President

Treasurer’s Report

SLA Rio Grande Chapter Draft Budget 7/21/00

Cost of producing Bulletin $600.00 Program costs $2000.00

Global 2000 Scholarship donation $500.00

Officers’ travel to SLA mtgs. January Mtg. $1000.00 Annual mtg. $1000.00

Total Income: $5850.00

Members present: Pam MacKellar, Twila Firmature, Heather Gallegos-Rex, Donna Berg, Frances Knudson, Theresa Connaughton, Donna Cromer, Linda Morgan Davis, Heather Hlava, Betsy Kraus, Frankie Ewing

Treasurer’s report: Submitted by Frankie Ewing. Frankie presented a proposed 2000-2001 budget. The Executive Board will look into changing travel amount allocations for officers. All registration forms for meetings will have information on the Bea Allen Award. Discussion followed on the proposed budget. Theresa Connaughton moved and Donna Berg seconded the motion the proposed budget is approved. Motion passed. See Treasurer’s report in the Bulletin.

Programs: Heather Hlava presented her tentative program schedule for the coming year. At this time she has programs scheduled for September, October, November, December, February, March, April, and May. See her report in the Bulletin. Linda Morgan Davis moved $5 from each registration for the October meeting go into the Bea Allen Memorial Fund. Donna Berg seconded. Passed unanimously. Will also check to see if can partner with the local chapter of the records management group in sponsoring the October meeting on Internet Taxonomy & Meta Data.

Bulletin: Pam reported that Heather O’Daniel wants help with content gathering and editing.

Membership: Donna Cromer reported 11 members need to renew and she will contact them.

Professional Development: Donna Berg will work on doing a column in the Bulletin. She will do an article for the September issue.

Public Relations: Linda Morgan Davis sent out a dozen letters soliciting ads. Has received four responses already. She inquired if we want to do something for the students in the local MLS program. We will continue also to waive registration fees for local programs to any student who joins SLA.

Archives: Donna Cromer reported that Judy Bernstein and she have made 6 trips to work on the archives and have only a few boxes left to be sorted.

Employment: No report

Government Relations: Heather Gallegos-Rex reported that the official name is now Government Affairs & Intellectual Property (GAIP). The committee has changed now that it’s added intellectual property as part of its focus. Waiting to see how this falls together. Committee will meet at mid-winter. Otherwise most of their work is done online.

International Relations: Theresa Connaughton is working at the international level for Global 2000 scholarships. Art Freed was going to Zimbabwe but due to political unrest was sent to South Africa.

Webmaster: Frances Knudson reported the Bulletin’s going up, link to email list was added, will put the programs up as soon as received from Heather Hlava, and all suggestions welcome.

Strategic Plan: Pam MacKellar went over this plan so we all could see how well we are meeting our goals for the chapter during the coming year.

September Bulletin articles: Pam MacKellar, Heather Hlava, Linda Morgan Davis, Heather Gallegos-Rex will do articles on inside SLA in Philadelphia. Also Donna Berg, Theresa Connaughton, and Frances Knudson will write about the fire and LANL.

Updates and Announcements: All Board members remember to send their forms to SLA and Linda Broussard. Linda Morgan Davis announced that over 7,000 attended the conference. Next year’s meeting will be in San Antonio, TX. Frankie and Pam reported on the Recommendations to the Leadership Institute. Mary Frances Campana will report on the Procedure Manual at the February meeting. 45^th Anniversary plans are moving ahead. Linda Morgan Davis reported Donna Sheeder has been asked to speak, will talk to vendors about donations for the silent auction. Donna Sheeder thought we should have an award. Need to work on it if we want to submit someone for an association award. Do we want to establish a chapter award? Linda Morgan Davis moved we establish a chapter meritorious award to be presented for the first time at the 45^th Anniversary celebration. Heather Hlava seconded the motion. Passed unanimously. Donna Berg moved we establish a committee to investigate, plan, establish guidelines to receive and evaluate nominations for the award, Linda Morgan Davis seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Linda Morgan Davis will write a notice to elicit nominations for the award. Judith Bernstein submitted the chapter for the Special Librarians Day award, received 2^nd place at the annual conference. Check will be mailed for the Global 2000 Scholarship fund as approved at the previous Board meeting. The SLA Task Force on Membership is requesting comments from all members due to the aging membership on how to continue membership levels in the future. Donna Berg gave details on the fund being established at the Georgia O’Keefe Museum for girls leadership program in memory of Anne Byers’ daughter. Is it appropriate to put the information about this on the list serve? As an association what do we want to do about memorials to members or member’s family.? Was agreed it was fine to put the information on the listserve for members to act according to their own desires. The chapter will send a sympathy card to the Byers family.

