AMERICAN
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
NEW MEMBERS ROUND TABLE
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
MONDAY, JUNE 29, 1992
2:00 - 5:00 P. M.
The ALA/NMRT Executive Board Meeting was called
to order by Jim Mouw, President, at 2:10 p. m. The following members were present:
John Culshaw, Jim Mouw, Connie Phelps, Pat
Brill, Betsy Fordon, Jenifer Abramson, Joanna Burkhardt, Joan Kaplowitz, Ann
Branton, Diane Tureski, Laura Sill, Joan Reyes, Lora Lennertz, Elaine Yontz,
Kathy Kie, Michael Coleman, Stephanie Sterling, Joni Gomez, Joan Dobson, Terri
Summey, Steven Kerchoff, Beatrice McKay, Barbara Walchie, Joyce Taylor, Suzanne
Byron, Michael Samson, Rita Yribar, Carla Zanotti, Dodie Ownes
OLD BUSINESS
Jim Mouw stated that he knew of no old business
unless Jenifer Abramson, incoming President, had resolved the question of the
position of secretary. Jenifer explained
that at Saturday's Board Meeting the question of who should be the- new
incoming secretary was raised since Carol Lunce had resigned. Jenifer spoke to JoAn Segal of ALA who checked
with ALA' s Parlimentarian, ALA By-Laws and NMRT's By-Laws as to what the
procedure should be. It was decided that
the best "populist" way of handling this is to have the
second-highest vote getter assume the office. If the second-highest vote getter could not
assume the position or that didn't seem to be the way the organization should
go, then Jenifer could appoint someone. Jenifer then announced that Betsy Fordon would
assume the position of Secretary of NMRT for the 1992-93 year. As a result, there is now a need for a
Resources Co-Chair. Jenifer asked that
people think of someone who knows the history of NMRT and its concerns, has
good analytical skills and who would like to share the position with Laura Sill.
This committee has a good-sized charge
and an exciting one.
Jim wanted to remind the members that if anyone
has a supply of the pins or know where they are, please tell someone. Jenifer said to let Joni Gomez know since part
of her charge this year is to find out now how many we've sold and how much
money we've made.
Jim then asked if there was any more old
business. There was none and Jim then
thanked all the officers and committee chairs for last year and turned the meeting
over the the new NMRT President, Jenifer Abramson.
INTRODUCTION OF 1992-93 NMRT OFFICERS, COMMITTEE
CHAIRS AND LIAISONS
Jenifer began by thanking Jim and stating that
she has learned much the past year and will learn more with the new team of the
board and directors. Jenifer distributed
the packets for the board members. Jim
passed around stationery for the members use. Using black instead of red for the logo cost one-tenth
the price; this stationery may be used for letters.
Jenifer stated that the structure of this
meeting would be informal and members were invited to speak at any time. In the packet was a directory of officers,
committee chairs and liaisons. Changes
to the directory were made at this time.
Jenifer then recognized Myrtis Collins who was
President when JMRT was changing into NMRT. Myrtis
acknowledged and hoped that this year would be a good one for the board and
NMRT. Myrtis is at UC Berkeley and
Jenifer said that she is one of the people who has carried our torch in the
past and that she hopes to recognize more of these people in the coming year.
Under the Division of Responsibilities, Joanna
Burkhardt, incoming Vice President/President Elect will be sharing
responsibility with Jenifer for the Shirley Olofson Endowment Fundraising
Committee to be headed by Carla Zanotti. This will allow Joanna to become familiar with
NMRT's relationship with OCLC so that she can take this relationship further
next year.
Jenifer wanted everyone to read the orientation
notes so that the board can use these guidelines to do their job better. Committee Chairs are responsible for writing
out a planning report for the coming year to send to their Directors.
