Executive Board Minutes, September 2008
ILA/ACRL Executive Board Meeting
September 5, 2008, 10:30 a.m.
3rd Floor Conference Room
AGENDA
I. Welcome
Meeting was called to order at 10:30am
Present: Kim Babcock-Mashek, Brett Cloyd, Jean Donham, Betsy Gardner, Ryan Gjerde Karen Goodell, Anne Marie Gruber, Mary Heinzman, Kate Hess,Lisa McDaniels, James O’Gorman, Amy Paulus, Duncan Stewart
II. Approval of Executive Board minutes from March 2, 2008
Correction: Correct spelling of research award winner’s name is Karen Lehmann. Donham moved to approve as corrected. Gardner seconded. Minutes approved as corrected.
The July Executive Board meeting was cancelled due to flood conditions in portions of Iowa, which affected several Board members’ institutions. Informal reports were made by email in July, and discussed:
Gardner reported that the small ACRL banner has been located. Dellinger has the large banner.
Goodell reported that print directories will be sent to new members.
Gardner reported that the membership booth at ILA costs $150. Heinzman has confirmed that the booth is reserved.
Hess reported that a Google account has been created for Newsletter Committee business.
Paulus reported that fall conference planning continues.
III. Treasurer’s Report
ILA/ACRL Balance 1/1/08
4,481.86
Dues 805.00
Spring Meeting/other 7,155.00
Total available funds 12,441.86
Less expenses to date 7,549.07
Balance in account (as of July 31, 2008) 4,892.79
ACRL balance of $154 expired on August 31, 2008. A fiscal year 2008 budget memo was sent to Iowa officers last September stating the 8/15/08 deadline for requests. Fiscal year 2009 funds may be requested after the new budget memo is received in September. Gruber will notify incoming treasurer of next year’s deadline.
IV. Committee and Chapter ACRL Representative Reports
a. Awards – scholarship to ILA: recipient will be Myntha Cuffy of University of Iowa. ILA indicated that they wanted the name earlier than in past years to allow announcement at ILA business meeting. Call for Advocacy award submissions will be made at ACRL business meeting.
b. Directory: Goodell is updating the online directory as corrections are necessary and to include new members. The remaining print directories will be available at the ILA fall conference.
c. Electronic Communications: Gjerde reported that the website subscription was renewed in June at a cost of $110 per year. There are about 32 registered users. The spring conference webpage has had approximately 1500 hits, and the support staff conference webpage had almost 700 hits.
The committee is considering ways to streamline and refresh website tasks. Options include having each committee member work with other committees or having some committees do website work relevant to their content. The conversation is ongoing.
Discussion ensued regarding committee restructuring or combining. A small group could consider options related to communications, and will recommend options to the Board. Possible changes to by-laws would be necessary, but could allow more flexibility for committees’ roles. Suggestions were made to consider leadership development and mentoring, as well as incorporating ACRL national interest group concept. Cloyd, Hess, Babcock-Mashek, and Gjerde volunteered to be part of a group to further explore the ideas discussed.
d. Fall Program: Paulus reported that the committee will be publicizing fall program, which includes a Next-Gen Catalogs preconference and 3 concurrent sessions. The committee will be in touch with Electronic Communications. Pass along any future ideas to Paulus.
e. Membership: Gardner reported that there were 173 members, 5 renewing members, and 8 new members as of Sept. 3. The booth at ILA is reserved. Electricity & internet are at an extra cost, and the group agreed these are not necessary for the booth.
Gardner welcomes ideas for the booth, and the committee is considering a prize drawing, perhaps for a t-shirt. There will be an easel display with PR Advocacy Award guidelines. Gardner will circulate a schedule for booth volunteers.
f. Newsletter: Hess reported that the August newsletter has been distributed. It was delayed due to flooding conditions affecting several institutions. Ideally a newletter could be distributed on a monthly basis.
The next newsletter will be available in late Sept. or early Oct., and will include ACRL candidate bios/statements, as well as information about ILA board candidates who are from ACRL.
g. Nominating: Cloyd distributed a draft nomination lift. An ACRL Chapters Council Representative is still needed. Paulus suggested Kathy Parsons from ISU.
Membership must be notified 30 days prior to election (to be sent electronically through membership list), and ballots will be mailed after the October business meeting to allow nominations from the floor. Gruber suggested exploring electronic voting options, which would require a by-laws change. If necessary, Gjerde can set up a private mailing list of members for board business since not all members are on the list-serv.
h. Spring Conference (April 17 at Hawkeye Community College): Vikki Woods stepped down from the committee and has been replaced by Lisa McDaniels. The first meeting will be in Waterloo on Sept. 12. Suggestions for keynote are needed. The one-time grant used last year from ACRL will not be available again, and the cost will be approximately $2000 for a speaker. A save-the-date will be included in the next newsletter.
Theme ideas discussed include: scholarly communication, future of technical services/changing workflow, “future-proofing” libraries, being mission-driven, the history of change in libraries, and “outside the box” partnerships such as with student life departments and student governments.
i. Mentoring: Moon will be stepping down from the committee. It was suggested that 2 board members could co-chair. Stewart expressed interest in serving on the committee.
There were 10 applicants, 5 each mentors and protégés. Matches have been made and the group will meet at ILA to begin the year-long program. The August 18 mentor training was successful, and has been archived via Elluminate software.
The July support staff workshop had 35 attendees at DMACC-Boone. Feedback was very good. The final cost was $1398, $937 of which was paid for by DMACC administration. Registration income was $715, so the final outcome was a profit of $254.
j. ACRL Government Relations Representative: O’Gorman reported that hearings are taking place on public access policy for National Institutes of Health research. The policy is being challenged by the publishing lobby. It would be appropriate to contact legislators regarding this issue.
The national ACRL Legislative Advocacy program is valuable. Stewart participates and explained that responsibilities include contacting legislators about ACRL agenda items. There is a new ALA office lobbyist, Corey Williams Green, who is from Iowa.
k. ACRL Chapters Council Representative: Heinzman reported that at ALA’s Chapters Council meeting the new ACRL president,Erica Link, was introduced. Link’s theme will be advocacy. Speaker Michael McLane encouraged legislative advocacy efforts. See more information at:
http://www.lita.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/washingtonwatch/acrladvocates.cfm
Chapters were reminded to be careful not to use newsletters, etc. for political messages. Megan Griffin and Mary Ellen Davis were also introduced at the meeting. There are several new national awards available, including a “Love my Librarian” award.
V. Other Business:
The next business meeting will take place during ILA, on Thursday, October 17 at 4:30pm. An Executive Board meeting will take place that day at 8:00am, location TBA. Heinzman will notify board members of location.
A request for funding to explore open-source ILS has been delayed due to summer flooding. Small groups in northwest Iowa, Lynn County/Cedar Rapids, and possibly eastern Iowa have expressed interest. The next consortial meeting is October 23. Donham suggested a message from this board that now is the time to explore open-source options, and that waiting would be short-sighted due to a limited window as institutions are making future plans.
November 7 board meeting is cancelled due to ILA planning meeting.
December 5 transition meeting will take place at University of Iowa and will include newly-elected officers. Current officers should bring position calendars and any materials to hand over.
Heinzman requested an annual summary from each committee for reporting purposes. Donham moved to adjourn. Goodell seconded.
Respectfully submitted,
Anne Marie Gruber
ILA-ACRL Secretary/Treasurer, 2008
University of Dubuque