LFA Exec - Minutes - October 25, 2019

LIBRARY FACULTY ASSEMBLY (LFA) EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING NOTES

October 25, 2019

Present:

  • Betsaida Reyes – Chair
  • Brian Rosenblum - Vice-chair/Chair Elect
  • Erin Wolfe - Secretary
  • Fran Devlin - Representative (Librarian rank)
  • Sarah Goodwin Thiel - Representative (Associate Librarian rank)
  • Josh Bolick - Representative (Assistant Librarian rank)
  • Carmen Orth-Alfie (via Zoom) - Member at Large

Opening

Meeting was called to order. Minutes from LFA Exec meeting (9/27/2019) were reviewed, voted, and approved with one amendment. Re: University policy on Post Tenure Review – re Section 2D has been amended. Is not in alignment with University policy. This will need to be updated in the Lib policy.

Discussion of merit increases

Scott McEathron joined for this discussion about two points arising from an email conversation that he has had with Dean Smith regarding the communication about the library’s merit increases.

  1. Regarding the details that should be included in the recent merit letters. In the letters, the distribution of funds was included, but not the distribution of individuals.
    • The faculty evaluation plan states: "...the librarian will receive a letter from the Dean of Libraries with the associated merit level salary for the upcoming fiscal year and the distribution of merit awards among LFPA members."
    • The admin recognized the above statement, but interpreted it differently than it has been in the past and chose to not include the distribution rankings by individuals.
  2. 13 individuals in the Libraries were given a salary increase in an effort to decrease gender pay inequity. To some extent, this was instigated by the Provost’s office as a campus-wide effort to improve this area, but the criteria used to apply this in the Libraries was not communicated by admin.

After discussions about the above topics, it is suggested that the Dean address each of them in the upcoming LFA meeting (Nov. 4, 2019). Betsaida will extend an invitation.

Report on meeting with Dean Smith (Oct. 11, 2019) (Betsaida, Sarah)

In addition to conversations about the merit increase (as above), discussions included:

  • A method of addressing employee morale within the Libraries, including specific items in the strategic plan’s action items, open conversations with admin about morale and retention, and other related topics. It is suggested that LFA Exec committee may continue this discussion in a later meeting.
  • Brief question about how admin intends to address salary compression, as the minimum salary for new hires is increased to $52,000.

LFA/LFSA Committees

LCPT meeting (Fran)

  • Committee has met and is working Code (Erin)
  • First meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 29. Betsaida and Fran will attend to discuss the charge of amending the code to allow changing the LFA Exec committee size from seven members to five (an item that has been circulating since 2018).

Action items

  • Betsaida will draft a letter to the Dean requesting that he address this issue to the LFSA and will send it to Exec for review
  • Dean to address: merit distribution, clarification of criteria used for increases (e.g. gender pay increases), and morale issues
  • Betsaida will schedule an additional meeting to look at strategic plan spreadsheet and discuss action items/morale issues
  • Betsaida will start draft for proposal to change Exec committee size.