LFA Annual Report - Fiscal Year 2020-2021

LFSA/LSA/LFA Committee Final Report

 

Committee Name:Library Faculty Assembly Executive Committee

Fiscal Year: 2020 - 2021

Committee Chair: Brian Rosenblum

Members (with terms): Angie Rathmel (Secretary); Karna Younger (Secretary); Scott MacEathron (Librarian); Elspeth Healey (Associate Librarian); L.Marie Avila (Assistant Librarian)

 

Standing Charges:

  • Ensures the orderly and effective operation of LFA
  • Is the first point of contact for any matters referred to the attention of LFA, save those which are specifically assigned to standing committees in the Code and, where appropriate, assigns such matters to standing or ad hoc committees
  • Brings governance issues concerning all faculty and staff to the LFSA Executive Committee
  • Designates a liaison to the Organizational Development Unit and an ex officio liaison to LSA to ensure communication and information sharing
  • Monitors KU governance issues that may affect LFA, including the Faculty Senate and the University Senate Committee on Libraries
  • Takes no action contrary to the desires of the LFA

 

Standing Charges Progress/Accomplishment Summary:

The LFA Executive Committee met regularly, held two general membership meetings, one special meeting, and met the spirit of the Standing Charges.

Significant areas of attention this year included issues resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the budget crisis at KU, and university-wide policies concerning.

The Executive Committee stressed to the Dean the importance of shared governance and the need for faculty voices at the table in matters such as budget planning, and policies regarding remote and on-site work.

In February 2021 LFA held a special meeting with the Dean to address two issues of concern: (1) the Kansas Board of Regent’s policy regarding the dismissal of tenured faculty, and (2) the Covid-19 impact statement for annual faculty evaluations.

LFA Exec coordinated extensively with LFSA Exec on many of these issues, via the officers who served on both executive committees.

Special Charges:

None

Special Charges Progress Summary (please include progress and/or accomplishments related to Special Charges):

N/A

Progress on Previous Year’s Recommendations (if applicable, please describe any progress or work towards last year’s committee recommendations):

  • LFA executive should work within LFSA to appoint a webmaster to handle the upload of documents produced by the various governance committees.

 

Done. LFA executive provided input to LFSA executive in developing the new position of web manager and determining that position’s role and responsibilities.

 

  • LFA executive chair should make sure that the incoming chair has all necessary documents (meeting minutes, reports, etc.) required to conduct general meetings, etc. in order to avoid delays in scheduling. This will require a change to the Code.

 

LFA Exec discussed the idea of creating a working handbook to assist the incoming chair and committee members in understanding the timelines and processes for some of the requirements specified in the code. We didn’t move forward on this recommendation but the incoming or future committees may want to consider it.

 

Other Activities or Accomplishments:

  • LFA executive continued to hold meetings online via Zoom. Business was conducted with relative ease and meetings had regular attendance.
  • LFA executive reviewed and approved the recommendations from LCPT addressing their special charge regarding how best to make faculty P&T files available.
  • LFA Executive contributed to a document, compiled by LFSA Exec, expressing the concerns of faculty and staff regarding the Libraries’ return-to-campus plans.

 

Recommendations:

 

Potential Charges for Future Committees:

 

Prepared By: Brian Rosenblum, Chair, LFA Executive Committee