ALA New Members Round Table

Midwinter Conference -New Orleans, LA

Executive Board Meeting III -Monday, January 12, 1998, 9:30- 11:30 am

Present:

Melissa Beecher, Laurie MacLeod Bennet, Nancy George, Carol Gill, Linda Golian, Paula Hering, Beth Jedlicka, Laura Lucio, Alesia McManus, Antoinette Nelson, Tracy Ray, Kara Robinson, Priscilla Shontz, Chris Shupala, Laura Sill, Ann Snoeyenbos,

The meeting was called to order by President Ann Snoeyenbos at 9:40 a.m. and she asked for everyone to introduce themselves.

Self Study Resource Allocation-Resources (Alesia McManus):

The committee reviewed guidelines for Directors and Officers on the duplication of responsibilities of committees reporting to them. They also reviewed the 1997 recommendations for the implementation/restructuring of the Proposal for Committee Redistribution and will present any further recommendations/revisions to the board prior to the annual conference. The SSRA report was posted to the webpage the week before Midwinter.

Director for Conference Arrangements (Nancy George):

Orientation/President's Program: Both programs have been set up with speakers. Orientation program: "Networking for Success in the next millennium," and President's Program: "Making the Right Connection" should attract a variety of people.

SALA (Jimmie Lundgren):

Plans are on schedule for SALA and Jimmie will look into getting refreshments.

Local Arrangements (Melissa Beecher):

Discussion on the relationship of Midwinter and Annual activities involved in setting up local arrangements. "Was there a possibility that appointments for Local Arrangements be made at Midwinter to give the committee members a full year to over see the Orientation Committee and Social Committee or possibly having a Co-Chair?" Also discussed was the possibility of adding a new committee such as Midwinter Social Committee and Midwinter Orientation Committee. Linda asked if these could be formed and Ann replied that yes, through official procedures for creating a new committee and adding it to the organizational structure of NMRT, but she reminded the group of the timetable involved. There was concern expressed with the lack of members in key locations. Linda charged the Library School Outreach Committee to make presentations in the locations of the upcoming conferences (New Orleans and Philadelphia) and recruit for members who could be contacts in these areas. New members may be more willing to help if they can work with a "buddy."

 

The following cities are for upcoming annual and midwinter conferences:

Midwinter                                                                     Annual

Philadelphia                                                                   New Orleans

San Antonio                                                                  Chicago

Washington                                                                   San Francisco  

New Orleans                                                                Atlanta

Director for Liaisons (Beth Jedlicka):

Appointed eight new liaisons and sent out an introduction/information packet to each one. Sent letters to NMRT Chairs on the state level requesting they appoint a liaison to ALAJNMRT and heard from four. With the help of Chris Shupala, located websites of state organizations and compiled a list of state NMRT associations which helped identify states that did not have an NMRT chapter. Identified areas that need work such as promoting the position of liaison by publicizing the meetings and reports on NMRT -L, targeting new areas for liaisons within ALA and show the opportunities of benefits for NMRT members in networking with other units and learn the overall organization of ALA.

Charles Kratz is looking for NMRT members for LAMA committees.

Director for Membership Awards, Continuing Education-MACE (Paula Hering): Contacts were made with committee chairs on their activities and helping them locate lost files. Worked with Publicity Committee on publicizing events on the web. Grassroots Grants (pat Henderson):

Report given at Saturday's board meeting.

Library School Outreach (Lani Teshima-Miller):

A mailing was sent to the library schools to encourage participation in NMRT and to target library schools in the upcoming conference areas.

Mentoring (Dora Ho):

On schedule for soliciting members to be mentors. An application and ad has been put on the web. Electronic discussion transpired with board members on the idea of a resume service for NMRT members based on positive responses received at annual in San Francisco. The committee felt it was a good idea but way too much work for the committee to handle as far as setting it up, etc. The committee recommended that it be done throughout the year or as an ongoing activity of NMRT and see an ad hoc committee formed to draw up guidelines. Ann asked for names for committee members and Laura recommended JoAnn Oud who actually came up with the idea while serving on the SSRA committee. Ann asked if she would be interested in chairing the committee and Laura will ask. Linda asked if we could run the mentoring application in American Libraries and what kind of impact would that have on the committee. Ann mentioned that Barbara Ford is making a pitch for mentors for the international visitors and her mentoring program is exactly like N11RT's program and that should be a compliment to U NMR T .She suggested this is not the year to compete with the President's initiative. One can always ask and perhaps an application form could be placed in a future issues.

 

Minorities Recruitment (Phillip Howze):

Somewhat disappointed in lack of committee participation. Very active about five years ago, but has since dwindled down to very little activity. Discussed ideas on publicity and mentoring, making presentations at other groups like Black Caucus. A lot of potential for this committee, just needs some help. Phillip posed the question of the Minorities Recruitment committee sponsoring a program at the annual conference and what procedures would be involved. Ann mentioned that it would be up to the director to ask for more money be available and recommend that more money be allotted in the 1998-99 budget. No special approval needed for a program. Also, work closely with some of the other committees on their programs.

Shirley Olofson Award, 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant, Scholarship (Laura Greene, Donna Hogan, Greg Zilius-Careaga):

All have met and selected their recipients who will be notified shortly after Midwinter. Some tough selections were made from a good candidate pool. 3M grant allows for up to three winners and the committee did select three. All did express concern however, on the lack of applications submitted. All -of the committees felt the awards were publicized quite a bit. It was noted that this may be an overall trend as other organizations offer such awards and no one is applying for monies. Some concern about missing files. Ann reminded the group to contact the ALA Archives for files. Melanie Kimball is the Archivist. Discussion continued on increasing the Shirley Olofson award or making it into two awards and have the committee make recommendations at annual. It was suggested that contact be made with past winners and get some feedback from them on the awards.

Old Business:

Three articles from the Bylaw amendments were presented and APPROVED.

New Business/Announcements:

Will be celebrating 30th anniversary of being associated with Quality Books. Have committees check on anniversary dates and contact Archives for help.

Adjournment:

Motion: Beth Jedlica moved that the meeting be adjourned. Laura Sill seconded the motion. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 11: 45 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Antoinette Nelson, NMRT Secretary