ALA/JMRT EXECUTIVE BOARD

MIDWINTER/1988 - SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1988

HOLIDAY INN RIVERWALK -- TARANTELLA 2

2:00 pm - 5:30 pm

 

PRESENT

 

The ALA/JMRT Executive Board meeting was called to order by President Diane Cimbala at 2:16 pm. Thirty-six (36) members were present:

 

Karin Ford, Verdie Richburg, Myrtis Collins, Patricia Wade, Susan Schmidt, Eric Wade, Robert Newlen, Rosemary Arneson, Joyce Taylor,             MarlenaWald, Melissa Laning, Biddanda Ponnappa, Colleen Conway, Loretta Turnage, Algis Stankus-Saulaitis, Valerie A. Platz, Cheryl Napsha, Sylvia Reimer, Karen Bohrer, Elinor Barrett, Mollie Niemeyer, Diane cimbala,             William Kendra, Rachel Finch, Jane Huesmann, Clarence Chisholm, Winston Walden,             Tyrone Cannon, Randy Wilson, Joseph Harzbecker, Lori Logsdon, David Fiste,             Sara Behrman, Bobbi Walters, Erlene Bishop Killeen, Pat Brill

 

INTRODUCTION

 

President Cimbala welcomed everyone to the Executive Board meeting. She informed the members that two ALA candidates were present at this meet­ing and would speak for a few minutes regarding their bids for office. The two speakers were Pat Berger, candidate for ALA President, and Bill Roberts, candidate for ALA Treasurer.

 

After the candidates completed their speeches, Cimbala asked everyone present to introduce themselves and sign the attendance sheet that was being circulated. After introductions, President Cimbala announced the voting members of the Board and introduced Susan Schmidt, Parliamentarian for the meeting.

 

Each reporting individual was asked to give one copy of their report to the Board members and place the remainder of the reports on the back table. Cimbala informed everyone that Pat Brill was the person to contact for copies of needed or missing reports after Midwinter. Also, Cimbala re­minded everyone that only 30 copies of the "ALA Committee Report" form were needed instead of the 50 that had been requested previously.

 

After the agendas were distributed, Cimbala noted the following additions and revisions:

 

- Discussion of minutes will only include the Executive Board Orientation and Business Meeting from June 30, 1987. The minutes from the other Board meetings did not reach President Cimbala in time for distribution at this meeting.

- FOOTNOTES report, Elinor Barrett, was added under "Old Business"

- Shirley Olofson Award report, Randy Pederson, was added under "Old Business"

- Affiliate Council President's report, Terri Tomchyshyn, was re­moved (previously given)

- 3M Grant Committee report was moved up to the first committee report

- Fundraising Committee report was added under "Committee Reports"

- Publicity Committee report, Sara Behrman, was removed (given Sat.)

- Orientation Committee report, Robert Newlen, was removed (given Sat.)

- Membership Promotion & Relations Committee report, Marlena Wald, was added under "Committee Reports"

- Minorities Recruitment Committee report, Joyce Taylor, was added under "Committee Reports"

- Grassroots Grant Coordinator, Sylvia Reimer, was removed (pre­viously given)

 

Cimbala added that at 4:30 pm, another ALA candidate would be speaking to the members; Rebecca Gingham, candidate for ALA President.

 

The revised agenda was accepted by a consensus of the members.

 

DISCUSSION OF MINUTES

 

Pat Grill, Secretary, distributed copies of the June 30, 1987 minutes for everyone's perusal. Valerie Platz remarked that she had only attended the second half of the June 30th meeting; her name wasn't listed. Grill will add. Platz also made a correction on page 2 of the June 29th minutes: the wording "Library Master's Degree student" is not correct--it should read "post graduate student". Platz asked that the statement "Joe Weed introduced Connie Van Fleet" be corrected to read "Joe Weed introduced and awarded the certificate to Connie Van Fleet". Grill will refer the June 29th corrections to Carol Rickert, past Secretary.

