Executive Board Minutes
NOTE: ** = Required Field
**
Name of Group:
New Members Round Table Executive Board
**
Type of Meeting (Physical or Electronic Board Meeting):
Electronic Board Meeting
**
Date Submitted: August 23, 2004
**
Date and Time (When Meeting Called to Order): Tuesday, June 15, 2004; 12:00 p.m. Eastern (Problems with
Message Required a Second Call to Order at 12:15 p.m.)
**
Place: Electronic – NMRTBD Discussion List
**
Name of Chairperson (or Substitute) and Recorder: Beth Kraemer, President,
and Chrissie Anderson Peters, Secretary
**
List of Attendees: Beth Kraemer,
President; Sally Gibson, Vice President/President-Elect; Joseph Yue, Past-President; Chrissie Anderson Peters, Secretary;
Bill Jenkins, Treasurer; Sara Morris, Leadership Development Director; Marilyn
Ochoa, Membership Services Director; Nadine Flores, Networking Director; Shelly
McCoy, Outreach Director; Stacey Shoup, Councilor; Melody Allison (Governance
Committee – Parliamentarian); Amanda Etches-Johnson (NMRTWriters
Ad Hoc Committee); Shannon Tennant (Affiliates Ad Hoc Committee); and Kim
Sanders, ALA.
**
Statement about the reading and approval/correction of the Minutes from the
Group's Previous Meeting: The Outreach Director, Shelly McCoy, moved
to approve the Minutes from the December 2003 e-Meeting, the January 2004
Midwinter Meeting, and the February 2004 e-Meeting. Nadine Flores seconded and
the motion carried unanimously.
**
Signature of Recorder/Secretary on Official Copy of Minutes: Chrissie Anderson Peters
** Date and Hour of Adjournment: Tuesday, June 22,
2004; 1:26 p.m.
Eastern
**
Body of Report:
Vote
on Proposed Budget
The first agenda item
was voting on the proposed budget for the upcoming ALA fiscal year. The Treasurer, Bill Jenkins,
explained that the budget was the same as we had reviewed and discussed at
length at the NMRT Business Meeting at Midwinters in San Diego, with one
exception. “The
only additional comment is that Publicity was increased to $500 in hopes of
paying for an ad in American Libraries to
advertise NMRT programs at Annual. We later discovered that ads in American Libraries now *start* at
$1,745, so we have abandoned that idea.” There was no
further discussion on the proposed budget. Shelly McCoy moved to accept the
budget and Chrissie Anderson Peters seconded. The motion carried with no
opposition.
Vote
and Discussion on Proposal to List NMRT'ers Running
for Other ALA
Offices
Secretary Peters moved
to accept the proposal presented by Past-President, Joseph Yue
(see Attachment 1 below), regarding the publication of an annual list of
current and/or alumni NMRT'ers running for office in
other ALA
units. Sally Gibson seconded. Secretary
Peters commented that she thought that compiling a list and making it available
to NMRT members was “a great idea” and has wondered for a while why NMRT
doesn't do/hasn't been doing this to promote its members/former members in
other parts of ALA.
Stacey Shoup, NMRT Councilor, explained that there might be
complications with such a list being misconstrued as “endorsement” of ALA candidates, based on
a Round Table Coordinating Assembly (RTCA) discussion from last year, saying,
“I remember that the discussion ended with RTCA, and Council, with a lot of
confusion, but potentially chilling effects on what is ‘endorsement.' In any
case, this issue has potential to impact this motion greatly.”
Bill Jenkins chimed in, “I am interested in
hearing more about this discussion, but if our list is labeled something simply
as: ‘Current and Former/Alumni NMRT members running for ALA Offices,' would
that be considered as ‘endorsement?'”
Sally Gibson reported
on what she recalled from the RTCA meeting. “One of the sticking points was
mailing the list. You cannot use ALA
funds for political endorsement.” She went on to add, “It does seem to have a
large ‘gray area.'” She agreed with Councilor Shoup
that the discussion was very confusing, but thought that it was okay to send
information through listservs and to post it online
in Footnotes.
President Kraemer
asserted, “As long as we don't use ALA
funds to distribute the list, we won't be crossing the line set by ALA,” per Sally Gibson's
interpretation and recollection of the information presented at the RTCA
meeting.
Yue remarked that
he was aware of the council discussion. He commented, “One motion to clarify
this was defeated at the last Council meeting,” but invited Ms. Shoup to “elaborate and correct [him] on this.” Yue emphasized that the “proposal is not to endorse anybody
but simply to provide our members an opportunity to let other NMRT members know
that they are running in other units.”
