President Charles Lord called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. Introductions of attendees followed. Betsy Wilson, incoming president of National ACRL was introduced and encouraged everyone to attend the ACRL National Conference in Denver during March 2001.

The Business Meeting minutes of October 28, 1999 and Treasurer's Report were reviewed and approved without change.

Following discussion and approval by the membership, the chapter applied for and received confirmation of Incorporation as a Non-Profit Corporation. At the suggestion of National ACRL we needed to choose between an alliance with a state agency or to incorporate to limit liability. The chapter can still consider a relationship with WLA, as that is not precluded by incorporation.

A discussion followed regarding liability insurance. Rates and information that had been gathered a year ago were reported. Kathleen O'Connor will get updated information. An option that was discussed was to post a disclaimer for events, rather than obtaining insurance. Discussion followed. Considering that the rates are very reasonable and that posting a disclaimer could be risky because it is easy to prove negligence, it was moved and approved that we purchase insurance for the chapter through the American States division of Safeco Insurance.

National ACRL offers state chapters $10 for new members who join due to membership efforts of state chapters. In order to collect the $10 the state membership drive needs to be documented. The Washington Chapter has not attempted a membership campaign encouraging members to join the National ACRL organization previously. A discussion followed on should and how the Washington Chapter could do this. Some ideas included an email campaign, a special form on the chapter website and an effort to reach UW library school. Betsy suggested an "each one reach one" effort by current members.

Secretary/Treasurer Kathleen O'Connor raised the issue of moving the Chapter's membership database to Microsoft Access because it is more readily available to whoever might be Secretary/Treasurer. Because most people have the Microsoft Office Suite on their workplace computer, it was decided the Chapter did not need to buy an institutional copy at this time.

Chapter Bylaws were last revised in July 1989 and now need to be updated. Brenda Philip volunteered to chair the bylaws revision committee and would like to have a few volunteers to help on the revision. It is hoped that a proposed revision will be ready to go out with the spring election ballots. Brenda also asked members for input on the section's website.

Two members from the Oregon Chapter visited the meeting and briefed members on the important issue of USCITA legislation that could potentially have a dramatic impact on the balance between consumer and publisher rights. ALA is asking members to become aware of the issues and contact state legislators and their State Attorney General's office and express their concerns particularly in terms of uses by libraries.

Lynn Chmelir, Vice President/President Elect began a discussion on conference planning for next fall. Dates were selected a year ago and they are at the typical time in October. The issue of moving the conference from Pack Forest to another location was discussed. One site suggested was Sleeping Lady near Leavenworth. It was pointed out that for Oregon people meeting in Leavenworth would add 3 hours driving time to attend the conference. Lynn asked that program ideas for next year should be directed to her as well as names of people who are interested in volunteering. Kathleen will try to find past conference evaluations in the chapter files. ACRL National just conducted a survey and included questions on current topics of interest to the membership. Betsy will send us a copy. A possible program topic is "how do we get instruction to distance learners"?

Besides the Bylaws, Board member responsibilities also need to be updated. Board members will be doing this before the spring Board meeting.

Charles asked for 3 volunteers to serve as a nominations committee.

Over the past years, the Chapter has done different things for a spring conference, including a preconference at WLA. There are a lot of options that could be considered but we need to realize that there are many conferences available vying for attention. The question was raised if the Chapter can be a viable organization if we only offer a conference every other year. The question was raised if we should consider becoming a joint chapter with Oregon. No decision was determined.

Linda Pierce spoke as representative of the Library Council of Washington. The Council's main task is to provide guidance for LSAT funds. This year there is over a million dollars available. More information on how to apply is on the State Library's Web page. In the past academic libraries have been underrepresented and the Council is hoping to encourage a broader base of types of libraries participating. Linda encouraged people to consider statewide projects that need funding and that they can range from $5,000 and up. A new funding cycle has just started and private institutions are eligible. The State Library's website also has information on Continuing Education grants, which are due in December. Linda offered to be of assistance to anyone interested in pursuing a grant.

John Popko reported on the Swimming Upstream symposium on preservation. Gary Menges got NEH regional cooperation for document preservation. One-day meetings followed scanning school, and UW and UO had a one-day conference that summed up regional conservation models. There seems to be agreement that the best model for the Pacific NW is a single preservation center like New England. Normandy Helmer and Gary Menges are coordinating a pre-steering committee and it is hoped a committee will begin to work in January 2001. It was pointed out that preservation issues do not affect only academic libraries. For example, there are many important county records that need preservation.

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded and passed. The meeting was adjourned and the members joined the Oregon members for the annual party.