Strategic Planning

CPG minutes

DATE: Monday, October 25, 2004

TIME: 9-10:30 a.m., 435 Capen Hall

Members Present: Nancy Babb, Stewart Brower, Janiece Kiedrowski, Rick McRae, Dave Nuzzo, Jill Ortner, Sue Prefontaine, Diana Randall, Steve Roberts, Barbara von Wahlde, Ben Wagner, Margie Wells

Guests: Melissa Bednarz, Terry Dychowski, Maureen Glenn, Kathy Reid

Recorder: Rick McRae

Responsibilities:

The meeting commenced at 9:00

AGENDA

  1. Classified Staff Executive Committee
  2. CPG Exit Strategy discussion
  3. Town Forum
  4. Next CPG meeting

 

MINUTES

1. Classified Staff Executive Committee

CPG-III welcomed Melissa Bednarz (chair), Terry Dychowski, Maureen Glenn, and Kathy Reid of the Classified Staff Executive Committee (CEC) to the meeting. The CEC members requested more clarity from CPG-III as to the reasons for the formation of the new executive committees, and stated a need for guidance and direction.

The following reasons for the existence of 3 executive committees were expressed in response:

  1. The committees were designed during the initial strategic planning process, by the “Talents I” group (Subgroup 2, Action 1), addressing a specific need for representation and governance the creation of executive committees at the classified staff and the professional SL levels parallels the organizational structure of the faculty
  2. all staff have an equal vehicle to provide s strong voice in the direction of the Libraries
  3. decision making process can be improved by increasing staff input
  4. MAG can be better informed by representation at all levels (e.g. meeting attendance by faculty, SL and classified staff, representing their executive committees)

As the process is still a relatively young one in the Libraries’ culture, it will take some time to adjust to the roles the CEC will play in the organization. Responding to the perception that CEC’s concerns were not given serious consideration at a recent MAG meeting, it was expressed that this necessary adjustment is widespread—that all staff members must recognize the new executive committees as viable, visible, and effective bodies in the Libraries’ governance structure.

The CEC members also brought up that there is an apparent decline in the ranks of classified staff, and that some have migrated from classified to professional lines over the years, without replacement of the vacancies that their migration has created. CEC requested that data representing the numbers of classified staff employees hired from 1977 to the present be supplied from the Director’s Office. Steve responded that he would notify Schiffhauer and Ken Hood that they can expect a call from CEC. Additionally, he encouraged CEC to contact individuals who have migrated away from their classified lines, to investigate what might have motivated them to do so.

2. CPG Exit Strategy discussion

The committee discussed the need to continue the mechanisms that CPG had set in motion during our disbandment period. Planning for the Town Forum can be assigned to a new integrated group consisting of members from each of the three Executive Committee members, with possible additional individuals from MAG or the Director’s Office (e.g., Ken). The responsibilities for each Town Forum (facilitation, agenda timekeeping, etc.) could be rotated among the various executive committees, if so desired.

Our present schedule of 5 Town Forums per year (2 in fall semester, 3 in spring, with a possible virtual Town Forum via the listserv in the summer) would again be suggested, but it would be the discretion of the new planning committee whether to keep this schedule or modify it.

CPG members could also offer guidance and consultation in the Town Forum planning process, or could also contribute directly (e.g., facilitation of individual meetings, or other related duties).

The other issue in regard to the CPG phase-out was to ensure that actions be followed up and periodically assessed, identifying strengths, deficiencies, and need areas of the Libraries on a regular basis. After some brief discussion on using survey results as springboards for assessing progress, it was the consensus that the work of CPG should be refiltered through the 3 executive committees.

Two members each of the Faculty Executive Committee, the Professional Executive Committee and the Classified Staff Executive Committee will be invited to the next CPG-III meeting on December 2. Dave will contact the chairs of each committee to assign representatives to attend.

Dave agreed to initiate a file on the Y: drive that will address the key points that will eventually become CPG’s exit document. He will notify the group when the document is available, and members will then review the document and contribute to it. The committee brainstormed a few preliminary ideas for inclusion:

Review of Core Planning history, recommendations, and accomplishments to date

Identification of chief documents on CPG’s portion of Y: drive and website

Assessment of recommendations: what needs attention

Town Forum planning

Steve mentioned that the UB 2020 plan’s initial work will be completed by Dec. 5, with a coherent plan in place by mid-spring. One area of focus will be the campus-wide evaluation of all positions: to culminate in a spreadsheet of each position and the percentage of time devoted to specific tasks and responsibilities. This will serve to identify possible areas of work redundancy among employees, and to lead to more economically sound decisions and streamlining of work here at UB.

3. Town Forum

Jill distributed evaluation results from the Sept. 21 Town Forum, which were largely positive. The brainstorming sessions seemed to be received most favorably by respondents, and suggested future topics included development, the relationship between libraries and CIT, and production software on public workstations.

The upcoming Town Forum will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 120 Clemens Hall, from 9-11 AM (the room will be available at 8:30).

Responsibilities:

Tentative agenda items:

1. staffWEB – live demo and introduction to site – 20 min.
The site should be up before the end of October. Steve will contact Ken.

2. Brainstorming Round-Up” – 10 min.
The ideas from last Town Forum’s brainstorming session will be reviewed and discussed. The topics were:

Dave will facilitate this portion.

3. “Conclusions and comparison of LIBQUAL survey results, 2002 and 2004” – 20 min.

Karen Smith will be contacted to see if a report can be prepared for this discussion.

4. “Executive Summary on Scholarly Communication” – 20 min.

Ben mentioned that the report should be ready in a very short time. The summary can be presented before Town Forum with time for a brief question and answer period. Barbara suggested that this report could also be forwarded to the Senate Faculty Advisory Committee.

Other topics that were considered:

4. Next CPG meeting

The next meeting will be Thursday, December 2, 12 noon-2:00 PM, 435 Capen Hall. It will be a luncheon meeting that will include 2 members each of the three Executive Committees as our guests.

Responsibilities:

 

Content provider: Nancy Babb
Comments: lib-staffweb@buffalo.edu
Last update: 4 November, 2004

 

UB Libraries Strategic Plan

strategic planning process

Core Planning Group/CPG

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CPG minutes :::

progress chart :::

environmental scans

action group reports

town forum minutes