FLRT Fall Board Meeting

Library of Congress
Thurs., September 30, 1999
Videoteleconference held at four sites:

  • Library of Congress, VTC, Rm. LM-G-53
  • Summit Bldg., Alexandria, VA
  • Ft. Belvoir, VA
  • Fort Polk, LA

Present: Stephanie Jones, Barbara Christine, B.J. Fox, Dan Clemmer, Maria Pisa, Steven Kerchoff, Nancy Davenport, Jane Sessa, Wil Danielson, Pat May, Gloria Bennett, Jewel Player, Andrea Gruhl, Janet Ormes, Susan Tarr

  1. Call To Order - Stephanie Jones called the meeting to order at 3:10 Eastern time. Stephanie thanked the videoteleconference coordinators (VTC) at the four sites for setting up the videoconference.
  2. Introductions - Stephanie introduced and welcomed new members, Dan Clemmer and Barbara Christine. Other members at the four locations introduced themselves.
  3. Approval Of Agenda. Agenda was approved with minor modifications in the order.
  4. Minutes - Janet Ormes. Janet distributed a revised copy of the minutes from ALA Annual in New Orleans that provided greater detail on Jane Sessa's reports at the second meeting. She also read the new text.
  5. Approval of Minutes - Minutes were revised to change the reference to Newsbank. Moved by Barbara Christine. Seconded by Maria Pisa. Minutes were approved as amended.
  6. President's Report - Stephanie Jones. Due to activities relating to LC's Bicentennial Celebration, no Fall FLRT program is planned this year. Stephanie is planning two Spring programs - one in DC, one outside. The one in DC is yet to be determined. The outside DC program will be presented in partnership with the Texas Library Association. It will be a workshop promoting Federal Libraries in conjunction with the Texas Library Association meeting in Houston April 16-19. The title of the workshop is: Federal Libraries Building Communities. The workshop may possibly include a tour of local Federal Libraries, perhaps the NASA Johnson Space Flight Center Library in Houston. There will be no cost to FLRT for the workshop.

    FLRT is looking for a replacement for Barbara Busch as Booth Coordinator. Barbara has done a wonderful job coordinating our Booth at ALA, and we hope to find someone as dedicated and energetic to take over this important responsibility.

    Stephanie also announced a change in FLRT Board meeting times at ALA Midwinter. ALA requested that no meetings be held between 4-5 on Saturday, Jan. 15. Therefore the meeting time is changed to 9:30-11:00 on that day, followed by a joint meeting with AFLRT on the merger at 11:00-12:30. Stephanie also proposed changing the Monday meeting to Sunday morning 9:30-11:00 because Monday is a Federal Holiday and some members might have a problem with holiday pay. Andrea Gruhl pointed out that at least three members have a conflict with the Sunday morning time slot. Members should contact Stephanie by e-mail to indicate whether they have a problem with Monday and what times on Sunday they have a conflict.

    Stephanie also announced that ALFRT has proposed doing away with Awards Luncheon. It is difficult to coordinate following the morning membership meeting and program. Those present were not interested in substituting a dinner, but were in favor of giving out the awards at the AFLRT reception held on Friday afternoon. Stephanie will report our wishes back to the AFLRT Board.

