American Library Association New Members Round Table
Executive Board Meeting #2
Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 1-5 pm, Convention Center 212B

I. Convene (Priscilla Shontz)

The meeting was called to order at 1:04 pm.

A. Approve agenda:
  Priscilla Shontz noted one (1) change in the order of today's agenda…moving Item X Social & ALA Scholarship Bash update (Angela Dunnington's portion of the update) to the first item on the agenda. Priscilla also mentioned that the "times" on the agenda are only approximates, but that each individual should try to keep to his/her allotted time. The changes to the agenda were approved.

B. Attendance:
  Jeff Kempe; Dennis Wilson; Dora Ho; Ann Snoeyenbos; Melanie Kimball; F. Ann Dykas; Priscilla Shontz; Chris Shupula; Jimmie Lundgren; Mary Anne Hansen; Melissa Becher; Kris Stacy-Bates; Norman Buchwald; Teresa Abaid; Marilyn Grush; Jeff Bullington; Hillary Stevenson; Gene Kinnaly; Susanna Van Sant; Joseph Yue; Liz Brown; Mike Wong; Ed Rock; Theresa Liedtka

Introductions:
  Priscilla Shontz introduced Hillary Stevenson, Governance Committee member, and stated that Hillary would serve as Parliamentarian for the meeting. All attendees introduced themselves.

II. Social & ALA Scholarship Bash (Angela Dunnington)

Angela Dunnington reported that the ALA Scholarship Bash, at ALA Annual 2000 in Chicago, would be held at Navy Pier on Saturday, July 8, 2000 from 9 pm - 12 am. 3M/NMRT Social will have a separate party in addition to the ALA Scholarship Bash. The 3M/NMRT Social will be held in a location nearby the ALA Scholarship Bash, so that members can attend both functions if he/she could attend both parties. A big screen TV will be placed in the 3M/NMRT Social location, so that attendees can see what is going on at the Bash. The logistics are still being worked out. 3M will provide food and a cash bar for the 3M/NMRT Social. 3M will have an awards presentation during the Social. Members wishing to attend the Social will be required to RSVP to be able to enter the Social that evening.

III. Mentoring: Expansion (Marilyn Tsirigotis and Jeff Bullington)

Marilyn Tsirgotis reported that one of the goals of the Mentoring Committee was to look into expanding mentoring beyond the "at conference" program. The Mentoring Committee had a discussion to continue the "at conference" program and ways to expand mentoring. There are mentoring possibilities throughout ALA divisions, sections, and round tables. The committee has contacted other ALA divisions as well as state library associations inquiring about mentoring programs that are currently in place. NMRT is working collaboratively with these other groups to gather information so that NMRT could serve as a clearinghouse for mentoring information. Telementoring has also been mentioned as a possibility as part of an expanded NMRT mentoring program, but further investigation is still needed. Jeff Bullington reported that he has received between 12-15 applications for "mentoring" for the upcoming Annual Conference 2000 in Chicago. He mentioned that about 80% of the applications were from potential mentors, not mentees. Jeff also mentioned that another project was compiling information from past mentors and mentees to create a database of names/contacts to serve as a "clearinghouse" of information, too.

IV. Booth: Traveling Booth Guidelines (Marilyn Grush)

Marilyn Grush, Chair of Booth Committee, mentioned that the NMRT Traveling Booth, which is sponsored by Quality Books, was lost in shipping a few years ago, even with extensive instructions. She proposed that an application (print and web form) be used to request the use of the NMRT Traveling Booth…state conferences, workshops, and meetings. The application would be automatically sent to the current chair of the Booth Committee. After checking to see that the contact person, who is requesting the use of the NMRT Traveling Booth, is an active NMRT member, the Booth Committee Chair would then send the application(s) to Lee Smith of Quality Books to schedule and arrange shipment of the booth. The application form requests the following information:

