LAUC-B Spring Assembly
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
8:30 - 10:00 AM
Morrison Library
I. Welcome (Chuck Eckman, AUL/Director, Collections)
-Speaking with Breslauer provides us with a key opportunity to ask questions regarding
important UC concerns.
-Vote today!
-Shared governance is important, particularly in the current budget situation, as campus
librarians are actively engaged in looking for creative responses to challenges.
II. Introduction of New LAUC-B Members (C. Lee, Chair, Executive Committee)
-Susan Edwards (Ed/Psyc) and Julie LeFevre (IGS)
III. Election of Officers, 2009-2010 (B. Anton, Nominations & Elections)
-Report sent out via email yesterday. B.Anton introduced the Committee of Nominations
& Elections.
Slate:
Susan Koskinen Vice Chair
James Eason and I-Wei Wang Treasurer
Judy Bolstad and Lisa Rowlison de Ortiz Secretary
Michaelyn Burnette, Deborah Jan, and Sandy Tao - Library Representatives
Linda Vida Affiliated Libraries Representative
Statewide positions:
Call for Nominations from the floor (nominees must have given their consent in advance)
No nominations from the floor. Nominations are officially closed.
Ballots will be sent out next week; due June 24, 2009.
IV. LAUC-B Committee Reports (will be posted online in advance)
CAPA Chairs Report (M. Erviti)
CAPA is currently active with reviews of thirty-three cases for this calendar cycle. Since
November, there have been 6 interviews for 2 positions. Strikingly low compared to the
past two years. Review of position announcements has also dropped significantly.
M.Erviti thanks those who served on Ad-hoc committees. Five librarians turned down ad-
hoc committee assignments, which was unusual.
V. Executive Committee Chair's Report (C. Lee)
-Congratulations to Jim Spohrer who will be the 2009-2010 Townsend Center Library
Fellow.
-Research and Development committee has been working on improving the support for
members research projects and, and the Professional Development committee is
improving communication about professional development funding. Please read the
committee reports and contact the committee chairs if you have suggestions.
The Executive Committee is working with the Library Business Office to clarify and
expand the ways we can use our professional development funding.
-LAUC-B 2009 conference announcement: Student Library Users: Deliver What They
NeedThe Way They Want It. Keynote speakers are Joan Lippincott (Director of the
Coalition for Networked Information) and Sarah Houghton-Jan (Digital Futures Manager,
San Jose Public Library (aka, Librarian in Black)). Visit the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220211114244/https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/2009conference/speakers.html">conference website</a> for additional
information.
-Postponed Distinguished Librarian Award this year to get the schedule back on track.
-Diversity Committee is actively mentoring staff.
-A survey on alternatives to travel technologies is being performed by LAUC at all UC
campuses.
-Working with LBO to allow LAUC professional development funding for memberships.
-New Librarians reception was a success. A webpage for new LAUC-B members is
available on the LAUC-B website. New librarians have been, and are encouraged to,
introduce themselves on the blog.
-The LAUC-B website is being re-organized and migrated to Drupal.
-LAUC-B blog is active; everyone should post regarding workshops, conferences, etc.
-A wiki for ExComm and committee chairs is in progress.
-LAUC statewide Executive Board turnover meeting, LAUC-B conference, and LAUC
statewide Fall Assembly will all be at UCB this fall.
-Career Compass: This campus-wide initiative (http://careercompass.berkeley.edu/ ) was
briefly described. Although librarians are not included among the new job standards,
LAUC-B is concerned because of the overlap between librarian work and the work
described in the new job levels: Library Professional 4, Library Supervisors 1 and 2,
Library Managers 1, 2, 3. LAUC-B suggested bullet points for a letter from the
University Librarian to EVCP Breslauer and will request more time for all parties to
discuss the issues. All members should be interested because Career Compass may affect
the future of librarians at UC and beyond: what is the value of the professional degree?
What is the definition of the library profession? C.Lee requests comments and
suggestions from the LAUC-B membership. There will be a B-Space site and an in-
person meeting or two; possibly an online survey.
Q: What will be on the b-space site?
A: Documentation: bullet points, position descriptions, Career Compass background
Question for the Membership:
Career Compass
* how would members prefer to discuss this important issue:
- in person?
- bSpace site?
- other?
