Time: Monday at 2:00 p.m.
Location: Golda Meir Library W115E and Microsoft Teams<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Present:<\/strong> Rachel Baum \u2013 ULC Chair, Martha Carlin, Michael Doylen \u2013 Library Director, Rick Edwards, Maura Lucking, Jesse Malmed, William Musinski, Ermitte Saint Jacques, and Shevaun Watson<\/p>\n\n\n\n Excused:<\/strong> Anne Bonds, Jenny Hutton, Victoria Moerchen, and Lance Weinhardt<\/p>\n\n\n\n Time: Monday at 2:00 p.m.Location: Golda Meir Library W115E and Microsoft Teams Present: Rachel Baum \u2013 ULC Chair, Martha Carlin, Michael Doylen \u2013 Library Director, Rick Edwards, Maura Lucking, Jesse Malmed, William Musinski, Ermitte Saint Jacques, and Shevaun Watson Excused: Anne …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7888,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[65],"tags":[43,24,14],"class_list":["post-11036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-libraries-committee","tag-2025-2026","tag-faculty","tag-minutes"],"uwm_unpublish_requested":false,"yoast_head":"\n\n
The minutes of December 1, 2025, meeting were approved by unanimous consent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
The FY27 budget is projected to remain flat, with no authorization to use carryforward balances to offset publisher cost increases. However, the Libraries will utilize available end-of-year balances to cover these costs where possible. Doylen met with Drew Knab, Associate Vice Chancellor for Business and Financial Services, to discuss the Libraries\u2019 budget. Knab noted that the Division of Financial and Administrative Affairs prioritizes limited carryforward funds for high-impact, one-time needs that directly support student success.
Doylen provided an update on current vacancies. The Libraries are actively recruiting for the head of borrowing services, a health sciences librarian, a business librarian, and head of AGSL. ULC expressed interest in receiving information on job talks when candidates come to campus.
Doylen reported on facilities projects happening around the building. Carpeting and painting continue on the second floor of the west wing. On a larger scale, the Libraries and Campus Planning are developing a proposal to renovate AGSL. The priority is replacement of an aging and unreliable HVAC system, although there is hope to also address other space needs through a broader renovation
On December 10, Doylen presented to the Deans about the Libraries\u2019 read and publish agreements.
The Provost met with library staff on December 12 to provide campus-wide updates, share information about initiatives in Academic Affairs, and answer questions.
On December 15, Doylen was interviewed with the Chancellor for his monthly WUWM radio program, the Chancellor’s Report<\/a>, which aired on January 1 and 4.
Doylen joined the Chancellor on December 15 for the Libraries’ usual finals week study break. It was well attended, and students were happy to have some time with the Chancellor.
Doylen gave a presentation at the Department Chairs and Associate Deans meeting on January 28 about the Libraries\u2019 textbook affordability initiatives.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n
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Back in September, Kate Ganski, Library Associate Director for User Services, presented on AI research assistants. At that time, ULC supported a smaller pilot program to gather more user input on JSTOR and ProQuest One Business. Since then, seven faculty have volunteered to work with user services to develop course related assignments around these research assistants. The results will show how students are responding to the AI research assistants and how the library can be helpful in evaluating them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n
The faculty and graduate student library survey was conducted in Fall of 2025. Preliminary metrics suggest a 90% confidence rating by receiving 253 of 310 faculty responses and 300 of 352 graduate student responses. Doylen provided a high-level overview of the survey results. A more polished report will be presented at the next ULC meeting in April.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
One of the strategies being used to meet digital accessibility compliance is decreasing the Libraries\u2019 digital footprint. MarComm launched a retention schedule to unpublish news and events after two years and delete them after three years. An auditing tool, DubBot, will \u201ccrawl\u201d the remaining pages to find areas that require attention.
Each area of the library presents different challenges in meeting compliance requirements. ILL is proving to be a pain point in determining the appropriate service level for requests to remediate digital content for class use. While requests for class use are a small percentage of all requests, it remains an overwhelming task due to the limitations of the PDF remediation tool, Equidox. The Libraries want to be a good partner with faculty in providing accessible documents to students but need a way to make this possible. ULC discussed and agreed that the instructors requesting the content should be responsible for informing the Libraries of the specific level of remediation required for a document.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n