1. Today's Date
2. Organization
3. NMRT member contact, who agrees to be responsible for receiving shipment of booth and sending it back via traceable method of shipping.
4. Contact information for NMRT member
5. Dates of conference
6. Address to ship booth
7. Booth number
8. Address to send NMRT promotional materials to display at booth

   If another ALA related organization requests the use the NMRT Booth, NMRT would want NMRT promotional materials to be available…membership materials, applications for grants, tip sheets, etc. Gerald Hodges, ALA Staff Liaison, is the central contact person for getting brochures out. Priscilla Shontz asked that the Booth Committee contact Gerald if any questions/clarifications are need to be answered.

   V. SASCO: Conference Planner Vendor Support (Joseph Yue)

   Joseph distributed a sample copy of NMRT Student Conference Planner for ALA Annual Conference, Chicago 2000 and a sample copy of a general NMRT Conference Planner. He indicated that revisions of these two (2) sample planners would likely occur…deleting space on the Friday time line and adding space to other days of the conference. Joseph distributed a handout entitled “Student Conference Planner Proposal” to the attendees. The handout has been reproduced below:

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

ALA 2000 Conference Planner for Students

Goal
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 other relevant information developed by Student and Student Chapter Outreach Committee or other NMRT committees.

The conference planner is modeled after LITA 1999 conference planner. We hope to distribute the planner to students before the conference and at the conference site. We will also make the file available on the web. However, the committee believes we should provide some printed copies at each school, at least as a sample.

Number of copies needed
For the past three years, four hundred students on average attended ALA Annual Conference. The actual figures provided by ALA Chapter Relations/Membership Marketing are:

• 1997     392
• 1998     461
• 1999     435

Cost
For printing on 70 lb. paper and folding:

• 100 planners     $20.25
• 200     $29.23
• 400     $41.01
• 500     $45.40

Chris Shupula asked if there were any questions. Laura Lucio asked Joseph if the conference planner was for each ALA conference. Joseph replied that the conference planner would be for ALA Annual Conference only.

As for requesting financial sponsors for the conference planner, Lucio asked that perhaps Alfred Jaeger, who has supported NMRT by supplying crackers for the orientation program, could support the “conference planner” instead of orientation. She indicated that orientation would not be held 11 am - 1 pm, as it has been in the past, but will be held earlier in the day. Ann Snoeyenbos added to Lucio's comments by stating if Jaeger would be support the conference planner, then NMRT would not need to ask a new vendor for support. NMRT could ask Jaeger to support the conference planner rather than orientation.

Joseph asked how many conference planners should be printed. A consensus of the group indicated that printing 500 conference planners would be enough for ALA Annual and for mailing to library schools.

VI. Committee Status Changes - Priscilla Shontz

Priscilla distributed a handout entitled “ALA New Members Round Table Committee Status Proposal” and the committee definitions from the NMRT Handbook. The proposal has been reproduced below:

The board must vote to make a committee a “standing” or “advisory” committee, as those have a continuing life.

Ad hoc committees are appointed by the incoming President for a short time period to accomplish a specific task. The next incoming President, who can decides whether to continue the ad hoc committee for that year, reevaluates any “Ad Hoc” committees at the beginning of his/her term of office.

I propose that we change the status of our committees as follows;

Committee & Current Status (if any)	Change to
Archives	Standing
ALA Scholarship Bash Committee	Ad Hoc
Booth Committee (Standing)
Diversity Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Advisory
Exhibitor Contact and Relations Committee (Standing)
Footnotes Committee (Standing)
Governance Committee (Advisory)
Handbook Committee (Standing)
Leadership Development Forum Committee	Standing
Local Arrangements Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Standing
Membership Meeting and Program Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Standing
Membership Promotion & Relations Committee (Standing)
Mentoring Committee (Standing)
Midwinter Activities Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Standing
Nominating Committee	Standing
Orientation Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Standing
President's Program Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Standing
Professional Development Grant Committee (3M/NMRT) (Standing)
Publicity Committee (Standing Non-Voting)	Standing
Resume Reviewing Service	Ad Hoc
Scholarship Committee	Standing
Self Study & Resource Allocation	Advisory
Shirley Olofson Memorial Award Committee (Standing)
Social Committee (Special Non-Voting)	Standing
Speakers Bureau	Ad Hoc
Student & Student Chapter Outreach Committee	Standing
Students to ALA	Standing

