FAFLRT Executive Board Meeting Notes June 29, 2014 1430 PST/ 1730 EST
1. Call to order
2. Reading, correction, approval or disposition of minutes of previous meetings
3. Reports of Officers
President (Virginia): Bureau of Prisons/Cox refund: Refund issued for 2014. Pat and Ros confirmed that the BoP was included in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 mailouts. Vice President (Amanda Wilson)
Past President (Anne Harrison)
Federal Director (Marla Chesler)
Armed Forces Director (Theresa Taylor by phone)
Armed Forces Director (Bianna Ine-Ryan)
Secretary (Kathleen Hanselmann):
Treasurer (Vicky Crone)
1. Both ALA and FAFLRT membership is down from 2013 and below projections. That means dues income may not meet budgeted projections.
2. As of May 2014, FAFLRTs revenue AND expenses were below budgeted amounts. To date, we have received about 60% of the dues income we were expecting. We had some unexpected expenses resulting from ceasing print newsletter production, which were covered by our cash reserves. We are still therefore “in the black” at the moment, with a balance of approximately $15,000.
3. Most of our annual expenditures will not hit the books until late July or August, when invoices from Annual Conference come in. ALA’s fiscal year closes on August 31, so we will have a full year’s picture of our financial status at that time.
4. We authorized reimbursement of the $20 subscription payment made by Cox Subscription Services for print copies of the 2014 Federal Librarian.
5. Vicky found that old FAFLRT brochures listing print subscription availability were still in the Membership Pavilion, and discarded them. The most recent version of the brochure does not mention print subscriptions. Only a few of these remain. New brochures can be printed bearing the new logo. (We will also need to print additional nametag ribbons before Annual Conference 2015.)
6. We have NOT budgeted for printing brochures or buying ribbons in the 2015 budget, but we should be able to afford these relatively minor expenses.
7. Vicky brought the remaining FAFLRT ribbons and brochures home so she can take them to the registration desk at ALA Midwinter.
4. Reports of boards and standing committees (if any)
Awards (Marla, Katie, Bianna): Status of FAFLRT Adelaide del Frate Conference Sponsorship Award.
Council (Vicky): FAFLRT bylaws have nothing to do with ALA Council…
1. Unless FAFLRT membership is at least 1% of ALA personal membership, we will lose our representative to the Council. We will instead need to share the Small Round Table Councilor at the end of Vicky’s term in June 2016. Right now ALA personal membership is about 54,000, so we need at least 540 dues-paying FAFLRT members. We currently have 418. (By comparison, in November 2011, we had 785 dues-paying members!)
2. Council meetings at ALA Annual 2014 were less contentious than at the previous few conferences. This time, the resolutions were primarily for memorials and recognition of service. Council did vote in favor of the proposed 2015 ALA budget ceiling.
3. Our resolution for Air Force Libraries passed virtually unanimously *after* some pointed questions about the need for such a specialized resolution. This suggests that our colleagues across ALA don’t understand our funding situation in military or even Federal libraries. Perhaps we should include some “in-house” education and public relations about Federal libraries for other ALA members, and not just at ALA annual where we get lost in the schedule. (Having our own Councilor may be starting to correct this problem, but if we lose that seat, we’ll be back in the shadows for sure.)
4. In follow-up discussions with individuals from Council, I was able to raise the concern about the previous resolution labeling Federal information sources (such as websites) “essential”, and how that doesn’t mean the same flattering thing as ALA intended. Councilors were alarmed to learn that “essential” Federal staff work without pay or sick leave during shutdowns; this does NOT ensure funding for the libraries or websites.
5. Vicky was appointed to the Council Policy Monitoring Committee effective July 14, 2014, to June 30, 2016. http://www.ala.org/groups/committees/ala/ala-polmonit?year=2015
Planning & Budget Assembly (Vicky)
1. The PBA is still trying to determine its actual function and purpose in current ALA operations. Rather than doing any planning, it has become just one more reporting-out session, of the same information provided via ALA Connect, and during the Council and ALA Membership meetings. Discussions are ongoing via listserv, surveys, and meetings.
2. This discussion has sparked a broader evaluation of the various groups, committees, and teams within ALA. This will be incorporated into the Strategic Planning process currently underway within ALA.
3. Strategic Planning process will be a large part of Midwinter 2015 meetings. “Kitchen Table Conversations” are planned, to engage the membership in the process.
Round Table Coordinating Assembly (Vicky)
1. This group is, as labeled, designed to coordinate the needs and interests of the various Round Tables within ALA, and transmit information between ALA leadership and Round Table leaders. RTCA admitted that this is especially challenging given the turnover of staff on Round Tables; they often don’t know who to contact.
