Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT) Board Meeting

ALA Midwinter Conference, 2006
Convention Center, San Antonio, TX
Saturday, January 21, 2006

Attendees: Hope Beyer, Carol Bursik, Bobbie Carr, Arthalene Gordey, Georgette Harris, Emily C. Mardis, Marie L. Nelson, Donna E. Ramsey, Lucille M. Rosa, Jordan Scepanski, Reginald M. Scott, Jane Sessa, Helen Sherman

  1. Welcome and Call to Order. Georgette Harris, FAFLRT President, called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. The Agenda items were accepted.
  2. Minutes. The minutes of the June 2005 General Membership Meeting and Board Meeting were accepted as written.
  3. Newsletter Report. Jane Sessa reported that the submission of more articles for the Federal Librarian would be helpful, as would additional vendors for ad submissions. Information about FAFLRT’’s Annual Program and Reception is needed for the next newsletter. She is also still seeking a volunteer to replace her as newsletter editor.
  4. Membership Report. Georgette Harris, reporting for Joan Taylor, submitted the report, dated January 13, 2006. As of August 2005 there were 273 Personal and 53 Corporate/Organizational members, for a total of 326. There still continue to be some issues about ALA’s accuracy, as they are still crediting some memberships to AFLRT, one of our old organizational components.
  5. Treasurer’s Report. Carol Bursik distributed:
    • FAFLRT’s “Final Financial Statement for FY 2005, Based on Performance Report of August 31, 2005,” showing Beginning Net Assets (9/01/04) of ($564.07), Revenues for the Year of $9,485.98, Expenses for the Year of $7,213.73, resulting in Net Revenue (Expense) of $2,272.25 and an Ending Net Asset Balance of $1,708.18;
    • “Financial Statement for FY2006, Based on Performance Report of November 30, 2005,” showing beginning Net Assets (9/01/05) of $1,707.93, Revenues for the Year of $1,101.09, Expenses for the Year of $2,761.39, ALA Overhead of $108.00, resulting in Net Revenue (Expense) of ($1,768.30) and an Ending Net Asset Balance of ($60.37).
    • There was also billed, but un-posted, revenue as of January 13, 2006 of $2,295.00.
    • Also distributed were the FY2006 budget, and the FY2007 budget proposal.
  6. Committee Reports.
    1. ALA Round Table Coordinating Committee. Georgette Harris announced that this committee is discussing means to reach potential new members. There is an ALA employee who could do a direct mailing to potential new members of round tables. It was pointed out that perhaps generating interest in round tables, could also encourage new people to join ALA.
    2. Annual Program. Georgette Harris reported that Jewel Player has the 2006 Annual program planned. However, we need to now concentrate on the 2007 Program in Washington, D.C. A location for the Reception is being sought, such as a military facility; i.e. the Navy Officer’s Club. Some program topic suggestions were to concentrate on political issues, such as the Patriot Act, with the assistance of ALA’s Washington Office, or digitization issues. A joint program with the ALA Committee on Legislation was also proposed. Any further ideas should be sent to Georgette.
    3. Archives. Lucille Rosa requested that materials be submitted to her. She has plans to send out a direct mailing to officers soliciting their files.
    4. Awards. Georgette Harris, reporting for Shirley Loo, stated that nominees are needed for the Adelaide del Frate ALA Scholarship Award.
    5. Bylaws and Constitution. Georgette, reporting for Andrea Gruhl, reminded us that the Bylaws Change that we planned for 2006 needs to be submitted by ALA’s deadline.
    6. FAFLRT Web Site. Georgette, reporting for James King, stated that there are 201 subscribers to FAFLRT’s discussion list. He also plans to research how many hits our web site has received.
    7. Booth Coordinator. FAFLRT only displays at the Annual June ALA Conference.
    8. Nominating Committee. Georgette reported that Linda Resler has nominees for four of the open FAFLRT Board positions, but would like names of any additional people interested in serving.
    9. Federal Personnel. Donna Ramsey reported that:
      • The Competitive Sourcing Working Group is preparing a survey, using Survey Monkey, which has been completed by 13 people up to this time. It is hoped that the survey will be taken by FLICC Council members, as well as the entire FLICC membership.
      • The Human Resources Working Group is finalizing the revising of the GS-1410 Librarian’s qualifications, as well as holding a workshop on pay banding scheduled for Feb 28 at the Library of Congress.