Meeting adjourned at 4:34 pm.

• September 26, 2000 – 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

On Saturday August 19, Sarah Morley and Linda Morgan Davis coordinated a pizza lunch for 18 students in the Emporia State School of Library and Information Management Program.

Sarah's daughter, Alexis, was also there to provide invaluable assistance. Tanya Dillon, the Onsite Emporia State Coordinator assisted with the RSVP's and the location arrangements. We served lunch in the Willard Reading Room at the Zimmerman Library at UNM.

The RGC Board approved the funds for this our second lunch event for the Emporia Studnts. The Chapter offered to waive all meeting fees for RGC events in 2000/2001 for the Students if they become student members of SLA. This offer was made to the Students last year as well. Membership materials and the RGC Website address were made available to the Students as well as a discussion of scholarship opportunities through SLA.

At the July Meeting of the Board of the Rio Grande Chapter, a motion was made and carried, to establish a Chapter Meritorious Service Award. The first presentation of the Award will be at the 45th Anniversary celebration in Santa Fe in May 2001.

Details about the Award and nomination criteria will be forthcoming. Our President, Pam MacKellar, has appointed an Award Committee Chaired by Judy Neff with Committee members Sarah Morley and Margaret Morris. Please start thinking about your fellow Chapter members who might richly deserve this honor.

No major systems failed and it appears even electricity was only out for about 30 minutes in most areas and backups worked. Los Alamos itself seems to have doubled its population overnight with all the people here offering assistance: FEMA, Red Cross, Forest Service, VA, HUD, insurance companies, construction workers, University of California staff. There has been a "green ribbon" campaign in the community to express gratitude for all the assistance and to send a message of solidarity that Los Alamos will rebuild and be green again. On the day that the first phase of Los Alamos residents were allowed to return to their homes, May 16, a local policeman, a Los Alamos native, parked his official car at the only entrance into the community near the airport, stood all day, and saluted each vehicle filled with families as they drove past him.

The Laboratory Library, the Public Library, and the Laboratory's Records Center and Archives where I presently work all survived with no damage besides a little bit of smoke in the air which has already dissipated.

One of the advantages of incorporating RGC members into your coaching network is that coaching needs to be regular and continuous, and attending RGC meetings provides you with a timely framework to interact with your colleagues and coaches. Take the time at meetings to provide personal attention to your friends and SLA members, this attention is often lacking in today’s work environment and it is something we can do for each other. Need some coaching? Try attending RGC meetings and schedule extra time before or after to talk things over with your professional colleagues.

For once at an annual SLA conference, the weather wasn't too hot, but there were still plenty of weather-related problems and delays and cancelled flights as everyone tried to leave. As usual, the vendor parties were one of the best parts of the conference. Now, I can really only speak to the sci/tech company affairs (there are lots more and fancier parties, given by the bigger business companies, i.e., follow the money!). I especially like the INSPEC reception, always good with the added benefit of seeing Jim, whom I have known for years and years. He was an INSPEC trainer before moving up in the world and the company and travelled to Albuquerque many times. One of the more coveted vendor parties is the ISI whoopdeedo, since it is by invitation only and not everyone gets one. And don't forget the many Division sponsored suites and socials, and special tidbits at certain times in the Exhibit Hall. The exhibits were as wonderful and lively as ever. I saw many old friends and met new ones. Once again, a fruitful and worthy endeavor.

Attending an SLA annual conference as a board candidate is an opportunity to see and appreciate the association from an entirely new perspective, that of an "insider," even if only a temporary one. Because the slate of SLA International board candidates is presented and approved at the annual conference prior to election year, candidates’ names are known an entire year before the elected ones will actually serve.

The candidate slate approved at the 2000 annual meeting in Philadelphia will run for office beginning with the winter meeting of 2001. Even though serious campaigning for the 2001 election is months away, a candidate begins the process on a small scale as soon as she/he is publicly identified as a "Board Candidate" with the blue badge ribbon worn at the 2000 annual conference. It is obvious that SLA current leadership is committed to grooming and preparing new leaders and it showed most graciously at Philadelphia.

