Minutes

President's Welcome - Priscilla Shontz, NMRT President 1999-2000, welcomed participants to the first NMRT executive board eMeeting(e-board meeting). She announced that we would try to accomplish everything on the agenda (below), but if that does not occur, we would resume some of the discussions later in the fall or at ALA-Midwinter in San Antonio, January 2000. She also indicated that those participating, who are introducing a motion or discussion item, should send the message to NMRTBD as early as possible on the day you're assigned, so that others can begin discussing right away."

NMRTBD is a discussion list created to hold electronic board meetings. These eMeetings will be held in the fall and spring. We hope this will keep projects moving along during the year and will help shorten physical board meetings at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference. We will be learning as we go, so if you have any suggestions for improving the procedure of the eMeetings, please contact Priscilla Shontz.

SUBSCRIPTION: Board members will be automatically subscribed by the listowner Chris Shupala. All NMRT members are encouraged to subscribe in order to monitor or participate in discussions. All board meetings are open. Only board members specified in the Constitution & Bylaws may vote.  To subscribe, send a message to listproc@ala1.ala.org with the message:

subscribe NMRTBD <insert your name here>.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Publicity Committee will announce upcoming eMeetings on

NMRT-L, and will provide instructions for subscribing.

AGENDA: The President will call for agenda items a few weeks before the eMeeting. He/she will publish the agenda, including the chairs & officers responsible for leading discussion on each item, and the time limit allotted to each discussion item, on NMRT-L. An eMeeting will typically

last two weeks.  The President will attempt to choose a time convenient for all board members, to ensure that we have a quorum present. Board members must be prepared to read email regularly during this two-week period. 

NMRTBD HEADER: Messages sent to the list will display the header [NMRTBD] at the beginning of the subject line, distinguishing it as a message for the board meeting.

ATTENDANCE: At the beginning of an eMeeting, the President will send out a message entitled "Attendance," asking everyone present to introduce themselves as they would at a physical

board meeting.  Attendees would sign in by responding to the "Attendance" message with their name and, if appropriate, their position in NMRT. The Secretary will use that as the attendance record. Subscribers can quickly delete any message entitled "Attendance" if they didn't want to read the introductions.

STANDARD HEADERS: To distinguish motions, calls for votes, and other action items, use standard headers such as "MOTION: Topic" or "VOTE BY [DATE]: Topic." So subscribers would quickly see an item requiring action in their e-mail box, like "[NMRTBD] MOTION: Travelling Booth," for example. 

DISCUSSION: Discussion needs no special "action" header, but when beginning a new discussion item, the President should set a date to end discussion (for example, "we will discuss this issue for 3 days, and at that point, vote or refer back to committee.") Participants should always r espond to the list rather than the individual. Consider yourself at a public board meeting and write as if you are speaking to the entire group, including any observers. Always repond to the list rather than an individual. Speakers should identify their position in NMRT when they

write, so that readers who don't know you will know if you are writing as chair of the committee, or as a member, etc. 

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE: The Governance Committee must provide a parliamentarian for each meeting. The parliamentarian must keep track of all the motions, amendments, seconds, etc. For example, they may use some tracking notation like: 09-28-99 Motion 01 for one motion; 09-28-99 Motion 01A for an amended motion, and so on.  If more than one person seconds, the parliamentarian may choose the first "second" he/she reads. Each time there is an amendment, the person recommending the amendment should rewrite the whole motion if possible, to prevent confusion as people read through their email and try to follow the discussion. 

VOTING: According to the Constitution & Bylaws, all NMRT officers except for the Assistant Treasurer and President may vote. The President may vote to break a tie. When voting, officers should respond to the list. The Secretary will tally votes and will announce the results. He/she may consider a keeping a record such as:

Motion 01 "Topic"         Yes        No         Abst

Board Member A (9/28)  X

Board Member B (9/29)  X

Board Member C (9/30)  X

REPORTS: All officers should plan to report on activities in your areas, just as you would do in a physical board meeting. Please consult with your chairs before the meeting, and encourage them to subscribe to the NMRTBD list.  Officers may wish to have individual chairs report on their

committee's activities.  Please keep reports brief and clear. 

Action: All attendees must sign in.

Action: Vote to approve 1999 Annual Conference Minutes.

Golian made a motion that the 1999 Annual Conference Board Minutes as recorded by Ann Dykas, NMRT Secretary 1998-1999 be approved. The motion was seconded by Lucio.

