ALA/JMRT EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

WASHINGTON, D.C.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1989

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM

PRESENT

The ALA/JMRT Executive Board Meeting was called to order by President Karin Ford at 9:30 AM. Thirty-two members were present:

Richard Dickey David Fiste

Joseph Harzbecker Mark Watson

Rita Yribar Diane Bisom

Cecil Hixon Terri Tomchyshyn

Sara Behrman Judy Jeng

Diane S. Leung Susan M. Agent

Ann P. Stroud Cecilia Schmitz

Cindy Saur James Mouw'

Jana Lonberger Myrtis Collins

Peggy Royster Elena Carvajal

Mary Marcum Evans Loretta Turnage

Helena Pedersoli Jenifer Stone Abramson

Sylvia Reimer Diane J. Cimbala

Susan Schmidt Karin Ford

Jean Scappator Verdie F. Richburg

Cheryl Napsha Laura A. Sullivan

INTRODUCTION

President Karin Ford welcomed everyone to the Executive Board meeting. Introductions were made, an attendance sheet was circulated, and the voting members of the Board were announced: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, the three Directors, and the Affiliates Council President. Susan Schmidt was introduced as Parliamentarian.

Ford asked that those giving reports keep their remarks brief, speak to the key issues, and speak loudly; the written report does not need to be repeated in full. Ford noted the following revision to the agenda:

Grassroots Grants report was changed from Sunday to Saturday following Archives' report.

Peggy Royster moved that the revised agenda for January 7 be approved. Mary Marcum Evans seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Myrtis Collins moved to approve the minutes for New Orleans - July 9, July 10, July 11, and July 12. Mary Marcum Evans seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

OFFICER REPORTS

PRESIDENT - Karin Ford

President Ford reported that she has spent much of her time making committee appointments and keeping track of current committee activities. She gave special recognition to the Midwinter Activities Committee and also announced that tickets were still available for the Social on Monday. Ford announced that the Midwinter Activities Orientation program would be from 2:00 - 4:00 that day at the Omni Shoreham in the Blue Room.

Finally, Ford said that traditionally during the Membership Meeting at annual conferences there is a special agenda. Ford requested agenda ideas for the Dallas Annual Conference. For example, the name change was debated at one Membership Meeting.

VICE PRESIDENT - Myrtis Collins

Vice President Collins asked that the membership start thinking about the Chicago Conference. Attached to her report is a Preliminary Program Planning sheet; if anyone has suggestions for any of the JMRT programs, including speaker suggestions, please let Collins know. Also attached is a committee interest form to pass on to a friend or colleague who might be interested in joining a JMRT committee.

SECRETARY - Laura A. Sullivan

Laura Sullivan, Secretary, reported that other than keeping minutes for the JMRT Executive Board meetings, she oversees the Handbook Committee and Archives. Handbook Committee had no major activity to report and Judy Jeng, Archivist, would be recommending a weeding policy for JMRT correspondence at the time of her report.

TREASURER - Jim Mouw

Jim Mouw, Treasurer, had two business items to discuss. The first item was approval of the budget for 1988-89. Mouw moved that the budget be approved. Peggy Royster seconded the motion. Discussion followed concerning two budget amendments from Mouw. (See Budget Report.)

First, Mouw asked to increase publicity--Section A, Operating Expenses (Page l, line 12), from $1.50 to $270 to cover unanticipated expenditure for the center spread in August's American Libraries highlighting round tables. The second amendment was to eliminate $300 budgeted for external support for Midwinter Activities--Section E, Programming (Page 4, line 2)--a dining guide was budgeted for but was not published. Cindy Saur, Midwinter Activities Chair, clarified that this year the committee did not produce a guide themselves, but they did purchase one, using some of budgeted funds. As a result, Mouw decided no action was needed on this second item.

President Ford requested the names and amounts from the committees who had money to return to the budget:

Constitution and Bylaws $25.00

3M/JMRT Grant $25.00

Grassroots Grants $25.00

Treasurer $40.00

Publications and PR Director $40.00

Freedom to Read Liaison $10.00

PLA Membership Committee Liaison $10.00

Ford asked Mouw to explain the new budget format. Mouw explained each section:

Section A, Operating Expenses, is what JMRT is required to do to stay in operation, i.e., ALA surcharge.