A discussion was held regarding the status of NMRT's Resume Reviewing Service…should the service continue or not? Could the “resume reviewing services” be done at the ALA Placement Office? Priscilla proposed that the NMRT Executive Board discuss this topic in more depth at a later date after gathering more input. She indicated that this issue could be raised on NMRTBD-L, in February, for further discussion. Ann Snoeyenbos added that since the Resume Reviewing Service is currently an “ad hoc” committee, the President could direct this committee's focus…there is no official charge of an “ad hoc” committee.

Priscilla directed everyone's attention back to the “Committee Status Proposal” handout. She proposed that most committees be changed to “standing”. Chris Shupula recommended that the Diversity Committee be changed to a from a Special Non-Voting status to a Standing Committee status, instead of changing it to an Advisory status.

Melissa Becher moved to accept the Committee Status Proposal with the noted revision of Diversity Committee changing to a Standing Committee instead of an Advisory Committee. Lucio seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

VII. Governance: Constitution & Bylaws changes - Ann Dykas

Ann Dykas, Governance Committee Chair, distributed a handout entitled “Governance Committee Report”, which included “How the NMRT Constitution and Bylaws Can Be Amended”, “Recommendations for Changes to the Constitution and Bylaws”, and “Removal of an NMRT Officer”. The committee has worked on changes referred to it by the NMRT Executive Board as well as reviewing the Constitution and Bylaws for any needed changes to bring it up-to-date.

The items for review and discussion are:

1. How the NMRT Constitution and Bylaws can be amended.
2. Recommendations for changes to the Constitution and Bylaws.
3. Removal of an NMRT Officer.
4. Proposal for future changes to the Constitution and Bylaws.

The NMRT Executive Board approved the following changes to the NMRT Constitution and Bylaws. These approved changes will be placed on the spring ballot, which require a majority vote of the NMRT membership to pass. The wording of the proposed changes are copied from an NMRTBD e-mail written by Ann Dykas, Chair of Governance Committee.

Personal membership of officers. Amend bylaws to make officers and committee members, whose terms extend beyond the NMRT ten-year membership limit, personal members of NMRT through the end of his/her terms.

1. Add the following to Bylaws Article I, Section 1:
   7. NMRT officers completing a term of office which ends after their ten year ALA membership limit shall be considered regular personal members and have all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of a regular personal member until their term of office ends.

2. Amend Bylaws Article III, Section 3:
   All nominees shall be members of NMRT in good standing at the time of their nomination and shall be an ALA member for ten years or less on July 2 of the year in which the election appointment takes place.

3. Amend Bylaws Article V, Section 1:
   All committees shall be composed of members in good standing for NMRT who are ALA members for ten years or less on July 1 of the year in which the appointment takes place. They shall serve until their successors take office, or until the committee is dissolved. No person shall concurrently serve as chair of two or more committees within NMRT.

4. Amend Bylaws Article I, Section 5:
   Personal membership shall be open and available to any member of the American Library Association who has been an ALA member for ten or fewer years, except as noted in Article I, Section 1 and Article V, Section 1 of the ALA NMRT Bylaws. Shupula made a motion to approve the changes to Bylaws Article I, Section 1; Bylaws Article III, Section 3; Bylaws Article V, Section 1; and Bylaws Article I, Section 5, as listed above. Ho seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

5. Removal of Committee Chairs:
   The NMRT President appoints most Committee Chairs. The Constitution and Bylaws do not specify a means for removing Committee Chairs. This amendment gives the NMRT President the authority to remove Committee Chairs.

