Minutes
To find handouts and presentations from previous meetings go to the CALLRGroup Documents Page or look through the Resources posts.
CALLR Minutes – Spring Meeting 2023 (Accepted Nov 9, 2023) (PDF Link)
Meeting Information Date: Thursday, April 27th
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location: University of Houston-Clear Lake Bayou Building 2nd Floor
2700 Bay Area Blvd.
Houston, TX
Virtual Meeting Link: https://uhcl.zoom.us/j/95545863076
Attendees in Person:
Henri Achee, Nicole Brown, Jennifer Crispin, Kasey Fuller, Helena Gawu, Lee Andrew Hilyer, Samantha Johnson, Karyn Jones, Alexandria Kennedy, Trey LaBorde, Robyn Lewis, Telishia Murray, David Palmer, Kathy Park, Phil Roche, Theresa Rodriguez, Juanna Shin, Rudy Silva, Carmen Walton, Pam Wells, Jenn Wigle, Alicia Wise, Anne Zwicky
Attendees via Zoom: Sanya Bunton, Kathleen Dillon, Michael Mitchell, Keitha Robinson, Jennifer Tapp
10:00-10:15 Welcome: Helena Gawu, Dean of Library Services | Lamar State College, Port Arthur
Welcome: Lee Hilyer, Interim Executive Director of UHCL Neumann Library spoke about HARLIC and the power of networking.
Introduction of Speaker: Phil Roche, Director, Library and Learning Services | Brazosport College
10:15-11:15 Speaker: Dr. Clementine Msengi, Visiting Assistant Professor, Center for Doctoral Studies in Educational Leadership, Lamar University
Program Topic: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Academic Libraries
Dr. Msengi spoke of her experiences as a refugee attending college in Iowa, shared her research on inclusion in libraries, and then invited a discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in libraries
Galveston College put out a puzzle table for Stress Less week and now they can’t get rid of it because the students love it so much!
A question about chat: are we assuming all users are students?
Dr. Msengi said she finds out about what the library is doing partly from librarians coming to faculty meetings (and also from personal relationships)
Some suggestion for DEI included grants for multicultural awareness/ DEI activities, programs for mentoring refugees and immigrants
Discussion of Policies and Procedures: Is DEI statement available? Does it exist? An example is https://library.uni.edu/diversity
Q: What would be one thing to address immediately?
A: Assessment (survey) because each library is unique/ informal audit among staff
Q: Cultural differences: group work vs. independent work
A: It would help to explain how the process works and give them support, resources
HG: Once you find someone, you want to work with them because you are all alone. Once you get a support system, you want to do things together
11:15-11:30 Break
11:30-12:00 Business Meeting
Introductions
First-time attendees
Jenn Wigle HCC Spring Branch
Theresa Rodriguez, UHCL
Alicia Wise, Galveston College
Everyone
Old Business
Reading/acceptance of Fall 2022 meeting minutes
Corrections on names and attendance of Bill Hord, Jenna Tapp, and Telishia Murray
Telishia made a motion to accept, Carmen Walton seconded
New Business
Constitution articles discussion – Helena Gawu, Lamar State College, Port Arthur
Executive committee looked at Constitution & Bylaws, which have not been revised in ten years. Looking at functions of executive committee members. Article III, B, “B. Executive members shall be chief executive librarian or director of member libraries of districts. Consortium business requiring the commitment of funds from member institutions will require a majority vote from the executive members. It will be the responsibility of each executive member to receive appropriate institutional approval for any CALLR activities requiring institutional commitments.”
Suggested wording
Henri Achee: that part is there because of funding commitments, but since there are no funding commitments, it’s not relevant.
Phil Roche suggested breaking into two– one part about who can be members and the other part about the responsibility to get funding
Henri suggested deleting membership info out
Attempted vote on change:
“Executive members shall be members of CALLR libraries
It will be the responsibility of each executive member to receive appropriate institutional approval for any CALLR activities requiring institutional commitments.”
