Author: Elizabeth Brown <elizabeth.brown@ibid.library.gatech.edu> at Internet

Date: 6/19/96 4:50 PM

Priority: Normal

TO: Suzanne Byron at Library

TO: LSILL@VMA.CC.ND.EDU at INTERNET

TO: district@penn.com at INTERNET

TO: LIBMJH@langate.gsu.edu at INTERNET

TO: msamson@cms.cc.wayne.edu at INTERNET

TO: kimberley rubles@csufresno.edu at INTERNET

TO: bwick@c~tle.cudenver.edu at INTERNET

TO: j-mamer@tamu.edu at INTERNET

Subject: NMR.T#3

-------------------------- Message Contents -------------------------

New Members Round Table

Minutes of the Meeting Held Monday, January 22, 1996

Members present:

Liz Brown, Suzanne Byron, Betsy Fordon, Carol Gill, Marilynn Green, Judy

Hambrick, NMRT Liaison, David Harlan, Paula Hering, Dora Ho, Donna Hogan,

Mary Jo Howard, Priscilla Klob, Jon Marner, Pamela Moffat Padley, Kinzberley

Robles, Michael Samson, Laura Sill, Ann Sneoyenbos, Bob Wick, Ann Urilliams,

Elaine Yontz

Elaine called the meeting to order at 9:30 a-m.

Announcements:

Members were to send Ann Snoeyenbos, Local Arrangements Chair, any questions about New York.

Dora Ho, chair of the Mentoring Committee, distributed applications for mentors and “mentees.”

Director for Liaisons - Kimberley Robles

Kimberley expressed that she was very excited about the Liaison Program this year- She had been working on documentation to make it easier to be a liaison; for instance, the position descriptions would have more details about the kind of participation required and what to expect.

.

Pamela Padley, ALCTS Membership Committee Liaison, reported that the ALCTS committee wanted to put her to work; Pamela had talked with the Chair and saw a lot of opportunity there for the NMRT liaison.

ALA Restructuring Activities - Ann Snoeyenbos and Laura Sill

.

Ann Snoeyenbos and Laura Sill discussed the progress to date of the proposed restructuring of ALA.

Ann reported that she was on the Structure Revision Task Force, which had been formed to look at how we can address organizational problems such as too many meetings and programs, too much overlap, and an uninvolved membership. She noted there were as many as twenty-seven documents dating back to 1969 addressing these kinds of issues. She stressed that they might not reorganize the entire ALA- The process is long and slow: a hearing would take place at the

Annual Conference in New York, and a final recommendation for ALA Council would come at Annual 1997. A petition was going around to disband the task force, and the Task Force members were aware of the controversy. Ann was, however, encouraged at the progress that had already been made. NMRT now needed to ignore last year's proposal and evaluate how it could best

serve its membership- Ann stressed the importance for NMRT to be aware of this and other political processes in ALA; she encouraged NMRT members to attend the hearings, as she anticipated a heated exchange.

Laura reported on the Ad Hoc Committee on Purpose (Sue Byron, Betsy Fordon, Laura and Ann Williamson), which was formed to react to the restructuring proposal presented at the last Annual Conference in Chicago. Laura directed NMJRT members to an article she wrote in Footnotes and asked for feedback, which would be forwarded to Ann for her Task Force.

The Ad Hoc Committee also had surveyed the ALA Council. Betsy would compile the results this spring to present in New York. Betsy mentioned that the response was largely positive. Council members were asked if they had been in NMRT and what they had gotten out of it. One quarter had been NMRT members, and many respondents said NMRT was very important.

Laura also reported on the Roundtable Coordinating Committee meeting that she and Ann had attended. She noted the prevalent fear of roundtables' “going away” and the perceived need to band together. The roundtables had much in common administratively but were very diverse; Laura hoped that each Roundtable would define what it did and what should be preserved in a possible restructuring.

