ACRL New England
Chapter News Online
Fall 1999, No. 88
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ACRL New England
Chapter News Online |
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In this issue
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ACRL/NEC Board Minutes Summaries Judy Montgomery The March 12 meeting began with reports from chapter officers. Past President Christina Bellinger noted that she had received an acknowledgment from the Massachusetts Historical Record Advisory Board for the chapter’s $100 donation for co-sponsorship of the May 11th program "Building Alliances." In her report, President Doris Ann Sweet announced that just over 230 members had participated in the recent election, a marked increase since the chapter began sending out ballots separately from the newsletter. Election results would be announced as soon as all candidates had been notified. Vice President Laura Walters summarized planning for the Spring Conference at the University of Connecticut. She presented the Treasurer’s report that showed a balance of $6,987.49 with $9,361.57 in CDs. Board discussion focused on several ongoing projects relating to communication with chapter membership. The board continued consideration of a possible shift to an exclusively Web-based newsletter. Maggie Bartley, chair of Publications and Newsletter, reviewed her efforts to solicit membership input and suggestions on this issue. She had received six responses to her request for comments published in the last issue of the newsletter. She planned to distribute a survey to assess members’ access to e-mail and to broaden membership feedback at the Spring Conference, via the Web and through SIG chairs. The board will postpone reaching a decision until the results of the survey are available. Marilyn Steinberg, co-chair of the Publicity Committee, reported on progress toward increasing subscribers to the member listserv. All members who had signed up at the Fall Conference were now subscribed. Subscription information will be printed in the newsletter and placed on the Web site. Marilyn McSweeney, member-at-large and listserv moderator, discussed ways to clarify to subscribers that e-mail for distribution be sent to the list address rather than to her personal address. Publicity Co-Chair Sarah Wenzel led discussion on the reappointment of Andrew White as chapter Webmaster. Andrew will be leaving Connecticut College to join the staff at Bates College. The board accepted Sarah’s motion to re-appoint Andrew and to ask him to investigate options for acquiring a permanent address for the chapter’s Web site. Board members also discussed ideas for creating a new chapter logo and authorized Sarah to spend up to $500 to hire a graphic designer to undertake this project. Laurie Sabol, Membership chair, described her work on updating the membership database and reviewed additional projects underway to solicit new members. At the time of the meeting, the chapter included 138 local only and 1,040 ACRL national members. Reports were received from other standing committees, special interest groups and members-at-large. Meeting of May 24, 1999 President Laura Walters welcomed incoming and outgoing board members and introduced three newly elected officers: Harvey Varnet, vice president/president-elect; Brinley Franklin, treasurer; and Louise Buckley, member-at-large. She thanked the University of Connecticut library staff and Publicity Committee for "a most spectacular job" in planning and staging the Spring Conference and complimented the entire UConn staff for their graciousness during the program. The conference attracted 110 participants. As she began her term as president, Laura stressed the chapter’s commitment to outreach--to serve members’ needs through the development of programs and projects and through continued communication. Board members considered possible themes or topics for future discussion. One suggestion was to create a support staff interest group. Vice President Harvey Varnet reviewed progress on planning for the upcoming fall and spring conferences. Past President Doris Ann Sweet reported that ACRL is requiring all regional chapters to incorporate before the end of 2000. Doris Ann had begun investigating this process and planned to report back at a future meeting. Outgoing Treasurer Debbie Wilcox reported a chapter balance of $7,233.74 with $9,361.57 in CDs. The chapter received $2,578 in membership dues, over twice the amount previously projected. Debbie complimented Membership Chair Laurie Sabol for her hard work and creative ideas for successfully increasing membership. In order to expand coverage of regional programming in the chapter calendar of events, Dave McChesney, member-at-large and calendar editor, has developed contacts in the Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New England library associations. He hoped to follow up with Rhode Island and Vermont library associations soon. Publicity Co-Chairs Sarah Wenzel and Marilyn Steinberg reported on a variety of committee projects. Board members reviewed several logo designs and made suggestions for their improvement. The board hoped to preview a new logo in the fall. Sarah noted that the chapter Web site had moved to Bates and could be found at the following new address: www.bates.edu/acrlnec. A forwarding page has been placed on the Connecticut College Web server. Board members discussed ways to increase the number of subscribers to the listserv. On the recommendation of Membership Committee Chair Laurie Sabol, board members agreed that new members joining on or after the fall conference date would be paid up for the full upcoming year. Chairs of standing committees and SIGs reported on important activities. Highlights of the August 9, 1999 Meeting President Laura Walters and Past President Doris Ann Sweet reported on their attendance at the national Chapter Council meeting earlier this year. Representatives shared creative ideas for reaching out to new members and discussed their current and future role in attracting undergraduates to the field of academic librarianship. Responding to this national discussion, the board suggested that practicing chapter members might be interested in participating in regional graduate library school's recruitment tours as well as the library "day on the job" program already in place. Laura planned to solicit volunteers for these projects via the membership listserv. Past President Doris Ann continued to gather information on the process for gaining chapter incorporation. The board agreed to hire an attorney and CPA to help facilitate this project. Planning for the fall and spring conferences is underway. The Fall Conference, titled "Virtual, Digital and Funded," will be held on November 19, 1999, with location to be announced. It will be co-sponsored with the Boston Library Consortium. The Spring Conference, scheduled for March 10, 2000, at Stonehill College, will focus on assessment. Members will receive more detailed information very soon! The board then turned its attention to the outstanding proposal to publish an exclusively electronic version of the ACRL/NEC News. After reviewing comments from the membership, the board agreed to make this move beginning with the Spring/Summer 2000 issue. The board identified several important related tasks to be undertaken to ensure the success of this transition. The redesigned Web-based newsletter should allow readers to print small portions of the page at a time and should include a table of contents. Members should be notified via the chapter’s listserv when a new issue is available. All members who have e-mail addresses will be added to the listserv to ensure that they are notified when new issues are published. The Publicity Committee will develop plans to broadly advertise this change. The Webmaster should develop a searchable and durable archive of previously published newsletters and should continue steps towards acquiring a permanent domain name for the chapter. The chair of Publications and Newsletter will develop a mechanism for delivering the newsletter in print to those few members without e-mail. Webmaster Andrew White, shared chapter Web statistics with the board. Over the past twenty-four months, the page had roughly 800 to 900 hits per month. The most popular sections of the site were the Information Technology SIG, calendar of events, newsletter, and conference information pages. Members soon will have the opportunity to preview the new ACRL/NEC logo and redesigned Web splash page. |