Helena proposed just leaving in membership sentence
“III B General members shall be librarians and staff members of the CALLR member libraries. Any member can be an officer.”
Alexandria motioned to change III B
Very long debate about clarifying who can be an officer
David Palmer moved to put bylaws on Google drive and have members review; Alexandria seconded
Anne Zwicky mentioned UHD not being on membership list in bylaws. Lee Hilyer corrected in working document
Telishia suggested having executive committee work on changes and then present them to members who can give input
New CALLR Blog/Website/Social Media – Alexandria Kennedy, University of Houston-Clear Lake presented new suggested blog design
Invites those who know the history of CALLR to contact her by email with info about the organization’s history
Major changes: Resource sharing form and blog feedback form
Discussion of a vote on whether CALLR should have social media and if so, which
Nicole Brown motioned to accept, Karyn Jones seconded, no one opposed
Job openings
Electronic Resources Librarian @ UHCL
Senior associate for acquisitions @ UHCL
Both posted on UH website
Part-time weekend reference librarian, Educational Resources, Technology Management @ UHD
HCC West Loop Library Director retires May 15, announcement expected after that
HCC Felix Fraga will be available this summer: Public Services Librarian
Library news/updates
Phil Roche was still trying to get rid of compact shelving
Telishia is presenting at ALA Library Tech Panel COHA Innovative Library Systems panel
Karyn Jones got towers (paperback rack) for fiction, students like them
Alexandria: research & instruction at UHCL is setting up embedded librarian program, she’s looking for info
Fall 2023 meeting location and date discussion
Anne said maybe UHD, but she has to check with higher-ups, UHD as main, UHCL as a backup
When? Second Thurs in November is Nov 9, no apparent problems
Future RefShare topic suggestions
Running short on time, omitting RefShare Topics (can be submitted online)
12:00-12:40 RefShare/TechShare Meeting – Karyn Jones, San Jacinto College
COVID forced libraries to operate differently. What changes did your library make during the pandemic? Which ones remain and which ones were eliminated?
Ran out of time to address this question
HB 2736, SB 1152, and HB 2875 present special challenges for colleges with substantial dual enrollment programs. If these pieces of legislation are passed, how will they affect your library? (Please read the attached document for context.)
Discussion Points:
HB 2736, SB 1152, HB 2875
Showed penal code 43.21 Subchapter B. Obscenity
Carmen discussed MOU with HISD: dual credit students have access to all materials in HCC library “not here to supervise what they’re doing online”, Campus manager believed librarian had to supervise dual credit students the entire time they were there.
Henri & Carmen agreed that things won’t change until someone brings a complaint
Kasey brought up video streaming that contains R-rated movies and dual-credit students who can’t access college resources back at their High School campus. Challenged three times in the past two semesters
Nicole- nothing anyone could have done– we have to start putting policies in place, protections in place for staff
Anne Z says UHD doesn’t have dual credit, but does have questions about students under 18
Kasey brings up COPA law and how people under 18 couldn’t access information
Kathy Park: Obscenity has been used to exclude LGBTQ community
Discussion of wording including “normal”
Telishia brought it back to how it will affect our libraries and how we won’t know how it will affect us until it happens and it also depends on how our admins back us (and how they feel about students and academic freedom)
Nicole said this is something that will need directors and college administration to take action
Jenna suggested waivers giving blanket permission for access to materials
Helena said maybe there needs to be language in MOUs that absolve libraries
Jenn W talked about opting in vs. opting out
The final question was “How worried are we?”
Juanna mentioned legislation attempt that would put librarians in prison
Lee brought up Texas Library Association professional liability insurance, which costs $45 a year. He attended TLA’s spring conference and the state librarian mentioned potential requirements for ratings on materials, which vendors might be told to do.
Meeting adjourned at 12:40pm
12:40-1:00 Tour of University of Houston-Clear Lake Alfred R. Neumann Library – Lee Hilyer, Interim Executive Director, Library and Alexandria Kennedy, University of Houston-Clear Lake
1:00 Adjournment/Lunch