Chris Shupula, VP/President-Elect X

Action: Briefly update others on activities/plans in your area.

"Most committee appointments were made by August 1999, but I continue to receive applications and place those volunteers on committees. In October, 4 chairs and 1 officer had to resign due to personal or work conflicts; the board or I have found replacements for these positions. Chris Shupala is working on appointing a new chair for Handbook since that committee ends its term in 2 months anyway.

I'll continue to appoint committee members to this year's committees until December. At that time, we will change the Committee Interest Form to the 2000-2001 form. That form will be e-mailed to Chris Shupala so that she can begin making appointments for next year.

The Governance Committee is working on several revisions to the Constitution & Bylaws, which they will present to the board at Midwinter, and then put on the 2000 ALA ballot for a membership vote. Issues include:

(1) defining "in good standing" in Bylaws Article III,

(2) define and name officers finishi ng terms w/more than 10 years in Bylaws Article I,

(3) revise C&B to reflect ALA's adoption of Sturgis parliamentary procedures rather than Robert's (if committee feels appropriate to change),

(4) change C&B to give Councilor a vote & say that President votes only in case of a tie,

(5) write procedures for board removal of officer who's not performing, is unreachable, etc.

The Governance Committee will present a 30-minute introduction to parliamentary procedure at the Friday board meeting at Midwinter. Governance supplies a parliamentarian to all board meetings (including this one, in which Ann has already helped me a lot!).

- working with program chairs to suggest speakers & topics

- set schedules of NMRT events for Midwinter & Annual 2000

- with Linda Golian, represent NMRT on the ALA Scholarship Bash Planning Committee

- initiated Logo Contest, now chaired by Georgia Titonis as a project of the Publicity Committee

- with Chris Shupala & Dora Ho, instituted first eMeeting

- assigned leadership for strategic plan to SSRA

- with Ann Snoeyenbos, met with ALA staff to discuss various NMRT issues

- in general, answer questions and give guidance as needed

It's been a busy & productive - although sometimes overwhelming & frustrating - 4 months! But you all are wonderful to work with, and my job is so much easier, and so much more fun, because I'm able to get to work with (and get to know) you all. We have already accomplished a lot - I'm

amazed as I watch the activity going on in your individual committees - but we have a lot yet to accomplish this year. I hope you're all enjoying your NMRT involvement as much as I am. You certainly inspire me, and I know NMRT is a better organization because you are involved."

Booth: The Booth Committee is working on guidelines for the NMRT Travelling booth. An application form has been drafted and is being sent as a separate e-mail for the consideration of the Board before Midwinter. An issue under further consideration is the need for a central location for NMRT tip sheets, membership materials, etc. to be sent out with the booth. The booth stays with Quality Books....where would the membership materials stay?

Diversity: The Diversity Committee will meet at Midwinter. In light of the committee's change of name from Minorities Recruitment to Diversity, the committee will discuss the future focus of the committee. In addition, they are working with SASCO to send a message to SPECTRUM scholars to encourage them to join and become active in NMRT.

Membership Meeting: The Membership Meeting committee has confirmed two speakers, Chris Shupala and Steve Oberg. Any ideas from the Board on publicity would be appreciated.

Orientation: The Orientation committee is working on the Annual Conference orientation

program. This year ALA 101 will take the place of a keynote speaker. As in past years, the ALA Incoming president, the ALA Executive Director, and the Incoming NMRT president will be invited to speak. Navigating the conference exhibits and program will also be presented.

The planning is coming along well; the committee members are enthusiastic and willing to

help. Speakers are being invited and over the next 2 months the packet contents will be identified as well as what vender support is needed. Meeting space for 300 in the setup of banquet rounds has been request for the time slot of 10:00 to 12:00pm on Sat. July 8.

SASCO: SASCO is working hard on several projects, including Student Chapter of the Year award proposal (voted on by the Board) Conference planner (voted on by the Board)

Presentation Portfolio, which was sent to Speaker's Bureau Website; Outreach—working with Liaisons; a student needs assessment; updating contact information from LIS programs

SALA: Work is coming along in planning the Students to ALA Reception. The room request form has been sent in, requesting that the reception be held in the same hotel as the Library School reunions. The committee will review past invitations and programs and begin designing the ones for this year. Mike Wong has also mailed in a preliminary program copy for the reception. The Committee is also planning a happy hour at Midwinter for students and invited

guests. This will be held at Dick's Last Resort.

Thanks to all for your hard work!

