ILA/ACRL Executive Board Meeting
June 19, 2009
University of Iowa Library

Minutes

I. Welcome. President Brett Cloyd convened the meeting at 10:30am.

Present: Dan Boice, Brett Cloyd, Ryan Gjerde, Mary Heinzman, Mary Iber, Judy Mitchell, James O'Gorman, Kathy Parsons, Amy Paulus, and Ericka Raber; Not present: Kim Babcock-Mashek, John Goodin, Kate Hess, Lisa McDaniels, Deb Seiffert.

II. Approval of Executive Board minutes from April 16. Corrected for spelling of names and listing both of those present and those absent. Parsons MOVED "Approval of the minutes as amended," which motion was seconded and CARRIED.

III. Treasurer's Report

 ILA-ACRL Account
Balance 1/1/09                        3,616.56
Income:
Dues                                              710.00
Spring Meeting/other                  5,647.00
Total available funds                   9,973.56
Less expenses to date                5,899.19

Balance 5/30/09:                    $4,074.37

 Balance with national ACRL:      $       0.00

IV. Committee and Chapter ACRL Representative Reports

 a. Awards: Heinzman reported that the committee had sent out information about the Advocacy Award, but had received no applications to date. Next year, the committee will give the award for research or a presentation by an individual. The committee will probably award another scholarship in the fall for the ILA Conference. There was discussion about clarifying the rules for the scholarship award, so that potential applicants would know whether or not they were eligible. The committee will continue to study the wording and will report back.

 b. Directory: Seiffert sent in a report that the committee was updating the directory. The committee was also composing a survey, to be sent to membership in the fall to ascertain what features the members would like to have in the directory.

c. Electronic Communications: Gjerde asked the board about how the liaison effort was going, receiving mixed responses. He was considering setting up a second e-mail list, to be used by the officers in order to send out important notices. However, the service provider was insisting that such a list include provisions for recipients to opt out. After discussion, Gjerde agreed to ask Laurie Hews if the ILA office could compile this list and send out notices. If not, the committee could compile the list with the opt-out option. Finally, Gjerde reported that he would be updating the division website over the summer.

 d. Fall Program: Paulus distributed précises of the programs planned for the conference. The committee will be lining up introducers for the sessions. President Cloyd asked about what kind of financial help the ILA was seeking for the conference. Paulus noted that we will be paying only transportation costs for our presenters, since they had declined honoraria. Parsons offered to find out from Ellen Neuhaus and Laurie Hews how much help they were looking for.

 e. Membership: Goodin had sent in a report of 145 current members, about the same as this time last year. The committee has been combing the online directory in order to contact individuals who have not yet joined ACRL.

 f. Mentoring: Raber reported that the Mentoring website had been updated prior to sending out an invitation for mentors and protégées for the second year of the program. The committee had discussed running the program on alternate years. Raber had surveyed last year's participants, and reported the comments and ideas to have been helpful. She had also written an article for the section newsletter, describing the experiences of those participants.
The board discussed the future of the ad hoc committee. It had been established with a three-year plan: to set up a program in the first year; implement the program in the second year; and evaluate in the third. Because the ILA bylaws stipulate that ad hoc committees can exist no more than two years without either being disbanded or reappointed by the section president, the Board recommended that President Cloyd reappoint the committee, until such time as the program can be evaluated and the Board can make a decision about either dissolving the program or making the program a permanent fixture. Cloyd agreed to reestablish the committee.
The Board discussed the possibility of making the mentoring committee's work a function of the Membership Committee, but there was concern that this valuable effort might be overlooked or buried in other activities.
Raber noted that the committee had not set up any kind of program for clerical staff this year, and the committee had suggested that this did not seem an integral part of their focus. The ILA has a round table set up for staff development. Raber noted that if ACRL were to work with the ILA round table, it would be important that the ACRL maintain a presence and voice in that group, so that the needs of clerical staff of academic libraries would be represented. One idea mentioned was having a session for staff at the Spring Conference, so that staff could participate in the keynote session as well as their own session afterwards.

g. Newsletter: Mitchell reported that the committee had published the third newsletter of the year, and expected that there would be three more. The board felt that six newsletters per year seemed like a good number. Mitchell thanked Gjerde for his technical help.

 h. Nominating: Iber reported that the committee has set up a Google Docs spreadsheet so that all the members could keep informed of membership needs for committees and offices. Iber asked Board members to send her ideas for good nominees for committees and offices.

 i. Spring Conference: McDaniel sent word that the conference had been well attended, and evaluations had been very positive. She will provide a more detailed report at the September board meeting.

 j. ACRL Government Relations Representative: O'Gorman reported on the status of the LSTA Act, noting that Representative Loebsack had signed as a sponsor. O'Gorman also reported on the status on the house bills relating to copyright and lead limits.

 k. ACRL Chapters Council Representative: Parsons reported that a new editor was in charge of the Chapter Topics, and that the schedules for national conferences would be shortened by a day, which will compress available time for business. The Board recognized and congratulated Heinzman for having been elected to the College Library Section executive board as an at-large member.

 V.             Other Business

a. Electronic Voting: President Cloyd reported that he had submitted to the ILA Bylaws Committee what the officers felt to be a clear and concise draft to the section bylaws which would allow electronic voting. The Bylaws Committee, however, had averred that a deadline had been missed. Heinzman reported that the Bylaws Committee should be handling this matter, inter alia, in time for us to bring the proposal to the membership at the Fall Business Meeting. Cloyd will check with Laurie Hews about whether the ILA can support electronic voting by our section.

b. There was no other business.

VI. Next meeting: Friday, September 4, 2009, 10:30am at the University of Iowa.

The next Business Meeting will likely be at 4:30pm at the ILA Annual Conference on October 22, 2009.

Parsons MOVED to adjourn. The motion CARRIED at 12:10pm.

Daniel Boice
Divine Word College
ILA-ACRL Secretary/Treasurer, 2009