Library and Information Technology Association (LITA)

Executive/Budget Review Committee Meeting, Spring 2004

New York City
March 26, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
March 27, 9:30 am - 12:00 noon

Minutes

Present: Tom Wilson, president (in at 10:16), Colby Riggs, president-elect, Pat Ensor, past-president, Barbra Higginbotham, councilor, Patrick Mullin, director, and Mary Taylor, executive director.

Colby Riggs called meeting to order at 9:16. Several agenda items were reordered and the agenda order was as follows: agenda, approval of minutes, executive director report, budget review, Forum 2004 update, liaisons/committees/IGs report, current news, board planning, board meetings, Annual Conference.

It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the 2004 Midwinter Executive Committee meeting be approved. The motion was adopted.

Heard report from Mary Taylor and received additional documents (1. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation letter of March 12, 2004 from D. Craig Arnold, Acting Director, Global Library Program summarizing their February 2004 strategy feedback session; 2. the call for 2005 nominees for ALA Honorary Members email dated 03/22/2004) for information. Discussion ensued:

· Reviewed the membership profile (2004SpEC-6) and noted with interest that 25% of the members are administrators and 17% of the members work in public libraries.

· Reviewed programming for this year (2004SpEC-5). Recommend using Midwinter Meetings workshops as a venue for testing new Regional Institutes and suggested need for regional sensitivity in selecting topics.

· Noted new publication (XML Guide) offered prior to Midwinter (2004SpEC-7).

· Discussed the Office update (2004SpEC-8) and noted that regular communications are helping the Board.

· Briefly discussed possible regions for the 2007 National Forum.

Heard report from Pat Ensor, LITA Budget Review Committee Chair.

· The 2004 Budget Report (2004SpEC-2) to date is comparable to last year at this time. Dues are down, publications are up a little, and education is about the same. The administrative expenses are the highest difference; LITA is now fully staffed as compared to last year.

· The 2005 Financial and Strategic Overview (2004SpEC-3) and the chart (2004SpEC-4) indicated operational costs would rise due to additional charges for items ALA used to absorb but plans to start charging to divisions in FY2005.

(10:16-Wilson in)

· Reviewed the fiscal information Ensor proposed posting to the Web site.

· Discussed and agreed to a revision of the LITA Manual Section 4 to include a statement as follows: "In the interest of financial stability, LITA will normally maintain a fund balance equal to six months of operating expenses." Ensor will forward the statement to the Bylaws Committee to add to the Manual. In addition, Ensor will forward the fiscal information to the Web Coordinating Committee to post to the Web in a members-only area.

Discussed need for a dues increase for FY2005. Ensor will take this to the Board prior to Annual Conference. Discussion of a proposed dues increase will be on the agenda for the Board's Saturday (June 26) meeting at Annual Conference, and Wilson will prepare a handout in advance to be widely distributed to LITA Members at the Conference, should the proposed increase be approved by the Board

Heard report from Tom Wilson about the 2004 National Forum.

· The Committee is finalizing presentations, poster sessions and keynotes.

· The International Relations Committee is developing a pilot program to invite a guest from South America (who would not otherwise be able to attend). Tom is seeking funding; the Forum Committee is holding a poster session in reserve.

· Colby suggested the need for Annual Conference and National Forum proposal preparation guidelines beyond a word limit. She will pull a guide together and share it with the PPC, RI, and Forum Committees.

· Wilson announced that he has found a co-sponsor for the President’s Program. In addition to Blackwell, Ex Libris has indicated a willingness to contribute $2,500.

Reviewed Board Liaisons’ Reports (2004SpEC-9), Committees’ Report (2004SpEC-10), Interest Groups’ Reports (2004SpEC-11), and the IRC Guidelines (2004SpEC-13).

· Noted that many more reports were received after Midwinter than in the past.

· With the implementation of the new report form for Annual Conference, reports will go to appropriate members of the Web Coordinating Committee which will result in timely updating of the Committees’ and IGs’ web pages.

Discussed communication of current news. Best service to members is to get all members to go to the LITA Web site. Suggest exploring the use of broadcast messages to members as tickler.

Discussed the Vision Statement Group report (2004SpEC-14), combined a number of the suggestions to form a draft statement and discussed possible mottos. Wilson will pull the wording together, vet the draft with the Executive Committee, and then post it to the Board.

Heard report from Riggs about the Town Meeting. Having analyzed the results of the Town Meeting discussion, the following ideas were noted:

· liaisons at the state level to report to LITA on state level programming, e.g., CARL and TLA;

· semiannual email messages/announcements, best practices/overviews, more vocal on technology policy.

Discussed relationship with OITP. Discussed ways of providing leadership development training; will discuss possibilities with Coordinators for Midwinter.

Taylor will develop and distribute occasional broadcast messages to the membership.

Riggs will contact the chair of the existing Practice Guidelines Task Force to determine progress and see what next steps need to be taken. She also will approach the ERT to ask for a vendor representative to serve on the Program Planning Committee as one step in recognizing vendor partnering in programming.

Evaluated Board meeting strategic sessions and find that they have gone well; they have been engaging and useful for expressing and sharing by all.

Reviewed the Annual Conference skeleton schedule and added the Friday night Board dinner, the Saturday lunch Board orientation (Riggs will make lunch arrangements, Wilson will invite new Board members to attend), and the Imagineering interview with A. C. Clarke on Sunday from 10 to 12.

The next regularly scheduled meeting was scheduled for June 25, 2004 at 1:30 in Orlando, Florida.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:17 pm.