Public Services Committee Meeting: October 12, 2022

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Steve Brantley (Eastern Illinois University), Chad Kahl, co-chair (Illinois State University), Jennifer Lau-Bond (Harper College), Katie Maier-O’Shea (North Park University), Ashley McMullin (DePaul University), Anne Shelley (Illinois State University), Arlie Sims (Columbia College Chicago), Lesley Wolfgang, co-chair (Saint John's College of Nursing)

Member absent: Simone Williams (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Denise Green

Decisions

• September 14th minutes approved but Elizabeth will make a minor edit to the discussion section to comply with current practices.
• The committee will hold an in-person meeting (with Zoom capability for those unable to attend) at ISU’s Milner Library conference room on Wednesday, November 9th from 10:00am to 3:00pm CST.
• FY22 committee project presentation at the CARLI Annual Meeting on November 4th: Chad will attend and will discuss the committee’s FY22 project.

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Lesley Wolfgang.
• Elizabeth and Denise will work with Chad to arrange for lunch for in-person meeting next month; Anne Shelley will check with ISU IT to ensure connectivity for Zoom.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Steve Brantley (Eastern Illinois University): Reference/research desk pilot project initiated in which the service point was moved to a different floor and to a shared service point, but it was a controversial move and the pilot project will finish at the end of the term. Also, EIU is looking to hire a new dean for the library.
  • Arlie Sims (Columbia College Chicago): A new user experience/electronic resources librarian was hired and starts next week. New hire increases reference staff from two to three.
  • Jennifer Lau-Bond (Harper College): Busy fall so far as instruction coordinator; difficult to keep up with demand, but in-person instruction is down because of fewer in-person classes. Also, Harper College is piloting a hyflex class this semester.
  • Ashley McMullin (DePaul University): Library moved the research help desk to a larger space but in a less conspicuous area and it has been challenging to understand the results: higher chat and virtual consultations and lower in-person consultations—is it because of physical desk move, or would it have happened anyway due to present circumstances?
  • Chad Kahl (Illinois State University): He is chair of a new single-service desk working group which will be using design thinking methodology for their work to combine their circulation and reference service points. He will keep the group posted.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • Upcoming Instruction Committee event on Quiet Quitting on Oct. 24th; Denise will be presenting a program on troubleshooting full text links on November 1st
  • CARLI is hosting a session on the Open Education Network’s Certificate in OER Librarianship; CARLI is making funding available for up to five CARLI member librarians to attend the certification program.
  • The CARLI Annual Meeting will be held on November 4th at the I-Hotel.
  • The selection system is open for calendar year e-resource selections.
  • CARLI is working with ebook program vendors on the future of the ebooks program, and will use the selection system to have a more formal method for funding the program.

Discussion

• Because most committee members can attend either in-person or via Zoom in November, the decision was made to hold the November meeting on November 9th from 10:00am-3:00pm at ISU’s Milner Library in their conference room, which has Zoom capability for those unable to attend in person. Elizabeth, Denise, and Chad will work together on lunch, and Chad will send out Amtrak schedules for those intending to use public transportation to get to ISU.
• Potential topics for this year’s project: blended services and staffing models; data services projects; the future of reference and instruction and how are libraries adapting those services for the medium- and long-term; various class formats (hyflex, etc.) and their advantages/disadvantages/best practices; outside services provided in the library and intentional versus haphazard collaborations in the library; mission of place and placemaking in libraries. The committee had discussed the concept of quiet-quitting at last month’s meeting, but since the Instruction Committee is holding an event on that topic later this month that idea was tabled.
• The possibility of splitting into subcommittees to work on various topics and reconvening to present findings was presented and will be discussed further at the November in-person meeting.  Chad will work with Lesley on potential subcommittee themes to share for consideration prior to November meeting.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Public Services Committee will next meet in-person (with Zoom option) on November 9th, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at ISU’s Milner Library conference room.  Jennifer Lau-Bond is minutes taker.

Committee Meetings:
December 14, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: Katie Maier-O'Shea
January 11, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: Ashley McMullin
February 8, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: Anne Shelley
March 8, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: Arlie Sims
April 12, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: Simone Williams
May 10, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: Chad Kahl
June 14, 2022, 10-11 a.m., Minutes: to be determined

Deadlines: