Art Libraries Society of North America, Southeast Chapter Business Meeting

New York, NY National Conference, 15-21 April 2004-05-06

 

The meeting of the Southeast Chapter was called to order by the President at 6:03 p.m. on Monday, 19 April 2004.

 

I.  WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Chapter President Sarah McCleskey welcomed ARLIS/SE members and guests and asked that we each introduce ourselves.  The following were present:  Robert Carter, Tom Caswell, Kim Collins, David Faulds, Sarah Fells, Roberto Ferrara, Pedro Figueredo, Jim Findlay, Ann Lindell, Kathleen List, Sarah McCleskey, Diane Sammet, Lee Sorensen, Moira Steven, Sandra Still, Laura Schwartz, Cary Wilkins.

 

II CHAPTER BUSINESS

The minutes from the chapter meeting in New Orleans, 15 November 2003, were approved.

 

Lee Sorensen was elected as the Vice President/President-Elect.

 

The President gave her report.  The report from the joint conference with the Texas/Mexico Chapter was featured in the January 2004 issue of ARTifacts and is on the ARLIS/SE website.  We received another proposal for a joint conference from the Texas/Mexico Chapter, but respectfully declined for the present.  We might want to consider a joint conference with the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia Chapter sometime in the future.

 

Sarah expressed her concern over the number of leadership changes that the chapter has experienced in the last year and stressed that since we are a small chapter, all must be willing to serve in some way.  Officers should be a known quantity and have attended at least the most recent conference.  Since our chapter will be hosting the 2007 national conference in Atlanta, we must all take responsibility. We should plan to be “heavy” on the business meetings (as opposed to content sessions) at our chapter conferences from now until the Atlanta meeting.  It was strongly suggested that the chapter conference should be held in Atlanta in Fall 2006.  We must actively recruit students from the library schools in our area.

 

Lee Sorensen reported that plans for the 2004 conference in Winston-Salem are well underway and that Martine Sherrill has already done a considerable amount of research.  Lee will put up a website for the conference.

 

Laura Schwartz, ARLIS/NA South Regional Representative, attended, representing the ARLIS/NA Board.  Members of ARLIS/SE expressed concerns over the current board investigation of the legal relationship between the national organization and the individual chapters.  We wanted our position represented to the board.  We don’t want to lose our autonomy.  Though we usually approve of the board decisions, they take a long time, and we want to keep our current agility and the ability to make timely chapter decisions as the need arises.  We also wanted to know if there is anything we should be doing that we are not doing according to national by-laws.

 

Laura assured us that she would take our concerns to the board and would keep us informed as more information becomes available.  In examining the legal relationship between national and the chapters, liability and tax issues will be addressed, and the outcome should result in streamlining procedures.  The board will consult experts in law, accounting, and insurance.

 

Sandra Still provided copies of the November 2003 minutes and an Excel spreadsheet representing our bank account deposits and dispersals.

 

Natalia Lonchyna, who was unable to attend, will send the Webmaster’s report.  At least for now, we will keep SEFLIN for our chapter web page.

 

ARTifacts Editor, Cary Wilkins,  reported that the next deadline is May 7.

 

III.  OLD BUSINESS

Chapter donation to the New York Welcome Party was $250.  We received $500 for our joint conference, but a single chapter can only ask for $250 for honoraria —no food, no travel.  So, if we give $250 and receive $250, what’s the point?

 

Lo Presti Committee discussion began with overview of costs.  Stationery is about $125 per year; postage is $175; and the certificates are $75.  There was discussion about and support for applying for funding for the LoPresti Award from national.

 

A suggestion was made to announce the winners of  the next LoPresti competition at the ARLIS/NA Convocation in Houston to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Award.  Laura Schwartz will bring this up at the ARLIS/NA board meeting and get back to us.

 

Kathleen List reported that Alan Novak wishes to phase out his LoPresti duties.  He is willing to work on this year’s awards by sending the “call for entries” which will include a list of last year’s winners.

 

There was a discussion on Alan’s previous suggestions to divide duties and have a “PR coordinator”  and an “Awards Coordinator” who would send the call for entries, receive the entries, and make the certificates.    It was suggested that if we separate the chapter secretary duties from the treasury duties, that some of the correspondence could fall to the secretary.

 

It was mentioned that we may need to reprint the LoPresti stationary/certificates soon.  The copy for this needs to be reviewed by the chapter officers before it gets reprinted.

 

Proposed increase in chapter dues/ conference registration fees

A dues increase was discussed.  There was concern from a number of members that an increase should be justified.   It was suggested that perhaps an increase might fund a student travel award, or subsidize student attendance (half price) at conferences.  Ann Lindell volunteered to survey other chapters and report on their fee structures.

 

Additional related discussion centered on conference registration fees.  We should try to at least break even on conferences.   Our bank balance is healthy, but we may need this for deposits, etc.

 

Secretary/Treasurer Split

There is a proposal to separate the Secretary/Treasurer duties, and elect two people to fill these positions.  Laura Schwartz reported that the Texas/Mexico Chapter recently did this, with a three year term for Treasurer and a two year term for Secretary.  A suggestion was made to check the Texas/Mexico chapter bylaws for a description and to discuss on the list a  proposal to be voted on at the Winston Salem meeting.

 

ARLIS/NA Strategic Plan

Roberto Ferrari will send info on the ARLIS/NA strategic plan to the membership via the list.

 

Possible Vertical Files Project

Lee Sorensen  discussed a possible project to make a union list of artist vertical files. If any chapter members are interested, please contact Lee directly.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sandra Still and Ann Lindell