Personnel Policies Committee Report
Eugene J. Harvey
01/28/16
Personnel Policies Committee Meeting – October 5, 2015
Present: Chris Keough, Jill Locascio, Nancy Abashian, Eugene Harvey
The committee welcomed Nancy Abashian from SUNY Binghamton to the committee. Committee members gave introductions of themselves and reasons for being interested in this committee and its anticipated work goals.
The committee finished collecting salary data in the summer, and we continued to spend time discussing a general method for preparing data for analysis. The chair mentioned the necessity to “clean” the data before analysis. Even though there were data entry/reporting instructions sent to SUNY delegates, the manner in which data were reported was, at times, inconsistent. Thus, to ensure proper comparisons and statistical procedures, the tedious responsibility of standardizing data within the spreadsheet cells must be done. The chair volunteered to do that, although upcoming projects on his local campus may interfere with the timeframe in which that task can be completed.
Committee members said how they would like to be involved in the process of data analysis. The chair has experience with this process, but how to analyze the data *with* everyone is tricky given members’ locations and levels of expertise. The committee was asked to think about ways of doing that, if possible and feasible.
In the near future, the committee was asked to review past reports, including categories and variables in those reports, to maintain consistency. Also, comparisons to ARL salary survey reports (and other salary reports) may be considerations, too. These comparisons could be included in the report and used to guide advocacy efforts.
The chair mentioned the opportunity to present at conferences on our data, including SUNYLA 2016, the Library Assessment Conference, and others. The chair will be submitting proposals to those conferences, and committee members are welcome to be involved as much or as little as they wish, depending on their availability and interest. Disseminating this information across many venues, though, is desirable.
Other ideas for committee work and SUNYLA support were brainstormed quickly, including the need to revisit the purpose of exit surveys, how to better connect to SUNYLA advocacy efforts, and other personnel issues. Still, the priority will be the completion of the SUNYLA Salary Survey.
Exit Surveys
The chair received 3 exit surveys, all dated 12/21/15, spanning a few hours of time. They are included below:
Name: (Removed to protect anonymity) Leaving: NYS College of Ceramics, Alfred University Rank:Public Services Librarian
Retiring: yes
Reasons for leaving:
Name: (Removed to protect anonymity) Leaving: New Paltz Rank:Initially Senior Assistant Librarian (additional info removed to protect anonymity)
Retiring: no
Leaving the profession: NO
New position: I currently do not have a position lined up. Following my husband where he found work.
Reasons for leaving:
Salary: Though I don't know for sure, I'm relocating to VA, where I had been employed as a librarian at a public university at a much higher salary. I was initially appointed in 2010 as Associate Professor, given my experience, and starting salary was 58, as opposed to the 43k here I was hired at initially. (portion removed to protect anonymity)…but not really at the salary as others in similar positions across the country. Salaries are really bad at SUNY and though I feel positive strides have been made with some of the recent hires, they are not where they need to be by any means. Not even close.
Name: (Removed to protect anonymity) Leaving: University at Buffalo Rank:Head, Monograph Acquisitions
Retiring: yes
Reasons for leaving:
The chair would like to apologize for not submitting at least one previous report. (maybe two) With personal work projects at Buffalo State, along with two or three personal health issues, I needed to reprioritize some responsibilities.
Next PPC Meeting
February 2, 2016
2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
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Respectfully submitted,
Eugene J. Harvey, MLS, MSW
SUNY Buffalo State
Chair, SUNYLA Personnel Policies Committee
01/28/16
Personnel Policies Committee Meeting
October 5, 2015
Agenda
1) Welcome to Nancy Abashian
● Quick Intros.
2) Salary Survey
● Preliminary survey characteristics
● Comparisons to other faculty/ranks
● Approaches to data analysis - thoughts? comments?
○ committee expertise?
○ past report categories & variables
○ ARL salary survey reports
○ other ideas/comparisons?
3) Timeframe
● Data cleaning and analysis
● Survey report
● Presentation for SUNYLA – webinar?
● Venues for presenting - Conference(s)?
● Publication?
