Social Science
Division
Special Libraries Association
Annual Business Meeting
Gaylord Opryland Convention Center
Canal B
Nashville, TN
Monday, June 7, 2004
Present: Iris Anderson, Hetty Barthel, Laura Bender, Elena
Broch, Mary Fortney, Mary Galneder, Liz Green, Beth Hansen, Sally Henderson,
Joe Hovish, Rhonda McGinnis, Lyle Minter, Nancy Minter, Tara Murray, Greta
Ober-Beauchesne, Pam Osborne, Daille Pettit, Linda Richer, Verna Riley, Nick
Robinson, Ailya Rose, Alix Salinas, Vanette Schwartz, Marsha Selmer, Karen
Shaines, Ann Sweeney, Pamela Tripp-Melby, Jan Watterworth, Heidi Yacker. SLA
Board Proctor: Lynne McCay
The meeting was called to order at 7:45 by Chair Beth Hansen. She welcomed everyone and noted that our Division looks a little different this year. Our merger with the Geography and Map Division was completed; Beth extended a special welcome to our new members from G&M. And we now have Sections rather than Roundtables. Beth thanked everyone for all their work in accomplishing these achievements.
The agenda for the meeting was approved.
The minutes from the 2003 annual business meeting in New York were approved.
Treasurer’s
Report. Heidi Yacker reported that, as of June 4, 2004, there was
$13,909.16 in the treasury. She proposed a budget for 2005, estimating expenses
of $19,985 and income of $20,350, resulting in a year-end balance of $13,615.
The budget was approved.
Finance Committee. In 2003, a committee was formed to investigate possible
opportunities to make use of our “surplus funds” – the money
remaining once a suitable amount is set aside as a cushion against unforeseen
expenses. The committee (Beth Hansen, Linda Richer, Ann Sweeney, and Heidi
Yacker) investigated three options. The first was a Twinning project. DSOC
would be paired with a librarian from a developing country and would act as
a mentor to that librarian, encouraging participation in professional activities
or grant opportunities, and exchanging communications. DSOC would be responsible
for sponsoring two years’ membership for our twin, at a cost of $274.
Our twin should reimburse us for 10% of that cost. Under the second option,
DSOC would pay a stipend of up to $300 for a Division member to attend a continuing
education workshop at the SLA annual conference. The grant, which would promote
professional growth, would assist members who are able to attend the conference
but may not be able to afford the cost of the workshop. The final option considered
was investing in the SLA Pooled Fund. SLA maintains a collective investment
fund in which individual units can invest. Because the investment is a large
sum, the individual units get a better rate of return than if they invested
individually. The current rate of return is 3.21%. Because our treasury balance
fluctuates throughout the year, it was determined that this last option was
not suitable for our Division. We decided to go ahead with the first two options.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership.
Nancy Minter reported that we have 475 members, a 36% increase over last year
at this time. Of these, 365 are full memberships and 65 are students. We also
have ten members who have been with the organization for 45 years or more.
Nancy reported that she sent hyperlinked emails to new members, welcoming
them to the Division, providing descriptions of our Sections, and urging them
to participate.
Fundraising. Hetty Barthel reported that our fundraising efforts have been successful this year. She created Certificates of Appreciation for each of our vendor sponsors and these are displayed at their booths in the Exhibits. She urged everyone to thank our sponsors. She would welcome any fundraising ideas or names of potential sponsors.
Nashville Conference. Conference Planner Iris Anderson described the rich array of programs sponsored by DSOC this year. She thanked each of our Section Chairs (Liz Green, Ailya Rose, Vanette Schwartz, and Karen Shaines), all of whom planned a program, as well as everyone else who worked to make the conference a success. Programs include one on archiving (Let Us Save What Remains) and another on managing your library, archives, and records; three on Web sites: this year’s editions of the popular One-Dot Shopping for international business sites and Spotlight for social science sites, and It Takes a Global Village for education sites; and several geographic programs, including the Mary Murphy Contributed Papers Session, a panel on government mapping, and a panel on the Geographic Information Systems. We also have a number of networking receptions (notably, the International Reception) and tours.
