Minutes
LACUNY Instruction Committee
Meeting
November 5, 2004, 2 pm- 4 pm
Members
in Attendance:
Alexandra
deLuise, Queens
Anne
Leonard, City Tech
Mickey
Laskin, Hostos
Susan
Voge, Lehman College
Jeff
Wayne, Borough of Manhattan
Kenneth
Schlesinger, LaGuardia
Clover
Steele, Medgar Evers College
Katherine
Parsons, Bronx
Sandra
Marcus, Queensborough
Remi
Castonguay, LaGuardia
Edward
Owusu-Ansah, Staten Island
Meeting
commenced at 2 pm.
Members
welcomed Susan Voge of Lehman College back from a sabbatical leave.
As
could be expected of a post-elections meeting of information specialists, an
exciting discussion evolved on the November presidential elections, with
members overwhelmingly agreeing on the growing need for librarians to play a
proactive role in shaping the critical information seeking behavior of citizens
in a democratic society. In that same
spirit, LACUNY president, Kenneth Schlesinger of LaGuardia Community College,
reminded members of the fine job being done by the LACUNY Legislative Committee
under the new and reinvigorated leadership of Lisa Ellis. The committee,
Kenneth announced, currently has a small membership and is looking for new
members. Kenneth noted that CUNY librarians could have input in the legislative
process by educating political leadership, and can mobilize and agitate as
well. Kenneth also made the observation that new CUNY Librarian, Mr. Curtis
Kendrick, could be the public face of CUNY in terms of lobbying for state
support and library resources.
Kenneth
also noted that LACUNY was working on events involving meetings with local
legislators in New York. An infomercial featuring Senator Chuck Shumer in the
Baruch College Library was in the works. There was also a planned LACUNY meeting
coming up at City College on January 21, 10 am -12, featuring a town hall-like
public discussion of library-specific issues. The agenda and approval by
Executive Council was still pending. Kenneth hoped LACUNY could have an event
for each month.
Kenneth reminded members of the December 10 winter membership meeting, at which Rebecca Adler, Francine Egger-Sider, Louise Fluk, Suzanna Simor, Susan Voge will all present on “Fellowship Leave: Sabbaticals for CUNY Library Faculty.” The event will be held at the School of Social Work, Hunter College, 129 East 79th Street (Lexington Avenue), Room 1010, from 2:30 pm-5 pm. Prof. Sharon Swacker of City Tech will be the moderator.
Miriam
Laskin of Hostos inquired if anyone knew of current progress on the PSC contract.
Nobody knew much, but members noted that the meeting with Barbara Bowen at
Hunter did successfully put librarians in the picture for discussions, and
would likely properly address the issue of reassignment time for junior
faculty. This prompted a discussion of sabbaticals as well, on the issues and
difficulties surrounding its request, granting, and attendant expectations and
the impact of those expectations.
On
the proposed Libraries’ Information Literacy Advisory Committee (LILAC), Sandra
Marcus observed that it would be in order if the body addressed work already
began by the Tutorial Working Group, completes and launches an information
literacy tutorial that could be used by all CUNY campuses and that would have
an ALEPH component as well.
On
the possibility of a topic for a March event to be organized by the Instruction
Committee, members offered several observations, though no commitments were
made. Assessment emerged as the single most pressing issue, and the search for
best practices appeared to have more advocates. Miriam informed members of a
Hostos-wide assessment instrument that includes the library. Those working on
the instrument are experts in creating assessment tools and the work is still
in progress. Data mined from evaluation forms filled out by students is
available for the past three years. At LaGuardia the curriculum committee
established seven content areas for evaluation, including research and
information literacy. The question of how to evaluate one-hour sessions still
remains unresolved. Sandra noted that teacher return might be the best
indication of the quality/value of instructional sessions.
The
scope of emerging issues and the passion with which members committed to their
discussion left virtually no time for dealing with agenda items such as
discussing guidelines/modules used for teaching and provided by some members
prior to the meeting for constructive comments. Decision on other matters of
engagement was also tabled for the next meeting.
Next meeting dates will be (from 2 pm – 4 pm on each occasion):
Friday January 28, 2005
Friday March 4, 2005
Meeting
adjourned at 4 pm.
Submitted
by:
Edward
Owusu-Ansah