Shoup then informed those
in attendance that her Council notes included “great debate on whether or not
round table listservs were ‘use of ALA money' because they are maintained by
ALA.” At that point, she had begun consulting with others involved with the
RTCA meeting for their interpretation of what had been discussed/decided at the
RTCA meeting.
Yue
concurred with Sally Gibson's assessment of NMRT just wanting to post the
information to NMRT-L and in Footnotes (which is available online).
“This is not [intended] to be anything elaborate… more like something we can
try.”
Peters inserted that ALA's ALSC division had done “something like
this” in the past, as have state associations with which she is involved.
Peters reinforced the idea that “merely PUBLISHING a list of NMRT members who
are running [for ALA
offices] does NOT mean that we're endorsing them… Just an FYI sort of thing.”
Kim Sanders, NMRT's Liaison to ALA, rang in to notify the Board that she
had forwarded the proposal “to Gerald [Hodges] for clarification. According to
him NMRT can list NMRT members who are running for any ALA office. He does suggest that NMRT keeps
this narrow.”
President Kraemer then called for a vote on the
agenda item, based on Mr. Hodges' response communicated via Ms. Sanders.
Kraemer added, “If Stacey finds out conflicting information tomorrow, we can
address those concerns when/if we implement the project.” In fact, Ms. Shoup reported back that the RTCA and Council members she
consulted with indicated that “no one is clear on this and it needs to be
brought up again in Orlando,
so it will be!”
Shoup also asked Yue if a template for such a list exists yet, indicating
that she would like to see it if one has already been created. Yue answered that it will be up to the Nominating Committee
as to whether or not to have an actual template for such an announcement. He
proposes a scenario by which those NMRT'ers who wish
to participate in such a “service” from NMRT could log onto the ALA NMRT site
to enter the necessary data and that the site would authenticate their
membership within that process. He emphasized that this was just his concept
and that “future boards and committees can decide how to make it work to the
benefit of everybody.” Yue also suggested that the
NMRT webpage “clearly [state] this is not an endorsement from NMRT, but a
voluntary list provided by individual members” until ALA sorts out the issue more fully and makes
a more clear-cut decision on the issue.
Board members submitted their votes on the
proposal and the proposal carried unanimously, barring potential counteraction as
a result of meetings at the Annual Conference in Orlando.
Vote on Extension
of NMRTWriters Ad Hoc Committee
Supervising Board Member (VP/President-Elect) Sally
Gibson submitted the Proposal for Extending the NMRTWriters
Ad Hoc Committee that had been completed by current the Committee Chair, Amanda
Etches-Johnson, prior to this particular portion of the Board Meeting (see Attachment
2 below). Having read over the proposal, no one had questions or comments.
Peters moved that the ad hoc committee be extended. Yue
seconded the motion, which carried without opposition.
Report on
Affiliates Ad Hoc Committee
Shannon Tennant
submitted a report from the Affiliates Ad Hoc Committee (see Attachment 3
below), but also included “a quick summary” with the formal report via email.
She said, “[W]e were charged with investigating whether to reinvoke
[sic] the Affiliates council, or how to reach out to state association NMRT
groups. We surveyed said groups, and have made some recommendations for a new
Affiliates committee… If anyone is interested, I also have copies of the list
of state and regional NMRT groups, the survey, and an Excel spreadsheet of the
results. Please email me off-list if you'd like to see any of the
documentation.” When the time for discussion came, Past-President Yue asked whether or not the committee recommends a “separate
ad hoc or standing committee” and if a standing committee, what its charge
might include. He also asked how this committee would differ from “liaisons
coordination/ support in terms of role, program and services to external
groups.” Ms. Tennant responded that the committee recommends the creation of a
standing committee after one more year as an ad hoc committee to try out the
committee's new role. In terms of a charge, Ms. Tennant added, “We envision the
charge looking like the bulleted section of our recommendations – ‘We envision
the committee's responsibilities as follows,'” then followed by the bulleted
points in Attachment 3, under the heading entitled, “Committee's
Recommendations.” Ms Tennant concluded, “I suppose the committee will not be
that different than the liaisons committee except in focus. The state and
regional chapters make up a group with a more narrow focus than is addressed by
the Liaisons – for example, they are probably not interested in the diverse ALA
information that Liaisons provides since so few of their members are ALA
members. (Though if they are interested, they can of course subscribe to
NMRT-L.)”
Adjournment
With the final agenda item completed and no further
discussion brought up, Shelly McCoy moved that the meeting adjourn Eastern.
Vice-President/President-Elect Sally Gibson seconded the motion and the
electronic meeting adjourned at 1:26
p.m.