Social Science Discussion List. Linda Richer reported that we have 398 subscribers to our discussion list. She continued to make efforts to get more subscribers by encouraging new Division members (including the new Geography and Map Section members) to join. Ailya Rose will be assuming the role of Discussion List Chair next year.
SECTION REPORTS
Geography and Map Section Chair Vanette Schwartz discussed the successful merger of the G&M Division with DSOC. G&M members had been overwhelmingly in favor of the move. Vanette thanked Anita Oser and Beth Hansen for their hard work in making the transition a smooth one. She announced the Section meeting planned for later that day where discussions will begin about program planning for next year’s conference in Toronto.
International Relations Section. Chair Karen Shaines reported that there are currently 56 members of the section, many who had belonged to the International Affairs, Peace, and Conflict Management Roundtable. This year’s program planned by the Section is another in the proclaimed series, One-Dot Shopping, this time focusing on China, India, and the U.K. Karen mentioned the possibility of a new program format for Toronto.
Non-Profit Sector Section Chair Liz Green described her Section’s program, the second annual Best Social Science Web Sites, focusing on geography, demography, and immigration. Her members, many from the former Independent Sector Roundtable, have expressed an interest in getting together more as a Section.
Public Policy Section. Chair Ailya Rose reported that her 60 members are interested in networking through a community of practice rather than the discussion list. They are working with the IT Division.
REPORT OF THE
2004-2005 NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Ann Sweeney, Nominating Committee co-chair, introduced the slate of officers
for 2004-2005. The nomination for Chair-Elect is Linda Richer. Though only
a Division member since 2000, she has already demonstrated her commitment
to the Division by serving as an annual conference speaker and Finance Committee
member, and has successfully run the Division’s discussion list. Heidi
Yacker was nominated for a second two-year term as Secretary-Treasurer. There
were no nominations from the floor, and Linda and Heidi were unanimously elected.
NEW BUSINESS
Governing Documents
and Recommended Practices Documents. Beth Hansen described the new
SLA protocols, approved at the Leadership Summit in Albuquerque, which were
instituted to streamline the administration of the various units (Divisions,
Chapters) within SLA. We are now officially operating under the new Governing
Document; our bylaws are no longer governing us. The Recommended Practices
Document is a procedures manual for the units which will provide cohesion
as to how the units operate.
DSOC has formed a committee to compare these documents to our current bylaws,
make the necessary changes, and report to SLA by the end of the summer. Our
Governing Document as adapted will go up on the Division Web site.
New Section for DSOC? Daille Pettit stated that there is some interest in forming a new Academic Section for members who work in academic institutions. This idea was favorably received. Daille will work on getting it organized.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ann Sweeney and Nancy Minter have been named to the SLA Public Relations Committee. Ann will also be doing PR for the Divisions. She urged everyone to tell her about any accomplishments, “anything wonderful” that happens this year.
REMARKS OF THE INCOMING CHAIR
Beth Hansen expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to serve as Chair for 2003-2004. It was an interesting year -- forming Sections, merging with G&M -- and she thanked everyone for their hard work, most especially executive board members Ann Sweeney, Nancy Minter, and Heidi Yacker. She also mentioned the help and support of the Advisory Board members, and recognized the efforts of Ann Sweeney and Anita Oser in last year’s merger negotiations. She also noted that she got a lot of email from Division members, too. She passed the gavel to our new Chair, Nancy Minter.
Nancy gave Beth a lovely gift in recognition of her service to the Division.
Nancy began her remarks
with the story of an enchanted frog who told a young girl that, if she kissed
him, he would turn into her dream guy. Instead, she put him in her purse.
When he protested, she explained that she had no time for a man, but she could
certainly make use of a talking frog! This is a lesson in “fostering
the unique,” which is what Nancy hopes to do this year. She has a four-point
program:
Positioning: get our membership numbers up; enhance the Web page;
develop the Bulletin; establish communities of practice; and expand programming
Partnerships: increase vendor support; co-sponsor programs and activities
with other divisions
Public Relations: toot our own horn more. Our PR is in the capable
hands of Ann Sweeney.
