Executive/Budget Review Committee Meeting, Spring 2005

ALA HQ, 50 E. Huron, Chicago

March 11, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

March 12, 9:30 am – 12:00 noon

Minutes

Present: Colby Riggs, President, Patrick Mullin, President-Elect, Thomas Wilson, Past President, Bonnie Postlethwaite, Director, Karen Schneider, Councilor, and Mary Taylor, Executive Director.

Reviewed meeting agenda and added: 1) Blog report from Karen Schneider and 2) What’s behind the wall discussion with Bonnie Postlethwaite

The Midwinter Meeting minutes (2005SpEC-1) email vote was confirmed by consensus.

Considered a number of Board Liaisons’, Committees’, and IGs’ Reports:

Discussed the issue of how to involve members who can’t attend conferences. Colby Riggs will establish an Online Communities Task Force with the charge to identify and prepare appropriate LITA communities positioned to use these capabilities within two months of the ALA launch.
Discussed cooperation with OLITA. Pat Mullin willcontact the President/Vice President to initiate contact and possible meeting with OLITA officers at Annual Conference in Chicago.
Discussed LITA 40^th Anniversary and need to keep activities coordinated. Colby will contact Lynne Lysiak, chair of the Anniversary Task Force, regarding ITAL plans and need to invite liaison from ITAL/Publications Committee.
Discussed need to institutionalize Regional Institutes practice of initializing new Institutes as Midwinter Workshops. RI Committee needs to write this up for the LITA Manual.
Discussed Top Tech Trends shift from conversation mode to presentation mode. Experts want to return to conversation mode. Variety of formats considered: basics include set up on stage with tables in V configuration; strong moderator/facilitator needed to involve audience as appropriate.

Heard Forum 2005 update from Colby Riggs. Programming decisions almost complete. Suggests the program indicate that the Friday night reception is a networking opportunity to meet people to go to dinner.

Heard and approved proposal from Mary Taylor recommending Denver for the 2007 National Forum.

Discussed Town Meeting and planning sessions. Considering restructuring Committees along the lines of Task Forces. Need to explore question of service and tenure requirements.

Reviewed the FY2005 Budget to date (2005SpEC-5) and the FY2006 Draft Budget (2005SpEC-6).

Heard the Executive Director’s update:

The St. Louis National Forum was a great success with three preconferences, three general sessions (Robert Rydell, Susan Dumais and Clifford Lynch), 28 unique concurrent sessions, the opening reception and sponsor showcase, networking dinners and 11 poster sessions.
Five Regional Institutes have been scheduled; one was cancelled. We need to schedule four more within this fiscal year.
Two workshops were offered at Midwinter.
Three preconferences, 14 programs, an Open House, and the LITA President’s Program are planned for Annual Conference.
Due to the dues increase, membership is declining at the anticipated rate of 8%. We started out the year with a strong membership recruitment and retention plan and we are adding to that an email appeal to non-member subscribers on LITA-L and an appeal to current members to recruit colleagues as appropriate.
We currently have five Guides available through our publications program.
Reviewed the staff goals for this year.

Planned the Board strategic session for Annual Conference. Colby Riggs will send the Strategic Plan out ahead of time. Plans to distribute the approved plan at the President’s Program. At Annual Conference, Colby plans to focus on one strategic plan objective and invite the appropriate members. As an example, considering the need for a vibrant publications program, invite the Publications Committee, the ITAL and TER editorial boards, and the Web Manager to meet with the Board to devote two hours to considering stretch possibilities and identifying next steps. Riggs will develop a structure in the next month and vet with the Board. Then notify guests.

Discussed sponsorship relations strategy, non-traditional vendors, and structure. Colby Riggs will appoint a Task Force to look at LITA needs, to develop a process to ask, and to consider a partnership program. The Task Force will explore possibilities and report to the Board. Tom Wilson will develop the charge. The Task Force will meet at Annual Conference in Chicago, report to the Board by November and plan to meet with the Board at Midwinter.

Discussed the establishment of an endowment. The materials were reviewed and a number of questions were considered. If the endowment trustees offer to meet with member groups at Annual Conference, we will ask a representative to meet with the LITA Board and continue the discussion.

Reviewed the Forum program/poster session proposals process. Recommendations are:

1) Keep the deadline for proposals firm. If necessary, it would be better to extend the call rather than accept proposals after the deadline.

2) Handle preconferences in the call for proposals.

3) Develop guidelines for poster session.

The LITA International Relations Committee plans were discussed in terms of sponsorship and Forum processes. The Committee plans to invite a colleague from Latin America or South America who would not be able to attend without support. The Committee has found a sponsor willing to provide $2,000. The Committee also wants to offer the guest a poster session opportunity. The Committee is being advised that the poster opportunity is not available and that in the future, the Committee needs to make plans according to established programming deadlines and sponsorship processes.

Discussed the need for reviewing standards. The issues include the unpredictable timing and the range of needed expertise. Considered establishing a coordinator position. Discussion will be continued and a process will be established.

Received Karen Schneider’s report on establishing a LITA Blog. Plan to try it for a year to learn what’s involved. Karen will take the lead.

Discussed open access and ITAL. Recommending:

continue to put parts up for all,
post full text initially for members only,
post full text for all after one year.

Broadened discussion to consider other Web services. Recommend keeping all current services available to all. Each new service will be considered. Recommend the membership directory for members only. Plan to ask the Committee to consider what new items they have. The new web design will include a log on option. Bonnie Postlethwaite will discuss the technical issues with Michelle Frisque. Recommendations will be developed and submitted to the full Board.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 pm.