6. Renumber Bylaws Article V, Section 7 to Section 8

7. Renumber Bylaws Article V, Section 6 to Section 7

8. Add new Bylaws Article V, Section 6:
   The President may remove a Committee Chair if the Chair fails to carry out his or her duties as noted in the NMRT Handbook. The President must report all Committee Chair removals to the Executive Board.

   Shupula made a motion to approve the changes (#5 - #8 above) as stated by the Governance Committee. Snoeyenbos seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

9. Change term of office for Councilor:
   NMRT Bylaws indicate a term of four years for the Councilor; this is incorrect as the ALA Bylaws indicate the term is three years

   Replace Bylaws Article IV, Section 1e
   Current: The NMRT Councilor will be elected for a term of four (4) years as provided for in the Bylaws to the ALA Constitution, Article IV.

   Replace with: The NMRT Councilor will be elected for a term as defined in the ALA Bylaws.

   Lucio made a motion to approve the changes to Bylaws Article IV, Section 1e as noted by the Governance Committee. Shupula seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

10. President's vote on Executive Board:
    The voting members of the Board now consist of an even number of people, which could result in tie votes. This change gives the NMRT President a vote on the Executive Board only in the case of a tie.

    Amend Constitution Article V, Section 1:
    The Executive Board shall consist of the officers and the immediate Past President. Each shall have one vote, with the exception of the Assistant Treasurer/Treasurer-elect, who shall be a non-voting member of the Board, and the President, who shall vote only in the event of a tie vote of the Executive Board.

    Jedlicka made a motion to approve the changes to Constitution Article V, Section 1 as stated by the Governance Committee. Shupula seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

11. Change the NMRT parliamentary authority from Robert's Rules to Sturgis. Sturgis is more current, uses ordinary language and is more tightly and concisely written, and is the parliamentary authority used by ALA.

    Replace Article VII, Section 3
    Current: Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, latest edition, shall govern all deliberations of NMRT.

    Replace with: NMRT shall follow the same parliamentary authority as ALA.

    Snoeyenbos made a motion to approve the changes to Article VII, Section 3 as stated by the Governance Committee. Shupula seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

12. Update Constitution Article II, which gives the purposes of NMRT. This section is not up-to-date. The proposed change will replace it with the current NMRT mission statement.

    Current:
    The purposes of the organizations shall be:
    1. to help individual members to orient themselves to their profession and to encourage their membership and participation in its organization, nation, state, and local;
    2. to promote a greater feeling of responsibility for the development of library service and librarianship; and
    3. to assist actively in the recruitment of qualified persons for the profession.

    Replace with:
    The purposes of the organization shall be:
    To help those who have been ALA members less than ten years actively involved in the association and the profession.

    The goals are fourfold:
    1. to structure formal opportunities for involvement and/or training for professional association committee experiences on the national, state, and local levels;
    2. to provide a wide variety of programs to assist, encourage, and educate those new to the profession;
    3. to offer a variety of leadership training and opportunities to help those approaching the end of their NMRT eligibility make the transition to future positions in the association and the profession; and
    4. to develop and implement ongoing programs for library school students which encourage professional involvement and networking.

    Snoeyenbos made a motion to approve the changes to Constitution Article II as stated by the Governance Committee. Lucio seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

13. Define “in good standing.” The meaning of the term “in good standing” was under discussion by the NMRT Board last year; there was not a clear understanding of the meaning of the term. The Governance Committee was charged with defining this term.

    Amend Constitution Article III:
    Membership in NMRT shall be limited to those members of the American Library Associatoin who meet the requirements specified in the Bylaws and who are in good standing with the organization. A member shall be considered to be “in good standing” when that member:

    • has paid his or her dues and fees, if any
    • acts in the most professional, upright fashion indicated by ALA and NMRT;
    • has not violated any rules, ethics, or codes of conduct put forth by ALA and NMRT.

