The meeting was called to order by ALUW President Charles Lord at 3:15pm. Charles welcomed the new librarians and asked those who had been on campus for less than 18 months to introduce themselves to the group. He then introduced the members of the 1998-1999 ALUW Executive Board.
Richard Jost, ALUW Secretary, reported that the August & October Executive Board meeting minutes were posted on the web page, along with two new Faculty Council reports--University Facilities and Services by Paula Walker and Minority Affairs by Harry Murphy.
Alex Wade, ALUW Treasurer, reported that approximately $1500.00 in ALUW dues and approximately $900.00 in legislative funds have been collected this year from the membership. Alex explained that the legislative funds are used to pay for the ALUW lobbyist, a fee of $700.00 per month when the legislature is in session.
Anne Zald, ALUW Vice-President/President-Elect and head of the Program Committee, reported that a meeting in January had been set up with President McCormick and that the Tea & Titles program from last year (re-named Books & Beverages) would be held on February 3rd. No firm date has been set as of yet for the Winter Quarter or Spring Quarter meetings.
Rob Estes, ALUW Junior Trustee, reported on the brown bag program that was held in November. The brown bag focused on the ALUW legislative priorities for the upcoming session of the legislature. Rob also reported that the LAPC had met (Rob is the ALUW representative) and that they have established a web page.
Andy Johnson, Chair of the Legislative Committee, distributed a draft handout of the 1999 legislative priorities and asked members for feedback and comments. He reported that Tom Bristow has agreed to serve as the ALUW lobbyist again for this year and reminded members to send in their legislative fund dues if they had not already done so. Andy also reported that the Legislative Committee has prepared a sample letter for members to send to their representatives and he reminded people not to use their campus email accounts for sending this type of letter to state officials.
Linda Pitts, Program Committee member, introduced Dr. Michael Eisenberg, Director of the School of Library and Information Science. Dr. Eisenberg gave an overview of his background, the changes taking place at the School of Library and Information Science and his goals for the future.
Some highlights from his presentation included:
- The School is committed to developing new degree programs and re-vamping the curriculum, a process that may take several years. The master’s degree will still be offered, and, in addition, an undergraduate degree program in information technology and a doctoral program in information science will be introduced. Distance learning will become an integral part of the school’s outreach and an expanded summer program with visiting faculty will be offered.
- The School has seven or eight vacant faculty positions and is in the process of hiring new faculty members. Two of the positions have already been filled and the interviewing for other positions is continuing. They will also be adding new staff support positions and offering more graduate assistantships. In response to a question, Dr. Eisenberg indicated that the School will continue to use adjunct faculty but he would like to have them more involved in the fabric of the school. There may also be additional opportunities for joint faculty appointments or the development of a clinical faculty once it has been more fully defined.
- The School will be moving out of Suzzallo Library by the end of Winter Quarter to a new location in the old Electrical Engineering building. New labs, offices, and computer classrooms are being built in the new space, which will only be temporary location. Once Mary Gates Hall is finished, the School will move into new quarters in that building.
- The School intends to have an active research component, focusing on user behavior, system design and information literacy.
- The ALA accreditation papers for the School have been turned into the ALA for review and Dr. Eisenberg does not anticipate any problem with the School’s accreditation being renewed. In response to a question, Dr. Eisenberg indicated that he thought that there would be plenty of job opportunities for the graduates as the information field is expanding.
- Dr. Eisenberg felt that there were many opportunities for collaboration with ALUW members and other librarians in the Seattle community in teaching, research and the development of new course offerings.
Richard Jost
ALUW Secretary
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