Executive Board Meeting

October 5, 1996
Whitefish, Montana

Approved - April 25, 1997

Absent: Suzy Holt, Mary Wood

Leilani called the meeting to order at 1:20 p.m.

The board reviewed the minutes of the 2/24/96 meeting, and made one correction: Betty Jo Jensen presented the draft, not the final, report of the PNC 1995 Annual Meeting.

Chapter Council - Bonnie reported that there were no controversial issues in 1995-96 and that:

• The chapter project has been endowed by Majors for $11,000, so the Council will not be asking for money from chapters to fund projects. The first project to be funded is that of a chapter selling mugs to raise money to donate to the Cunningham scholarship fund. The award is made following normal MLA awards procedures. Bonnie, who is on the jury, has not yet received criteria. Interested individuals may submit proposals to Marcy for the $500 awards; the applications are due November 1. Members of the board later suggested that the PNC Compass Project, the project to connect non-Internetted libraries, and developing an electronic newsletter could be submitted.
• All chapters are now incorporated.
• MLA approved a project, a cookbook, in memory of Daniel Richards.
• October is Medical Libraries Month.
• Some MLA bylaws changes have been recommended, e.g., Fellows still active in the profession would pay dues.
• The SLA Biological Sciences Division defeated the proposal for a medical division.
• [Nancy suggested that since she will not need funding to go to Chapter Council when MLA is in Seattle, the Council can get a room or a suite.]
• Chapter Council wants to do away with compliance; the MLA membership will be voting on the issue in Seattle.
• Council discussed conformity in writing chapter histories.
• Council discussed Social Responsibility" - the effort by MLA not to use organizations with discriminatory practices.
• MLA wants to revamp C, using more distance learning techniques.
• Council discussed the MLA ad that pictures Linda Garr Markwell.

MLANET - Nancy Press, as the MLANET liaison, reported that there is little activity on the MLANET front. She will be doing the Chapter Council Web page, when several concerns are addressed.

Bylaws - Jan led the board through a discussion of an extensive list of suggested changes and questions, most of which she thought were necessary to bring the chapter bylaws into conformity with the MLA model chapter bylaws. She will lead the discussion at the Business Meeting on Tuesday. Jan reported at the evening session that the bylaws will have to go through the national MLA review process, so there may be some delays, but SHE WILL GET THEM OUT TO THE MEMBERSHIP FOR APPROVAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Annual Meeting: Susan Long gave an update on the 1996 annual meeting. Seventy members had paid for registration, excluding cancellations, and 57 CE class registrations had been made. She was still hopeful the meeting would break even financially. Leilani asked for ways PNC can assist the local committees.

Membership: Natalie reported that the chapter has a total of 155 members (4 life, 18 new, 133 renewals); this time last year it had 202. There may be additional memberships paid with registration. NATALIE WILL WRITE IT INTO THE RESPONSIBILITY MANUAL THAT THE MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY IS TO SEND A MEMBERSHIP LIST TO THE MEETING REGISTRAR WHEN THE REGISTRATION PACKET IS RECEIVED.

[Natalie: did we develop suggestions for trying to increase membership? If so, please send along info for minutes.]

Newsletter: Vicki distributed Mary's written report and discussed it. Mary is resigning as editor. Marcy, as chair of the ad hoc Task Force, will lead the discussion of the future of the newsletter at the business meeting. She has not yet appointed others to her task force because other groups are considering the issue.

Election Results were announced unofficially:
Chair - Maryanne Blake
Recording Secretary - Janice Bacino
Treasurer - Pamela Spickelmier
MLA Nominating Committee candidate - Sherrilynne Fuller

Conference Planning Task Force (P. Spickelmier, J. Henderson, M. Horner, P. Baldwin, C. Mann) will meet tomorrow; Leilani and Vicki will also attend.

Lending Library - almost $300 is left to spend. WMLA, PNC, and the RML cooperate to provide resources to the region's medical librarians. Brynn Beals had suggested one item for purchase; Leilani gave the information to Vicki.

Rogers Award - Nancy Press will prepare a nomination.

Scholarships - One was awarded, to Sue Jackson at Shodair Hospital. The treasurer will roll over the unspent money for trips to MLA in Seattle next year. [See discussion below for CE Development Scholarships.]

Centennial Project - The committee is meeting tomorrow; it will discuss the key issues of budget and a time slot at the Alberta meeting. The committee will solicit pictures from past meetings. Janet Schnall is willing to add photographer to the job of archivist, and she will arrange to have photos taken if she is not coming to an annual meeting. She requested that money be added to the budget for film and developing.

Annual Meeting 1998 - Leilani and Barbara Hatt are still negotiating with the Banff Conference Center. PNC may need to set aside more money for deposits on conference sites than it has in the past.

PNC Funds for Non-Internetted Libraries - The board discussed the criteria for funding from the RML and/or PNC. Leilani had discussed these previously with Neil Rambo and Nancy Press at the RML. Leilani agreed to submit the criteria for publication in the next newsletter and will send special invitations to the four non-connected members the board identified. [Note: This item will not be in the next newsltter, as the next step is to talk again with RML staff.]

PNC Responsibility Manual - Vicki presented a prototype manual for each officer to pass on to her successor. The board agreed it would be helpful to have the documents on the Web.

Treasurer's Report - Vicki distributed a draft financial plan, which included recommendations for better budget tracking. She also distributed budget information for seven years, a budget report, and a treasurer's report. She suggested that annual meeting reports be standardized using Quicken; the treasurer could set up templates. Such a process would facilitate auditing and providing useful information to future meeting planners.

CE Development Scholarships - The board discussed criteria for making awards; it will expand Professional Development funds to include CE development as well as scholarships to attend meetings. NANCY PRESS AGREED TO DEVELOP THE CRITERIA BY THE END OF OCTOBER, APPLICATIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE BY NOVEMBER 15, and up to $1000 is to be encumbered by the end of 1996. The Board will approve the requests. Criteria may include PNC membership, the developed class is sponsored or cosponsored by PNC, and the development cannot be a job responsibility. Applicants will submit a letter of application and a course syllabus.

Annual meeting 1997 - Caroline Mann reported that her Portland committee is meeting monthly, and that most speakers are lined up. Michael Gorman will be the keynote speaker; the theme will be "Surviving and Thriving in the Age of Technology."

Technology Committee - Robin Braun has just been appointed the acting chair.

Research Committee - Nancy Griffin, who has no members on the committee, has been working with the CE committee and the Board on the Compass project. [In its discussion of the bylaws, the board agreed to change the status of the Research Committee from a standing committee to an ad hoc committee.]

Continuing Education - Carolyn Olson reported that her committee held a session in May to work on the long-term needs assessment. She discussed holding a week-long management institute, possibly with academic credit, possibly in cooperation with PNC/SLA.

Respectfully Submitted,
Terry Wiggins
Recording Secretary