Current executive board members and SLA staff are especially thoughtful about encouraging new candidates to attend appropriate meetings and events. Board candidates are introduced as such almost everywhere. These "old-timers" try to assure that candidates get to see and attend what is most important and also, that the candidates get to be seen. It helps to have a chapter colleague around to coach and to interpret; mine was Sandy Spurlock, SLA Chapter Cabinet Chair and a long time SLA insider.

Perhaps most exciting is the opportunity to attend all board meetings and sit at a special table designated for candidates. There candidates can observe firsthand the association’s business and can feel they are a part of history in the making as some of the most important issues facing the profession and the association come to thetable for discussion and resolution.

Being an SLA member and attending annual and winter meetings has been a highlight of my career for several years, but attending as a board candidate was a real thrill. It was an experience I will not soon forget. It was so enlightening and much fun that it almost makes next year’s election anticlimactic!

Pamela H. MacKellar
Resource Center Center for Development and Disability Leadership Development Institute at SLA Annual Conference – Philadelphia

The last two SLA Annual Conferences I have attended have been particularly memorable because as a chapter officer I had the opportunity to take advantage of the Leadership Development Institute (LDI). The leadership events I attended have been outstanding learning and networking opportunities. I have met and shared ideas with other chapter and division officers from all over the world, and I’ve made some new friends along the way. In this article I will cover the Leadership Development Institute (LDI), and "Transformational Leadership for SLA Leaders" presented by Carol Kinsey Gorman. Both occurred at the 91^st SLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia in June.

The LDI was held on Sunday morning, June 11. The day began with "Breakfast Topics". Tables were each assigned a sign displaying a topic for discussion and an SLA leader to lead the discussion. Attendees were asked to sit at the table labeled with the topic they were most interested in exploring. I sat with the group discussing "How to Use Outgoing Leaders", led by Suzy Hayes, SLA Past President. Two ideas I brought back to use in our Chapter were (1) working on student involvement and (2) coordinating online chapter "town meetings". Then Donna Sheeder, President-Elect, shared some valuable tips on how to accomplish goals, how to use SLA staff, how to work with other local organizations, and the importance of celebrating and having fun in our chapters and divisions. Cindy Hill, Secretary of the SLA Board, then gave an inspiring talk about her initial involvement in SLA under an outstanding leader in her Chapter and specific reasons why that leader was so good at what she did. She gave us practical tips which we can use throughout the year to stay on track and encourage others to volunteer.

Linda Broussard, SLA Managing Director, Leadership, presented "What’s New from Headquarters", which updated us on items such as new promotional materials, new web-based annual report submission and report availability, and the new SLA web site. Doris Helfer, Division Cabinet Chair-Elect, then shared her successful experiences in her talk, "Effective Program Planning". The morning concluded with another opportunity for roundtable conversation. I joined the discussion on "Revitalizing Chapter/Division", led by Hope Tillman, soon to be SLA President-Elect.

Following the LDI, Carol Kinsey Gorman delivered a dynamic, interesting, and humorous talk about the importance of thriving on change, called "Transformational Leadership for SLA Leaders". Ms. Gorman stressed that change is everywhere and the pace in the workplace is constantly accelerating. She equated our lives today to whitewater rafting on the big rapids. We must learn not only to be productive in this chaotic environment but also to become successful transformational leaders within it. She described her view of the reactive, proactive, and "in the moment" approaches to leadership and said that if you are not amidst chaos, you are not where you need to be as a productive, transformational leader.

I have thoroughly enjoyed attending the LDI and related opportunities offered to SLA leaders at Annual Conference. When you are asked to volunteer for your chapter in the future, remember this perk! And then say, "Yes!"

Executive Director
The Alliance for Innovation in Science and Technology Information seeks hourly contract services of an Executive Director. The Alliance is a consortium of science and technology libraries headquartered in New Mexico.

RGC Home SLA Home Copyright © SLA. All rights reserved.   Disclaimer Email suggestions and announcements to: Frances Knudson. (fknudson@lanl.gov)   Author: Frances Knudson   Last update: Sept. 2000   URL: http://www.sla.org/chapter/crio/bulletin/2000/rgcb0900.htm