New Business —

Review of Charges: 

1. Monitor and support the Libraries’ long-range planning and allocation of resources—staff, physical space, equipment, collections, digitally-based information, etc.—in light of the needs of different academic disciplines and the budget situation. Assist in communicating about planning resource allocations to support teaching (including both undergraduate and graduate) and research. Report issues and recommendations for action to SenEx.
2. Assess and assist with the effectiveness of communication and space utilization between the Libraries and students, faculty, and staff, about topics including, but not limited to, library-based instruction in classes and academic programs in support of university-wide learner outcomes. Report issues and recommendations for action to SenEx.
3. Obtain a report from the Open Access Advisory Board concerning activities and long-range planning for Open Access at KU.
4. FY2026: According to the Open Access Policy for University of Kansas Scholars, the policy should be reviewed every three years. The policy was last reviewed and updated in FY2023 (http://policy.ku.edu/governance/open-access-policy).

Specific Charges

1. Work with the Strategic Action Team to help communicate to campus the difficulties of maintaining access to scholarships with a stagnant Collections budget.
2. Evaluate the physical and digital accessibility of the library resources.
3. Continue monitoring the progress of the Watson Library renovation project, as well as other KU Libraries capital projects.
4. Consider expanding the Open Access Policy to include staff and students, rather than only faculty. Collaborate with the Open Access Advisory Board (see FY2023 and FY2024 Final Reports).

Casey asks Carol for further clarification on: 

Charge #1: Work with the Strategic Action Team to help communicate to campus the difficulties of maintaining access to scholarships with a stagnant Collections budget.

Carol: feels it’s interesting that the stagnant Collections budget is part of the “charge” because budgets can change from year to year. However, Carol has been at KU for 15 months now - and when first got here, did deep dive into historical budget:

• Went back 15 years for staffing, operations, and space – found KU libraries has been significantly under-resourced for past 15 years, although it’s likely been much longer. 
• Presented 15 years of data to KU Administration. KU Libraries has begun to receive downpayment in some areas. Carol received over one million for hiring back Libraries faculty – in process of hiring library faculty. However, received less for Collections funding. 
• KU Libraries have lost 3.5% in purchasing power over the past year due to inflation. There has been similar loss over past 15 years. Every year we have less funding due to inflation, so the budget is indeed stagnant. 

Provost encouraged Carol to put together new proposal after Drop Day so we know enrollment. This can then be presented to the budget folks for a Collections budget to be reconsidered. Carol plans to request at minimum enough to keep up with inflation and enough for strategic new and emerging resources. 

There are also several areas of the library that are funded by other departments. This isn’t a healthy way to fund a library. It’s best practice for libraries to be funded at institutional level. While Carol appreciates the support of other departments, it’s not the best practice. The library is under-resourced. 

• This group may want to strategically determine where can have the most impact. Can’t do it all as a committee so maybe pick 1 or 2 areas that can have a significant impact. 
• Carol thinks it may be good to get the word out that the library wants to help. If a department has needs but doesn’t think the library can meet those needs, may be hesitant to ask. Please do ask. Tell Carol or reach out to libraries faculty and staff. 
• Casey recognizes that many of her students haven’t been into library, and she wants them to go – as it can really affect their work. 
• 2 Undergraduate Engagement librarians are staffed at the library now – there are two recent hires. Their focus is on interacting with undergraduate students and providing introduction to the library and its resources. 
• In Formal Strategic Plan – formal integration of literacy into curriculum. 

Specific Charge #2: Evaluate the physical and digital accessibility of the library resources charge:

• Carol mentions the libraries strive to make sure their web sources are accessible along with their third-party vendor resources.
• Physically, Watson Library has more accessibility changes. Watson Library is over one hundred years old. There is work that needs to be done. Watson Library hasn’t been renovated since 1980. 

Specific Charge #3: Continue monitoring the progress of the Watson Library renovation project, as well as other KU Libraries capital projects:

• Carol has created a vision document for Watson, Anschutz, and the Annex, which are the three most pressing projects. 
• With renovations, Watson Library is envisioned to be a showcase for intellectual engagement and research - whereas Anschutz will be a library and student success center for entire campus. Anschutz already is a hub for graduate study. 
• The Annex is important to both things happening. The annex needs greater storage capacity. It will fill up in less than 5 years at the current rate. We are continually moving physical collections to the annex. 

• The provost is a champion for all these projects. 

   

Consider expanding the Open Access Policy to include staff and students, rather than only faculty. Collaborate with the Open Access Advisory Board (see FY2023 and FY2024 Final Reports).

• KU should be proud to be one of first campuses to have campus-wide open access policy. There is a shared governance policy that all scholarly works will have home in our institutional repository unless someone opts out of that. 

   

• There is a separate Shared Access committee that coordinates with the University Senate Libraries Committee. That committee started getting going again last year. It will report back to University Senate Libraries Committee. It stopped meeting during the pandemic. 

Next Steps: 

• Going forward, Carol could send some highlighted topics to the Libraries Committee
• Digital Access and physical planning?  Carol gave presentation to Chancellor and KU Administration team, which could be shared and may be helpful. 
• Going forward, seeing physical spaces of the library - have next meeting in Anschutz? A coffee shop in Anschutz could be helpful. 
• Maybe a traveling road show of library spaces over the year. 
• If the committee could ask your departments about library uses for students.