Process: “how” we’ll accomplish our goals. This
will become clear as we meld our current practices and procedures with the
new Governing and Recommended Practices Documents.
There will be lots of “fun” work and lots of opportunities for
input and assistance. Nancy hopes to get calls from members before she calls
them!
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40.
Respectfully submitted by Heidi Yacker, Secretary/Treasurer
Social Science
Division
Treasurer’s Report
June, 2004
| Balance as of 12/31/2003 | $8,489.27 |
|
|
||
|
4,820.00 |
|
|
3,550.00 |
|
|
1,774.27 |
|
|
20.00 |
|
| Total Income | $10,164.27 |
|
| 2004 Expenses | ||
|
$4,744.38 |
|
| Balance as of 5/31/2004 | $13,909.16 |
SLA
GEOGRAPHY AND MAP SECTION BOARD MEETING
MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2004, 3:45 – 5:15 P.M.
DELTA ISLAND BOARDROOM, OPRYLAND HOTEL, NASHVILLE
Present: Vanette Schwartz, Anita Oser, Paige Andrew, Kelly Blessinger, Harry Davis, Mary Fortney, Mary Galneder, Jim Gillispie, Beth Hansen, Dorothy McGarry, David McQuillan, Nancy Minter Mary Murphy, Bruce Obenhaus, Linda Richer, and Marsha Selmer
Chair, Vanette Schwartz, opened the Board Meeting at 3:45 p.m.
Minutes from the 2003 meeting in New York City were approved
I. Reports From SLA Representatives
A. Report from the Cartographic Users Advisory Council (CUAC) Representatives Paige Andrew and Bruce Obenhaus
1. Paige reported that the 2004 Annual CUAC meeting was held on May 6th and 7th at the Suitland, Maryland site of the sponsoring/hosting agency, the US Census Bureau. All 12 members were present for the two-day meeting. The first day was reserved for CUAC business, while the second focused on agency presentations. Paige reported that Linda Zellmer and Wangyal Shawa are currently working on the FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee) Homeland Security Working Group's guidelines for providing appropriate access to geospatial data. Tim Trainor opened the Business Meeting with a presentation of the Census Bureau's Geography Division.
2. CUAC Archives situation - Mary McInroy will contact the University of Illinois to get an estimate of start up and continuing costs. Once they have more information in hand they will move forward on resolving this issue.
3. Paige stated that CUAC now has a website (http://cuac.wustl.edu/) approved to release information regarding meetings, reports, and agency duties for CUAC representatives.
4. Bruce reported that CUAC is currently organizing a major conference for next year with the working name of “Map Libraries in Transition II,” which will be modeled in part on an earlier conference with the same name that took place in 1993 at the Library of Congress. This conference is scheduled for May 12 & 13th, 2005, at the Library of Congress and they will be hosting the event. Presentations and discussions will focus on current and future issues on digital cartographic information such as preservation and access, standards, and ways of strengthening or changing our current map organizations. The goal is to pull in speakers from government agencies, data providers, and others from within and outside of the library world, and to keep it broad in scope. Recommendations for speakers can be sent to Linda Zellmer. The Social Sciences Division of SLA gave a $100 contribution towards the cost of this meeting. Bruce passed around a flyer announcing this upcoming conference.
B. Report
from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
(IFLA)
Chair of the Geography and Map Libraries Section, David McQuillan
1. David reported that at the 2003 meeting in Berlin, the focus for the Geography and Map Libraries Section was Berlin and German cartography. The issue of paper maps and relevancy will be discussed at the Buenos Aires meeting, in August 2004. The Map and Geography round table of ALA (MAGERT) is also discussing the paper maps issue. This could fold together as part of the CUAC meeting. David is currently working with IFLA and the Library of Congress to co-sponsor the upcoming meeting. David passed around information about the program for the 2004 IFLA meeting in Buenos Aires. Some of the highlights of the Geography and Map Libraries Section programming will be sessions on South America in Maps and Geography, a General Overview; with Emphasis on Latin American Holdings at the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, and Glaciers of Argentina.