 

Platz also asked if, in the future, a copy of the corrected and revised agenda couldn't be distributed along with the minutes to avoid confusion be­cause of the many changes. Pat Grill replied--beginning with this Midwinter's minutes, she will retype each agenda with all of the noted revisions and additions and attach to the copies of the minutes.

 

President Cimbala asked everyone to read the San Francisco minutes by January 30th and submit any changes or corrections to Pat Grill. In turn, Grill will convey the corrections to Carol Rickert and all of the minutes will be voted on at the New Orleans Conference.

 

DISCUSSION OF BUDGET

 

Myrtis Collins, Treasurer, asked if there were any additions or corrections to the JMRT Budget before presenting it for final approval. Budget increases would also be considered at this time.

 

Clarence Chisholm asked what amount was budgeted for the Students to ALA Reception? Collins replied the amount budgeted was $500.

 

Joyce Taylor, Chair of the Minorities Recruitment Committee, said she wanted to transfer her committee's allocation of $100 between Students to ALA and the President's Program; $50 each. Cimbala explained that the funds couldn't be transferred directly, but Taylor could return $100 to the Treasurer, who, in turn, would increase the previously mentioned committees by $50 each.

 

Marlena Wald raised a question regarding the JMRT name change. If a name change should be approved, would that affect the budget for the Membership Promotion and Relations Committee? Cimbala replied that the name change issue would not affect her committee during her tenure as chair.

 

Robert Newlen remarked that h e had requested a $150 budget increase for the Orientation Committee at Saturday's Executive Board meeting. He was now requesting only a $100 increase.

 

President Cimbala requested the names and amounts from the committee chairs who had money to return to the budget:

 

Laning (Director for Conference Arrangements)            $ 40.00

Taylor (Minorities Recruitment Chair)                  100.00

Turnage (Director for MACE)               40.00

Taylor (YASD Membership Committee Liaison)            10.00

Arneson (LAMA Membership Committee Liaison)            10.00

Wilson (Nominating Committee Chair)                  50.00

Harzbecker (Liaisons Coordinator)                        15.00

Napsha (Freedom to Read Foundation Liaison)            10.00

Cannon (Library Education Assembly Liaison)            10.00

Conway (Handbook Committee Chair)                  100.00

Cimbala (President)             300.00

            TOTAL            $ 685.00

 

Treasurer Collins repeated the names of the two committees re­questing budget increases:

 

FOOTNOTES             $1900.00

Orientation Comm.            100.00

 

TOTAL INCREASE REQUESTED   $2000.00

 

Karin Ford, Vice President, moved that the approval of the budget be tabled until after the discussion of FOOTNOTES. Laning seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

FOOTNOTES

 

Elinor Barrett reported that Sharman Prouty, Editor of FOOTNOTES, had requested a budget increase of $1900. This amount included:

 

$1200.00           One 12-page issue of FOOTNOTES

   50.00           Mailing Permit

  300.00           Increase in postage for increased membership

  300.00           Miscellaneous

   50.00           Printing - Committee Interest Forms

 

Barrett presented the following recommendations to the Board for consideration:

1. Approve the budget increase as presented, or

2. Approve a partial budget increase and give Prouty direction on our priorities and ways to cut costs, or

3. Do not approve the budget increase

 

Barrett recommended that the Board approve a budget increase of $1450 which would include:

 

$1100.00            One 8-page issue of FOOTNOTES

  300.00            Postage

   50.00            Permit

$1450.00            TOTAL INCREASE

 

Barrett also recommended that the Board direct Sharman Prouty to renegotiate the present contract with the printer to include all of the 1988 aublications as a package deal, keep all issues at 8 pages maximum, and be­running paid advertisements in FOOTNOTES. Other options to look at would 13 to reduce the number of pages, reduce the number of copies, contract with a new printer, and investigate bulk mailing.