Send thoughts and suggestions to C. Lee.
VI. LAUC Statewide Spring Assembly (5/13 - 5/14/09) - update (C. Lee)
Program on Next-Gen services, Melvyl, and Bibliographic Task Force Report (2005).
PowerPoint presentations, live bloggers, etc. are online at
http://library.ucr.edu/?view=springassembly09/
Regents are proposing to give UCOP the ability to declare a state of financial emergency,
which would allow for furloughs, layoffs, and other cuts, etc. (see info below). LAUC
Statewide will be commenting on the proposed revision to Standing Order 100.4 with two
attachments defining the UC Presidents emergency authority and draft furlough/salary
reduction guidelines
Background documents:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may09.html (12:30 p.m.)
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may09/comps.pdf (C7)
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may09/c7.pdf
Emergency definition
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may09/c7attach1.pdf
Draft furlough/salary reduction guidelines
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may09/c7attach2.pdf
VII. Questions and Announcements:
-L.Diamond: Since LAUC statewide assembly will be here at UCB Send Lucia
suggestions for content/speakers. Dichotomy between the desire for general librarian
information (such as Next Gen services) vs. LAUC-specific information.
-R.Evans: Statement of how CAPA reviews are performed during this time of strained
staff time. Is there a manner in which to streamline the process?
-J.Spohrer: How are ad-hoc committee members selected? Curious if a call for volunteers
to gather as a pool to pull from could be considered. Answered by M.Erviti; CAPAs
procedural documentation is available online.
-P.Hamburg: Suggests that the Librarian series is distinguished from other series due to
peer review, and that performing on a review committee should be highly encouraged.
-Send comments/suggestions to M.Erviti (CAPA Chair)
VIII. 9:00 AM: Guest Speaker: Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George
Breslauer
C.Lee introduced EVCP Breslauer: http://evcp.chance.berkeley.edu/
UC Berkeleys Commitment to comprehensive excellence in a time of fiscal austerity
Could do a feel good speech about his experience as a scholar using UCB libraries. But
that would not be topical. And he defers to librarians to make decisions about Library
organization, such as the balance between physical and digital collections.
Instead, prefers to discuss the budgetary situation:
Bad news and may be getting worse.
The good news is that Berkeleys situation is not unique; hence, our competitiveness may
not be as precarious as feared. Many public universities are having to cut deeply. The
leading private universities are in new waters; not having histories of budget cutting.
Stanfords yield from endowment will be $300 million less this year. Harvard went
through a major round of cuts, and still needed to perform significantly more.
UCB is hoping that raids on faculty, therefore, will be fewer. There are a few outliers:
UTexas apparently has rainy day funds and appears to be doing well financially. Duke is
also making outlandish offers.
Assuming the budget propositions dont pass today (May 19): the Governors projected
cuts will mean that, in the coming year, UCB will be short $94 million dollars. 40% of
the States allocation (~$200m) is for faculty salaries. About 60% is for career staff
salaries. Our commitment is to reduce costs without laying off faculty or eliminating
schools or colleges. We are attempting to fill the hole by a combination of revenue
enhancements and cost cutting. Student fee and tuition increases have been approved. We
are raising the tax (from 4% to 7% of revenues) on units that sell products/services. All of
these add up to ~$30million. Need to find $64 million more in cost cuts. Looking at a
broad array of measures. The START program may save $1 million. Voluntary
Separation may save $1.2 million (net). Staff hiring freeze could save $8.7 million. We
are looking at not filling 240 staff positions. Still looking at $53 million to go. Furloughs
for staff and faculty. Would still be short after all of these efforts. Discussions with
UCOP, Academic Senate, etc.
This is not just a one-year matter. Even when the state budget and the economy recover,
the UC budget will not be raised immediately to recent levels. Campus administration is
bringing in a firm to review and provide guidance on restructuring and reducing the cost
of administering the university. Centralization, standardization, and automation is the
mantra. Currently have a highly dispersed work force and unreliable duplication. Looking
at major reduction in payroll, over a 3-year period, for IT, HR, business operations,
research administration, student advising, and others. For example, University of
Michigan went to online course evaluations. There will be birth pangs, such as system
crashes, etc., but we must push forward. Looking to capture very large saving with the
restructuring in the near future. UCOP did perform major changes even more quickly, but
that is a business office that is not equivalent to a campus, which must teach 35,000
students and serve more than 2,000 Senate and non-Senate faculty while conducting the
restructuring..