Section B, Communication to Members, covers FOOTNOTES and Newsnotes.

Section C is for Dues to Other Organizations, a very small area.

Section D, Executive Board/Committee Expenses, sees the biggest change as Mouw said he separated committee expenses from programmatic expenses. Each amount in this section indicates the costs required to keep a committee going, i.e., phone calls between members, postage.

Section E, Programming, is the actual cost to run a program, i.e., announcements, speaker costs.

The final section of the budget is INCOME. Mouw reported a last significant budget change; he has separated payments coming from JMRT funds and payments coming from external funds. These figures were previously combined. Responses to the new format were positive.It was suggested, however, that a one-page summary of line items would be helpful. Mouw called attention to two places that show JMRT running behind--one is dues income--this seems to be a fluke as a result of how dues are reported from ALA. Another apparent fluke Mouw is checking into is the ALA surcharge in Section A; Mouw said he does not believe JMRT has spent as much as is indicated.

Peggy Royster sought clarification on the Social income figure (page 4). Mouw explained that the figure here will be income from the 1989 Social. This figure is based on the amount that was brought in from last year's Social plus overall budgeted Social expenses. Since there was some misunderstanding on this figure, Terri Tomchyshyn suggested that the revenue be listed first, followed by expenses, for clarification purposes. Mouw expressed satisfaction with how JMRT'stands budget-wise. President Ford called for approval of the budget. Motion passed unanimously. The second item Mouw addressed centered on COPES' fiscal planning documents and how JMRT can benefit from completing these fiscal exercises. The COPES' documents are intended to produce a five- year fiscal plan, generated by the unit's goals and objectives. Although round tables are not required to do such planning, Mouw felt that experience with this kind of reporting is valuable and would ensure JMRT of carrying out its mission statements. An ad-hoc committee may be needed to begin this process.

Discussion of the issue followed with comments from Sara Behrman supporting this kind of fiscal planning and the need for a JMRT fund balance. Jim Mouw made a motion that JMRT form an ad-hoc committee to pursue completion of the COPES' workbook with the committee to be composed of the Treasurer, COPES Liaison, former chair or member of the Goals and Objectives Committee, and one other member-at-large. Their charge is to present a preliminary report at the Chicago Annual Conference with the first meeting of the ad-hoc committee to be held at the Dallas Annual Conference. Laura Sullivan seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. The Treasurer will serve as convener.

DIRECTOR FOR CONFERENCE ARRANGUMM - Peggy Royster

Peggy Royster, Director, explained her duties as director and the committees she oversees. Her committees are going very well. Royster announced a Conference Coordination Meeting to be held January 8, 1989 during Midwinter for all Dallas-related conference program chairs.

DIRECTOR FOR MACE - Elinor Barrett

President Ford announced that Elinor Barrett, Director, was not able to attend this conference. There was no special news to report.

DIRECTOR FOR PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS - Loretta Turnage

FOOTNOTES COMMITTEE - Loretta Turnage, Director, announced that the editorship for FOOTNOTES changes in January. The assistant editor, Tom Lawrence, will become the new editor.

COGNOTES - Turnage reported that members have their schedules for programs, although if anyone else has time to report on a program, you are encouraged to do so.

BOOTH COMMITTEE - Turnage said that anyone with handouts/other materials that can be distributed at the Booth should give them to Denise Krell, who is in charge of the Booth.

Turnage brought up the ALA ad and the fact that this will probably need to be paid for on a continuing basis. The publicity person will need to incorporate this amount into the budget. It was obvious that very little was known about the ad at this time, i.e., who approved the placement and who wrote the copy.

COPMTTEE REPORTS

MIDWINTER ACTIVITIES - Cindy Saur

Cindy Saur, Chair, promoted the Orientation and Social. There are still tickets available for the Social which is Monday, January 9, at 7:30 PM. You may purchase tickets from Saur or at the Orientation Program.

ARCHIVES - Judy Jeng

Judy Jeng, Archivist, asked for old archives (materials over three years old) to be sent to her for organization. She will also send any old files to JMRT officers, chairs and liaisons if needed.