 

Elinor Barrett moved that the Board act on her recommendations: approve a budget increase of $1450; direct Sharman Prouty to renegotiate with the printer for a package deal; keep all issues at a maxiumum of 8 pages; and begin running paid advertisements. Laning seconded the motion.

 

Discussion:

 

Behrman expressed concern and opposition to granting an. increase. This would be the second huge increase in one year. The last issue of FOOTNOTES was very late and another issue with the grant applications was also tardy.

 

Erlene Bishop Killeen responded with comments related to her past directorship of publications. She felt that part of' the delays were caused by the JMRT membership; it has repeatedly been a problem that articles are submitted late to the Editor. All problems are not necessarily the­fault of the FOOTNOTES staff.

 

Randy Wilson agreed with Sara Behrman--he was against an allocation. In this age of desk top publishing and xerographics, there are other ways to expedite and reduce costs of printing FOOTNOTES.

 

Karin Ford agreed that the Board couldn't keep increasing the FOOTNOTES budget 50% every year; but, if an increase was not approved, what would be the immediate impact?

 

Barrett replied that we could possibly lose the Editor and have to start from scratch.

 

Valerie Platz commented that there were many ideas to present and consider regarding the FOOTNOTES issue, but she felt that not everything could be solved during this one meeting. More information should be gathered, printers and competitive bids should be investigated, and the cost of desk top,publishing versus printing should be investigated. Today is not the time to settle this dispute; some people are reacting on an emotional level and others are not fully informed of all the facts. Platz suggested an Ad Hoc Committee be established to investigate the issue further.

 

Clarence Chisholm perceived that, from all indications, JMRT didn't want to lose the Editor of FOOTNOTES. Since there is enough money for one more issue, proceed_ with that issue and then direct an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate a cheaper route for further issues.

 

Erlene Bishop Killeen stressed that two years ago, the members "demanded" a great newsletter. She felt it wasn't fair to pull the rug out from something that was demanded--we should at least let it finish its run.

 

Barrett reiterated that Sharman Prouty based quality as her highest priority and all of her plans and costs were based on that.

 

Cimbala called for the question.

 

Brill read the motion. Barrett moved that the Board act on her recommendations: approve a budget increase of $1450; direct Sharman Prouty to renegotiate with the printer for a package deal; keep all issues at a maximum of eight (8) pages; and begin running paid advertising.

 

Call for the vote. Motion passed unanimously.

 

SHIRLEY OLOFSON AWARD

 

Cimbala introduced the second winner of the Shirley Olofson Award, Jim Huseman, and congratulated him.

 

DISCUSSION OF BUDGET Cont'd

 

Melissa Laning moved that a budget increase of $100 be approved for the Orientation Committee. Barrett seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

 

Myrtis Collins, Treasurer, reported that the requested budget in­creates totalled $1550 and funds returned to the budget totalled $685. Total expenditures increased from $12,475 to $14,025.

 

Collins moved that the 1987-88 Budget be approved. Barrett seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

3M/JMRT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANT - Erlene Bishop Killeen

 

Erlene Bishop Killeen announced the 3M Grant winners:

 

1. Joan Dobson (COGNOTES Assistant Editor)

2. Nancy Palma (Assistant Readers' Service Librarian)

3. Linda Scott (Collection Development Librarian)

 

All three had verbally accepted the award.

 

Killeen's committee was hoping for a "Meet the Winners" reception at the Hospitality Suite in New Orleans on Friday evening. The idea for a reception had been discussed previously at the San Francisco Conference. Peggy Royster and Loretta Turnage were to coordinate some type of recognition for the winners.

 

FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE - Cheryl Napsha

 

Cheryl Napsha reported that her committee had met twice to discuss ideas for fundraising. They planned to investigate their ideas further and see what kind of money the ideas could,generate. Napsha asked the Board to clarify the charge of the Fundraising Committee. This had not been re­solved when the committee was changed from ad hoc to a standing status.