Ann and Laura both stated that a new name didn't mean a particular function didn't still exist. In response to a question, Ann declared that this process would most likely not be abandoned since the Council had voted for it overwhelmingly. People wanted to see the problems addressed.

Ann reiterated that she and Larry Romans of GODORT represented ALL nineteen roundtables. The memberships of these Roundtables ranged from 1900 to 100 members; these groups were indeed diverse,

Laura expressed concern about getting feedback from the membership and filtering information to Ann who in term noted that she and Larry needed to get feedback from all Roundtables in addition to NMRT and GODORT.

Noting the buzzwords “fast, flexible, friendly, focused,” Ann asked the group for their thoughts on NMRT and Roundtables.

Favorable comments included the diversity in membership focused on one common issue, and the ease of getting involved with no hoops to jump through. Any ALA member was a potential NMRT member. Laura stressed that NMRT needed to define for Ann and Larry what we wanted to preserve about NMRT and new member services. The group decided to move the discussion to the Listserv in order to get a better response. Ann added that units should get their acts together

and not wait for change to come from above.

Unfinished Business:

Budget

Mary Jo outlined some changes in the budget for next year, and a MOTION was made to approve the budget as amended. The motion was seconded and PASSED-

Visitor

Bruce Daniels, an ALA treasurer candidate, arrived and spoke to the group briefly. He noted that he had been involved in NMRT in Pennsylvania in the 1970's. After Daniels spoke, members present asked questions, and the group discussed dues structures and new librarians' problems with the cost of dues and conferences. Daniels noted that we had 300 less meetings this Midwinter because of streamlining efforts.

Joint meeting space

.

After Daniels left, Elaine noted that NMRT was part of this reduction in meetings with its all-committee meetings. Kim Robles commented that tables needed to be marked for individual groups, Also, some people showed up for meetings and no one was there. Elaine stressed that committee chairs needed to contact people, preferably by phone, and make sure individuals understood about meeting information.

Having just one true all-committee meeting was suggested, One of the benefits would be that committees that wanted to consult with one another could do so on the spot. NMRT members on more than one committee could notify the chairs that they would be splitting their time between committees. Directors and other officers could also stop by the individual committee meetings

more easily to touch base with the committee members or be consulted on the spot if necessary. Attendance would be up, as well.

Someone also suggested that the board meetings be cut from three to two.

New Board Meeting Structure

Sue expressed approval of what she called the “NMRT Paperwork Reduction Act” where only committees with action items had mass distribution of their reports at the board meetings, Thus, people attending to the meetings saw the Board in “Action”.

Paula Hering thought, however, that committee chairs having to report was valuable, since it gave these chairs experience in reporting in front of the Board and helped the Board and the chairs know who each other were. Elaine encouraged more feedback to be given to Laura.

Clarification of the Roles of the Governance and Resources Allocation Committees

It was MOVED that the relationship between these committees would continue to be looked at and defined; in the meantime, Governance could look at Bylaws for the rest of the year. The Motion was seconded and PASSED.

NMRT Committee Redistribution

While Laura's draft document was an attempt to get the ideas on the table rather than have a resolution, Elaine wanted to look at two pieces of this proposal.

Since the MACE Committee list had been very long, and the Publicity Director was a former chair of the membership Promotions and Relations Committee, a MOTION was made that the Membership Promotion and Relations Committee report to the Publicity Director for the rest of the year, The motion was seconded and PASSED.

Elaine proposed adding assistance with the committee assignment process at the

Vice-President/President-Elect's direction to the Nominating Committee's charge, Laura noted that her appointment process had already started. She was willing to start to evaluate the logistics of this proposal with the incoming Nominating Committee at the end of Annual.

A MOTION was made, then, that NMRT start, at the end of Annual this year, an experiment of having the Chair of the Nominating Committee assist the Vice President in an advisory capacity with setting up committees, The motion was seconded and PASSED.

It was MOVED that the meeting be adjourned. The motion PASSED, and the meeting was adjourned .

.

l