Charge: Oversees and coordinates the activities of the following committees: 3M Professional Development Grant, EBSCO Scholarship, Leadership Development Forum, Shirley Olofson Memorial Award, President's Program and Speaker's Bureau.

I am very grateful to work with several wonderful and capable committee chairs this year. All of them are very efficient and hard working. Thank you for doing such a great job Committee Chairs!!!

1) A deadline of December 1, 1999 has been set for the 3M Professional Development Grant and the Shirley Olofson Memorial Award Committees. So far, we have one applicant for the Shirley Olofson Award. We will continue to work on promoting these two awards.

2) We will have Jim Walther as the Speaker of the Leadership Development Forum. The Forum is scheduled on Monday 7:30 to 9:30 am on Jan 17, 2000. We are still trying to decide what topics Jim will speak to us about. His specialty is in Financial Management.

3) The President's Program will be on Saturday July 8 from 1:30 to 4:30. Even though it is a 3 hours long program but it will be a very useful and informative one. The title is "Get Hired! Effective Resume and Interview Skills for Information Professionals." The two speakers are Dr. Camila Alire from Colorado State University and Robert Newlen from LOC. We are looking

into Brodart to seek support for photocopying material for the program.

4) Currently the Speaker Bureau is working on its publicity. People who are interested in joining the list of speakers could fill out the electronic form on the NMRT Webpage. We already received 4 entries for the database and continue to build on the list of speakers.

5) The president will need to appoint a new chair for the EBSCO Scholarship Committee. As Ken Frankel's term will end in Midwinter. We will need a new chair for the term of January 2000 to 2001. Thanks for your hard work this year, Ken!

Charge: The NMRT Councilor serves as a member of the ALA Council representing the interests and concerns of NMRT members as well as those who are new to the profession and/or the Association who can be considered as potential NMRT members.

I have been participating in the ALA Council electronic discussion list since July. I am currently communicating with Norman Horrocks who is my assigned Council Mentor. I have also been reading through materials prepared by the Council Orientation Committee to help new councilors get up to speed as quickly as possible. I have been assigned to the Resolutions Committee so I have been reading those materials as well.

I have communicated with Priscilla about the possibility of hosting some sort of orientation to Council for NMRT members, but given my novice status I think I won't be in a position to do that until Annual. I will likely prepare materials that will go out via e-mail so that more people won't have to attend an additional meeting at Annual.

I have been participating in the activities of the NMRT Exec Board and I recently visited ALA Headquarters with Priscilla Shontz, where we met with various staff members regarding NMRT's role in the association.

In the time remaining before Midwinter I will continue to learn about Council and its activities and the structure of the MW meetings. I will also work on my Handbook entry and try to get a sense of the timetable of events for a Councilor.

Purpose: To advise the Executive Board, serve as a constant to the President, and perform duties as assigned by the President.

Activities this Reporting Period:

- Assisted the Nominating Committee with soliciting, confirming interest and presenting a slate of candidates for the electronic board meeting.

- Served as a consultant for the Scholarship Bash Ad Hoc Committee.

Still to Accomplish:

- Continue working with the Nominating Committee with finalizing documents to be sent to ALA for ballot printing in the early Spring.

- Continue to advice and work with current Scholarship Bash Committee for 2000 event.

Purpose: To perform the duties of Secretary as outlined in Robert's Rules of Order and act as Secretary to the Executive Board by recording and documenting the decisions and discussions of the Board.

Activities from July - Present:

- Met with Ann Dykas, NMRT Secretary 1998-1999 to "pass on" the Secretary files; an "overview/orientation". Ann and I are both in the Kansas City metro area...convenient.

- Continue to monitor NMRT e-mail messages as frequently as possible(usually on a daily basis).

- Continue to organize/file NMRT communications for 1999-2000.

- Participate in NMRTBD e-board meeting; monitoring/organizing communications, so to have the minutes of the Fall 1999 NMRTBD e-board meeting minutes available for approval at Mid-Winter.

Secretary also oversees the following committees:

- Handbook Committee - No Activity Report. Chair of Handbook Committee resigned in October. Committee's term ends January 2000.

- Archives - Melanie Kimball serves as Archivist. NMRT files continue to arrive at the University of Illinois. Nothing to report.

- NMRT-L - Bill Jenkins serves as listowner of NMRT-L. Nothing to report.

The first part of my Vice Presidential year has been a very pleasant experience, thanks to Priscilla and others.