 

Valerie Platz suggested that this committee might want to come up with some definite charges and present them to the Executive Board for a decision. Cimbala asked the Executive Board how they felt--no objections were raised.

 

Napsha also suggested changing committee membership from one year to two years so activities initiated by one group could be completed by that same group.

 

Karin Ford moved that the Fundraising Committee work with their Director, Myrtis Collins, to develop a formal charge and present it to the Board in New Orleans. Collins seconded the motion. Motion approved unanimously.

 

Collins suggested postponing the change in committee membership term until New Orleans.

 

NOMINATING COMMITTEE = Randy Wilson

 

Randy Wilson reported that his committee had some very difficult decisions to make this year. There were many excellent candidates to choose from. Following is the JMRT slate for 1988-1989:

 

Vice President/President Elect - Rosemary Arneson, Myrtis Collins

Treasurer - Beth Hanson, Jim Mouw

Secretary - Laura Sullivan, Joyce Taylor

Director - Jana Lonberger, Peggy Royster

ALA Council (ALA Nom. Comm.)- Elinor Barrett, Sara Behrman, Erlene Bishop Killeen, Valerie Platz

ALA Council (Petition)- Karen Bohrer, Clarence Chisholm

 

SALA RECEPTION - Clarence Chisholm

 

Clarence Chisholm reported that the Hospitality Suite will be the site of the SALA Reception in New Orleans. The location has not been de­cided upon, but it is sure to be in the conference area and easily access­ible.

 

BOOTH COMMITTEE - Biddanda Ponappa

 

Biddanda Ponappa reported that his committee had been very active. To date, the committee had sent the Booth to three library conferences;

 

Mountain Plains Library Association, North Carolina Library Association, and Midwest Federation of Library Association.

 

Ponappa said that his committee had come up with an idea for a lottery at the JMRT Annual Booth. People visiting the JMRT.Booth would_be asked to sign their name on a list and then handed a number. Each day a number would be drawn and the winner would be entitled to a one year free membership in ALA/JMRT.

 

Barrett moved that the Executive Board approve the lottery for New Orleans. Karin Ford seconded the motion.

 

Discussion:

 

Cimbala said the lottery would be funded out of the President's budget.

 

Call for the vote. The motion was unanimously approved.

 

Next, Ponappa commented on the suggestion made at Sunday's Board meeting--the Booth Committee was asked to accept responsibility for a JMRT table in the Conference Center. He explained that, at the present time, this duty was not a charge of the Booth Committee and would need the Board's approval.

 

Elinor Barrett moved that the Booth Committee accept responsibility for the addition of a JMRT table in the Conference Center at the Midwinter Conference and the Annual Conference beginning in New Orleans. Laning seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

 

Ponappa asked the Board for clarification regarding his committee's responsibility for the shipping of the slide/tape equipment. It was his understanding that the slide/tape presentation didn't rest with the Booth Committee. But, for the past few months, the equipment had been sitting in Ponappa's office.

 

Marlena Wald explained that she and Peggy Royster had rescued the slide equipment from storage in Madison, Wisconsin where it had been stored since San Francisco. Before sending the Demco projector to Ponappa, duplicate tapes and slides had been made and sent along with the equipment.

 

President Cimbala recommended contacting Peggy Royster, Exhibitor Contact and Relations Chair, to investigate the future ofthe;machine and find out what responsibility JMRT has for the machine. Cimbala asked Myrtis Collins to contact Royster and have Royster, in turn, contact Demco. Some of the Board members felt it was Dem_co's responsibility to ship the equipment, but Demco said "no"--it was too difficult for their reps to carry. The machine had been donated by Demco for a period of one year, but the funds to ship it were forever.

 

Cimbala said she would like to see a joint effort between the Booth Committee and the Exhibitor Contact & Relations Chair in preparing and pre­senting a recommendation at New Orleans explaining how this matter should be handled.