Bad news for everybody. Fewer faculty hires for several years. Currently at 1,483.
Prospects of furlough, layoffs, and paying into the pension fund. No COLAs for staff or
faculty.
We also face numerous unfunded mandates or requirements that, in the past, had been
funded by the State: purchased utilities (deficit of $11 million next year); salaries for
represented employees ($4.6m next year); health and medical benefits ($5m+); faculty
merits ($5.8m); IT deficit ($3m). Pension system is too scary to get into. The match
needs to double the employee contribution. Solvency of the pension fund is not a worry
for current employees, but is a serious problem for the more-distant future . A match is
absolutely necessary; solvency cannot be handled by contributions alone. What if the
State does not match, but requires the University to pay for it? That would bust our
budget.
Students will be receiving increased fees and fewer services. Library will experience cuts
to permanent budget and reduction in collections. UL Leonard is looking at shared
collections. Comprehensive collecting is unthinkable. Breslauer trusts librarians as
experts to make the best of the bad choices they face. Library does well with fundraising,
and the campus is working hard to pursue fundraising as well.
Q: UCSF has been selling off rare books and special collections. Should we worry about
similar?
A: Thats not the kind of granularity that the campus is looking at.
Q: Federal bailout or bond money?
A: NSF and NIH are receiving a lot of money for science and engineering. There is a
flood of applications in pursuit of this funding. UCB hoping to receive millions in
research funding; the overhead money could assist with covering staffing, utilities, etc.
The reporting requirements are highly stringent. This is a 2 year infusion, not a long-term
solution.
Q: Equality of furloughs, pay cuts, etc. for those who are paid more vs. lower paid
employees.
A: If there are furloughs, everyone will likely participate, but this will be decided by the
Office of the President..
Q: Shouldnt the senior leadership cut its salaries?
A: The Chancellors Cabinet donates some of their salary to UCB. Moreover, the senior
leadership is not overpaid. Line up the top 50 public and private research universities in
the country and you will find that UC Berkeleys Chancellor is the 44th highest paid and
UC Berkeleys provost is the 35th highest paid. That is at a university that is surely
ranked in the top 3, if not higher, in the country. We dont complain about this; we both
feel adequately paid. But UCB Administration has nothing to apologize for.
Q: Potential savings from START seems low for a campus this size. Is there a
consideration to re-visit and make START more attractive, such as using the time in a
block vs. monthly.
A: STARTs terms were approved by UCOP. Anticipation of 300 individuals at 10%.
Also, 115 staff applied for voluntary separation. Terms require a payout and to not fill the
position for 18 months.
Q: Library submitted its own Severance Incentive Program. Whats the status?
A: Not aware of the status. UL Leonard will have the answer.
Q: Yudolfs permanent reduction in salary vs. furloughs.
A: Suspects that Yudolf himself does not yet know, although his permission is required.
The plan would have to be varied enough to work for all UC campuses. Pay cuts, both
permanent and temporary, are part of the discussion, as are furloughs. Looking at
reductions that would not affect ones pension calculations. Ultimately UCOP and the
Regents will determine what options will be available. Ballot measures in todays
election will have a major impact on next steps. We are lobbying for options that dont
affect pension.
Q: Discussion of consolidation of I.T., etc. Also looking at consolidating programs?
A: Yes, in the sense that creative efforts to merge and save funding are active. Looking at
merging back office functions, not necessarily merging academic departments. Research
Enterprise Systems (RES), managing grants and contracts, to coordinate administration of
a number of colleges, including Stanley Hall. This format has worked well with ERSO
for the College of Engineering.
Q: Observation (Duer): Suggests that the library is a service that listens and touches every
part of this campus. This is reflected in library fundraising.
A: Pleasure working with UL Leonard the past three years. Impressed with the librarys
fundraising efforts. Agrees that it is the time to seize opportunities. UCB is looking at
seizing opportunities as well. Currently looking for opportunities to purchase buildings
near campus at low prices and low mortgage rates, into which we can move units that
currently have to pay rent off-campus. This would reduce our campus rental bill
commensurate with the cost of the mortgage, and the university would reap the
appreciation over time in the value of the property.