Minutes FAFLRT Board and Committee Meeting 2009
ALA Midwinter Meeting (Denver, CO)
Sunday, January 25, 2009 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Crowne Plaza Denver City Center - Museum Room
(Meeting notes provided by Sally Bosken, FAFLRT Secretary 2008-2010)
1. Call to order: Nancy Faget, FAFLRT President, called the meeting to order at 8:00. There are 14 people present (Nancy Faget, Doria Grimes, Sally Bosken, Georgette Harris, Angelique Simmons, Jessica McGilvray, Marla Chesler, Karl Debus-Lopez, Jane Sessa, Helen Sherman, Lucille Rosa, Richard Huffine, Terri Kirk, and John Chrastka).
2. Introduction of Guests:
A. Terri Kirk, from the ALA Executive Board is a high school librarian from Kentucky. Her husband is a retired Army reservist. She is happy to take things to the board from us.
B. John Chrastka, ALA Membership office spoke of his interest to help us with marketing. Trent Reynolds has done a great redesign to the brochure; that was free. We can continue to build marketing things, i.e. letterhead. Now we need to start sending out the brochure. He is working with Trent to get additional mailing lists and discussion lists to reach military libraries in particular. He is available to help move plans along. There will be pavilion space in Chicago; we should be there. They would like to add an existing FAFLRT meet and greet program as part of the ALA 101 program. We need to think of a clever title for it. Trent sent a copy of the new FAFLRT brochure to be added to the FAFLRT web site. We might try a marketing campaign mailing the brochure to current members and asking them to “give to a friend”. See appendix.
C. Angelique Simmons is a new federal librarian. She went to the FAFLRT Careers in Federal Libraries workshop at 2008 at ALA annual conference; she starts a new job at U.S. Army Garrison Hohenfels in Germany near her husband’s assignment! Congratulations to her! Nancy urged her to write an article about her job search experience.
3. Reporting
A. ALA Legislation Assembly – Georgette Harris Topics: FY10 appropriations, congressional stimulus plan, Google book agreement, need a new DOD librarian position (Discussion – does this need to be a resolution? Georgette could take it to the legislative assembly. FAFLRT COL should ask for opinions on the FAFLRT list and consult military libraries in particular. However, all large government agencies need these, not just the DOD. There are pros and cons for having a head librarian in an agency; one being that funding is a major issue). Regarding the Patriot Act, changes are expected in the future. There was outreach during the campaign from Michelle Obama to military families. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a legal ruling on whether or not library books were included in the new legislation which seeks to restrict lead from imported for toys for kids 12 and under. The ruling from the Commission indicated that library books were included under the legislation. ALA seeks to clear up this misunderstanding created by the ruling since paper library books should probably not be included. Individuals should feel free to contact Tom Ward 301-504-7902 and tell him to please exempt all books for school and public libraries. It is suggested in resolutions that for funding of Broadband internet under the new economic stimulus plan, anyone getting funding must meet network neutrality guidelines. LSTA is up for reauthorization. ALA urges Congress to approve the reauthorization in a timely fashion. (Discussion: Will FAFLRT board endorse this resolution? A copy of the legislation was provided by Georgette so the board can read and vote on the resolution.) (Discussion: Resolution is needed on the Information Impact statement. FAFLRT COL and FAFLRT members that sit on the COL believe that ALA should not act alone but should coordinate with other professional organizations such as SLA and FLICC. It might be that the information impact statement is folded into a statement with multiple sections such as staffing, budgeting, and analysis of information access for adding, restructuring, or closing libraries. This might be smarter than publishing a free standing statement on closing libraries. Some believe we need to include a statement that says you can’t close a federal library without putting it in the Federal Register. A DoD Instruction is working its way through the chain or command stating that the DOD cannot close a base library without the Deputy Under Secretary in the Pentagon signing off on the action. Richard suggested that FAFLRT ask an organization to test the information impact statement with a library. USGS libraries might participate in such a test. The test might look at what the alternatives are to closure and allow the library to do a self-analysis in partnership with an organization. This might even make an appropriate library school project.)
