FAFLRT Board Meeting Minutes - November 5, 2014

Board Meeting Minutes

5  November 2014

Attendees:

  • Amanda J. Wilson, Department of Transportation  (President)
  • Marla Chesler, Department of State (Federal Director)
  • Anne Harrison, Library of Congress (Federal Director)
  • Kathleen Hanselmann, Defense Language Institute (Secretary)
  • Theresa Taylor, Combined Arms Research Library (Armed Forces Director)
  • Bianna Ine-Ryan, Defense Intelligence Agency (Armed Forces Director)
  • Katharine Posner, China Lake Naval Station
  • Peter Hepburn, College of the Canyons (ALA Liaison)
  • Kimberley Megginson, Rome Labs (Archivist)
  1. Approval of Minutes

The minutes from October 1 Board meeting were approved.  Marla moved and Theresa seconded.  Approval was unanimous.

  1. Officer Reports
    1. President (Amanda)

Amanda introduced our new FAFLRT Archivist, Kimberly Megginson.  Kimberly is working at Rome Labs.  She said Steve could not attend.  Vicky was not able to attend, either, so there was no information on budget and planning.

  1. Committee and Liaison Reports
    1. ALA Executive Board Liaison (Peter)

ALA Finances are better and costs have been severely cut. Concerns have been raised about transportation during the overlap of San Francisco Annual and the Pride parade which will occur on Sunday, June 28, 2014. On that day during Annual, the Pride parade route is near the convention center and will block some of the bus routes from ALA hotels. The alternate routes to avoid traffic will be longer. The solution is to have shorter meetings on Sunday to allow more time between meetings for travel.

Peter summarized ALA’s October 25 Strategic Planning session and said that feedback from the meeting will be distributed later in the fall. ALA is asking all Round Tables to set aside at least one hour at Midwinter to discuss the strategic plan proposals to date and how it pertains to us.

Peter also discussed the slate of candidates for 2015 elections, including ALA Council nominations. Of the 50 candidates federal librarians are a small percentage (the “other” category, which includes federal libraries has 7 candidates). The Board discussed the methods the nominating committee uses to identify Council candidates and the process for petition candidates to get on the ballot. Kathleen and Amanda, both candidates for Council, must fill out their paperwork to be considered for Council election.

 

  1. Awards

Marla announced results from the Award committee.   We will offer three non-monetary awards this year. Due to funding, FAFLRT will only be offering the Rising Star, Distinguished Service, and FAFLRT Achievement awards for 2015. Cost for these three awards in FY2014 was less than $500.  Our other scholarships wait on funding.

 

  1. Planning and Budget Assembly (Vicky)

There has been no update or activity with this assembly since the September FAFLRT Board meeting. Expect more action from this group around Midwinter.

  1. Programming (Anne)

Anne will send a call to the Board and membership for ideas for programs at Annual and webinars. FAFLRT will only provide two (2) programs at Annual, instead of the typical three (3) that we have offered in the past. One program idea Anne is considering is a preservation program called the Heritage Health Index Survey. Another idea is a program around the Library of Congress’s analysis of Federal library STEM collections. We are focusing on developing program ideas and submitting them to ALA in October because earlier submission increases chances of our programs being recorded by ALA and located in the conference center.  Anne will check on deadlines so we can meet them

  1. Fundraising (Richard)

The Board approved Richard’s proposal to approach FEDLINK for approval to print copies of the Handbook of Federal Librarianship and Federal Librarian Competencies as a fundraiser for FAFLRT.

  1. Newsletter (Anne, Kelly)

The Newsletter is ready and will be published online shortly.

Federal Librarian currently has three (3) advertisers in the 2014 fiscal year. The upcoming issue will be the last advertising opportunity for these three. New advertisers and those that wish to continue advertising will need to provide funding for FY2015 for any upcoming newsletter entries.

 

  1. Special Committee Reports

Social Media: HootSuite account for FAFLRT was suggested to help with managing our social media presence. Virginia was not able to be at the meeting and will comment in December.

 

  1. Unfinished Business

Bianna has developed and submitted an Emerging Leader project. Bianna will find out when we will be notified if our project was accepted and will have a team assigned.

Amanda sent the call for volunteers for 5 positions on October 1. The call has been forwarded to NewFeds community and will be sent out to the Careers and Federal Libraries group. Steve was the POC for volunteers but unable to attend. Amanda will follow-up to see if we have any volunteers.

 

  1. New Business:  There are a few unfinished items that will need to be discussed by email as Vicky Crone and Virginia Sanchez could not be on this call.