 

Elinor Barrett moved that Ponappa work with Royster in contacting Demco about the slide equipment. If JMRT should get control of the slide equipment,Exhibitor Contact & Relations should then contact Quality Books to determine if the machine could be shipped in the same process as the. booth. Peggy Royster would report back with the definite recommendations at the New Orleans Conference. Collins seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

 

MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION & RELATIONS COMMITTEE - Marlena Wald

 

Marlena Wald reported the following:

 

- duplicate slides and tapes were made and sent with the Demco projector to the Booth Committee Chair

- began work on new promotional materials to accompany the slides and tapes using the existing JMRT photo archives of the Publicity Committee

- worked with Robert Newlen on a presentation for Catholic University's Library School

 

Wald addressed one question to the Board: what should her committee be doing beyond materials in working with Library School Outreach? After some discussion, it was decided to wait for the report from Algis Stankus­Saulaitis regarding the Library School Outreach Program because of the cross­purposes of these two committees.

 

LIAISON COORDINATOR - Joe Harzbecker

 

Joe Harzbecker reported that a Liaison with ASCLA had been established, a "Liaison Tips" sheet had been sent to all Liaisons, and a Midwinter meet­ing of all the Liaisons had been held on Saturday to solicit comments, problems and suggestions from those present.

 

Harzbecker introduced Karen Bohrer, PLA/SMLS Liaison, who had a presentation requiring Board action. Bohrer said that PLA/SMLS wanted JMRT to co-sponsor a program at New Orleans titled "Roles for Small Public Libraries". The keynote speaker will be Nancy Bolt. The program will be directed at staff and directors of small public libraries. Our name would appear on the publicity but no funds were requested from JMRT.

 

Walters moved that ALA/JMRT co-sponsor the program with PLA/SMLS, "Roles for Small Public Libraries". Ford seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

 

Barrett commented on a new section of RASD--a group on collection development. She felt this might be a good group for JMRT to get involved in. Joe Harzbecker was asked to contact Peter Watson, Idaho State Univer­sity, regarding the possibility of a liaison position.

 

MINORITIES RECRUITMENT - Joyce Taylor

 

Joyce Taylor reported that this committee is co-sponsoring the President's Program and the Students to ALA Reception in New Orleans.

 

SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE - Rosemary Arneson

 

Rosemary Arneson reported that her committee members were unable to attend the Midwinter Conference. She gave special thanks to Bobbi Walters and Terri Tomchyshyn who helped get the 26 applications down to 6. A recipient will be named by the end of the month.

 

Arneson also reported that, after speaking with the Chair of the ALA Awards Committee, JMRT does not have to submit applicant's names to ALA be­cause this is a unit award and not an ALA award.

 

LIBRARY SCHOOL OUTREACH - Algis Stankus-Saulaitis

 

Algis Stankus-Saulaitis reported that, as an Ad Hoc Committee, his committee was working from a philosophical point of view rather than a tech­nical point of view while considering what the purpose would be of recruiting students and how best to go about the recruiting. This would involve studying the current methods to see how it could be done better in the future.

 

(A short break took place while Rebecca Gingham, candidate for ALA President, spoke to the audience.)

 

President Cimbala told the members that, at the past two Executive Board meetings, inter-relationships between the Booth Committee, Membership Committee, Affiliates Council, and Library School Outreach had presented some puzzling questions to the Board. Also, the Membership Committee had previously mentioned that they were looking for some guidance in the area of outreach.

 

Loretta Turnage didn't think there was any conflict between Membership and Library Outreach. With a definite charge and an exchange of ideas and suggestions, both committees should be able to work well and complement each other.

 

Marlena Wald felt that some of her committee's responsibilities ran parallel with those of Library School Outreach and she didn't want a dupli­cation of duties. Algis Stankus-Saulaitis responded that Karen Pearson (a member of his committee) had been appointed as a member to Membership to keep abreast of developments.

 

After some discussion, Turnage and Stankus-Saulaitis said they felt comfortable with the suggestions made and what had been explored so far. They will prepare several recommendations for a specific committee charge to be presented at the Executive Board meeting in New Orleans.

