CUNY Chief Librarians' Handbook of Best Practices

The Council of Chief Librarians (CCL) is an administrative council of CUNY's library leadership, reporting through the University Dean of Libraries and Information Resources and the Office of Library Services. The CCL works collaboratively to identify and address issues of strategic importance to the CUNY library system, and serves as a space for sharing vital university-wide information related to the mission of CUNY Libraries and for library leaders to exchange ideas, concerns, and best practices.

The council meets monthly, usually on the second Monday of the month.

OLS Administrative Office 

Led by the University Dean of Libraries and Information Systems, the Office of Library Services (OLS) works with CUNY libraries and peer academic units to envision, implement, and deliver centralized library services and program management in support of CUNY’s mission. OLS acquires and licenses all university-wide electronic and digital collections and provides resource management, global discovery and access to CUNY Libraries’ shared core collections and CUNY’s scholarly record. OLS also delivers centralized technical services including cataloging and book processing. Responsible for CUNY Libraries’ IT Strategy, OLS acquires, licenses and administers all university-wide library enterprise technology and partners with CIS to provide CUNY libraries with technical/functional support services. OLS develops and oversees all university-wide OER and Open Access initiatives and administers CUNY’s Institutional Repository. OLS offers leadership and professional development in scholarly communications, open access and publishing, copyright, and operations management. OLS also sponsors and coordinates more than 20 committees/workgroups. These provide collaborative forums for the CUNY library stakeholders to come together for discussion and to share best practices.

The PSC- CUNY is the union for CUNY faculty, which includes Library faculty members in the professorial titles as well as, Lecturers, Instructors, College Laboratory Technician, and Higher Education series. (Full and Part Time; both Permanent and Substitute)  Obligations and Rights of faculty are defined by the PSC-CUNY Contract updated as renegotiated from time-to-time. 

After the CUNY Board of Trustees' Bylaws, the Contract defines things such as workload, leaves, evaluation procedures and cycles/deadlines, professional development support among others.