Sixteen employees of GRU University Libraries attended the GIL Users Group Meeting (GUGM) on Thursday, May 16, held at Middle Georgia State College in Macon. Board of Regents Chancellor Hank Huckaby gave the opening address. He paraphrased Dickens and said that in providing library services to the state of Georgia, “These are the best of times; these are the worst of times.” He acknowledged some of the challenges including financial shortfalls, changes in technology, and the cost of materials.
Some of the library employees participating in the conference include Katie Glaeser, a Senior Library Assistant at Reese Library and MLIS student at University of South Carolina. She was on the planning committee that helped organize and put on the event. Kyle McCarrell and Fay Verburg, librarians from Reese Library, and Kathy Davies and Kim Mears, librarians from Greenblatt Library participated in a discussion panel entitled “The New Normal at GRU Libraries: Managing Change/Seeking Innovation.”
It was moderated by Virginia Feher, Government Information Librarian at Reese Library. They discussed the differences in library patronage between the two libraries, how their job descriptions and duties have changed, some of the challenges this has presented, and the advantages the consolidation has provided. One of the advantages includes the availability of the Institutional Repository to the Summerville Campus faculty. Both libraries were praised for their extraordinary efforts in bringing about the consolidation of their library catalogs and the way they are working together cohesively.
Carol Waggoner-Angleton from Reese Library and Renee Sharrock from Greenblatt Library gave a presentation entitled “Tales from the Consolidation: Developing Policies for Two Historical heritage Units.” Their presentation focused on the process, challenges, and successes of developing unified policies to be shared by both Reese Library’s Special Collections and Greenblatt Library’s Historical Collections and Archives during the recent consolidation of their parent universities, ASU and GHSU. Carol and Renee’s topic was of particular relevance to other consolidating university libraries as it chronicled the process of finding common ground between two very specialized departments with distinctly different focuses.
For more information about GIL Users Group meeting (GUGM) visit http://gil.usg.edu/