I have spent the past several months following the e-mail discussions in various NMRT committees and discussing NMRT issues with Priscilla in preparation for the time when I begin appointing committee members and chairs.

With the resignation of Karen Cook, I am in the process of appointing a chair for the Handbook Committee. This chair will serve through Midwinter of 2001.

With the help of ALA staff and Bill Jenkins, we got the NMRT Board list up and running for this meeting. I am still learning the ins and outs of list ownership and apologize for any goofs!

Apology #2. I missed a couple days of the board meeting due to other commitments and voted late on an issue (voted twice on another!).

Priscilla and I are planning a trip to San Antonio to meet with the Midwinter Activities COmmittee in late November or early December.

I look forward to our continued discussions and will see you all in San Antonio!

Action: Vote on beginning "Student Chapter of the Year Award". Vote on request for vendor

funding. Yue, SASCO Committee Chair, introduced a proposal for the establishment of a "Student Chapter of the Year" Award.

Student and Student Chapter Outreach (SASCO) Commitee unanimously recommends that the Board approve the establishment of Student Chapter of the Year award.

SASCO Committee unanimously recommends that NMRT requests financial sponsorship for the

Student Chapter of the Year Award from the American Library Association and vendors.

Purpose of the Award

--------------------

In the spirit of the New Members Round Table's (NMRT) pervasive mission of encouraging and assisting new members to actively participate in ALA and the profession, the award is presented to recognize outstanding contributions by ALA student chapters. The award's purpose is to increase student involvement in ALA, through student chapters, and to recognize and mentor future leaders in the profession. 

Nature of the Award

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The student chapter winner will receive a certificate and an $800 scholarship for officers to attend the ALA Annual Conference. The runner-up chapter will receive a certificate. In addition, registration fees will be waived for all members of both chapters who attend ALA Annual. Until funding is established, the first year awards may consist of certificates and waived registration fees for the winning chapters.

Eligibility

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All ALA Student Chapters in good standing are eligible to receive the ALA Student Chapter of the Year Award.   

Nominations

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Any ALA Student Chapter advisor, Student Chapter Officer or member, or ALA member may nominate a Student Chapter for the award. Self-nominations are encouraged. A nomination form and checklist, available on the Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee's (SASCO) Web page, will detail the requirements for the nomination package. Nomination packages will be

accepted until March 1. All nominations will be acknowledged.

Administration of the Award

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Sponsored by ALA, the Award is administered by the ALA Chapter Relations Office.  The award jury shall be composed of five members, each appointed to two-year terms. 

Award Criteria

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The award will be based on upon the chapter's leadership, membership, promotion, program, social, publication, fundraising, and Web page and/or listserv activities.

Award Selection

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The Jury shall make its decision based upon the nomination packages submitted, assigning points to each nominee and sending the results to the Jury Chair. The award winners will be the two student chapters with the highest total scores. The winner and runner-up will be notified by email

and letter no later than April 15, so that the winners may attend ALA Annual during the summer.

Award Presentation

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Presentation of the Awards shall be made to the Student Chapter Officers or delegates by the NMRT President at the SALA (Students to ALA) Reception at the Annual Conference.

Publicity

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The NMRT Publicity Committee, in cooperation with ALA Public Relations Office, will coordinate award publicity.

Submitted by, Joseph Yue Chair, Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee

Golian recommended that NMRT get the award going with some other type of incentive(such as

a free NMRT membership for one year) and look at vendor support later.

Shontz provided some background on the award proposal. Shontz stated "Joseph and I have been talking with our ALA staff liaison, Gerald Hodges, who tells us that ALA Awards Office has some pretty strict guidelines for administering and approving awards." She asked Yue the NMRTBD attendees the URL address for the ALA Awards Office guidelines. "As far as I understand it, we can't begin to offer an award with monetary value attached until we have "money in the bank" - ie, funds in reserve to back up the award. I'm not really sure how this works with our agreements with 3M, EBSCO and other vendors, to be honest. But at this point I think we can consider the award on its own merit, without any financial support attached - or perhaps, as Linda has suggested, a nominal amount like free membership in NMRT for 1-2 years? I believe that we may have to take this award proposal to the ALA Awards Office for their approval once we approve the new award; but I'm checking on that."

"About the financial support, Linda makes a good point that our vendor friends are stretched already, particularly with the push to support the new ALA Scholarship Bash. What we may need to do is start the award with no (or nominal) financial support, and if it is a popular success for a year or two, then approach vendors or ALA for funding - taking them a successful PR product, so to speak. I'd particularly like to hear our Treasurer and Asst Treasurer's thoughts?"