It may not have been clear in the past as to why
they must do that. The Directors are
accountable for what is given them, so please try to think about what you, as
Chairs, will be doing in the coming year, have a game plan, and copy your committee
so that they will be aware, but also copy your supervising officer. What the supervising officer then does is take
all the reports and distill them into one report that she/he can then share
with all the members of the Executive Board. Several things will happen from this: (1) this
will insure that the supervising officer can see that everyone is speaking the
same language; (2) it will also help those who did the job previously to help
the new chairs and liaisons so that they know what to do in the timeframe
allotted. Jenifer wants the old chairs
to be able to share what they have learned with the new person. She has also set in place a system of
quarterly reports from the officers; not only will we prepare mid-winter and
final reports, but in the spring and in the fall we will also write reports
where we state where we are, and what we have done. This way we can each double check each other
and keep reminding each other of what we should be doing.
Also in the packet is the calendar. This timetable reflects the combining of the
April and June issues of Footnotes into one issue in May with a deadline of
March 1st. Jenifer asked that everyone
please use Stephanie Sterling, who is our new Publicity Chair, for all those
items you would like publicized, such as award winners, event successes in
order to bring them to the attention of those who couldn't be here and to thank
the vendors for their support. Send her information
before Denver and New Orleans so that she can publicize effectively all our
important events and activities. A
question was raised about whether members should send Stephanie personal
activities of members and Jenifer said that these things would be more
appreciated in Footnotes.
Jenifer emphasized that while many of the
members have e-mail, there are many who do not so we should try to use the more
traditional methods, putting things on paper and putting them in the mail or
fax them. Those written documents then
can be pulled from the Archives for use by members in the future.
The officers for 1992-93 then introduced
themselves, as well as Directors and Chairs of the new committees.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Jenifer wanted to state where she envisions NMRT
going in the next year. She expanded on
what she had talked about in Chicago in 1991. She saw the role of supervising officers to
constitute around the "3 D" factors: DISTANCE, DISTRACTION AND
DESPAIR. First, in a national
organization when when you work at the local level it is easy to pick up the
phone or walk down the hall, but in a national organization this usually ins't
possible. Secondly, we have other responsibilities
and they can distract us from what we do here. The third D is dispair. Because of the other two D's--distance and
distractions--the responsibility can weigh so heavily that you forget why you
wanted to volunteer for this in the first place. To those three D's Jenifer now added a fourth
D, differences. Using her own life as an
example, Jenifer spoke about appreciating our differences and allowing them so
that what needs to be done can be done well. For example, knowing when to back off because
of a personality conflict and when to step in or speak up. She would like the members to remember those
four D's in the months ahead.
Jenifer then spoke of what she called ALA's
leadership garden. She would like to
convey to Marilyn Miller, ALA President, that NMRT is ALA's Leadership Garden. We are not a greenhouse; we are out in the
elements, we don't have a glass roof over our heads, we get "stomped
on" and rained on and weeds grow up. It is because of this that the directors must
show their senstivity in order to pull their committees together.
Distance: Just as all the plants need to be watered and
fertilized and mulched and the Directors have to nourish these new Chairs and
members.
Distractions: Plants must be pruned and weeded in order to
grow and must be removed.
Despair: You will need to give all the sunlight
(praise) you can and it will mean all the difference to your members,
especially in this time of downsizing around the country.
Differences: Just as with plants, some plants will need
lots of water and some plants may need very little. The new plants will need different kinds of fertilizers,
for example, than will transplants (liaisons).
NMRT is a rich resource for ALA. We are now developing talents that ALA will be
able to use one, two or five years from now. We will insure that ten, fifteen and twenty
years from now there are people with quality skills who can lead the
organization in new directions. For
instance, Shirley Olofson had the vision and foresight and, if she had lived,
would have become ALA President. Carla
Stoffle, ALA Treasurer, stated that the skills she learned at JMRT helped her
build her skills where day-to-day job did not. Judith Sessions was also a JMRT person and is
now on ALA Council. We can point to
people who have learned those skills working within NMRT, skills can be
transferred.