      • Newly appointed Army Base Librarians coming into MWR organizations will be NAF employees.
      • The National Security Personnel System (NSPS) implementation is being held-up in court by twelve unions, with a scheduled court date of January 24, 2006.
  7. Liaison Reports.
    1. ALA Councilor. Jordan Scepanski reported that, as representative for the twelve smaller round tables, he tries to attend all of their meetings if scheduling permits. As his term ends after the June ALA this year, he suggested that we advance a candidate for his replacement, or join forces with another round table to do so. (The five largest round tables each have their own councilor, but the smallest twelve are represented by only one who represents them all. GODORT is no longer 5th in size, and our memberships overlap somewhat with GODORT and also with some other round tables.) Mr. Scepanski suggested that we endorse a resolution to add four additional round table councilors, so that only the smallest eight round tables would share one councilor, instead of twelve. The FAFLRT Board voted to endorse this resolution, which Mr. Scepanski will communicate to the ALA Council.
    2. ALA Education Assembly. Helen Sherman, as the new Education Assembly representative, reported that the issue they discussed is the value of online courses versus traditional courses.
    3. ALA Planning and Budget Assembly. Carol Bursik reported that they apparently didn’t meet at this Conference, as she received no notification.
    4. ALA Legislative Assembly. Jane Sessa reported that they are working on a resolution concerning the Patriot Act. She is also seeking a volunteer to be the new liaison to this Assembly.
    5. FLICC Liaison. Carol Bursik had no report. Georgette mentioned that they are working on a survey.
    6. IFLA. No report.
    7. Public Employees Round Table. No report. (Fran Perros did, however, post an email on Jan 20, 2006 to the FAFLRT discussion list about the Public Service Recognition Week 2006, which will be celebrated on May 1-7, 2006.)
    8. Armed Forces Report. Lucille Rosa, reporting on behalf of Cynthia Shipley, stated that there is a new SECNAV Instruction 5070.2D, which designates that the Librarian of the Navy position be collateral duties attached to someone else’s primary position. She also reported that the Naval Postgraduate School has a new director, Eleanor Uhlinger, who will start in March.
  8. Old Business.
    1. Additional discussion took place on ways of increasing membership.
      • A suggestion was to distribute FAFLRT brochures at other associations’ meetings, such as the Military Librarian’s Workshop (MLW), Army Library Institute (ALI), and the Air Force and Navy Librarian’s Workshop
      • Provide FAFLRT brochures to the ALA New Members Round Table, and the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color.
      • Place brochures in the ALA bins at the conferences. (Reggie regularly puts left-over Federal Librarian newsletters in them, also.)
      • Write an article for the Federal Librarian about what FAFLRT does.
      • Place an article about FAFLRT in the other groups’ newsletters, and in discussion lists such as Fedlink and ArmyLib.
      • Hope Beyer volunteered to be of assistance with membership issues.
    2. FAFLRT’s activities at the June Annual Conference were discussed further.
      • FAFLRT Reception. Lucille Rosa and Bobbie Carr are working on the plans.
      • The Annual Program is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to noon.
      • The Board voted to have the combined Membership/Board meeting on Saturday morning. It may, however, be too late to ask a vendor to sponsor a breakfast.
      • Reggie Scott stated that there shouldn’t be any health issues regarding the New Orleans conference. The devastating damage was in a different part of town than the Convention Center, and hotels are replacing their carpets and other items as necessary to make it environmentally safe.
  9. New Business.
    1. Hope Beyer has volunteered to replace Joan Taylor as the Membership Committee chair.
    2. Georgette will send out an email asking for volunteers to be the candidate for the ALA Councilor representing the smaller round tables.
  10. The Board Meeting scheduled for Monday, January 23, 2006 was cancelled, as all business was concluded at today’s meeting.
  11. The meeting was adjourned at 3:27 p.m. by Georgette Harris.

Respectfully submitted,

Marie L. Nelson
FAFLRT Secretary