Yue, in response to Shontz's comments, gave the URL for ALA Guideline for Establishing New Award as www.ala.org/work/awards/newawrd.html

Shontz responded "Thanks, Joseph. You know, reading these ALA guidelines brings up a

related issue that the board may need to discuss (again) - as of 1995, the minimum conference grant amount was $1000. Our Shirley Olofson Award currently provides $500. I don't know that we should bring this into the discussion now, but maybe it relates to our overall spending plan."

Gerald Hodges, Director, Chapter Relations/Member Relations Office, American Library Association, responded that he had checked with Cheryl Malden, ALA Awards. He would forward the Awards Manual to Joseph for the application requirements, time lines, etc.

He also indicated that NMRT would need to submit an application to the ALA Awards Committee at least one month prior to Midwinter. He also indicated that a non-monetary award is possible now.

Hodges also supplied the meeting with ALA's requirements for monetary awards:

Minimum of $10,000--Grants

$5,000--Recognition

$3,000-Scholarships

$1,000-Conference Sponsorships

NMRT would need to have sufficient funding for three years. ALA also charges an administrative fee of 20% of the award amount, not to exceed $1,000.

Shupula added that she really liked the idea of establishing this award. She stated , " Most of us are extremely aware of the need to involve students in the professional association and of the importance that the association and NMRT can play in the career development."

Shupula commented "A couple of questions/concerns that we need to address--the amount of the award, and as Priscilla pointed out, the funding source. Unless student members live near the conference city or can find some really cheap transport/lodging, even 1000 dollars won't go very far. Will this discourage any applicants?"

Shupula asked Yue to explain how a student chapter would demonstrate that it had met the "Student Chapter of the Year" Award criteria? She commented that she liked the idea of the award presentation being held at SALA and that she has always enjoyed attending the SALA

program and has thought that NMRT should be doing more with this event.

Yue responded to Shupula's questions: "Monetary Award - -I agree $800 may not be enough but I believe it is a start. It would definitely help if conference registrations are waived. If we allow some flexibility, student chapter can decide what is the best way to utilize the award. I have seen students arrange to have three or four people share a room or may drive up to the conference to save money. Geographical distance really makes a big difference but it is not something that can be addresses until the award is well established and other ALA units recognize the need and what the award has accomplished in terms of student leadership training. Since I have been on this committee (my third year), I receive many inquiries from students on the availability additional travel support to attend ALA conferences.

Yue stated, "Application process - - We envision the application be part of a normal reporting process. To gather a better sense of student needs, we will encourage (and eventually require through ALA office) student chapters to provide an annual report to ALA Chapter Relations office.

Yue stated, "We will provide specific guidelines that are based on our communications with and sample guidelines from Special Libraries Association and American Society for Information Science. Both national organizations have well established student chapter of the year award that address different aspects of managing a chapter of a professional organization and as examples, the report may include membership drive and retention activity, events, communications including newsletter or opportunities for students member to get involve to fund raising, as a few examples. It will not be a big document, but we will encourage them to provide as much evidence and support, particular if they want to nominate themselves for the award. Furthermore, report writing is another aspect of leadership training in a large organization."

Yue also metioned, "Additionally, in our communications with student chapter officers and Gerald Hodges of ALA Chapter Relations Office, many student leaders would like to know what other chapter are doing and an annual report will be a good way to gather this type of information systematically. Our committee is also setting up informal channels to encourage this kind of exchange, but it does not replace a report that give student leaders the opportunities to reflect on their experiences and accomplishments. A annual report will also help ensure continuity as Chapter Relations can provide records of what a specific student chapter had accomplished in previous years. As an added incentive to submit a report in the future, I am working on a proposal to Chapter Relations Office to provide a small ($100-$200) annual budget to student chapters on a reimbursement basis. Reimbursement will not be processed without the annual report."

Shontz thanked Joseph and the SASCO committee for their detailed proposal.

Shontz stated, "I agree that providing conference grants for students is a great idea, a much-needed idea, and certainly a natural fit for NMRT. I wonder - what do the rest of you all think about this - if we could start the award this year (at Annual) as a non-monetary award; and then our Exhibitor Contact & Relations Committee could begin putting feelers out to see if any vendors would be interested in sponsoring this award (if it proves to be successful) in the future. Vendors have probably already done their FY2000 budgets and I know they have to plan way ahead to incorporate something like this into their budgets. But it might not hurt to begin to find out ... does anyone remember how the 3M, EBSCO and other vendor-sponsored grants got started? I'm sure the ALA Awards guidelines that Gerald is mailing to Joseph will help clear some of this up."

