Federal Librarians Round Table Annual Membership Meeting

ALA Annual Conference, Chicago
Saturday, July 8, 2000, 8:00-9:00 AM (CST)
Holiday Inn Chicago City Center, Chicago, IL

Present:
Stephanie Jones, Andrea Morris Gruhl, Richard Hanusey, Janet Ormes, Joan Taylor, Maria Pisa, Fran Perros, Arlene Luster, Lynn McDonald, Carol Bursik, Mary-Dierdre Coraggio, Shirley Loo, Wil Danielson, Jane Sessa

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Stephanie Jones at 8:33
President's report - Stephanie Jones: Stephanie reported that FLRT members approved the merger with AFLRT by a vote of 69 in favor, 8 opposed. The merger was also approved by AFLRT. The new Round Table will be called the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT). Stephanie especially thanked Jewell Player who was a major force in initiating and coordinating this activity. If approved by ALA's Committee on Organization, the merger will go into effect July 2001.
The President's theme this year Libraries .... A number of very successful programs were held this year. The ALA Conference Program on Outsourcing at last year's conference was well attended and well received. FLRT partnered with GPO Access in April for a program at Texas Library Association titled "Federal Libraries Building Communities." In May, FLRT cosponsored a program held at the Library of Congress focusing on …
Treasurer's Report - Joan Taylor. Joan reported that FLRT has had a successful financial year. We end the year with $4638 in the treasury. However, many expenses associated with ALA haven't been registered yet.
Membership - Joan Taylor - April - 338 down a little from last year at 360.
Nominations - Andrea Gruhl. Andrea thanked her Committee for their hard work and for the excellent candidates who were nominated. Results of the election are: Vice President/President Elect - Richard Hanusey; Director - Jane Sessa; and Treasurer - Wil Danielson. Andrea will be attending the IFLA Conference in Israel in August. Next year IFLA will be held in Boston. She encouraged others to attend future IFLA conferences as she has found her experiences to be very rewarding. Andrea also announced that past issues of the Federal Librarian have been bound beautifully into a 3-volume set in a project sponsored by Telesec. The bound volumes have been delivered to ALA Washington office where they will be housed.
Merger update - Stephanie Jones. Even though members voted for the merger, it still needs ALA Council approval. ALA's Committee On Organization (COO) has responsibility for submitting organizational changes to ALA Council. COO is meeting at this time and Stephanie has requested that COO put the merger on its agenda. One person from FLRT is at the COO meeting, along with two representatives from AFLRT. FLRT and AFLRT have drafted skeletal bylaws and submitted a readahead package to COO. COO seemed satisfied that proper actions are being taken to implement the merger. COO asked for an action request to discontinue FLRT and AFLRT and create FAFLRT. We should know by 12:30 if the merger is to be presented to ALA Council Tuesday morning. The new organization will need a new slate of candidates next year. Nancy Davenport will be the last FLRT President.
Awards Committee - Shirley Loo. Committee Chair Dan Clemmer was unable to attend. FLRT awards were given at the reception Friday evening to Adina Lack from University of North Carolina, who won the Adelaide Del Frate Conference Scholarship Award and to Pam Andre who won the FLRT Achievement Award.
Handbook - Shirley Loo. Shirley distributed the draft handbook to FLRT Board members. The Handbook includes a draft schedule of FLRT activities in a typical year. Shirley asked members to send in items for her "Fabulous Feds" column in the Federal Librarian.
Website Committee - Janet Ormes. Janet described the features of the FLRT website and urged members to use it to learn more about what goes on in FLRT.
FLICC/FEDLINK - Lynn McDonald. Awards - There was a tie for Federal Library of the Year - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Library and Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library. Librarian of the Year is Marion Jerri Knihnicki, Library Director of the U.S. Army Transportation School, and Federal Library Technician of the Year is Rosette M. Risell of the Ruth H. Hooker Research Library, Naval Research Laboratory. FLICC put streaming video of these awards on the Web. Next year's nominations due November 15 - information on submitting nominations is on the FLICC Web Page.
LC Bicentennial - FLICC had an active committee which developed a toolkit on how to put on an event in your library. A poster was sent to each federal library - additional copies are for sale by GPO. Bookmarks can be ordered from FLICC on its website.
FLICC Personnel WG is working with OPM to move the 1410 Librarian position into the Professional and Scientific Group, which would strengthen and clarify requirements for hiring into a professional library position. New classification standards have been approved by OPM, but not qualification standards. Many agencies are still using old qualification information - e.g. applicants could take a test in lieu of MLS. This test no longer exists. The group is aiming to get more realistic substitutions for the MLS. A memo with proposed wording is going to OPM this month.
FLICC Education Working Group - Denise Lomax has completed the Federal Librarian Handbook which can be found at the FLICC Website. This is a wonderful resource for Federal Librarians.
Consortia - FLICC is looking to establish consortial licensing agreements. Kathy Eighmey (keig@loc.gov) at the FLICC Office is working this initiative with the FLICC Information Technology Working Group, of which Janet Ormes of NASA/GSFC (FLRT Secretary) is a member. INSPEC is likely to be the first candidate for FLICC consortial licensing.
New FEDLINK books jobbers can be found at lcweb.loc.gov/flicc.
President Stephanie Jones presented Certificates of Appreciation to departing Board Members/Committee Chairs Barbara Busch, Laurie Stackpole, Joan Taylor, Andrea Gruhl, Arlene Luster, Shirley Loo, and Jane Sessa, as well as Jewel Player for helping in emergency situations.
Incoming President Nancy Davenport stated that her objectives for the coming year are to work as closely as possible with AFLRT so that the merger is seamless. She pledged to help move things along so we do as much in concert as possible.
Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 AM.
Respectfully submitted, Janet Ormes, Secretary

Note: These minutes were approved at the FAFLRT/FLRT Board Meeting July 15, 2001.