B. Newsletter Editor – Jane Sessa Vendors and ads: Ron Clowney with ProQuest indicated they will continue their ad in the Federal Librarian newsletter and will continue funding the $1000 Adelaide Del Frate scholarship. We have the following vendor ads for the newsletter: Gale, ProQuest, Sirsi, and Telesec. Lexis-Nexis has quit. Vendors should be invoiced yearly. Work should continue with Pat May (ALA) to make sure that these are paid. Ask Marie if she would do this. Jane asks someone to talk to scientific vendors to generate more advertisements. Nancy urges to make a 2009appeal to the FAFLRT list; need people who are willing to call and people who have the names for people to call.
C. ALA Education Assembly/FLICC Liaison – Helen Sherman Topics: There is an emphasis on core competencies in the education assembly. FLICC published their set of core competencies for Federal Librarians which is available on the FLICC web site. FLICC Institute for Library Technicians will also tie in with the core competencies, doing field-testing. RUSA offers professional development online courses in genealogy, marketing, business, and reference interviews among others. Participants do not have to be a RUSA member. For the third year, we will have “Careers in Federal Libraries” workshop at ALA Annual conference along with a full plate of classes planned. FLICC will sponsor “Learning at Lunch” on digital natives and digital immigrants, the Joint Spring workshop on Collaboration (April 2), and discounted registration for Computers in Libraries (March 30 - April 1).
D. Treasurer report – Marie NelsonMarie submitted the following two files prior to the conference
1. FY08 Final Financial Statement (The newsletter advertising payments for 07 and 08 were not received leaving FAFLRT with a negative balance for the second year in a row. Two vendors who had said they would sponsor events at annual conference did not send funds. Pat May will reverse the duplicate charge for the Mark scholarship and will research a few questionable charges.)
2. FY09 Financial Statement to Date (FAFLRT miraculously ended FY 08 with a negative balance and started the FY 09 year with a positive balance! Pat May is working this issue but states that at this point it time ALA is unlikely to go back to the former fiscal year to make changes.)
E. Federal Director - Doria Grimes The AF technical library, in the same building with NOAA, is being downsized. It is not officially being closed, but the librarians will not be replaced. She met with Atmospheric Librarians International and would like FAFLRT COL to write a resolution in support of her efforts. Helen Sherman said that DTIC needs a copy of everything and will be happy to help. Doria is retiring in April but will be with us in Chicago this summer at the ALA 2009 Annual Conference. For the 2010 ALA annual conference, Doria urges us to start ahead of time to reach out to federal libraries. The conference could be a time to promote tours of federal libraries.
F. Armed Forces Director - Jannie Davis Jannie sent a report on a variety of activities in military libraries. See appendix.
G. Archivist – Lucille Rosa: No report
H. ALA representative - Jessica McGilvray Questions from FAFLRT were posed to Jessica about the recent transparency memo. Could ALA WO work with an organization such as the Sunlight Foundation to assign or rate agencies on their level of transparency in information dissemination or information access? Could ALA WO work to remove language such as in the National Defense Authorization Act on Army pilot projects that close libraries? (See this ALA web page for more information.) Can ALA WO tell Congress that there is a need for a DoD librarian and librarians to head each branch of the service? FAFLRT should reach agreement with the members and produce a resolution or a legislative strategy to provide clear direction to ALA WO.
I. Committee on Legislation – Richard Huffine There is going to be a meeting at annual sponsored by Jim Rettig (half day before or after) about government information. The GIS Geographic Information Systems subcommittee of MAGERT is asking other Round Table interested in government information.
A survey will be sent to information professionals with questions such as:
• How do you help your users find government information (state, federal, and local?)
• What ways do you provide government information for your users? How is it important?
• What issues do your users have with government information?
Nancy will send it out to the members when she receives it.