"I think that in the long run, a non-monetary award will not inspire much activity. I mean, would you all write a report and go to all this trouble for a certificate? And if we are going to support student involvement in NMRT, well, it would be very nice if we can help them attend. It may be that we can't *ever* fund the award at the level SASCO is hoping ... maybe we will only be able to provide free conference registration fees for the winners. I don't know. But I kind of would really like to see us try to find out what we might be able to get; you can't get unless you ask. Right?"

Tsirigotis commented "The Student Chapter Award is a wonderful idea and I believe that vendor support should be sought after the program is up and running for a year or two."

Tsirgotis asked, "Are waiving of conference fees or "free" NMRT membership considered by ALA as cash or in-kind awards? If they are considered in-kind and do not conflict with ALA guidelines, either one would serve as an incentive to get the award started."

Shontz responded to Tsirigotis by stating, "I think that NMRT would have to pay the conference-goers' registration for anyone that we subsidize. In other words, I don't think that registration fees or membership is considered an in-kind donation by ALA.

Shontz then stated, "You all have raised a few possibilities: (1) that we start the award this year with no monetary value attached; (2) that we give one year's free NMRT membership to winners; (3) that we investigate vendor sponsorship for the future; (4) that we allocate some of the revenue that we got from that ALA Scholarship Bash toward this new award."

"Re (4), allocating Bash proceeds for this award, I think that's too unstable. We don't have any guarantee of getting any revenue - depends entirely on ticket sales at the Bash - and we don't know the future of the Bash. In other words, I don't really think we should rely on Bash proceeds

to fund this award. Right now Bash profits go into our Olofson Award endowment, and as I mentioned earlier, maybe the board should revisit (at Midwinter) the suggestion of increasing the amount we award for that conference scholarship, etc."

"So I think we should focus on the 1st and 2nd suggestion - approving the award, and possibly awarding free NMRT membership, for now. Perhaps there are other small perks we could throw in as we find out ... like we hope to do with the NMRT Logo Contest ... a free Bash ticket, their photos at the Booth, something like that. Again, any of these things will have to be funded from existing NMRT funds, for now. We can keep suggestion (3) in mind. I don't want to rule vendor funding out. I just think it may take a couple years to see how the award works out and investigate possibilities."

Wallis, SASCO Committee Member, commented "As a recent LIS graduate who was very involved with my ALA student chapter, I agree with Priscilla that a non-monetary award may not be enough motivation for many students to get involved. In a lot of cases because of the "non-traditional student" majority in library programs, it is already difficult to get people involved in the student chapter at all, due to their personal responsibilities (i.e., kids, a full time job, etc)."

"In short, I think that adding a monetary bonus to the award would certainly rouse more interest... (in all truth, though, it's likely that only those truly dedicated students would rise to the challenge of being awarded the Student Chapter of the Year Award anyway.)"

"And then again, maybe we're really only interested in rewarding those students who put out the effort regardless of the reward?"

Snoeyenbos added to the discussion by stating, "I think the Student Chapter Award is excellent in theory. However, we must be very careful when we make commitments. I'll play scrooge here for a moment."

"First of all there is no "waiving of fees." Someone has to pay that $200 +/- for each person that attends conference. That someone is NMRT because ALA will not. Gerald Hodges, our staff liaison has suggested they might make a small donation of things such as posters, pins, etc. to the winners but that's quite nominal."

" Secondly we must all consider: IS THIS where we want to spend our money? We must be prepared to cover the costs if there should come a year when we don't get vendor support. We have a fixed amount of vendor support (as Linda and others have pointed out) IS THIS the

way we want to spend it?"

Snoeyenbos continued, "Joseph has a lot of energy and that is good. What happens if Joseph isn't in charge of this next year or the next? How do we ensure continuity down the line? If we do this we should be prepared to commit to at least five years of it. NMRT is able to do a lot of things because we are fast, flexible, friendly, etc but we must be consistent. I worry that SASCO is trying to bite off more than any of us can chew."