Attachment 1 – Proposal to
List NMRT'ers Running for Other ALA Offices
Proposal Form for NMRT
[document included as received – sic]
From: Joseph Yue, Past-President
Date: June 16, 2004
********************************************
A. Board action requested: To approve the provision of a voluntary listing of NMRT members in good standing who are running for any ALA office in the current election cycle and that the committee directed to implement this project will evaluate its impact on committee workload and report back to executive board with specific recommendations no later than ALA Annual Conference 2005.
B. Background: For the past few years, NMRT has been trying to provide more services for active member interested in getting active in other units. We have tried to strengthen the liaison program, explored issues related to alumni membership recrutiment, formed partnership with other units in programming and service development. This proposal is another such initiative.
C. Rationale: This proposal will indirectly support our round table's Constitution Article II (Purpose) Item Number 3: “to offer a variety of leadership training and opportunities to help those approaching the end of their NMRT eligibility to make the transition to future positions in the Association and the profession.”
It is a membership benefit that will not cost NMRT any money other than volunteer time. Also, it will help encourage members to engage in other ALA opportunities, something along the line of networking. Furthermore, it will help members to be more interested in the ALA election process and expand NMRT's visibility through voting power. Lastly, it is a benefit that may be of particular interest to alumni members, who get little benefit from membership otherwise. The only tangible benefit for alumni is receiving the newsletter and perhaps this listing, which would help them reach more potential supporters. Although the board has not set the membership recrutiment [sic] prorities [sic] for the next few years, alumni members may offer many networking and mentoring opportunities for our current members as well as help diversify our membership base.
D. Impact on
1. Organization: This project will help NMRT more integrated with current practice of other ALA units.
2. Committee (issuing proposal): For 2004-2005, I am recommending that nominating committee implements [sic] this project as a pilot. The listing is self-selecting and self-reporting. The committee directed to implement this task will not be asked to search for these individuals, but to facilitate the listing of names, the office, and a link to election info provided by these members. If this proven to be a well-received service, the board can always expand on this project and dedicate more resources to it in the future.
3. Other committees: Committees related to internal and external communication such as Publicity, membership, and web may be called upon to assist in the promotion of this new benefit.
4. Finances (Please indicate amounts here with only brief descriptions. Detailed descriptions of costs should be supplied in “E. Supplemental information” below.)
a. Itemized expenses: N/A
b. Amount not covered by current allocations: N/A
E. Supplemental information (e.g. complete text of the report or policy; and for any proposal that requires additional funding, provide a description and justification for each item): N/A
Attachment
2 – Proposal to Extend NMRT Writers Ad Hoc Committee
Proposal
Form for NMRT
From (name and office/committee): Sally Gibson Vice
President/President-Elect
New Writer's Support (ad hoc)
Date: June 11, 2004
********************************************
A. Board action
requested: The President-Elect requests that the New Writer's Support Ad Hoc committee
continue for another year as an ad hoc committee. The President-Elect also
requests that Amanda Etches-Johnson be appointed for a second term as chair of
this ad hoc committee.
Current
Charge:
The
purpose of the committee is to “gather resources and create documents helpful
to new writers for library research; facilitate discussion and manage the
subscription of the NMRTWRITER list.”
B. Background: The committee
was established in 2002-2003 to revitalize the NMRTWRITER listserv and to
explore if there was a role for NMRT in supporting new researchers who are
interested in publishing.
C. Rationale: The committee
has revitalized the listserv and completed a webpage with resources for new
writers. http://www.ala.org/ala/nmrt/comm/NMRTNewWriters.htm.
An additional year would allow the committee to promote the webpage as an
online resource for new writers. Recent
activity on the listserv indicated that there is a role for NMRTWRITER but
there is concern that the charge of the committee is too narrowly focused. In 2004-2005 the committee could explore the
feasibility of expanding to career development support. The committee could continue to manage
NMRTWRITER and include other resources on the webpage such as information on
presentations, poster sessions, and continuing education.
D. Impact on …
- Organization: New writers are seeking
ways to get started in the publishing industry. There have been several ALA conference
programs about getting published and there is an interest in creating a
community of writers. Many new
writers have ideas but need advice on how to get started.
- Committee (issuing
proposal): The online resource
for new writers has been established.
Several people outside of NMRT have created blogs
with similar information and recently a writer listserv was created. The committee needs to determine if NMRT
still has a role in supporting new researchers and writers or if the
committee charge should be expanded to include other areas of career
development such as presentations, and promotion.
- Other committees: No other
NMRT committees are focusing on this area.
- Finances (Please
indicate amounts here with only brief descriptions. Detailed descriptions
of costs should be supplied in “E. Supplemental information” below.)
- Itemized expenses: $0
- Amount not covered by current
allocations: $0
E. Supplemental
information (e.g. complete text of the report or policy; and for any proposal
that requires additional funding, provide a description and justification for
each item): [None]
Attachment
3 – Affiliates Ad Hoc Committee Report
Report of the NMRT
Affiliates Committee:
Committee
background: Our committee was charged with studying the possibilities
of cooperation between ALA NMRT and the many state and regional NMRT groups.
