ALUW Spring Quarter Meeting: Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Executive Board Members Present:  Cass Hartnett (President), Carole Svensson (Vice President/President Elect), Mark Szarko (Secretary), and Jennifer Ward (Senior Trustee/Treasurer)

Approximate headcount:  31

The meeting was called to order by ALUW president Cass Hartnett at 1:45.  A business meeting preceded the program.

Spring Quarter Business Meeting

Staff development Announcement (Elaine Jennerich)

Elaine encouraged those present to register for 2 workshops:  Research Explorations on May 2 and Framing Research Questions on May 19.

Review of Winter Quarter Meeting Minutes (Cass Hartnett)

The minutes from the Winter Quarter Meeting were approved without any changes.

Reflections of ALUW President (Cass Hartnett)

Cass thanked those present for their confidence in electing her president.  She has enjoyed the experience tremendously, especially as she has learned so much more about university governance and all the various councils and committees on which librarians serve.  Her tenure has also allowed her to reflect on the future of the profession.

Treasurer's Report (Jennifer Ward)

Through April 12, 2005, the numbers look as follows:

                        OPERATING FUND              LEGISLATIVE FUND

Beginning Balance                                 $2389.32                                 $2523.70

Income

   Interest Earned                                  $0.00                                       $3.89

   Fund Contributions                            $130.00                                   $155.00

Expenses

   Winter meeting refreshments  $169.32

   Spring meeting announcements           $20.94

Current Fund Balances             $2329.06                                 $2682.59

Total ALUW Treasury              $5011.65

    (as of April 12, 2005)

Jennifer encouraged those present to please mail in contributions at any time.  She also clarified that money to pay a lobbyist cannot come out of the general fund, which is why ALUW has two.  For this past legislative session in Olympia, Steven Duncan was retained for $1000 to monitor the situation there.

Salary Task Force (Cass Hartnett)

Cass informed the group that ALUW would like to appoint a small task force to look at the salary figures provided by Charles during the Winter Quarter Meeting and factor in cost of living with other institutions across the state and nationally.  She would like the group to work for 3 or 4 months and then report back to the group in the fall.  Joe Kiegel and Linda Whang both volunteered.

Report on President's Advisory Committee on Women (Elaine Jennerich)

Elaine briefly described the group, which was created by President McCormick in 1996 to examine and report on issues of concern to women on campus.  It focuses mostly on staff (classified and professional) and students, since faculty have a separate group that looks at similar issues.  President Emmert would like the Committee's work to continue. 

The group will hold a retreat in the fall.  If anyone has any concerns that they feel the Committee should address, they should e-mail Elaine.

For more information on the Committee's work, please see http://depts.washington.edu/pacw/.

New ALUW Officers for 2005-2006 (Cass Hartnett)

Cass thanked Linda Pitts for her work on the Elections Committee.  The following new officers were announced:

Vice President/President Elect:  Lisa Oberg

Secretary:  Matt Parsons

Junior Trustee:  Linda Whang

Carole Svensson will become President, and Eileen Llona will become senior trustee/treasurer.  Cass also thanked everyone who ran.

Cass then officially passed the gavel to Carole, who will assume her duties as President this summer.  On behalf of the entire ALUW executive board, Carole presented Cass with a small token of appreciation for a job well-done.

Program:  Karen Fisher, Associate Professor & Chair, MLIS program

“Information Behavior in Everyday Contexts”

Professor Fisher summarized some of her findings from a study on the information seeking behavior of University of Washington students.  She explained that her work is predicated on the concept of “information grounds,” which are defined as any social setting where people gather and then share information (such as a bookclub meeting, hairdresser, bus, etc).  Although wider trends seem to indicate that most people turn to interpersonal relationships when they need to know something, 64% of the UW students in her study turned to the Internet.  Of the 27% who said that they turn to strong ties when they need to know something (i.e., an interpersonal relationship), more than half (51%) identified a campus space as their information ground (Red Square, rehearsal room, hallway, etc)

The study also examined why students chose the sources they did.  For those turning to the Internet, reliability (54%) was a key factor (although not everyone interviewed agreed).  For those turning to an information ground, the place itself (84%) was what they liked the most.  Physical factors such as the ambiance of a particular environment seem to go a long way to attracting people and making them feel welcome.

A lively discussion followed Professor Fisher's presentation.  For more information on her work, please see  http://ibec.ischool.washington.edu.