Newsletter JANUARY 2004 Volume 30.4 Vikki Cecchetto, EDITOR

in this issue: MUFA Service Awards Librarian Conference New Members Housing Smile 2004/05 Executive Volunteers Needed

 

Call for Nominations
MUFA Service Award

 
I am pleased to announce that at a special reception in the spring of 2004, the McMaster University Faculty Association will give out its first ever Faculty/Librarian Outstanding Service Awards.

I am writing now to ask you to consider nominating a faculty member or professional librarian who you believe has made an outstanding contribution to the University.  We are interested in those people who have made a difference by providing excellent service to faculty, librarians, staff, students or alumni.

Nominating a colleague for these awards is relatively straightforward.  We ask that the nominator write a supporting narrative of not more than 750 words, indicating why the candidate deserves the award.  In addition, the nominator should attach, or arrange to send, between two and four other reference letters of not more than 500 words in support of the candidate.  Nominations should be e-mailed (mufa@mcmaster.ca) or mailed to MUFA (Hamilton Hall 103A), no later than Friday, 5 March 2004.  Please ensure that the position and contact information for the nominator and all referees is clearly indicated.

The awards committee, composed of representatives of faculty, librarians, students, staff and alumni, has been asked to consider how much the nominated candidate has affected the University, enhanced its reputation, provided excellent service, and demonstrated innovation.  Consideration will be given to the breadth and depth of the candidate’s impact on the University, and the strength of support expressed in the nominating and reference letters.  The full Terms of Reference for the award is on the MUFA website (www.mcmaster.ca/mufa/award.html).

So, please take a moment to consider whether one of your colleagues is deserving of a MUFA Outstanding Service Award.  If you believe so, please take a few moments out of your busy schedule to write a nominating letter and arrange for reference letters to be sent, in order to provide your colleague with the recognition she or he deserves.

 Ken Cruikshank
MUFA President

 

CAUT Librarians Conference 2003
Academic Status - Under-valued?  Under Threat?

The Highlights...

Keynote Address: Janet Swan Hill (CU at Boulder)

• American perspective at an institution where librarians are full faculty with rank and tenure
• recognition, however, that librarians are NOT the same as faculty — applied service profession
• division of their time into:  40% Librarianship as a profession, 40% Research and 20% Services
• question came up about Academic Freedom — key component of Academic Status.  We were asked if anyone in the room felt that they had total academic freedom at their university.  No one put up their hand.

Statistical Session:  lots of interesting data collected in CAUT Librarian Salary Survey 2002

• question about how to tighten up the survey to produce more accurate results; comments can be sent to Robert Leger at CAUT.
• interesting to note that McMaster librarians are on the bottom of the pile in a comparison with other academic librarians in getting same or similar provisions as the other faculty

Tale of 3 institutions: McGill, Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier

• McGill’s situation put librarians in close alignment with faculty; however, they have seen a significant growth in their non-tenured librarian positions (14 non-tenured positions currently on 1, 2 or 3 year contracts)

• Waterloo librarians have never gained either academic or faculty status and currently remain in the staff bargaining unit

• Wilfrid Laurier has full faculty status with all of its privileges and responsibilities; McMaster librarians  should look at some of their agreement clauses — workload, short term leaves, and professional responsibilities — and work toward adding them to our agreement

Justifying and Using Academic Status
Ashley Thompson of Laurentian gave excellent tips on how to get into research (eg, find a faculty member and offer to work with them; get grant money — lots of it out there; hire a research assistant to do the leg work).  He enjoys the researching aspect of his career and it showed in his enthusiasm.  Interesting take on research — he does not consider those “what we did good in our library” as academic research, however, both research aids and edited books are.

Scholars or Managers
David Fox, University of Saskatchewan, proposed that we can be both.  Main problem with most of our attempts at scholarship is that we do not have research that is validated by peers nor is it appropriately communicated.

Suggestions to Pursue at McMaster
1.  Promotion of research leaves and how they can raise the profile of the librarians on this campus as well as in the profession.