 

       President Cimbala left the meeting at 5:00 pm and Vice President Karin Ford took over as Acting President.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

For the benefit of the members not in attendance at Sunday's Board meeting, Karin Ford told the members that a discussion had taken place on whether or not JMRT should endorse ALA candidates.

 

Elinor Barrett reported that, as of today, there were three requests at the COGNOTES table asking that endorsements for ALA candidates be placed in the next issue. Barrett decided to present the question of endorsements to the JMRT Board because of a previous discussion on this topic.

 

Susan Schmidt felt that endorsements would be perfectly ok because COGNOTES is a reporting medium and does not show any partiality on the part of JMRT. Barrett suggested saving all of the endorsements and then running them all in one issue.

 

Behrman remarked that these endorsements might not be good for COGNOTES. The newsletter could end up being filled with endorsements leaving little space for other important matters.

 

Arneson suggested running the endorsement idea past ALA first to find out how ALA feels. If ALA approves, let everyone know so they can prepare endorsements before next Midwinter.

 

Elinor Barrett moved that the COGNOTES Editor be asked to contact ALA concerning their policy regarding endorsements in COGNOTES and to report back to the Executive Board at the New Orleans Annual Conference. Turnage seconded the motion.

 

Discussion:

 

Walters clarified one point; if this motion is approved, it means that JMRT will not place any endorsements in COGNOTES this Midwinter but will wait until discussion with ALA takes place. Walters thought it would be appropriate to put something in COGNOTES this Midwinter explaining that JMRT is considering the endorsement issue along with ALA.

 

Call for the vote: Motion passed unanimously.

 

FOOTNOTES

 

Karin Ford asked Barr ett to report next on the FOOTNOTES discussion that was tabled on Sunday.

 

Barrett moved that the Executive Board establish an Ad Hoc Committee with the following charge: to review the mission of FOOTNOTES in relation to JMRT's Goals and Objectives; to investigate alternate goals to fulfill that mission, and to do a cost study of both current and alternate strategies of fulfilling that mission and present a report and recommendations to the board at the New Orleans Annual Conference. Motion seconded by Bobbi Walters. Motion passed unanimously.

 

Barrett said that the following people had been contacted and agreed to work on the Ad Hoc Committee: Loretta Turnage (Past Editor of FOOTNOTES), Erlene Bishop Killeen (Director of Publications), and Sharon Prouty (Editor of FOOTNOTES).

 

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE - Jim Mouw

 

Jim Mouw reported that his committee had met the previous day and, after much discussion and deliberation, had come up with the following three names for the spring ballot:

 

1. JMRT (Junior Members Round Table)

2. NMRT (New Member's Round Table)

3. START

 

Bobbi Walters moved to accept the committee's recommendation and place these three names on the spring ballot: JMRT (Junior Members Round Table), NMRT (New Members Round Table), and START. Barrett seconded the motion.

 

Discussion:

 

Randy Wilson suggested eliminating START and have only two names on the ballot.

Mouw suggested keeping START--it has some appeal, is a catchy name and is an accurate description of the group. Unfortunately, the committee could not come up with concrete words standing for the letters in START.

 

Behrman agreed with Mouw. START is a good action verb and JMRT is an active group.

 

Call for the vote:            The motion passed with a majority vote. There was one dissenting vote.

 

Walters moved to extend the meeting 10 additional minutes. Barrett seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS/FOR THE GOOD OF THE CAUSE

 

Karin Ford said that IFRT had asked if they could honor JMRT at Dallas in 1989 by giving us a reception.

 

Walters said we would have to make sure the reception didn't conflict with our own schedule.

 

Walters asked if anyone would be interested in serving on the Reference Books Editorial Board as an Intern? It is a one-year appointment. Let her know if you are interested.

 

ADJOURN

 

Laning made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Turnage seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Pat Brill

ALA/JMRT Secretary