Jenifer also recommended highly the book, Seven
Habits of Highly Successful People, by Steven E. Covey, which essentially states that you can
only be successful at work if you are successful inside. It is a value-centered definition of success. He talks about how habits are a synthesis of
our knowledge and our skills and our desires. The knowledge is knowing what to do and knowing
why to do it. The skill is knowing how
to do it; the desire is the want to do it. NMRT will help you make a habit of the things
great people do in professional organizations. By the end of this year you will have learned
how to delegate, how to plan, and you will feel better about yourself because
at the end of the year you will have something to measure against. You are talented now, but in this coming year
NMRT will make you better. Jenifer's
goal is for us to be of one heartbeat.
AFFILIATES COUNCIL PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Jenifer then introduced Diane Tureski, the
incoming Affiliates Council President, who spoke about what she sees as the
goal of the Council. She has enlisted
the help of Ann Branton and former President Carol Lunce. She has asked Ann to be her Vice President. She wants to see the Council go back to basics
as it has been a long time since Council has had a strong basis and she sees
the council's the most important role as communication and she would like to
hear from the state/regional chapters and to have them come to ALA/NMRT to
share their ideas, questions they have and to seek guidance. So she sees this year as a time to strengthen
the ties between state/regional NMRTs and ALA/NMRT. She will start with getting the files from
Carol Lunce and updating the lists. She
will then send a letter of introduction telling them who she is and asking
three things from them. She would ask
for a status report and want to know how the state NMRT is doing, what are the
weaknesses, strengths, what they are proud of and what would they like to see
more of. She would also like to have
copies of their by-laws, newsletters and any other information. She would then put all this in a packet and
send it out to all the other existing chapters as well as any new affliates in
order to share information. The last
thing would be a request for information to be into NewsNotes.
Diane is also in the midst of revising the
Affliates Guidelines and from those Guidelines to prepare brief fact sheets so
that the state chapters can get something from us which is fast and easy. These will give them steps they can follow and
actual people they can contact. She
would also like to communicate more with Quality Books. They provide a seed grant for any state wants
to have an affiliate. She plans to talk
to the representative in order to find out the steps for getting the seed money
and involve the vendor in other activities. Ann had suggested spotlighting representatives
from the chapters more, such as at one of the receptions.
BUDGET
Joan Dobson passed out the guidelines for
expenditures and forms for reimbursement. Joan and Joni Gomez, incoming Treasurer, have
not yet discussed the budget. At
Mid-Winter the officers worked at cutting the budget so that it is internally
balanced so that the same amount of money that comes in goes out. Our income is $19,150 and our outgo is $19,081.
That has changed some because of the
measures passed at the previous board meeting, but essentially the budget is internally
balanced. We have now a cash balance of
$9,676 and we want to keep that intact as that money a cushion and ALA likes
its divisions/roundtables to have a cushion. In the last five years the cash reserve has
gone from around $17,000 to under $10,000. One year's problems could wipe this reserve
out, so we need to run on a budget that is internally balanced. Our expenses right now are $11,695 and that
includes most of the conference costs. Our income is $7,464 and that is because ALA
posts our dues monthly even though they receive the money January 1st. We only get one-twelth each month. We are on track of where we should be this
year. Joan reminded everyone to get all
bills into her by August 1st so that it goes on this year's budget. She also said to make sure that your name and
NMRT's name is on any bill so that ALA will know who it is from. Explain fully on the reimbursement forms what
the money is for and be able to justify the expenditure. Don't commit to any large purchases or
expenditures without approval from the treasurer and supervising officer. Joan wanted to thank everyone for their
cooperation this past year.
Jenifer then spoke about our tie-in with ALA. This past year NMRT received $300 from Pat
Schuman because of tying our Orientation Program in with her theme. Marilyn Miller's theme this year is Empowering
People Through Libraries as announced at the meeting of the Conference Planning
Committee. We are trying to bring Sue
Curzon in to speak about managing change. Another topic might be the changing roles of
paraprofessionals in libraries. Jenifer's theme for this year will be
Empowering People Through Change.
The officers and directors then introduced
themselves and told who reported to them.
ORIENTATION ACTIVITIES
Members then broke into groups in order to talk
about three questions Jenifer put to them. The first question was if you could ask one
question about being an NMRT officer, NMRT liaison or NMRT chair, what would
you ask? The second question was what do you personally need from NMRT? The
third question was what should NMRT be doing that it is not currently doing or
offering or something that we shouldn't be doing but are?