Historically, state NMRTs met in a group called the
Affiliates Council. Under the leadership of ALA NMRT, the representatives of
the state NMRTs had at a formal meeting at the ALA conferences. This
group had not met in several years, and the ALA NMRT leadership decided to
examine whether to reinvigorate the Council, cooperate with the state groups in
a different form, or not to pursue this outreach possibility at this time.
Committee
actions: Our committee decided to ask the state and regional NMRTs how, if at all, they would like to work with ALA
NMRT. Accordingly, we designed a survey to gather the relevant information:
general information about the NMRTs, a feeling for
how large and active the NMRTs were, whether there
was a lot of participation in ALA
by the group, and whether the NMRTs were interested
in working with us. The survey was designed to be as brief and easy to take as
possible. We visited the websites of the state and regional library
associations and came up with a list of twenty (20) groups to contact. We
decided to include Canada
because we recently worked with their New Librarians interest group at the Toronto conference. In
many cases, the library association website gave the name of the NMRT chair; in
others, we found other officers in the organization to use as contacts. We sent
out the surveys by email with a three-week deadline. Then we did follow-up with
the groups that had not yet responded.
Committee
results: We heard back from 16 of the 20 groups we contacted, a
response rate of 80%. Of the 16 groups,
we found that six are somewhat (or completely) inactive: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Connecticut, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. All of these groups expressed a
desire to revitalize their organizations, and many were interested in ways to
talk to other groups and to get new ideas.
One group, the Utah New Perspectives Round Table, is not actually a
group for new members, but the president of the Utah Library Association is
interested in starting a group.
The active groups showed
some diversity. Several NMRTs are groups of only a
few dozen members, but four NMRTs have several
hundred members. All the groups have a meeting or sponsored program at their
annual conference, but many do other activities such as breakfasts, awards,
mentoring, and even an ice cream social.
Most meet at least annually at the conference, but several have
supplemental meetings (usually electronic) during the year. Almost every group
had a website, though several sites were not currently maintained.
The committee was interested
to find out how many of the state NMRT members were also ALA members and were likely to attend
conference. We did not expect any group to have exact numbers, so we asked the
survey respondents for their best guess. Every group responded that while there
were some members who were also ALA
members, and that a few of those attended conference, but that these were the
minority. One respondent said that ALA
is too expensive for librarians from public and small academic libraries. Many
librarians choose to become active at the state level rather than the national
level for this reason.
When asked whether they
would like to work with ALA NMRT, two groups said no, five groups said maybe,
and seven groups responded affirmatively. (One was quite enthusiastic,
answering with a “Yes Yes Yes”!) The committee provided a list of suggestions
about services that ALA NMRT could offer. These were: a listserv, a meeting at
conference, announcements of NMRT events, local speakers, advertising space in
Footnotes, and access to resume review. We also left lots of space for
suggestions. The following number of
chapters responded affirmatively:
|
Listserv
|
8
|
|
Meeting
at conference
|
7
|
|
Announcements
|
6
|
|
Speakers
|
3
|
|
Footnotes
|
2
|
|
Resume
Review
|
4
|
Other comments included a desire to get in contact with
other state NMRTs and several are interested in the
results of this survey.
Committee
recommendations: We recommend the creation of an Affiliates committee to
liaise with and support the state and regional NMRT groups. We envision the committee's responsibilities
as follows:
·
Maintaining an up-to-date contact list for the NMRT groups
·
Administering a listserv open to the state and regional NMRT officers,
the ALA NMRT officers, and any interested NMRT members (ALA or state/regional)
·
Organizing an informal meeting for representatives from the NMRT groups
at the ALA
annual conference
·
Creating a handbook with advice, suggestions, and tips for organizing
an NMRT group and dealing with common problems (recruiting volunteers, etc.)
·
Working with the Footnotes committee to create a space for
state/regional NMRT news and information
·
Collecting and distributing information to and from the state/regional
groups and ALA NMRT
·
Working with student chapters on the joint student membership
initiative
We
feel that creating links to the state and regional NMRTs
would benefit ALA NMRT. Many of the smaller groups' members may not be ALA
members at this time; however, if their career and/or financial situations
change, they will be already be familiar with ALA NMRT and more likely to join.
We can also share our experiences with the governing and work of an NMRT group
to help other groups create strong committees, and thereby help even more new
librarians get started in the profession.
Report respectfully submitted by:
Shannon
Tennant, Chair of Affiliates ad-hoc committee
Zahra
Baird
Kim
Wobick