There is hope that we might receive some funds to help cover the minimum wage increase. Robinson reported that the Budget Office and HRS are eager to receive the paperwork on our abolished positions ASAP and Robinson has the paperwork ready for Doyle's signature. LC reviewed its list of possible reallocations and added several new ideas to the list. After discussing the scenarios, LC held a survey and consensus was reached to approve the fall-back plan agreed on by LC during the original budget reallocation planning. During this discussion, the topic of faculty vs staff reductions surfaced again and several LC members noted that staff are feeling pinched by the trend toward protecting faculty positions from budget cuts.
Many staff feel that faculty positions are protected at their expense.
It was noted that there's still not enough dialog about how the business of libraries is changing and how it affects library employees. The faculty have discussed the issue, but it definitely needs broader discussion. She inferred from that conversation that the Search Committee may not be appointed before Fall semester, but she will ask the Provost this afternoon for clarification on that issue. Doyle said she doesn't foresee those two organizational structures merging. LC decided that it is too early to make a recommendation to the Provost about search committee membership so this item will be placed on Pending agenda for late in July.