    A motion was made by Becher to accept the changes, as presented by the Governance Committee, to Constitution Article III with the first three bullets. Shupula seconded the motion. The last bullet states…remains active within the organization, even if activity is denoted simply through annual payment of dues and fees. After discussion, Lucio moved to amend the earlier motion with the stipulation that the last bullet would be removed. Snoeyenbos seconded the amended motion. The amended motion passed by a unanimous vote.

    Ann Dykas concluded her report by directing everyone's attention to the “Proposal for Future Changes to the Constitution and Bylaws” (five pages of proposed changes) and the topic of removing of an NMRT Officer, which can be addressed at ALA Annual 2000, Chicago.

IX. Budget 2000-2001 - Mary Anne Hansen and Laura Lucio

Discussion: Laura Lucio distributed a copies of the “ALA-NMRT Operating Budget for 9/1/98 - 8/31/99: Final” report and the “Proposed ALA-NMRT Budget 9/1/00-8/31/01” report. She reported that as of 8/99, NMRT membership was recorded as 910 members. Lucio reviewed last year's budget with the group. The carryover to year 1999/2000 was $3944.

Action: Lucio made a motion to increase the Olofson Award from $500 to $1000 annually. Becher seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

Discussion: Lucio went over the “proposed” ALA-NMRT Budget for 2000-2001. A discussion was held regarding if NMRT would make a donation in the amount of $150 to the Spectrum Initiative. Lucio said that NMRT was asked to donate, but that any dollar amount would be ok. Kem added that donating to the Spectrum Initiative would likely be a good political move. Snoeyenbos added that a better use of the $150 would be to apply it towards NMRT's minority recruitment (Diversity Committee).

Action: After the discussion, Lucio made a motion to accept the 2000/2001 budget with the line change that $100 to go to Diversity and $50 to go to the Spectrum Initiative as a donation, which is a one-time donation. Shupula seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

X. SSRA: Strategic Plan - Alesia McManus

Discussion: The Self-Study and Resource Allocation Committee (SSRA) has been looking at NMRT's mission statement and determined that the mission statement, as written, is still fine. SSRA will be holding a discussion on NMRTBD - L and/or NMRT-L, in the spring, to generate suggestions/ideas/feedback on the creation a values statement and a vision statement (philosophical statements) for NMRT…issues/topics such as virtual participation, links to other ALA groups, diversity, how to create a welcoming environment, advocacy for new members, more funding sources for new members. Further discussions of “What is our philosophical statement” will be held ALA Annual 2000. How often should we reexamine NMRT's mission, values, and vision statements? SSRA proposed that SSRA work within a three (3) year strategic planning cycle and that SSRA reexamine NMRT statements, to be sure that NMRT is continuing to meet the needs of its members, at the beginning of every three (3) year strategic planning cycle. Will a three (3) year strategic planning cycle work with our budget cycle? The answer was that a three (3) year strategic planning cycle would work well with the NMRT President, Vice-President/President-Elect, and Past-President structure. Action: Snoeyenbos made a motion that the SSRA Committee embark on a three (3) year strategic planning cycle, which would also include a reexamination of NMRT's mission, values, and vision statements at the beginning of every strategic planning cycle. Lucio seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote.

XI. Social & ALA Scholarship Bash update - Angela Dunnington and Jeff Kempe

Jeff continued the report, which Angela began at the start of the meeting. Jeff reported that Bash Committee members would be serving as the volunteer supervisors. He also reported that a volunteer sign-up will be available on the web and that the committee will be advertising to library schools, beginning in April 2000, to recruit students to volunteer for the Bash. Advertising will also be conducted through Footnotes and NMRT-L. There should be enough volunteers for the Bash. Jeff Kempe, Priscilla Shontz, and Ann Snoeyenbos will be attending an ALA Scholarship Bash meeting with Ann Symons, ALA President, this evening. The NMRT delegates hope that several questions will be answered at tonight's meeting…student rates to attend the Bash; # of tickets to be given to members of the Bash Committee and Bash volunteers; scholarship amounts for NMRT; etc.