The new GI Bill 2008 has changed the way service members sign up education benefits. Current soldiers need to decide by August 09 and incoming recruits must sign when they join. The new benefit is tied to the price of the most expensive public college in a service member’s home state, and an additional housing and living expenses based on regional averages. ALA needs to help get the word out to soldiers and their families. The Veterans group asked ALA to help them. They have developed a brochure with all the information. Perhaps the VA can come to Annual. Good opportunities to get corporate sponsors to help defray cost of mailings. We could put a link on our website Great chance for base libraries to help. DOD has not done a good job to telling people; VA has not done a god job; maybe we could! Perhaps the VA librarians could talk at PLA conference. Richard said that small foundations could give us $400 and print this. Nancy could send to all the depository libraries. Jessica McGilvray says that the brochure is not up to date. We need to find someone who will fund this. VA will 2009not. We need a quorum to vote on this, and we do not have enough people today. When Nancy gets back to work, she can put the vote on the FAFLRT list. Richard will write up information on veterans @ your library project.
J. Round the table introductions:
1. Karl Debus-Lopez is a new employee at Library of Congress. He has worked in other federal libraries and active in ALA ALCTS. His experience in working with vendors and acquisitions will be helpful. Karl would like to be active in FAFLRT and is considering running as FAFLRT Vice President-President Elect.
2. Marla Chester is an employee from FLICC/FEDLINK.
K. Report of the President – Nancy Faget
1. FAFLRT will co-sponsor a March 6th gathering, “Libraries n Tough Economic Times”. NIH is a possible host. The event will feature marketing, branding, and promotional ideas from a host of speakers.
2. Marketing has worked well for us. Our membership overall increased 15% from 2007 to 2008 with an increase of 55% in student membership during that period. Recall we offered free membership to students beginning in this time period. One possible future marketing activity would be to offer free membership to all members of NMRT in 2010 to leverage the special activities we have planned in Washington D.C. for that annual conference. Many warm wishes to Trent Reynolds for his recovery from an automobile accident. His work on the brochure and marketing campaign for FAFLRT has really helped the round table these past six months. Get well soon, Trent!
3. An LSU faculty member is writing a book about military libraries. Libraries Unlimited might publish it. Nancy Faget is looking to begin recording oral history interviews with military librarians when she steps down as FAFLRT President. The two projects might be combined to increase visibility for the oral histories.
4. The Organizational Excellence project of ALA is based on the 7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don’t. Nancy attended a meeting of the 7 measures team Saturday to discuss the data dashboard under construction. The dashboard will allow for easy access to vital data needed to manage the roundtable. Such data might include information on membership, budgets, funding, activities, and legislative initiatives.
5. Maria Pisa asked that FAFLRT reinstate the membership to the Coalition for Effective Change (CEC). At the same time, FAFLRT might reinstate the membership in the PERT (Public Employees Round Table). We need to see benefits to FAFLRT for membership in these organizations.
6. The newsletter as currently published is not searchable in PDF. Nancy would like it to be in both PDF and searchable format. FAFLRT currently produces two paper and two electronic newsletters each year. If the newsletter editor can make the newsletter pay for itself, then we can continue publishing in paper -- but we are losing too much money on the newsletter.
7. The draft agenda for ALA 2009 Annual conference includes a variety of interesting programs. Friday, July 10th Careers in Federal Libraries will be repeated. Library Associates was invited to continue their support. If we use an offsite facility, it may be able to offer cheaper telecommunication but we would need to pay for transportation. Our awards event will be Friday evening at the Pritzker Military Library. Five FAFLRT sessions will take place on Sunday, July 12. Our last activity ends at 5:30 Sunday night. Plan to spend the day with FAFLRT!
L. Oh, by the way –
1. Richard Huffine reminds us that he was a co-author on library use of space for FLICC. He will be presenting the findings at SLA and CIL conferences. In addition, there is a new FLICC working group on integrated library systems. If you are thinking in changing, let them know so they can walk you through the process of getting a new one.
2. Richard suggested that FAFLRT should look to get more members by sending out information to all FLICC/FEDLINK members, .gov and .mil addresses, and State Department information specialists.