Jeng also had suggestions for saving archival space--she presently has six feet of archives.First of all, she suggested that JMRT only keep copies of correspondence in originating committees' and receiving committees' files after three years. Secondly, she would like to establish separate headings for "FOOT'NO'TES," "President's Memo" and "Executive Board Meeting Minutes." These suggestions were received favorably.

GRASSROOTS GRANTS - Sylvia Reimer

Sylvia Reimer, Chair, explained the purpose of her committee. Presently, Reimer is still searching for contacts for eleven states; she requested a list of Affiliates Council persons to contact to help in her efforts.Reimer plans an evaluation of the GG program to determine whether the monetary award of $250 is enough to cover expenses incurred by students attending their state conferences.(One recipient returned the money as it was not enough to cover expenses). Reimer is also in the process of revising the GG handbook.

Mary Marcum Evans asked Reimer whether or not the idea for a standard GG application form had been dropped. Reimer said that this idea is still being investigated. Baker and Taylor hopes to at least develop a GG logo for use by state coordinators.

MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION AND RELATIONS - Jana Lonberger

Jana Lonberger, Chair, said that her committee had not done a great deal with library school outreach since there may be a standing committee formed on library school outreach. However, Lonberger's committee has solicited committee members and other JMRTers willing to participate in library school outreach activities on an informal basis, i.e., speaking at a career day, acting as a conduit of information to a faculty adviser or an ALA Student Chapter representative. For those interested, Lonberger has assembled a "care package" including brochures and information from ALA. The ALA Membership Committee feels library school outreach is an important topic and hopes to see some progress in this area.

Lonberger continued her report with two items requiring discussion. First, the ALA Membership Committee is interested in promoting membership, in addition to their annual offer of $100 to help cover Orientation Program expenses. Lonberger asked for ideas from the group as to what the ALA Membership Committee might do. Marlena Wald, former chair of this committee, suggested to Lonberger that JMRT ask the ALA Membership Committee for funds to help cover speaker expenses at Orientation. The ALA Membership Committee Chair herself thought that an ALA Membership Committee person could come to the orientation Program or other meetings and answer questions.

Peggy Royster suggested that an ALA Membership person be invited to the Students to ALA reception. Mark Watson, Orientation Committee Chair, said he was contacted by the Staff Liaison to the ALA Membership Committee about mounting an informative display at the Orientation Program. Discussion about the Information Roundabout, formerly a part of the Orientation Program, followed. Apparently, the Roundabout has been moved to the Students to ALA reception, which hopes to be a more appropriate setting for the Roundabout.

Lonberger's second item for discussion was JMRT membership figures. ALA statistics indicate that between August 1987 and August 1988, JMRT's membership dropped 8.8%, the largest drop of any division or round table. Her question: Should this committee be actively addressing this issue?

Jim Mouw said that all round tables' membership had dropped because ALA did a massive housecleaning of their books. JMRT was apparently carrying people who were not members and the JMRT membership drop was not necessarily because of a real decline in membership.

Lonberger said JMRT is still losing members, and wanted to know if this is a crisis situation. General discussion followed about ALA and JMRT membership.

The JMRT name was also mentioned as a factor in gaining new members. President Ford said this issue will appear on the next ballot for a vote. On the name change issue, Lonberger said the general consensus of her committee was that the name change would be voted on first, and then the ramifications of the change would be discussed--funds, revision of brochures, etc. Her question: If the name change does come about, what is the time frame as to when the name change takes effect?

President Ford had asked Rosemary Arneson, Chair of COG, to research whether the effective date had been determined. Mouw said this had not been determined. Discussion about the time frame ensued. Jim Mouw moved that the question regarding the timetable for the name change be referred to COG who will present their report for Board approval on Monday. Mary Marcum Evans seconded the motion. More discussion followed on how easily and smoothly the time change could be implemented. Several members felt JMRT should be prepared for a change. Peggy Royster made a friendly amendment to Mouw's motion; that the time of the COG report on the name change be changed to the Dallas Conference, and that the report included an implementation plan for the name change (dates not inclusive). Amended motion passed unanimously.

