Information Technology Division

Special Libraries Association

Executive Board Meeting

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Hyatt-Regency Hotel, Houston, Tx

Attendence:

Holly Chong-Williams (Chair)

Stacey Greenwell (Chair-Elect)

Mary-Frances Panettiere (Treasurer)

Michael Kim (Secretary)

James Manasco (2006 Baltimore Program Planner)

Stephanie Wical (2007 Denver Program Planner)

Shawn Livingston (b/ITe Editor)

Molly Dinneen (Membership Chair)

Ty Webb (Learning Communities Chair)

Libby Trudell (Public Relations Chair)

Kan Kin (Webmaster)

Catherine Lavallee-Welch (Blogging Section Chair)

Juliane Schneider (Digital Content Section Chair)

Jill Sherman (Technical Services Section Chair)

Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 8:13 a.m.

This meeting was a continuation from the agenda of last night’s meeting at the restaurant.

Treasurer’s report:

Mary Frances presented her report, which was based on the annual report that was going to be sent to HQ.

Holly, Chair, was concerned with the reduction of our allotment from HQ. The Division receives $10 per person from HQ. Ty said that hopefully our allotment will be higher for next year based on our higher IT membership.

Mary-Frances mentioned the pooled-fund, which is available from HQ, and stated that it doesn’t sound optimistic. She had contacted HQ, but hasn’t heard from them.

Molly was concerned with the membership reports system, which didn’t work as it should. Stacey stated that the system was very old, from the 1990’s and, HQ was looking for a new membership management system. Libby suggested contacting Nancy Sansalone, CFO, in HQ. Mary-Frances will contact Treasurer of D.C. Chapter. Holly will contact them if they don’t get back to Mary-Frances. The action item here is that we need to talk with the CFO in HQ.

Holly recognized Ty Webb and thanked her contribution to IT.

Holly stated that we are one of few divisions to provide support for board members to come to the two annual association meetings. We do have expectations in exchange. We want to continue to work like this. The Association will do more with leadership. Winter meeting is a great opportunity to meet for Division planning. It’s great to see the Board members here. It’s important for the Board to meet during the winter meeting which is without disruptions and programming responsibilities like during annual conferences.

Treasurer’s report was approved.

Michael, Secretary, will prepare minutes and put action items together before Baltimore Conference.

James Manasco, 2006 program planner report:

Taxonomy course approved, but it’s an intermediate level course rather than a beginner’s course. The Professional Development Committee decided not to approve the the beginner one. They would rather have a full day course. Blogging is an expensive program to keep.

Jane Kelly will join in Mystery Night. James has contacted Factiva concerning sponsorship, but has not received an answer so far. In the past, people really enjoyed Mystery Night. There are two Technical Services Section programs. Jill Sherman is moderating the programs and Dialog is sponsoring them. Convention events are split between Hyatt and Sheraton. James tried to put all the open houses into the same room.

The expense of $500 is a place holder for “Implementing the Semantic Web” program. Ticket price is $21 and Sci-Tech Division is leading the program. We don’t have control over the program since we are not the lead, but expense will be less. Currently each of the co-sponsors will be responsible for up to $500, but it was recommended to revisit this budget contribution limit.

IT Business meeting and tea is on Tuesday 1:30 p.m. Lexis-Nexis is the sponsor. LMD will support Pirate Dance Night. James is working on a Wednesday program about collaboration tools. Jane Dysart is helping him.

Holly stated that total expenses should be in control. Since there are no new incoming board members due to the change in the association governance year, she suggested we have only one meeting during the conference and conduct business electronically in meantime.

James reported that all of the moderators are set. Stephanie will serve as host of open houses. Stacey said that more help is welcome.

Holly suggested that it would be a good idea to wear something indicating who IT board members are during the conference. She is willing to help people out.

Stephanie Wical, 2007 Denver program planner:

Stephanie says that names for Science Fiction writers’ night are on the list. She would welcome any comments or input regarding this event. She is optimistic about the sponsorships based on existing connection to vendors.

Holly suggested we target smaller vendors as sponsors. Baltimore will be a dry run for Denver in terms of choosing smaller vendors. Big vendors are already tapped out. Although we can’t give speaker spots to the vendors, , it’s possible to offer moderator spots to them. And it’s possible to collect business cards for them. She recommended getting our name out by meeting vendors.

Stacey presented a list of Baltimore sponsors, which was approved online.

Committee reports:

b/ITe, Shawn Livingston:

Publication schedule will be announced and there has been a format change to three columns layout.

Holly said she will prepare chair’s letter in timely manner. It would be better to direct web traffic to the IT website directly which would give visibility to our blogs and etc. It was suggested to put teasers to the e-mail and web sites. Stacey said announcements will be sent to b/ITe readers. Kan suggested we split each article out and link to each article directly. Michael will contact John Crosby regarding the announcement only listserv for b/ITe. Holly suggested that the Open Houses during the Baltimore Conference will be a good opportunities to advertise b/ITe. Kan stated it would be possible to put announcements of b/ITe on the website. Action item: Julianne will contact Karalyn Kavanaugh regarding $25 gift certificates for b/ITe contributors.