2. RTCA discussed and decided NOT to pursue changing ALA bylaws to allow a Councilor for each Round table (as there are Councilors for each State Chapter.) It was decided
that this would take several years to enact, IF it received sufficient support, and there wasn’t enough interest among the smaller round tables to pursue this at this time. RTCA suggested that Round Tables work on increasing their membership to automatically qualify for their own Councilor.
3. RTCA discussed the three options being debated for the MidWinter Meeting: expanding to include programs; downsizing and/or allowing virtual meetings; or eliminating the MidWinter meeting entirely. The ALA Council and Executive board are holding similar discussions. At present, it is unlikely that MW will be eliminated, but it probably will be changed in some format. However, these changes will probably take several years to plan, approve, and implement. ALA contracts for conference sites many years in advance. Few Round tables do much at Midwinter at this time anyway. RTs would very much like BARC and the PBA to look into making virtual conference attendance a viable option; perhaps charging a registration fee to offset the costs.
4. RTCA is looking for a volunteer to be their representative to the Web Advisory Committee.
5. RTCA discussed the usefulness of using blogs in addition to or in lieu of listservs and newsletters, to rapidly transmit Round Table news to members. Several RTs have already made this switch. Some maintain listservs for brief updates or conversations, and use blogs in lieu of newsletters for more rapid transmission of more in-depth information, articles, etc. Danielle Alderman and Jenny Levine can advise on blogs and RSS feeds. NMRT, GLBT, RRT all have set these up.
6. RT members responded to RTCA survey with the following requests:
a. Provide orientation for new Round table leaders
b. A “dummies manual”, checklist and timelines for annual events and deadlines for round tables
c. Hold virtual meetings discussing Best Practices for committees
d. How to use our voice within ALA?
e. Membership recruitment and engagement
f. Budgeting and budget planning
g. Program attendance and how to increase attendance?
h. Fundraising options
Bylaws (Vicky)
1. Proposed by laws changes posted to membership listserv and published in the newsletter June 18, 2014.
2. Virtual vote via Survey Monkey pending. Survey will be announced via the FAFLRT Listserv. Survey will close at the end of July.
3. There was insufficient membership attendance at FAFLRT Annual Membership Meeting to discuss this further. (less than 1% of the 418 FAFLRT members attended this meeting.)
- Member input: From: Andreagruhl@aol.com [mailto:Andreagruhl@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2014 11:31 PM
To: Harrison, Anne
Subject: Re: [FAFLRT] Proposed FAFLRT Bylaws changes
Dear Anne,
One month's notice to members of proposed bylaws changes is the ALA standard, so FAFLRT should follow it. It seems to be a realistic span of time for the review process. Some organizations have a much longer interval of time for notifying members of proposed bylaws changes before members vote on the changes.
Regards,
Andrea Gruhl
Nominating (Helen)
Conference (Anne)
Newsletter (Anne, Kelly): Newsletter posted to List Serv June 18, 2014, posting on the website. GODORT Liaison (Amanda): Update LegislatiON ve Assembly: Open for nominations?
Other? Fundraising: Richard Huffine.
5. Reports of special committees (if any)
6. Unfinished Business :
Membership list reconciliation (Anne) – PendingLogo contest (Anne)
Archivist (Virginia): Recruitment for Archivist launched via FAFLRT membership list serv and has three candidates thus far. Nancy Faget posted to the Careers in Federal Libraries Google Group. Air Force Libraries (Virginia): Unanimous vote in favor of endorsing forwarded to Richard Huffine, who posted to Membership listserv for discussion.
“SenseMaking” with David Moore (Virginia): a virtual, perhaps co-sponsored event during the year: Unanimous vote in favor of working with Richard Huffine for a program during the year. Richard contacted for his thoughts (May 7, 2014, again June 18, 201)
Name tag flags: Eileen Welch will deliver to registration booth. Vicky picked these up after ALA Annual. Will deliver to registration booth at ALA Midwinter.
Member ship brochures: Status? Vicky has a handful of copies of the most recent version (needs to be updated) that she will take to Midwinter. Need more!
Membership committee: Recruitment announcement for membership committee membership posted to FAFLRT membership listserv. Posting to social media pending. (Virginia) Volunteer for Membership Committee stepped up during Membership meeting -- Jessica Severin.
7. New Business Michael Porter – ALA Executive Board: (Virginia) Mr. Porter spoke at length using the ALA Exec Board
Talking Points and requested feedback regarding issues or challenges faced by FAFLRT when interacting with ALA HQ.
Emerging Leaders projects.
Establishment of a Slideshare or similar account for posting of flyers, etc. Resurrection of ala.faflrt@gmail.com for use in creating accounts. Vicky has access. Post for volunteers to replace Kawaana Michelle Bright (Conference Committee Round Table Rep., July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015) http://www.ala.org/groups/committees/ala/ala-conf
Passing of the Gavel
8. Next meeting: TBD: tentatively the week of 21-25 July 2014
9. Adjournment