3. Georgette Harris reports that FEDLINK has a new consortium relationship with Nature magazine.
M. President Nancy Faget closed the meeting promptly at 10:00!
Appendix
ALA 2009 Midwinter Report on Armed Forces Libraries
Submitted by FAFLRT Armed Forces Director, Jannie Davis
Army Library Report
FLICC Human Resources Working Group completed the Competencies for Federal Librarians in October 2008. They are posted on FLICC/FEDLINK homepage.
Approval Authorities: Federal Library & Information Center Committee (FLICC); US Office of Personnel Management Individual Agencies (DOD), Army – Librarian Validation, Jan 09
Army Career Program – FY 2008
12 Librarians Centrally Funded ; Internet Librarian, Taxonomy Boot camp, MLA , SLA, ALA, CARL & USMA Digitization Practicum, Off-Campus Library Service, U of M Center for Copyright Symposium, and AMA’s Train-the-Trainer.
Army Career Program – FY 2009
Professional Development Training-Army central funding limited to classroom or online training –no conferences, seminars, and workshops.
HQDA approved for 1 of 6 librarians; others cancelled; Applicants encouraged to identify their own training.
Interns MEDCOM – Jennifer Kuca, 24 Nov 08
TRADOC – To be re-recruited in Jan 09
Army Library Training Institute (ALTI) 2009:21-24 April 2009 at DoD Executive Management Training Center (EMTC), Southbridge MA
Program will include: Continuing education by library graduate school - 2 days of database training by FMWRC vendors - 1 day; Army Day – 1 day
Academic Libraries:
Winner: Combined Arms Research Library Federal Library of the Year (Large Library Category) New Army Logistics University Library, Ft. Lee – scheduled to open July 2009; Papers & Publications; MANSCEN Librarians, Ft. Leonard Wood -White Paper on RFID available via AKO; Vee Herrington, US Army Intelligence Ctr & School, Ft. Huachuca- “Intelligence reform brings new opportunities for info pros” Information Outlook, Mar 08.
FY 05 Defense Authorization Act: Authorized pilots at 2 Army installations; Purpose: To evaluate feasibility and efficacy of obtaining specific installation services from local municipalities;
Program Scheduled to terminate on 30 Sep 2010-Pilot Installations: Forts Huachuca and Gordon; Fort Gordon - Elected not to participate -Fort Huachuca: Library Closed Mar 07; Contracted with Sierra Vista for Library Services
FY 08 National Defense Authorization Act- Extended MSP to all military services; Authorized 3 pilots for each
service, Army selected Ft. Bragg for 3rd pilot, Stakeholder meeting, 16-17 Dec 08; Extended duration of program to 30 Sep 2012; FY 09 Defense Authorization Bill MSP was not included.
Medical Libraries
Winner: Landstuhl Regional Medical Library -Federal Library of the Year (Small Library Category)
Developed AKO Warrior Care Resources Page- Part of DoD-wide effort to educate and promote DoD’s Warrior Care programs & services for Soldiers & Families Warrior Transition Units (36) along with Soldier and Family Assistance Centers opened to provide focused care for wounded and ill Soldiers at medical facilities. AMEDD Virtual Library consortium purchase of biomedical databases - Cost avoidance of $6.5 million.
Technical Libraries (AMC)
11 AMC Libraries- AMC Library Program Office relocated to Redstone Arsenal, AL; Enterprise-wide services and initiatives -Central funding for library services - Single server initiative; Enterprise-wide access to AMC knowledge bases -Consortia purchase of Military Specs & Standards ; Contract pending with significant cost avoidance expected .
Technical Libraries (USACE)
45 US Army Corps of Engineers Libraries; USACE Library Enterprise Services:
FY 08- 33 Participating Libraries; ISI Web of Knowledge; Knovel
Estimated FY 08 savings of $478,000 on Consortium Purchases of $460,000
Army Library Program –Links
Digital Army Library Service (DALS) http://www.libraries.army.mil
MyLibrary on AKO https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/255553
Library Reference Center http://www.libraries.army.mil/refctr.htm
AMEDD Virtual Library https://medlinet.amedd.army.mil
Military Education & Research Library Network (MERLN) http://merln.ndu.edu