  7. Treasurers Report - Joan Taylor. Joan was not able to be present, but submitted a written report. She expressed concern about budget overruns and proposed that all items over $100 be reported to the Treasurer for review by the Board. After some discussion, members agreed to this proposal with the added provision that any expense which brings the total expenditure for a line item over the budgeted amount also be reported. Andrea asked what is the item under revenues called Donations, etc. This shows an amount of $2400. The answer is that this is just a bookkeeping mechanism to track the money transferred in and out for speakers. A motion to approve the Treasurer's report was made by Nancy Davenport and seconded by Andrea Gruhl. The Treasurer's Report was approved.
  8. Conference Program Planning - Nancy Davenport. Nancy proposed that the program topic be the Role of Federal Libraries in Distance Education. The discussion brought out the following observations: (1) Distance Learning has been covered by many ALA programs recently, but not from the perspective of the Federal Library role; (2) while civilian libraries have not played a major role in distance learning, it is a major item of interest for military libraries. Members agreed that this would be a good topic to pursue. Nancy also pointed out that, as President-elect, she might not be able to preside at the meeting at ALA Annual in 2001 if it conflicts with her daughter's high school graduation. This should be brought to the attention of this year's nominee for Vice President/President Elect who might be asked to fill in.
  9. COMMITTEE & LIAISON REPORTS
    1. AFLRT Liaison - Barbara J. Fox. B.J. announced that the Military Librarians Program of SLA will be held in Williamsburg VA Dec. 6-10. The website for the program is www.dtic.mil/mlw99. As Chair of the Military Librarians Division of SLA, she became aware of concerns expressed by Dr. Bender when Secretary Daley announced the planned closing of NTIS. Lots of concern was also expressed on the SLA discussion list. BJ agreed to consolidate all comments for Dr. Bender. She also proposed putting a discussion of the proposed closing on the agenda for the SLA Winter meeting in St. Louis, but doesn't have the outcome yet. Jane Sessa reported that one hearing has already taken place on the Hill, and another one was planned, but cancelled. There will be a conference call next week.
    2. GODORT Liaison - Steve Kerchoff. Steve reported that GODORT has prepared a position on the proposed closing of NTIS. A summary of the report is available at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/staff/ntissumm.htm and the full report is available at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/staff/ntisfull.htm. GODORT is also looking for comments - real life stories on how NTIS has made a difference. These will, potentially, be used in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space. Send comments to Kevin Reynolds, chair of the GODORT Legislation Committee, ( kreynold@seraph1.sewanee.edu).
    3. ALA Liaison - Pat May. Pat introduced Gloria Bennett, who is acting as co-liaison for 3 round tables. Gloria will be giving the report next time. Pat reported that ALA has a new software package to manage member communications, finances, etc. This should help streamline transactions for the Round Table. ALA will also be getting a new telephone system at ALA Headquarters in Chicago October 23. In addition, ALA will be putting up a members only website, requiring a password, in October or November. Instructions for ALA elections will be put out soon. Sarah Long would like to hear new ideas - e-mail them to newideas@ala.org. The ALA Washington Office has a new Associate Executive Director, Emily Sheketoff, former deputy assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, starting October 8.
    4. FLICC Liaison - Carol Bursik/Susan Tarr. Carol was unable to attend. Susan Tarr, Executive Director of FLICC, presented a report. FLICC has prepared a Handbook for Federal Librarians. FLRT Members are invited to view it on the FLICC Website and comment ( http://lcweb.loc.gov/flicc/). FLICC is also looking for help with content - especially Federal acquisitions and contracting out (outsourcing) and copyright. Send suggestions to suta@loc.gov. FLICC Awards nominations are due Nov. 15. Awards are given for Federal Library of the Year, Federal Librarian of the Year, Library Technician of the Year. FLICC has begun an initiative with OPM to clarify qualifications for the Librarian series, 1410. FLICC is interested in establishing/strengthening MLS as the minimum qualification by making it a positive education requirement. The FLICC Personnel Working Group is working with Library of Congress Human Resources staff to develop competency requirements relating to skills learned in Library School. FLICC has drafted an updated fact sheet on Federal Libraries and Information Centers: A National Resource. Copies were distributed. FEDLINK membership meeting will be held October 28. Members are encouraged to attend the afternoon session, which includes a teleconference with Steve Coffman of the LA Public Library, who has stirred a lot of discussion with his article on "Building Earth's Largest Library." More information can be found on the FLICC Webpage. The Department of Education's NCES has an item in its FY2001 appropriation to support the next Federal Library and Information Center survey. A previous survey was conducted in 1994.
    5. GPO Liaison- Wil Danielson. Outreach and permanent access continue to be major efforts by GPO. In April 1999, the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer recommended federal agency outreach (Recommendation #8). The position of Electronic Collection Manager has been filled by George Barnum, formerly Electronic Transition Specialist at GPO. GPO commissioned a significant publication for NCLIS: Report on the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products.
    6. Awards Committee - Dan Clemmer. Dan encouraged nominations for FLRT Awards. Janet Ormes suggested putting the nomination forms on the FLRT website. Members agreed to this suggestion. Dan will forward copies of the nomination forms to Janet.
    7. PER Liaison- Fran Perros. (by Dan Clemmer) Fran is looking into the rebates expected by holders of PER credit cards.
    8. Federal Librarian - Andrea Gruhl, Laurie Stackpole. Andrea reported that copy for the Winter issue is due in November. Andrea feels that vendors would continue to show strong interest in advertising, even if we increased rates. Since only ¼ of the page space is available for ads, we have no trouble selling it. The cost of printing and layout have increased. Printing each issue costs around $900, layout around $500. Andrea has added first class mailing to Board Members, which adds very little to the cost.
    9. Merger Committee - Jewel Player. Jewel will draft two resolutions for the ALA ballot -- one on the merger itself and one on the new name. Pat May will submit them to ALA, and both resolutions will appear on the ballots for FLRT and AFLRT. The deadline is February 4. People running in the next election for a two- or three-year term may be affected by the merger.
    10. Internet Committee - Laurie Stackpole. Laurie was unable to attend the meeting. Janet Ormes reported for her that the FLRT List has 101 registrants.
    11. Website Committee- Janet Ormes. Janet reported that the website has been updated to reflect current information. In addition to the suggestion regarding Awards above, Janet also suggested revising the Handbook Section of the Website to reflect the passing of the Bylaws revisions and to include more information about the Handbook itself. Members present agreed to the changes.
    12. IFLA Liaison - Andrea Gruhl. Andrea reported on her attendance at IFLA's 65th Conference in Bangkok, Thailand August 20-28. The theme of the Conference was "On the Threshold of the 21st Century: Libraries as a Gateway to an Enlightened World." She reported that 310 of the 2200 attendees were from the U.S. The U.S. delegation was led by Winston Tabb of the Library of Congress and Sarah Long of the American Library Association. Andrea passed around pictures of her trip and encouraged members to consider attending next year's conference in Jerusalem. She also has copies of IFLA's resolutions.
  10. Old Business - Andrea Gruhl, Maria Pisa and Joan Taylor agreed to study and propose an appropriate increase in advertising rates for the Federal Librarian.
  11. New Business - A motion was made and approved to wish Stephanie Jones a happy birthday!
  12. Closing Remarks - Stephanie Jones. Stephanie thanked all for their participation.
  13. Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned by President Stephanie Jones at 5:00 PM EDT.
Note: Minutes were provided by FLRT's Secretary Janet Ormes and approved at the FLRT Board meeting.