Board Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, February 9, 2000
Toni Emerson's House
Present: Dana Bostrom, Judy Davis, Frances DeMarco, Dawn Duddleson, Toni
Emerson, Alison Keyes, Vince Kueter, Mary Frances Lembo (via telecon), Anna
Liisa Little, Corey Murata, Jean Pasche, Nola Sterling, Barbara Wetzel
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 PM.
The January 28, 2000 Executive Board Meeting minutes were approved with
corrections.
Toni Emerson, Chapter President, called this meeting to discuss the
consolidation of Chapter Chairs, the possibility of moving to a Team
structure, the establishment of Co-Chairs, and knowledge transfer as Chair
staffing changes. She also wanted to formalize the Communications Group
with a Chair and a team for the website.
Toni pointed out that we already have some Co-Chairs, which are working
well. Sue Eipert, the current Employment/Consultation Chair, has
recommended eliminating the Consultation position. We could also consider
consolidating the Business Manager position, which looks for meeting and
website sponsors, with Vendor Relations. This would have the advantage of
providing a single contact for vendors, but could increase the workload for
the remaining position. Toni feels that all current Chairs except
Employment/Consultation need to be maintained.
SLA Headquarters does not allow advertising on Association websites because
the space has already been paid for. Toni wonders, however, if we could use
advertising to pay for someone to design and update our website. Some
members expressed concern over the idea of banner ads (as opposed to
acknowledgments) on our website, feeling that it would reflect poorly on our
Chapter and could turn off other potential vendors.
We have three venues for potential advertising - meetings, the Interface,
and the website. Nola recommended that we try to streamline our
communications with vendors by asking for money once a year rather than
before each meeting. The Solo Division puts together a list of expected
expenses each year and lets vendors choose from the list. However, to do
that we would have to establish anticipated expenses for meetings well in
advance. Since we know roughly what meetings we have each year, perhaps we
could make a reasonable estimate of related expenses. Both this issue and
website advertising need further discussion by the Communications and Vendor
Relations Committees.
Toni passed out a list of proposed Teams composed of the following:
People Team (responsible for membership development, directory and program
support)
- Team Leader - Membership Chair
- Professional Development
- Hospitality
- Student Relations
Communications Team (responsible for knowledge transfer, information
management, chapter documentation, publicity, and web presence)
- Team Leader - Web
- Public Relations
- Bulletin Manager
- Listserv
- Employment/Consultation
- Government Relations
- Archives
- Lending Library
Money Team (responsible for funding initiatives, budget management, and
disbursement/reimbursement of funds)
- Team Leader - Treasurer
- Grants & Awards
- Business Manager
- Vendor Relations
Toni would like the Chairs under each team to get together in order to
establish goals and structure for next year. She is hoping that the Team
structure will allow for more cross training and collaboration between
Chairs, and that having Co-Chairs or Chair/Chair Elects will ensure that
each position has someone who is familiar with its requirements. In some
positions the Chair Elect has worked with the current Chair, and this has
proved helpful in learning the position. However, it may be harder to get
people to make a two-year commitment. Also, there was concern that the Team
structure could mean more meetings and the perceived lack of a "defined
job". Perhaps Team leaders would be asked to attend Executive Board
meetings, but other chairs wouldn't need to, although, as now, all Chairs
would be welcome to attend if they so desired. There would also need to be
room for cross team collaboration.
Dan pointed out that changing to a Team structure for Committee Chairs would
not require a change in our bylaws, which only define the makeup of the
Executive Board. So long as we don't add the Teams to the bylaws we can
change their membership according to the Chapter's needs and the President's
initiatives each year. The Teams would be organized at the discretion of
the President. A Programming Team was suggested in order to have one person
that would coordinate all the activities required to put together programs.
Discussion turned to the issue of knowledge transfer and archives when
Committee Chairs turn over. It was agreed that we need a smoother
transition between Chairs, with perhaps a more formal structure. There is
currently very little mentoring for Committee Chairs when they start, and
people have found they need more information than the SLA Headquarters'
Procedures Manual provides. Perhaps the Team structure will help people
feel more comfortable accepting Chairmanships. It was recommended that we
create a tool kit or checklist for each Committee that explains what the
Chair does and what they need in a task oriented way. It could be turned
over to new Chairs by either the previous Chair or by the President. The
Director does not have a list of duties, and Officers may not need a
checklist because there is more continuity in those positions and their
requirements are set out in the bylaws.
It was agreed that Jean, as Chapter Archivist, will send out a message
asking past Committee Chairs to turn over any material they have concerning
their Committees. Toni requested that current Committee Chairs put together
checklists and work on tool kits for their Committees to give her along with
their Annual Reports. The President will distribute checklists to the new
Chairs.
Vince said that when he was the Public Relations Chair he had a list of
people and organizations to be contacted for different types of
announcements. He will work with Anna Liisa to recreate this list.
Jean distributed copies of the Chapter Record Retention Guidelines and a
list of archival concerns for the Executive Board. She said that Committee
material should be passed from Chair to Chair rather than going to Archives.
It should be kept for five years; each year the new Chair should toss the
oldest year's material. The Chairs' Annual Reports are archived as part of
the Chapter newsletter. Any other material of lasting importance should be
marked as such and turned over to Archives after one year. In addition, all
published material is considered archival.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.
Minutes submitted by Dawn Duddleson.
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