1 off-cycle review
* CAPA recommended greater than standard merit increases in six cases; the former UL agreed in each of the six cases.
CAPA Initiatives
In addition to our 3 primary roles, CAPA accomplished the following:
- We welcomed new University Librarian, Suzanne Wones, at the annual CAPA/UL meeting in August
- We instituted word count recommendations for the self-evaluation portion of the dossier
- We made updates and improvements to our candidate interview presentation
- We revamped the Academic and RI Review Workshop presentations to streamline content
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 calls 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. In an ad hoc, you work as a member of a team of 3 librarians to review 1-3 career status and/or promotion cases. This provides a glimpse of the process from the reviewer’s perspective and is good experience to build prior to CAPA service.
To serve on an ad hoc committee:
- You must have career status
- You must be available between late January, when ad hoc appointments are made, through mid-March, when the work of the ad hoc committees is completed.
To serve on CAPA:
- 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.
LAUC-B Committee on Research and Professional Development (R&PD)
Committee Members
- Imad Abuelgasim (2026)
- Nicholas Dehler (2026) (co-chair)
- Keri Klein (Affiliated Library Representative, 2026)
- Julia Larson (Affiliated Library Representative, 2025)
- Corliss Lee (2025)
- Melissa Stoner (ex officio to LAUC-B R&PD as member of Statewide Committee on Research and Professional Development) (co-chair)
Activities
2024 Survey on Professional Development
In May 2024, a subgroup of the LAUC-B Committee on Research & Professional Development (R&PD) launched a survey focused on professional development activities of LAUC-B members. This survey builds on the 2018 survey also conducted by the R&PD committee. Christina Fidler (LAUC-B Chair) shared the finalized survey report with members on October 24. The subgroup, consisting of Ann Glusker, Jeremy Ott, and Tim Vollmer, will present the findings at the 2024 LAUC-B Fall Assembly.
LAUC Research Grants
On September 30, 2024, 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 12, 2024, and a reminder was sent to LAUC-B members on November 4 and 12. Our committee received 1 full grant proposal and 1 mini-grant proposal(s). Nicholas Dehler, Keri Klein, and Julia Larson are reviewing proposals, with approved proposals to be shared with the statewide research & professional development committee for review.
The next round of submissions due in spring 2025 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. The deadline for applications is December 5, 2024.
New(ish) Librarians Event
On May 9, 2024 the New(ish) Librarians event took place on zoom, featuring librarians Kris Kasianovitz, Ruth Haber, and Osman Celik. There were 55 attendees, including a few student employees (specifically invited). The LAUC-B Happy Hour took place soon after, at the Free House. There were about 25-30 attendees, terrific weather, plenty of food and drink, and great conversations until 6/6:30. It should be noted that many LAUC-B members appreciated this combination of events. The subcommittee consisted of Tim Vollmer, Claude Potts, and Corliss Lee.
The Library Research Working Group
The Library Research Working Group (LRWG) continues to provide a regular, informal forum where library professionals engaged in scholarly and creative projects can share and discuss their ideas with peers. LRWG meets the third Monday of the month on Zoom to develop research ideas, receive feedback on proposals, presentations, or papers, and listen to invited speakers. Contact the 2024-25 conveners (Naomi Shiraishi and Abby Scheel) for more information or to be added to the Google Group or Zoom invite.