" Again, I caution you to look at the big picture. New awards are fine, if we can afford them. My first priority is to fund our existing awards at a higher level. Priscilla mentioned the low limit

of $1000 for a scholarship. We don't even meet that. How can we in good conscience take on a new funding project when we aren't even in line with our old ones? And we haven't done raising money for Shirley Olofson either, right? Have we met our principle goal there?--Laura? Carol Kem? Please don't put the cart before the horse. We must first establish our priorities and then figure out how to meet them, not vice versa."

Becher stated that she agreed that having a monetary award for attending a conference would

really motivate student chapters more than a certificate or free membership in NMRT. She also thought that the idea of having some money from the Scholarship bash be diverted to such an award was an interesting idea and would be worth exploring.

Shontz stated, "What I'm hearing is that we all like the idea very much, but we're just not ready to vote on implementing the Student Chapter of the Year Award yet. So at this time I am instructing Joseph and the SASCO Committee to take this project back to the committee, and to bring a new, more finalized recommendation to the board meeting at ALA Midwinter. The recommendation should include all forms, jury procedures, funding options, etc - basically, have the award entirely ready to go."

Shontz stated that the Executive Board would not be voting on the Student Chapter of the Year Award at this e-board meeting, but the Executive Board was asking the SASCO Committee to continue to work on the proposal and bring a new recommendation to ALA Midwinter. Shontz then asked if referring the proposal back to SASCO was OK with all board members.

She then stated, "Joseph and SASCO Committee members - I want you to know that you are doing an outstanding job. The ideas that are being generated by your committee are incredibly invigorating. As several people have pointed out, we need to consider ALL the implications before we start something this big. As Ann mentioned, you are an incredibly active person, but NMRT needs to be sure that we can continue what we start this year. Perhaps some of the questions raised in this meeting may help the committee work out some more of the details. The ALA Awards information Gerald is sending should also help. When NMRT has launched other new services, we have sometimes tried a pilot program. Ann is completely right that we need to think through ALL of the ramifications of the new award before we start awarding it. We want

to be sure to do this right!"

Shontz wrapped up her comments by stating, "Since we are not able to attach any monetary value to the award this year anyway, then you all have plenty of time to think about the award procedures, and it's still possible that we might be able to give this award out at Annual Conference 2000. I'm not promising you anything, of course - I can't! - but I don't want you to feel that we're postponing any movement on the award. On the contrary, you and the SASCO committee have a lot of work to do before Midwinter. After this eMeeting is adjourned, then I suggest that we continue to use the NMRTBD list as a forum for discussion about this award (and other committee initiatives, if appropriate). It's pretty obvious that we all have a lot of questions and ideas, and it's important that all of us help SASCO work through all the potential problems or ramifications associated with this award."

Action: Vote on request for vendor funding to fund conference planner that lists NMRT events, to be given to students at conferences. Yue, SASCO Committee Chair, introduced a proposal for the establishment of a "Student Conference Planner".

Student and Student Chapter Outreach (SASCO) Committee recommends the Board approve the creation of a ALA 2000 conference planner for students.

SASCO Committee recommends that NMRT request financial sponsorship to cover the production and distribution cost of the printed version of the planner.

Goal

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To help students get the most out of conference attendance through a conference planner highlighting NMRT and ALA events particularly of interest or useful to them. The planner will also include tip sheet and other relevant information developed by Student and Student Chapter

Outreach Committee or other NMRT committees.

The conference planner may model after LITA 1999 conference planner. We hope to distribute the planner to students before the conference and may also make it available on the web and possibly at the conference site.

Cost

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Sponsorships is need to cover typesetting, printing, binding, distribution, and other related production cost. We hope to include advertisement from vendors who support NMRT, particularly student outreach. The actual number of copies to be made available will based on

number of students who attended the last three annual conference.

Submitted by,

Joseph Yue, Chair, Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee

Shontz asked "How does LITA fund their planner that you have mentioned? Are there vendors we could team up with who are already producing a planner? Or is it better to approach multiple vendors? Again I'd like to hear the thoughts of our Treasurer and Asst Treasurer. I like this idea - not only for students but for all NMRT members, what a great promo - but it seems expensive and labor-intensive."

Yue responded that SASCO had not checked with LITA on how they fund the planner. He indicated that to his recollection, the LITA planner does not include any vendors ads or sponsorship notice.

Yue stated, "We think the planner will be a good way for vendors who have students as future customers in mind to conduct a target marketing campaign. If NMRT produces the planner, we can decide promoting our events to a specific audience. I suspect if this become successful, other may want to pick up on it but NMRT will have the advantage in being the first one successfully market this service."