XII. ALA Washington Office - Mary Rae Costabile, Claudette Tennant

Costabile and Tennant were not present to make a report. Gerald Hodges stated that NMRT organization works extremely well. Gerald praised NMRT's financial record keeping and that NMRT serves as a “poster child” for other ALA units as to how a budget should be overseen/tracked.

XIII. Reports:

A. Outreach Director - Beth Jeklicka
Beth reported that the theme for the NMRT booth, at ALA Annual 2000, would be “Jump Start Your Career and Fly”. She also reported that the Diversity Committee is seeking to offer programming, in addition, to its charge of recruiting members of diverse races, gender, type of library, etc. As for SASCO, video interviews will be offered at Polly Esther's tonight. Orientation Committee's plans for Orientation, at Annual 2000, are coming along well. Mike Wong, Students to ALA Chair, reported that 25 members attended the Student Happy Hour last night at Dick's Last Resort. A topic for future discussion…Should SASCO and SALA be merged into one committee?

B. Networking Director - Melissa Becher
Melissa has appointed ten (10) new liaisons over the past six (6) months. Melissa reported that a new Liaison web page has been developed, which has contact information for liaisons to help them be more visible to NMRT. She also reported that she had worked with Midwinter Activities and the NMRT President to invite other liaisons from other ALA divisions/groups to attend “Mid-Winter Orientation ”. Liaisons will also be invited to participate at SALA and at Annual Orientation.

Local arrangements are already collecting donations for door prizes for ALA Annual 2000 (Chicago). Mid-Winter activities have been successful… Mid-Winter Orientation had 75 attendees. Melissa praised Angela for doing a great job with the Social. Melissa concluded by reporting that 30-40 people attended this morning's Mid-Winter Discussion Forum.

C. Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer - Laura Lucio and Mary Anne Hansen
Laura reported that the Exhibitor Contact and Relations Committee duties have slowed due to resignations/chair changes. As for the Friendly Booth Award, 4 pm will be the new time for the award presentation ceremony. ALA Silent Auction has requested some assistance/help from NMRT.

Lucio stated that a better location is being looked into for the NMRT booth, in the ALA exhibits hall.

Mary Anne reported that she attended some financial meetings (BARC) on Friday…highlights of those meetings: monitor trends; create more revenue; ways to better communicate; creation of a better web site with interactive forms/updates.

D. Vice-President/President-Elect - Chris Shupula
Chris reported that she has been enjoying the e-mail discussions this fall. She reported that she is starting to make committee appointments for 2000-2001 and is gathering ideas for her presidential year.

E. President - Priscilla Shontz
Priscilla distributed a “copy” of the NMRT Preconference announcement, which will be appearing in American Libraries, advertising “Learning to Lead: Developing Leadership Skills Early in Your Career” and “Work Behavior Type: Using Knowledge of Type in Developing Your Career”. She announced that the maximum attendance is 50 people. Priscilla also stated that Maureen Sullivan, presenter for the “Learning to Lead” session, will received a $1000 honorarium. Carol Kem, presenter for the “Work Behavior Type” session, will not receive an honorarium, but, if NMRT makes money with the preconference, she would like some reimbursement, if possible. Priscilla also commented that if any preconference budget issues arise prior to ALA in July, any changes/reallocations of funds could be done by e-mail vote to amend the budget.

XIV. New Business & Announcements - Pricilla Shontz

Could NMRT videotape the preconference and have the tape available for distribution to state chapters, etc.? Priscilla stated that videotaping the preconference(at Annual 2000; Chicago) would need to be looked into… Re: video equipment, legal issues, copyright, etc.

XV. Adjourn.

Shupula made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Lucio seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. The meeting adjourned at 4:44 pm.