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System Director’s Report:

August (again), 2006

What month is this?
I noticed too late that in my rush out of town last month I called that report August, 2006. Today is the last day of August, and there was no July report this year. That probably gives you a good indication of how my summer has gone. This evening I will attend a dinner to welcome new students to UW-SLIS (School of Library and Information Science). Labor Day weekend is only a day away, and we are gearing up for another System Celebration. Though at times it seemed this summer would never end, that the heat and humidity would never let up, I saw people wearing jackets at the dog park this morning.  And so our summer is over, again. There is nothing profound about that observation, but I wonder how it takes me by surprise every year.

This was the last day at SCLS for two staff members, Mary Wepking and Karen Rutunde. Mary will be director of the UW-Baraboo library and Karen will be a cataloger of digital objects at UW-Madison. We wish them well, but will miss them both. With Stef’s previous position open, too, we are now starting what will likely be several months of recruiting. Luckily, Bob Blitzke seems to be mending well and should be back at work about the third week of September.

Stef and I have been continuing the process of staff reviews started last month. The goals, objectives and budget requests we discuss with each staff member will feed into the 2007 annual plan and budget, which are in the works. A meeting of the Personnel and Budget & Finance Committees has been set for early October and these documents will come to you for approval at the October meeting.

The state has announced that they have chosen Autographics as the vendor for the “statewide” resource-sharing product. I received a packet of materials today to review for an LSTA meeting next Tuesday, when we’ll discuss how much federal grant money will be used to finance the contract. While it is not a surprise, it is a disappointment that they chose a product we moved away from in 2004 because it did not meet our needs. It should be an interesting discussion and I will tell you more about it when we meet.

See you on the 11th!