2. David stated that Dorothy McGarry was currently working on the fifth draft of the International Standard Bibliographic Description for cartographic materials.
3. IFLA’s Spring newsletter is out.
C. Report from Anglo-American Cataloging Committee for Cartographic Materials (AACCCM) Representative Dorothy McGarry
1. Dorothy reported that following the publication of the Cartographic Materials manual, the Committee decided that the secretariat should stay in the United States rather than rotating to another country (the Committee is composed of members form Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States). Elizabeth Mangan (formally at the Library of Congress and now retired) has been the editor-in-chief, and she will remain in that position.
2. Updates based on the 2003 and 2004 revisions to the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2002 revision, are being studied to determine what updates might affect rules in the Manual. Revision proposals will then be sent to all members of the Committee. Following discussions and decisions, revisions will be incorporated into the Manual as needed. The Manual had been published in loose-leaf format to make such revisions easier to incorporate.
3. The “Memorandum of Agreement” for the Committee is being revised slightly this year, to update some terminology and stipulations.
II. Merger Issues
1. Vanette brought up the issue as to whether or not the Geography and Map Section should still maintain representative appointments to outside organizations. Several members voiced their opinions that this was still a worthwhile endeavor, even if Geography and Map was now a section instead of a division. Beth Hansen, outgoing chair of the Social Science Division encouraged the section to continue participating in this activity.
2. There has been some trouble with the listservs unsubscribing members. Several members said that they had received a message that they had unsubscribed when they had made no such request.
3. Anita brought up the topic of awards, and whether or not the section would still be able to give out the same awards that were given out as a division. The two awards that came up in discussion were the Honors and Bill Woods Awards. The Bill Woods award hasn’t been given out in quite some time, because there no longer is a bulletin from which to choose the best article. Marsha Selmer suggested that instead of rewarding the best article in the bulletin the best article related to Geography and Maps published in library literature could be chosen. There was traditionally a cash award that went with the award, and that may have to be eliminated. It was suggested that the section could ask for vendor support to provide a monetary award. The Bill Woods award has not been given in quite some time, but the Honors Award was given just last year. Marsha Selmer moved to pursue the continuance of awards, Vanette seconded, motion carried.
III. G & M Archives
The Division archives (pre-merger) are housed at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The University of Illinois will begin charging an annual processing fee due to their budget problems. Due to this new fee, the Geography and Map Section will have to find a new home for the archives. Chris Baruth from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee offered his institution to house the archives. Chris spoke with Anita Oser in regard to this matter, and was supposed to call Marsha Selmer to discuss the issue, but never did.
A discussion began as to whether or not the pre-merger and the post merger archives should be housed together. It was decided that it would be better if they were kept together, but it would be best if they were available for retrieval, so whatever venue made the archives most accessible would be preferred.
Jim Gillispie proposed that Marsha Selmer and Anita work with Chris to fully explore the archive opportunities for the closed division archives at the University of Wisconsin. Paige Andrew seconded that motion, and a friendly amendment was made to look into section archives as well, motion carried.
IV. 2005 Annual Conference Programming
1. The
Galdos company is interested in being part of the program in Toronto. They
published a book
on Geography Markup Language (GML), which is an XML application for coding
geographic information. Some discussion was generated as to whether or not
we wanted to dedicate a whole session to this topic, given the limited interest
in this topic across a broad variety of members. It was suggested that someone
who uses this language be invited to speak, and Paige stated that the Census
Bureau is currently using this format. Paige proposed that we look into this
as part of the Mary Murphy contributed papers series. Kelly Blessinger seconded,
motion carried.
2. Bobbi Ann Weaver contacted Vanette Schwartz in regard to Brent Maxwell doing a session in Toronto on his book on Geography Statistics. The book is to be published by Santa Monica Press. No one in the board meeting had seen the book, to know what type of statistics were included, and it was suggested that we should see what type of statistics are included before agreeing to a session.
Meeting adjourned at 5:15.
Recorded and submitted by:
Kelly
Blessinger
Secretary, Geography and Map Division, SLA