Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table Board Meeting

ALA Annual Conference, 2004
Renaissance Resort Hotel, Orlando, FL
Saturday, June 26, 2004 Attendees: Mary Boone, Carol Bursik, Margaret Groner, Andrea Gruhl, Georgette Harris, Marie L. Nelson, Fran Perros, Jewel Player, Donna E. Ramsey, Linda Resler, Lucille M. Rosa, Jordan Scepanski, Reginald Scott, Joan R. Taylor, Eileen Welch
  1. The meeting was called to order by Margaret Groner, FAFLRT President, at 2:10 p.m.
  2. Minutes of the January 2004 Midwinter Board meetings were approved.
  3. The Membership Report had already been given by Joan Taylor at that mornings' General Membership meeting.
  4. The Treasurer's Report, was distributed by Carol Bursik and approved. As we no longer have the financial cushion we had before, discussion took place on ways to improve our revenues, such as getting the advertising revenues due us from ALA, as it is ALA that sends the invoices to the vendors. Another future budget remedy will be the dues increase in 2005. Regarding expenses, publishing and mailing a print newsletter is costly, and the possibility of distributing it electronically was suggested for future consideration. A number of ALA's other Round Tables publish theirs electronically, but it was pointed out that we do not have email addresses for all of our members.
  5. Committee and Liaison Reports
    1. ALA Councilor. Jordan Scepanski, our newly-elected councilor, introduced himself, and stated he would like to present our issues to the ALA Council, as well as report to us about Council meetings and activities. To facilitate communication, he will send Margaret Groner a summary of the Council meeting, as well as attempt to meet with us at least once a year. A couple of items that were given to him to take to the ALA Council meetings were "competitive sourcing" and "wireless access" security issues that affect security of classified data.
    2. Annual Program. Donna Ramsey will be the coordinator for our 2005 annual program. Further discussion was postponed until the June 28 Board Meeting. The deadline for the ALA form submission is June 29 to Reggie Scott.
    3. ALA Round Table Coordinating Committee. Margaret Groner wasn't able to attend their meeting, but stated it would be desirable to have a representative at their future meetings, which are always held at noon on the Friday of ALA. Jewel Player suggested that a recommendation be put forward to this committee that in future elections the councilor nomination should be rotated between the round tables, so that the same round table wouldn't be able to nominate someone sequentially, and that this should be a future agenda item to go forward to the ALA Council.
    4. Awards Committee. No report. Linda Resler reported that there is an additional member interested in serving on this committee. Also, Reginald Scott requested that he or Pat May be notified of future awards that involve funds, such as the Conference Scholarship, so that they will be prompted to issue the necessary check.
    5. Booth Coordinator. Eileen Welch reported that we are in booth 226, and anyone wishing to help can go and sit at the booth. Also, in the future, she would like to get more materials from the Armed Forces libraries to distribute. In addition, we should consider bringing our own FAFLRT banner to future conferences.
    6. Bylaws and Constitution. Andrea Gruhl stated that there were no actions this past year.
    7. Federal Personnel. A volunteer is needed to head this committee. It was also mentioned that the FLICC web page has links related to the librarian profession in the federal government. FLICC also has a new Competitive Sourcing Group, whose goal is to provide helpful information to libraries facing outsourcing. Carol Bursik will be a liaison to this group. Also, there is an Army initiative affecting personnel in the post libraries, whose GS 12 through 15 level librarians will have to sign a Mobility Agreement, and lower level positions will be converted to NAF. Also, Air Force Base Libraries are being converted to NAF.
    8. Archives. Lucille Rosa requested that she be sent any archival materials related to our organization or its two former components, and stated that descriptive information about requested submissions is on the FAFLRT web page.
    9. IFLA Liaison. Andrea Gruhl reported that the 69th General Conference was held in Berlin in August, 2003. The World Summit on the Information Society, Phase I, was held in Geneva, Switzerland during December, 2003. IFLA had a very eventful year, and will be meeting in August, 2004 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    10. ALA Education Assembly. A liaison representative is needed.
    11. ALA Liaison. Reggie Scott, reporting for Pat May, requested names of our new chairs and reps by July 2.
    12. ALA Planning and Budget Assembly. Carol Bursik was unable to attend their meeting.
    13. Coalition for Effective Change. No report.
    14. FLICC. Susan Tarr gave the report at the General Membership meeting that morning.
    15. Public Employees Round Table Liaison. Fran Perros reported that their directors are senior employees from federal agencies. They will join a larger organization, Partnership for Public Service or Council for Excellence in Government.
  6. Further discussion was tabled until the Monday Board Meeting. The meeting adjourned at 3:47 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Marie L. Nelson
FAFLRT Secretary