Reference Round Table - Minutes

Minutes		
Reference Round Table
Texas Library Association
April 2, 1981

The annual business meeting of the Reference Round Table was held in Houston 
at 11:00 a.m. on April 2, 1981.

The meeting was called to order by Dean Covington, Vice-chairman and Chair-elect.
The minutes, approved by the Executive Committee, were read.  The Treasurer's 
Report detailed receipts and expenditures since April 1980 and reported a 
balance on hand of $1430.81. The Secretary reported a total membership of 476 
as of March 28.

Jeam Tolbert described the RRT program meeting on the reference interview, 
scheduled to meet on April 3, and urged members to attend.

Dean Covington reported that the Public Library Division program meeting, held 
under joint sponsorship of the PLD and RRT, was a tremendous success.  Tom 
Harnish of OCLC demonstrated Channel 2000 and described its potential use in 
libraries.  The program will be repeated April 3 for members who missed it.

Helen Bell reported on Council activities and asked members to advise her of 
their opinions on Council issues and resolutions, particularly the proposed 
changes in the dues structure.

Ann Graves, Bibliographic Committee, reported on progress in the Texas Periodicals 
Indexing Project.  The Committee is still trying to determine the feasibility of  
the index and is considering the following: how much to produce, who will produce 
it, the potential market, publicity needed, and how to insure its continuance.

Charles Smith reported on the Committee's computer produced pilot index, recently 
produced with funding from Texas A & M, and distributed a summary report.  He 
explained that the Committee will examine the trial index and decide how to proceed 
further. The Committee is considering 100-150 periodical titles for inclusion in 
the projected index.  Opinions of the membership will be sought in a future news-
letter.

The Committee has discussed the use of volunteer indexers and has 12 names so far.  
Volunteers would index one or more journals each for a particular time period.  
The anticipated frequency of publication would be semi-annual with annual cumula-
tions. The possibility of a commercial venture is being considered, but the 
Committee is trying to keep costs down so that small libraries can afford 
the index.  Funding is being sought from TLA and various foundations.

The Nominating Committee's report was presented by Ferne Hyman and there were no 
nominations from the floor.  The following officers were elected by secret ballot:

	Vice-chair and chair-elect:	Linda Sellin	(Houston Public)
	Secretary-Treasurer:		Susan Wilson	(SMU)

Dean Covington announced that RRT needed a member of RASD to attend the meeting
of the Council of State and Regional Groups at ALA this summer. He asked
members who were interested in working on RRT committees to sign up after
the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 a.m.

					Respectfully submitted,

					Wendy P. Gottlieb.
					Secretary-Treasurer
Copyright Š2007, Reference Round Table, TLA