PUBLICITY - Jean Scappator

Jean Scappator, Chair, reported on the activity of her committee. She has established contact with committee members and committees requiring publicity, and delegated coverage for JMRT activities and events.

FOOTNOTES - Sharman Prouty

Loretta Turnage, reporting for Sharman Prouty, announced that Tom Lawrence will be taking over as FOOTNOTES' editor. She commended Prouty for her last two nears of service as editor. Lawrence is working on reducing the cost of FOOTNOTES; this looks very promising. Turnage reminded the group of the deadline dates, reports to be sent to Lawrence, and encouraged anyone to submit a report.

STUDENTS-TO-ALA RECEPTION - Jenifer Abramson

Jenifer Abramson, Chair, is presently waiting to hear from the Affiliates Council about using the suite as the reception site. Joyce Taylor's committee, Minorities Recruitment, has once again offered to co-sponsor^- the reception. Her committee will handle inviting the ethnic chairs and also provide some promotional materials. Abramson said she wants to strongly publicize the reception this year and will be in touch with the Publicity Committee. Abramson has notified the Exhibitor Contact/Relations Chair to request vendor support for reception refreshments and possibly posters, although exact costs are not known at this time. She also made a clarification about the FOOTNOTES' article which implies her committee will be mailing publicity packets to students. The SALA Committee is looking for volunteers close to library schools to formally or informally promote ALA, JMRT, AND SALA.

After the SALA report, President Ford suggested a 5 minute break which was readily agreed to by all.

CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS - Susan Schmidt

Susan Schmidt, Chair, reported that she has answered requests for copies of the Constitution and Bylaws and is now waiting for the resolution of the name change issue.

LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE - Richard Dickey

Richard Dickey, Chair, reported that he and Edith Reiss have ten committee members plus library science student volunteers. The committee has met and determined a location for packet material to be sent for the Orientation Program. Dickey also received a request from Sara Parzen to examine a downtown hotel suite for possible use as the Hospitality Suite. The committee is presently gathering information for the guidebook.

Mary Marcum Evans requested that the Dallas packets include a directory of discount shopping.

SOCIAL COMMITTEE - Sheldon Vic

Rita Yribar reported for Sheldon Vic on the suggested site for the Dallas Conference Social. Two sites were seriously considered. The first site described was INFOMART which has subsequently been selected as the site for the President's dance.

The committee, thus, recommended the West End Marketplace as the Social location. Yribar said that the Social would be on the fifth floor of the West End Marketplace, accessible by elevator manned by a security person. There are a wide variety of activities in the Marketplace, including indoor golf, shopping, and nightclubs. The Social room itself has a dance floor and a stage for a band. The location is very close to the conference area.

Details on the Social--prices, floor plan, menu--are included in the Social Committee's written report. Concerns raised by the floor were how to keep Social goers at the Social, size of the dance floor, where to sell tickets at the site, and type of music offered. It was explained that the entertainment and food costs were included in the total cost estimate of $4,968 for 500 guests. Yribar did not know how much of the cost was only for food.

President Ford made the suggestion to postpone the vote on the Social until another meeting when arrangements could be made for a slide projector to view site slides. Yribar agreed to call Sheldon Vic to answer questions she was not able to answer.

Peggy Royster commended the Social Committee for the amount of work they were able to accomplish in a short amount of time. It was decided that Social discussion would continue under Old Business at the next day's meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

Laura Sullivan moved that the JMRT secretary use her budget to purchase a cassette recorder that would belong to JMRT. Peggy Royster seconded the motion. Discussion followed concerning whether Sullivan had enough in her budget currently to make the purchase. Loretta Turnage made a friendly amendment that the JMRT treasury be responsible for purchasing a tape recorder for the Secretary. Motion passed unanimously.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mary Marcum Evans announced the meeting of the Affiliates Council Sunday morning in the Hilton, Cube 5. The topic for discussion will be the Suite and whether it should be continued in the future.

ADJOURN

Mary Marcum Evans made a motion to adjourn the meeting Myrtis Collins seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 12:10 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Laura A. Sullivan

JMRT Secretary