POLICIES & PROCEDURES: LIBRARY DEPARTMENT

Subject: LIBRARY FACULTY WEEKLY MEETINGS      Date: 10-18-2004

POLICY:

The LIBRARY Faculty will attend regularly scheduled weekly meetings (Currently at 2:15pm on Mondays) to share area and individual progress toward goals in addition to other important news.  This sharing will be more than an opportunity; it will be a regularly scheduled obligation.  However, the Chair can, with good reason, such as an absence of agenda items, cancel the regularly scheduled meeting.

This meeting should be a high priority for both the LIBRARY Department Chair and tenure- track faculty; no absences without reason.

Votes/Quorum:  A quorum should be a simple majority of LIBRARY tenure-track faculty.  If a quorum is present, votes are permitted.  If the majority vote at the meeting is also a majority of total tenure-track LIBRARY faculty, the vote can take effect immediately.  If the majority vote at the meeting is not a majority of total tenure-track faculty, then action on the vote will be delayed five working days; if a faculty member wishes to challenge the vote, she has five working days to overturn the vote by securing (in writing or on email the votes of a majority of total tenure-track LIBRARY faculty.

PROCEDURE:

A. Agenda will consist of standard items such as Members Present, Approval of Minutes,

     New Business, Old Business, and Announcements.

      1.  Agenda will be prepared by LIBRARY Department Secretary and approved by the

           Chair.

       2.  Agenda will be distributed to LIBRARY faculty by 3:00 pm the Friday before a

            regularly scheduled Monday meeting.

        3. Agenda items must be submitted to the LIBRARY Agenda Blog no later than noon on

            the Friday preceding a Monday meeting. 

            a. The Chair may choose to add agenda items beyond the deadline.

        4. By noon of the day following the meeting, the LIBRARY secretary will 

            archive or delete previous agenda items from the blog.  She will provide a blank

            slate on the blog for posting new agenda items on the blog under the categories of

            New Business, Old Business, and Announcements.

B. Notification of Meeting or Cancellation Thereof   

      1. Although the agenda which is distributed the Friday before the meeting serves as a

          reminder, no formal notification is necessary.  Unless cancelled by the Chair or her

          designated substitute, the meeting will be held weekly at the same time and place.       

      2. Except under special circumstances, the Chair will notify LIBRARY faculty of regular  

          meeting cancellations by 3:00 pm on the Friday before the Monday meeting.

C. Conduct of the Meeting: The Chair conducts the meeting when she’s there and

     appoints someone to conduct meetings when she’s not.

D. Minutes

      1. The LIBRARY Department Secretary will take minutes.  In her absence, the Chair will

          appoint an LIBRARY faculty member to take minutes.

      2. The minutes will be posted on the “M” drive, which is mapped to the “Minutes”

          subdirectory of the Lib1 server, no later than 4:00 pm on the second day following

          the meeting.

        3. The minutes taker will gather and distribute handouts from the meeting to those

           absent from the meeting.

       4. The Department Secretary will deliver a printed copy of the minutes as well as

           copies of the meeting’s handouts to the Dean of Learning Resources no later than

           4:00 pm on the second day following the meeting.

       5. The Department Secretary will place printed copies of the agenda, minutes, and

           handouts from each meeting in the LIBRARY Department Office in the binders 

           designated for that purpose -- where they will remain in perpetuity to inform,

           amaze and amuse generations to come. 

E.  Reference Desk Substitutions  Since the same librarians are assigned Reference duty

     during the meeting time for an entire semester, substitution methods have been

     developed so that the same tenure-track librarian(s) will not miss multiple meetings.

      1. Whenever possible, an adjunct librarian will be assigned reference duty during the

           regular meeting time.  The second librarian assigned to that time will leave the

           Reference Area no sooner than five minutes before the meeting and return no later

           than five minutes after.  If the adjunct librarian needs help, she can call a

           librarian from the meeting.

        2. If the adjunct librarian is absent, the second librarian assigned to that

            time slot (or the on-call) will perform reference duties during the meeting.

        3. If, during a particular semester, there is not an adjunct librarian assigned to 

            reference duty during meeting times, the rotation schedule for reference

            substitution @  http://www.alamo.edu/sac/library/info/refpoli/meetsub.htm                                                 

            will be implemented.

Adopted by the Library and Media Service Department on 10/18/2004