Present: Lynn Chmelir, Andrea Kueter, Charles Lord, Kathleen O'Connor, Brenda Philip, Dal Symes and Helene Williams
Absent: Kathleen Forsythe
Charles called the meeting to order.
ACRL Chapters Council Meeting
Lynn attended the ALA/ACRL Chapters Council at the Midwinter Conference of the American Library Association in Washington, DC in January 2001. ACRL has encouraged local chapters growth since the late 1970's and the Council is a mechanism for the local chapters to get together and share information amongst the chapters. It is also a good opportunity for the National ACRL organization to share information from their perspective and to hear from the local chapters. Approximately 75% of the chapters had representatives at the meeting. Updates were provided on current legislation and candidates for National ACRL offices were introduced.
The biggest concern was how to improve communication. The northwest ACRL list could be used more actively to disseminate information. The National ACRL website has links for all local chapters as well.
A discussion followed on who should represent the Washington chapter at future ALA conferences. Some chapters specify a member to attend in their bylaws. It is very helpful to have a chapter's representative attend for a three-year cycle if possible. It was decided that Lynn will attend future meetings and that the chapter would leave it open for the Board to decide in the future for flexibility.
We haven't been contributing regularly to Chapter Topics. Charles volunteered to prepare future contributions.
Our chapter is eligible to apply to the National ACRL for a speaker to attend a future conference. It will be one of the National ACRL officers and they will pay $750 towards expenses. Lynn volunteered to process a request for the Pack Forest 2001 conference by June.
Pack Forest Conference Planning
Lynn discussed the status of the fall conference planning. The Pack Forest facility was reserved during the 1999 conference. Charles will contact the Pack Forest office to confirm the dates and to get a copy of our contract. A discussion followed regarding the topic for the 2001 conference. There were nominations of topics from the list serv: Challenges of the Digital Library, Digital Reference, UCITA, Internet Filtering, Archiving of serials, Digitization of Special Collections, E-Reserves, Scholarly Communication, and ILL Digital Delivery. Lynn will post these choices to the list serv and solicit recommendations.
It was pointed out that a good way to save money is to bring our own snacks and audiovisual equipment. Advertising venues were discussed. Carol Svensson, Dal Symes, Esther Sunday, Andrea Kueter have volunteered to help with the conference.
Treasurer's Report
Due to the balance of the account and no upcoming immediate expenses, it was decided that a six-month certificate of deposit for $4000 should be purchased immediately. Kathleen will arrange this through the Bank of America where the Chapter has its bank account.
Bylaws Revision/Board of Directors Position Descriptions
Brenda and committee members Gary Menges, Andrea Kueter, Jen Stevens and Rosemary Streatfeild have completed the bylaws revision process and have a proposed revision ready for chapter approval. The Bylaws were last revised in July 1989. Some of the issues reviewed included:
The Webmaster term was set at three years in length.
The dates for the Nominations Committee's work will be redrafted before the revision is sent out.
The Board also reviewed the updated position descriptions for Board members. The committee did a very thorough job of updating and revising individual position tasks. It was decided that members-at-large will serve on the conference planning committee.
The Board thanked Brenda and the Bylaws Committee for all their hard work on both the bylaws and position descriptions.
The revised bylaws will be mailed with the ballots in the next few weeks. [That was what was decided at the time, later changed.]
Nominations
Lori Ricigliano has chaired the committee and has a slate of two candidates for the member-at-large position. Kelly McHenry has agreed to be on the ballot as vice-president/president-elect. The committee expressed concern about the difficulty it encountered finding candidates for the vice-president position as has past nominations committees. It was suggested that the chapter develop a membership brochure to expand knowledge of the section and hopefully attract individuals willing to run for Board positions.
Liability Insurance
The chapter has discussed the need to purchase liability insurance now that the section has incorporated. At the fall meeting it was decided to purchase the insurance from American States, a division of Safeco. Kathleen has been in contact with Bob Davenport and should be receiving the policy within the month. The yearly premium is approximately $250 for:
Spring Conference
The Chapter has in the past offered a pre-conference at the Washington Library Association's spring conference. In the recent past, attendance by academic librarians at WLA has been down substantially and the chapter has foregone offering a pre-conference. Various ideas were discussed about options for future spring events, including offering a pre-conference in even years - the year that we're not responsible for the fall conference. The topic will be reviewed again at a future Board meeting.
Charles adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen O'Connor
Secretary/Treasurer
WA ACRL Chapter