LIBRARY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
June 1, 1999

Present: Jo Bessler, Maureen Gleason, Bob Wittorf, Jim Wruck, and Jennifer Younger Guest: Sarah Misener

Hydraulic Lift Demo:
LEC began with an outing to Serial Check-In where we admired the new Monarch hydraulic lift donated by John Jackoboice, a member of the University Libraries' Advisory Council. This lift is being used to ease access to a large work table by adjusting its height to meet the needs of individual workers.

Follow-up On Decision-making Workshop:
Sarah Misener joined the group to discuss ways to build on the Decision-Making Workshop. LEC reviewed the flip-chart notes from the session and offered individual observations about related issues. Some areas of concern were: how to deal with major differences in philosophy in a group setting, the relationship of budget authority to decision-making, what happens when a person makes a "bad" decision, the need to clarify the roles of various committees and individuals, and how to create a climate where individuals contribute to decisions and accept ownership for group decisions which may or may not completely reflect their individual preferences.

Three decisions were made:

Sarah will draft an organization development program for review in mid-August. In this plan, she will suggest actions which can help the library shift its decision-making practices during the next three to five years.

Each Assistant Director will alert their Divisions to our plans to follow up on the decision-making workshop, and will keep their Divisions posted on progress.

Jennifer will draft a brief charge to a small team which could generate ways to improve the culture for decision making and would identify one or two groups which might work with a facilitator in testing new approaches to making and communicating decisions.

Program Planning:
We reviewed the time table for the creation and presentation of the Master Plan for Hesburgh Library renovation. The key questions focused on the date for the completion of the Master Plan, the desired number of proposed program distribution diagrams which should accompany the Master Plan, and the decision-making process for the planning process. The most immediate goals are to encourage some "out-of-box" thinking and librarywide discussion before the Master Plan is presented to the University Officers.

LEC suggested that Jennifer investigate options for extending the time spent designing the Master Plan so that the finished product will be ready for initial translation into a building project statement. We stressed the need to offer Shepley-Bullfinch one set of accepted Goals & Objectives and Summary Statement. Jennifer would then ask Shepley Bullfinch to use these core assumptions as the basis for three distribution diagrams–one would be their current version, the second would be based on some "out-of-box," brain-storming by the Program Planning Committee, and the third would represent Shepley-Bullfinche's own imaginative creation. These options would be shared throughout the libraries to elicit broader views regarding their advantages and disadvantages. By the end of September, we would hope to identify the project distribution plan which would best support our key goals. Spending more time on the Master Plan should enable the library to suggest earlier rather than later in the process. Questions concerning the decision making process will be discussed at the Program Planning meeting on June 2.

Reports:
Bob distributed an extensive series of charts documenting an overview of the library's budgets from 1996-2000. A few areas of significant growth were noted. These included the staff salary budget line, funding for travel and education, and resource delivery.

Maureen mentioned that she is gathering information on the resources needed to support the digitalizing project in Special Collections.

Jo Bessler

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