Membership, Molly Dinneen

Joanne Clifton Student Award has a total of five candidates. There are no Outstanding chapter/member award candidates so far. All of the five student submissions will be forwarded to Executive Board. There is a possibility of having a special award for Barbie Keiser and her efforts for hurricane victims. What would be the procedure for handling special awards? Holly stated that the plan is more for HQ or DC chapter level.

Molly had membership statistics:

There has been a 10 year decline of membership in SLA in general. She talked with Linda Broussard about this. Linda said that communicating with members would be valued. Here is the question: What are the exclusive benefits of being a member? Each conference has excellent programs but only 20% of members attend a conference. It is not particularly alarming but the whole industry has been declining. It may not be necessary to get involved with professional organization. Also, there are many competitors.

Holly will reach out to the members in Maryland, DC, Virginia, Delaware, and adjacent areas possibly via e-mail.

Kan suggested a possibility of having a secure area on the server, so that we could have an exclusive contents area.

Technical Services Section: Jill Sherman.

Jill is setting up a listserv for Technical Services Section. After that, she will contact the section members directly.

Discussion about blogging and listserv:

What would be the benefits? Julianne says it is necessary to have a specific topic, such as Cataloging with Metadata. Specific topics offergood opportunitiesfor blogs.

Holly mentioned about 94 respondents, which is very interesting. She suggested sending another survey to the members after Baltimore Conference.

There were also discussions about name/scope changes. Ty mentioned that name scope change could be done within the division board meeting and suggested to check with Linda Broussard. An Action item is to contact Linda Broussard regarding the name/scope change of the sections in IT. Libby will prepare a possible new scope for the Communication Section in terms of revision/direction. The survey will be put on the web site as well as b/ITe. Holly stated that there should be more cooperation between divisions in terms of avoiding any duplicate efforts.

There were discussions about information session for newsletter editors, webmasters, and treasurers. Ty stated that those kinds of sessions would be held during the 2007 Denver Conference.

Kan, as Webmaster, presented new web pages and template for IT web site. Catherine pointed out that blogs can be fed to the website.

There was a discussion about postings on listserv and blogs. An action item is: Each board member needs to write a brief description of 1-2 lines or 50 characters of what they do in their workplace.

Kan suggested having a photo competition from photos taken during Baltimore Conference. The idea is under consideration for ’07 Denver Conference.

Currently IT is looking for an archivist. Ty suggested that Margie Hlava might be interested in taking over the position. Holly proposed waiting until Hope Tillman responds before contacting Margie Hlava.

Stacey mentioned a big membership push in Baltimore and about a possibility of recruiting more volunteers.

Blog section, Catherine Lawallee-Welch.

Since blogs were created, there has been average 20 visit/day and total 1,300 visitors during last two months. She has found contributors like Ty Webb. The contributor must be a division member. For Baltimore, she wants to have two bloggers’ get-togethers and to update the blogs promptly. Holly suggested contacting Mary Dee Ojala and Dick Kaser regarding volunteering as bloggers.

Technical Services Section, Juliane Schneider:

Juliane will advertise Tech Services section and let people know about that. Holly suggested the section begin blogging. She also pointed out that more academic librarians are coming to SLA Conference. She says blogging would be a good way to serve them.

Agenda)

Mentoring small vendors for sponsorships:

Holly is looking for other strategies for getting more sponsorships. “Public relations toolkit” was distributed. There will be a big push during the Baltimore conference. For Denver, it is suggested we target five to ten vendors and encourage them to join SLA. Stacey stated that visiting exhibit hall was a very effective way to network with vendors. Stephanie suggested using well known people for testimonial and promotions. Designing a brochure was suggested.

An action item is taken:

Ad hoc committee, consisting of Stacey, Holly, Ty, and Stephanie, will be formed and will contact John Crosby regarding the pamphlet designing.

Molly suggested a possibility of using inserts for contents changing annually. Stacey stated that, in the past, a brief teaser of possible programs was provided. We could try that again. Holly suggested each program chair could prepare binders that could be passed to next planner. It could include templates of sample letters, a list of contacts, etc.

Holly reported about Division cabinet meeting:

Technology Advisory Group prepared a survey last spring. They want to hear from the members. Division cabinet will try to coordinate the survey efforts to avoid any duplicate efforts. There will be a 5^th section under Social Division. There is a grant opportunity. It’s a two year grant and the deadline is August 4^th, 2006. There was a discussion about pooled funds in HQ. There will be a discount rate for students in CE courses. There was a governance matter of changing year. Section/Committee chairs will serve one year terms and secretaries and treasurers will serve two years termswith up to two consecutive terms being allowed. Manuals, procedures and contacts will be maintained and passed over to next person. There is a possibility of making section/committee chairs have two year terms too.

Molly suggested the possibility of splitting membership from the awards committee. Holly proposed continuing the discussion electronically.

Responsibilities of section/committee chairs were discussed yesterday. They included helping out at open house. Chairs should think about programs and identify next person who will take over his/her position. Holly points out value of membership and bringing lost members back.

Action items were revisited.

Announcements

None

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn. Motion approved at 11:29am.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Kim, Secretary