Kathy Kie's group's answer to the first question
was what are the responsibilities of each chair, when does their term of office
begin and is there any historical precedent of what has been done by each. committee?
Another question was what is the structure of NMRT and where does each
committee fit into that structure and are there ways that one committee can
help another committee? Another question was about communication between the
old chairs and new chairs. It was
thought that this would be a good idea so that there could be some continuity
from year to year. The second question
the group asked concerned the structure of ALA, the networking opportunities
that allow you to meet people from other parts of the country and the
opportunity to go on other committees in ALA. As to the third question, the group thought
about having some program relating to the Placement Center, career building,
how to go from your first job or how to get your first job. They also suggested that the mentor program
could include a job hunting phase--matching people who are job hunting with
ones who had just gotten jobs. They also
thought that NMRT should rethink SALA and the social--a cost benefit analysis
would be helpful. An. RSVP from students
who plan to attend SALA would be helpful so that we could plan better. They suggested that having a three-hour
membership program and then have a membership meeting right after seems to lose
people who would attend if the program might be alittle shorter.
Joni Gomez's group thought the handbook did a
good job in who do you report to and who reports to you, but that quarterly
reports are a good idea in keeping us on track. As to personal wants and needs, for people in
academic institutions NMRT is a way of getting into professional actitivies. There is personal enrichment and NMRT
is a way of doing something for ourselves and feeling good about ourselves. From the organization we want to get
leadership skills, organizational skills and NMRT is a stepping stone into the
other areas of ALA. NMRT is a confidence
builder and it is a way of getting to see the big picture of ALA. The group would like to see evaluations from
the programs so that we can see the benefits from our dollars. They would also like to see the mentoring program
strengthened and tying it into library school outreach.
Bea McKay's group wondered about interactions
with other committees. What they
discussed as to what they want from NMRT included training, leadership, persistance,
goal setting and accomplishment. Their
group's answer to the third question was that they want NMRT to be a place of
provocation, a place to take risks and to broaden the perspective of NMRT. They wanted to know if NMRT serves all types
of librarians or just academic librarians who need this for tenure?
Joan Kaplowitz' s group had some of the same
ideas as the other groups, they called telling your incoming chair about things
that worked or didn't work for you as the "I coulda had a V-8"
syndrome. This group had questions about
visibility. We should be pushing
ourselves across the country, beefing up liaisons and affiliates. We should be talking ourselves up to our
colleagues back home. Joan asked the
group why they came into NMRT and most stated that it was because they wanted
to promote librarianship, to bust the stereotype. The list this group had for what do you want
from NMRT was support, direction, feedback, praise and training. We should also get the pictures of award
winners at the different vendors booths just as was done for the 3M winners. They also felt that the scholarship winner
should come to conference so that they could be awarded the scholarship at
conference and NMRT would be more visible? This group also would like to see
the written goals and objectives of the organization sent to all the members. They also thought that we should have a
liaison to the new Strategic Visions Committee of ALA since we are the future
of ALA.
Jenifer's group said the same things that had
been brought up in the other groups. They asked when mid-winter activities chair
was appointed and felt that it should be done as soon as possible after
mid-winter so that it would have a full year to plan. The group felt that it was important to let
members know that board meetings are not just for the board because there they
can learn about NMRT as a whole. NMRT is
away of getting into ALA. The group felt
it is difficult to get into ALA and this is one way. They felt that working in NMRT gives back to
the profession what is given by to us as librarians. As to funding, NMRT isn't looked upon in the
academic community as being very important. If you are in ALSC you can get funding, but
NMRT isn't seen in the same light. Another question is what liaisons are supposed
to do? We need to articulate what we want liaisons to do. They should feel part of the committee, and if
they don't feel that way, they should communicate that to the committee. As to what we may not need, the question was
raised about dropping the social.
ADJOURNMENT
Jim Mouw moved to adjourn at 5:40 p. m. and Joan Kaplowitz seconded.