"Distribution can be a challenge. I did not see the LITA planner last year until I went to their table in the office area at the conference. They might have it available at LITA Booth. However, I believe we can do a better job in delivering this product to the person who needs it in time--meaning before the conference or at the first few days of the conference."

Kinnaly responded that LITA puts the conference planner on their website before conference. The planner is in PDF format, requiring Abobe Acrobat Reader to open ... and they supply a link to Acrobat so people can download the free software. The URL for the ALA Annual LITA Conference Planner is: http://www.lita.org/ac99/litadance.htm It's listed as the "LITA Dance Card."

Tsirigotis stated "I agree with everyone else that the planner is a good idea whether it is fancy or not. We need to make sure the first time conference goers who have signed up for mentors also receive a planner. Of course, the mentoring committee can notify participants if it is placed on the web site."

Shontz replied to Kinnaly's response message by thanking him for his message and supplying the

URL for LITA's planner. She stated that looking at LITA's planner helped a lot because she was

envisioning something "fancier and more expensive to produce." She thought that establishing a NMRT Student Conference Planner would be doable and, as for distribution, NMRT could distribute the planner, as LITA has done, by having it available on the NMRT website, NMRT exhibit booth, through SASCO contacts, etc.

Shontz also commented, "I agree with Joseph's suggestion that perhaps vendors would be very interested in supporting the planner with some ads - perhaps not the first year or two, but you never know. Especially if we charged very little for the ad space. Layout could be tricky, but we have some extremely talented members who would probably love to work on this planner. How does the Publicity Committee feel about this? Because I can see this as a coordinated project between PC and SASCO; the planner could go to anyone (not just students). And what a great product for the creator to put on their resume or portfolio."

Yue stated, "The original planner has two color front cover and is folded in half. The cover is of slightly heavier paper. The file, at LITA website, is like a photocopy of the planner. I really think we can put out something like this on the web. The only disadvantage is it will not be like a booklet (folded, stapled in the middle with a nice cover that will stand the tear and wear of at least four exciting days.)"

Yue commented, "I am excited that some of you like the idea and may consider making this available for all members. I have not checked if ALA has any policy or guidelines on advertising or how ALA distinguish between acknowledgment of vendor sponsorship and advertisements. I am sure my committee will be excited to work with any committees or NMRT members who would like to help make this planner a reality."

Yue further stated, "However, if we are not going to get any ads or vendor sponsorship, I really hope we can produce a student version because students do have slightly different needs and will be very handy for any pre-conference planning meeting that the committee can help student groups to setup before 2000 Annual. It is only my idea and I have not consult my committee yet but this can be a more effective way to target NMRT events (such as many exciting things that Student to ALA Reception Committee is planning for the upcoming Annual) than sending out packets of flyers."

Becher replied, "If there is a feeling that we are asking vendors to provide too much to us,

would we want to review our areas of support now, and see if we could drop one to fund another? For example, maybe we would decide that a conference planner is more of a priority than crackers at the Orientation. Maybe we wouldn't. But maybe there are some options here."

Shontz stated, "From the discussion so far, it seems that we are all very excited about the

conference planner. However, I think that we are unable to vote on vendor ads or funding for this planner at this eMeeting. So I am instructing Joseph and the SASCO Committee to assume the project of the conference planner as a committee project. The planner itself needs no board vote.

So at this point, go ahead and consider the planner (without ads) a project of your committee.

Shontz stated that the board would not be voting on the conference planner topic, but instead the board would ask SASCO to consider this a committee project and "run with it." SASCO should study the cost and bring a new funding recommendation to Midwinter if they want. Shontz then asked the board if this would be OK with all board members.

Shontz stated, "I instruct SASCO to investigate vendor funding - what is involved, cost, possibilities, etc. - and if necessary, bring a new recommendation to Midwinter. I'd encourage Joseph to see whether committee members' institutions might be able to absorb the printing costs associated with the planner. Posting it on the web is a terrific idea. Also, I instruct Joseph to work with the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer as they work on next year's budget. Perhaps NMRT operational funds could be slightly reallocated so that SASCO has more money for printing. I'd also encourage Joseph to price the cost of printing so that we know how much we need. Again, Joseph and the SASCO team, thank you so much for the innovative ideas."

- Student Chapter Award: Board is asking SASCO to continue to "flesh out" the proposal and bring a new recommendation to Midwinter.

- Student Conference Planner: Board is asking SASCO to consider this a committee project and that SASCO should study the cost and bring a new funding recommendation to Midwinter if they want.