Federal Librarians Round Table Board Meeting

ALA MidWinter Conference, San Antonio
Radisson Hotel, San Antonio, Texas
Saturday January 15, 2000, 9:30-11:00 (CST)

Present:
Stephanie Jones, Maria Pisa, Fran Perros, Jane Sessa, Lee Porter, Joan Taylor, Dan Clemmer, Janet Ormes, Andrea Gruhl, Lynn McDonald, B.J.Fox, Arlene Luster.

  1. Call to order - President Stephanie Jones called the meeting to order at 9:30. She introduced George Sperry of OAG who provided refreshments. The agenda was amended to accommodate individual's conference schedules and approved.
  2. Minutes - Janet Ormes. Janet distributed minutes of the September meeting which were approved.
  3. Education - Lee Porter. Lee reported that there were many hot topics at the Education Committee. There was a lively discussion on mentoring. Also, it appears there will be no representation from Round Tables at 2nd Education Conference. The topic of the Conference will be "Continuing/Distance Education for Librarianship."

    In connection with Goals for ALA 2006 - Council had requested that ALA organizations develop plans. Lynn McDonald will ask about this at a meeting this afternoon. Certification issue - Council seems to assume that we will have certification. Lee will attend the meeting Monday and submit a report to FLRT.

    Maria Pisa pointed out that the average age of Federal Librarians is 45 - we need to think about recruiting younger librarians. Lee Porter pointed out that there is a breakdown in mentoring professional librarians who are contractors. Lynn McDonald pointed out that 40% of the graduates of professional library programs are going into "nontraditional" careers.

  4. Treasurer's Report - Joan Taylor. Joan distributed the Treasurer's Report and Financial Statement. $75 was deducted from "Expenditures Obligated but not Posted" by ALA because vendors had paid for Luncheon Speakers lunch. Expenditures slightly exceed revenues. The budget for FY01 may be moot due to possible merger with AFLRT. FLRT membership level is holding steady. Total revenues for Federal Librarian are up due to increased advertising revenue. However, we still do not cover the cost of publishing the newsletter. (See further discussion below under FLRT Newsletter.) FLRT has cash reserves of $5,543. Janet Ormes asked what happens to this reserve if FLRT is disbanded and a new combined FLRT/AFLRT organization is formed. Does it go into the new organization or is it returned to ALA? Joan will ask Pat May. Some ALA organizations have endowments. Lynn suggested that we consider this for the new combined organization. In order to be called an endowment, the total needs to reach $10,000, but the fund can be called a Special Project until that threshold is reached. Once the $10,000 level is reached, the organization can spend the interest. Arlene Luster moved to increase the budgeted expenses for Federal Librarian by $380 to a total of $5800, and to increase anticipated advertising revenues by the same amount. The motion was seconded by Maria Pisa. The Treasurer's Report was approved as amended.
  5. Awards Committee - Dan Clemmer. It was noted that the Board had agreed to dispensing with the Awards Luncheon and giving the awards at the AFLRT Reception Friday evening. Jane Sessa suggested that the FLRT Membership meeting be held following the program on Saturday. Stephanie will relay this suggestion to Nancy Davenport. . Dan has 4 nominations for Scholarship. Has received no nominations for other awards, but some are in the works.
  6. Nominations Committee - Andrea Gruhl. The Committee has nominations for two positions, and one still pending. Nominees are: for FLRT Director - Jane Sessa; for Treasurer - Wil Danielson. The Committee is still seeking a candidate for Vice President/President Elect, although the proposed merger may reduce this to simply one year as Vice President.
  7. Membership Report - Joan Taylor. Joan reported that as of November 1999, FLRT had 342 members, up 4 from 1998. Joan has received the membership list from ALA. She will compare e-mail lists to the FLRT LIST and ask FLRT members with e-mails who are not already on the FLRT LIST if they'd like to join.
  8. Round Table Coordinating Committee (RTCC) Report - Stephanie Jones. Stephanie reported that an issue has been raised regarding ALA policy that Divisions can speak for ALA, but Round Tables cannot. We will hear more about this later. Stephanie hopes that Round Tables will be allowed to speak only on their own behalf, but not be considered to be representing other Round Tables. The Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) is pushing this issue. Round Table liaisons are caucusing on this, but our representative (Robert Doyle) was not able to join FLRT or AFLRT meetings to discuss this issue with us.
  9. Legislation - Jane Sessa. Jane reported that GODORT is working on resolution regarding the future of NTIS. GODORT will meet this afternoon. The Board empowered Jane to endorse GODORT's resolution if it is consistent with FLRT goals. There is some speculation that NTIS may stay in Commerce - the current Secretary of Commerce is leaving this spring and the effort to move it may die. B.J. attended a meeting about this issue with several other groups, at which the Head of GPO offered to take over NTIS's responsibilities. Jane pointed out that any action will need to come from Congress. Jane will attend the Government Information Subcommittee of the Committee on Legislation this afternoon. Also, there is one bill in Congress relating to downloading of data which ALA fears does not take into account fair use.
  10. Federal Librarian - Jane Sessa. Jane has agreed to become the new editor of Federal Librarian. She reported that the Winter issue is nearly ready to go to press. Jane has obtained 2 other bids for printing the newsletter and found that nobody else could come close to the price we are now paying. Realistically, the cost cannot be reduced unless we change the format. Maria is looking into asking for vendor sponsorship in addition to the ads. Jane suggested that we consider raising the advertising rates. Maria will work with Laurie Stackpole, Jane Sessa and Andrea Gruhl to develop a proposal and e-mail it to Board members.

    Andrea Gruhl presented the Board with past issues of the Federal Librarian that had been bound. The Board expressed gratitude for Andrea's stewardship of the Federal Librarian and the thoughtful gesture of having the historical issues bound to preserve the record. Thanks to Telesec Corestaff for funding this effort.

  11. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 11:05 AM. when the FLRT members were joined by AFLRT members to discuss the proposed merger.

Respectfully submitted, Janet Ormes, Secretary

Note: Minutes amended and approved at FLRT Board Meeting July 8, 2000.