ALA Midwinter Meeting
Philadelphia, PA
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Monday, Feb. 1, 1999
Present:
Andrea Gruhl, President
Stephanie Jones, Vice President/President Elect
Jewel Armstrong Jones, Past President
Joan Taylor, Treasurer, Membership Chair
Fran Perros, Director
Arlene Luster, Director
Janet Ormes, Website Chair, Volunteer Secretary
Jane Sessa, Legislative Assembly Rep
Patti Fields, Awards Co-Chair
B.J. Fox, AFLRT Liaison
Lee Porter, Education Assembly Rep
Visitor: Gil Baldwin, GPO
Excused: Maria Pisa, Director
1. The meeting was called to order by President Andrea Gruhl at 2:00 p.m.
2. Gil Baldwin, Chief of the Library Programs Service at GPO, visited the meeting to report on the FDLP Electronic Collection. GPO is finding enormous interest in using its electronic collection of over 100K publications. Fifteen million document downloads are taking place each month. This means big changes for GPO’s way of supporting the Federal Depository Library Program as they look at making documents increasingly available electronically rather than relying as in the past on more traditional formats like paper. A Press Release has been sent out on this. GPO would like to be invited to make a presentation at a FLRT function next Fall. They would discuss what's valuable and useful in an electronic collection from a collection development standpoint, and how to work with libraries to preserve them. GPO has already begun working with NARA on these issues.
3. The group reviewed ALA's Outsourcing Task Force Report which Andrea Gruhl had mailed to Board members just prior to this meeting. Andrea agreed to take our recommendations to the ALA Council Meeting tomorrow.
4. AFL/CIO-ALA Committee is looking for cosponsors for an Outsourcing program at ALA Annual. Stephanie Jone, our Conference Program Chair, has agreed to investigate the specifics of the proposed program.
5. Andrea recounted the events this Fall regarding ASCLA’s second bid in recent years to have FLRT merge with them. After due consideration and universal negative comment, the FLRT Board unanimously rejected this second merger bid.
6. Fran Perros volunteered to attend the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Assembly. ALA would like for us to have an assigned representative, but so far no one has volunteered. ALA does not have a policy on people with disabilities and is working on developing one.
7. Patti Fields reported for herself and Sami Klein on the Awards Committee. Two applications were received for the Adelaide Del Frate Conference Sponsorship Award. The Awards Committee jury, consisting of Sami Klein, Maria Pisa and Julie Beall, chose Charlotte Houtchens
of the University of Kentucky. Charlotte has had a long career in journalism, and has now decided to pursue a career in public service. She is considering Federal sector employment. Stephanie Jones moved and Jewel Player seconded the recommendation. It was unanimously
approved.
The Distinguished Service Award and FLRT Achievement Award nominations were reviewed by a jury consisting of Patti, Sami, Carol Koenig, and Joan Taylor. The Call for Nominations was announced in the Fall and Winter issue of the Federal Librarian and on Federal librarian
discussion lists. Jewel Player moved and Joan Taylor seconded the Committee's selections, who were unanimously approved.
8. Jewel Player reported for the Nominating Committee. Nominees for upcoming elections are:
Vice President/President Elect: Nancy Davenport, Director of Acquisitions and Support Services at LC and ALA Council Member; Secretary: Janet Ormes, NASA/Goddard; ALA Small Round Tables Councilor: Jane Sessa, Dept. of Commerce Law Library. Jewel moved and Stephanie
Jones seconded the nominations. The slate passed unanimously.
9. Joan Taylor distributed and moved acceptance of the revised budget based on Friday's discussion. Fran Perros seconded the motion, and the budget was passed unanimously.
10. The Board considered whether to close the FLRT List to exclude non-FLRT members from subscribing. The Board decided to keep the List open and advertise it more widely. Stephanie Jones suggested having flyers available at ALA Annual.
11. Janet Ormes reported for the Website Committee. She asked members to e-mail her any changes and updates. Patti Fields will forward the press release on Awards for inclusion. The Board agreed to use the logo from the Federal Librarian.
12. Stephanie Jones reported several items from the Round Table Coordinating Committee meetings at Midwinter.
(1) Conference planning (ALA Conference Committee) is considering streamlining programs at ALA Conferences. Programs would be organized into 8 tracks, each with 4 subtracks, and programs in the same track would be conducted at the same or nearby hotel(s). ALA units would be encouraged to share the cost of speakers if possible. Space would be blocked for unit meetings and this would provide incentives to reduce the number of programs. Half-day exhibits would be included for each track. The proposal is targeted for implementation in 2001 in San Francisco, but the Conference Committee is continuing to evaluate the pros and cons. The proposal is available on the ALA website.
(2) Who speaks for ALA? Round tables can speak for themselves, but not on behalf of ALA.
(3) American Libraries will include a Round Table Column in future issues.
(4) Membership list: Round tables would like to have a free copy of the ALA membership list each fiscal year. Currently they have to pay for these.
(5) Councilor position: this item was left off the agenda. It will be discussed at ALA Annual. The name of our candidate for the "Small Round Tables" Councilor (Jane Sessa) is to be sent to Mary Ghikas. It is not clear how this new position will affect our bylaws Stephanie Jones and Fran Perros will follow-up to explore any bylaw implications.
13. The PBA Report was given by Joan Taylor. From 1996-98, as a possible aftereffect of the dues increase, FLRT lost 1.4% of our members. According to the ALA Treasurer’s report, the Association is in good financial condition.
14. Jane Sessa reported on ALA Legislation and GODORT activities. There is a resolution on S.22 (declassifying); in general, ALA is pleased with it but is tweaking. A resolution was introduced on funding for GPO.
15. Fran Perros reported on PER. It has a new Executive Director, Arvid Knutsen from DOT. PER credit card applications have come out. FLRT gets a commission on cards and expenditures. Public Employee Recognition Week will be May 6-9 this year with the theme, "Public Employees Working for America." PER needs volunteers to help with the Mall displays.
16. Lee Porter reported on the Education Assembly. PLA/LAMA/ASCLA organizations have a CLA inititative for Certification for Postmasters Level. It was referred back to ALA Council awaiting action on a 501-C3. Regarding Council Document 54, ACRL, CLENE, and ALISE are developing standards. The Education Assembly plans to have a meeting April 30-May 1 in Washington. There is a proposal to revise ALA Policy 54.2 on foreign accreditation. The revision would allow degrees authorized by a foreign country's library association to be accepted, however there would be a prohibition on using the word "Masters" degree, to avoid confusion.
17. Barbara Busch reported on the FLRT Exhibit Booth. She is requesting a 10' x 10' booth at ALA Annual. Help is needed in staffing the booth. It was suggested that a call be put out on FEDLIB-L.
18. Andrea Gruhl reported on the Federal Librarian. She handed out the new rate sheet for paid advertisements and announced upcoming deadlines for our quarterly journal.
19. Andrea Gruhl plans to attend the Annual IFLA Conference in Bangkok on August 20-28, 1999.
20. Andrea Gruhl announced that Shirley Loo's Handbook Committee was progressing with work on the new edition of the FLRT Handbook. Shirley plans to get the handbook published before ALA Annual in New Orleans in June.
21. Joan Taylor moved to adjourn at 4:35. Stephanie Jones seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Notes: The minutes were voluntarily written by Janet Ormes. They will be presented for approval at the next FLRT Board meeting.
These minutes were approved at the FLRT Spring Board Meeting on April 21, 1999.