2.  Research leave should not have a limited number of weeks total per year to be shared among those wanting time.  Average seems to be either 6 or 12 month periods.

3.  Short term leaves appear to be the accepted norm in most academic institutions — on top of the long research leaves available.  Most have 15-20 days (taken in different ways) to complete short term projects — writing reviews, preparing proposals, etc.

4.  Librarian to student ratio: McMaster is among lowest in ARL statistics; determine a minimum librarian complement

Donna Millard
Reference Librarian, Mills Library
Halifax, NS — October 23-25, 2003

 

New Members

Julia Abelson Paul Contoyanni Gail Gauvreau Jim Julian Anwar Merchant

Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics Medicine Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

 

For Rent  Fully Furnished Luxury One-Bedroom Condo  in prestigious downtown Hamilton heritage building, complete with 5 appliances, Jacuzzi tub, central air, private parking, and locker.  Building amenities include video monitored secured entrances, exercise facility, lap pool/hot tub combination, entertainment room access, tuck shop.  Centrally located close to shopping malls, banking facilities and all 4 hospitals.  Suits professionals on short/medium term contracts.  10-minute drive to McMaster. $1200 per month or per diem rate for daily/weekly rental; includes hydro, but not cable or telephone.  First and last month’s rent required.  Short-term leases available.  For viewing, call 905-527-4599 and leave message, or e-mail jpgpptymgmt@hotmail.com

Private Sale near McMaster.  Three-bedroom Condo.  Many upgrades.  Common  elements include Pool and Sauna.  View to appreciate.   $142,500.  Call “Rad” at 905-527-4602.
 
 

Three professors and three businessmen are traveling by train to a conference.  At the station, the three professors each buy tickets and watch as the three businessmen buy only a single ticket.

“How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?” asked one of the three professors.

“Watch and you’ll see,” answers one of the businessmen.

They all board the train.  The professors take their respective seats but all three businessmen cram into a restroom and close the door behind them.

Shortly after the train had departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets.  He knocks on the  restroom door and says, “Ticket, please.”  The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand.  The conductor takes it and moves on.

The professors saw this and agreed it was quite a clever idea.  So after the conference, the professors decide to copy the businessmen on the return trip and save some money.

When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip.  To their astonishment, the businessmen don’t buy a ticket at all.

“How are you going to travel without a ticket?”  Asks one perplexed professor.

“Watch and you’ll see,” says one of the businessmen.

When they board the train, the three professors cram into a restroom and the three businessmen cram into another one nearby.  The train departs.  Shortly afterward, one of the businessmen leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the professors are hiding.

He knocks on the door and says, “Ticket, please.”

 

2004/2005 Executive

If you are interested in serving on the Faculty Association Executive or know of someone who would make an excellent candidate, please contact us:  Hamilton Hall 103A;  Ext. 24682;  mufa@ mcmaster.ca). DEADLINE — FEBRUARY 15, 2004.

olunteers Needed!

A voluntary organization such as the McMaster University Faculty Association can succeed in serving the interests of its membership only to the extent that the members participate in formulating and executing policy.  At any given time,  approximately two dozen individuals carry the burden for all of the members and after a few years most of them are exhausted by the tasks which they have voluntarily borne.  Their valuable experience and wisdom is then lost to us.  The best way to lessen this attrition of talent is for more of the membership to give some time and effort to the Association.  If you are not interested in putting your name forward for the Executive Committee, please use the form below to let us know if you would like to participate in MUFA’s efforts by serving on one of the following  committees.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I am interested in working more closely with the Faculty Association.  My interests are:
 

MUFA Council ___	Pension ___
Academic Affairs ___	Public Relations ___
Human Rights ___	Remunerations ___
Library ___	Grievances ___
Membership ___	Tenure ___
Ad Hoc Committees ___	Special Assignment ___

Are there other areas where the Faculty Association might be useful to its  members?

_____________________________________________________________________

NAME____________________________________________	EXTENSION______________________
DEPARTMENT____________________________________	E-MAIL___________________________

Return form to McMaster University Faculty Association, HH 103A
 
 

January 27,  2004
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