Chair Adam Wright called the Automation and Technology Round Table’s Annual Assembly business meeting to order at 10am on July 12, 2004, in Austin, Texas, and welcomed everyone present. Introductions were made around the table…attending were: Adam Wright, Angela Skaggs, Shelley Leader, Virginia Allen, Tricia Brauer, Sharon Castleberry, Carol Kelley, Jill Emery, Richard Wayne, Dion Melton, Vaughn Branom, Kathleen Walls, Denise Landry-Hyde, Naomi Dominguez, Becky Pruett, Walter Betts, Christine Peterson, Vickie Phillips, Leanna Cowan, Nancy Buchanan, Diane Neal, Melody Kelley, and Mary Perroni.

The first order of business was the acceptance of the meeting agenda, moved by Nancy Buchanan, seconded by Chris Peterson, and unanimously approved by those present.

Secretary/Treasurer Angela Skaggs presented the minutes from the March 20, 2004, ATRT meeting at Annual Conference for approval. Minor corrections were made. Jill Emery moved the acceptance of the minutes as corrected, and Nancy Buchanan seconded the motion. The motion passed.

According to TLA, our balance as of June 30 was $7,829.34. Examination of the financial report led Chris Peterson to question whether the Round Table’s (RT) accounts had been credited with an expected $2500 ($2400 in the Annual Conference minutes) donation from NetTrekker. Adam will check with TLA on this matter, and will also check with NetTrekker to see if they will continue their support in the coming year. Chris also noted that this year, perhaps for the first time, NetFair and the Technology Showcase broke even. The RT even cleared $752 from the 2004 pre-conference. Adam pointed out that the RT has a very healthy balance in its accounts, and that ATRT is able to do more than many other groups with more limited resources. To that end, he suggested that the RT set a goal of maintaining a $5,000 buffer, but commit to using any funds above that to help various causes. The ensuing discussion was supportive of that suggestion.

Old Business:

Because of the RT’s contribution of $500 to the Library Technology Now project, Diane Neal and Adam Wright, LTN’s co-web producers, provided a progress report. Diane is in charge of the editorial and marketing aspects, while Adam is handling the web development and the back end. LTN is envisioned as a one-stop shopping place for information on library technology. Contributors will do hands-on reviews of currently held technology, or may obtain technology and review it. Interest in collaboration of some sort has been expressed by several other groups (ex: Library Journal, Computers in Libraries).

Dave Clarke of Synapse has generously donated Synaptica, a $92,000 software package, for use by LTN. Work is underway to develop a thesaurus for use in the LTN project, utilizing this knowledge management and indexing software application, which should be set up and ready to use in early to mid August.

Much interest has been generated by the recent publicity for the project, with offers of help coming in not only from all over Texas, but also from all over the United States and even from Canada and Australia! Angela Skaggs is going to serve as the coordinator of volunteers, developing and maintaining a list of confirmed offers of assistance.

Diane is head of the editorial board, which will be meeting next Wednesday, July 21, to set guidelines. Jill suggested that The Charleston Advisor, a software review product, might be helpful as a good pattern for modeling the editorial guidelines.

Adam reported that there has been such a tremendous response to the concept of this project that LTN may apply for an IMLS grant in 2005. Such a grant would require matching funds, but the Synaptica donation will provide a substantial matching fund. The moneys could be used to fund a position to manage the project, which is becoming more time-consuming than Adam and Diane can maintain indefinitely.

Shelley asked about Web Junction, and Adam reported that he has contacted them and has not received a response yet. He has a contact there, however, and will follow up that lead.

TLA has asked for a program on Library Technology Now at the 2005 Annual Conference. Plans are to launch the website immediately after that.

Anyone wanting to volunteer for LTN can contact Angela at volunteer@librarytechnologynow.com (Adam will establish that email as soon as he gets back).

Richard Wayne distributed a printout to accompany his report on the "T4 – Top Texas Technology Trends for its Libraries" effort. The purpose of T4 is for the RT to have its technology-savvy members identify the top technology trends for Texas libraries. A draft version of the timeline and a list of criteria for selection of the top trends were included, along with a list of interested ATRT members who are assisting with the project. Richard indicated that he would like to see these efforts result in a technology trends article for Texas Library Journal, and perhaps in a NetFair 2005 presentation. He suggested that the criteria as presently stated may be too extensive, and may need trimming, and asked the RT for suggestions that might speed up the process – perhaps having ATRT trim to the top 5, instead of the top 10, or should we open the query to the larger TLA membership. Adam responded that he thought TLA would look to the RT to advise anyhow, as we are the experts, to which Richard agreed. Chris pointed out that general TLA members have no time to look forward (to trends), and need us to do it for them. These thoughts seemed to reflect the consensus of those present. Richard asked for members to email him (richard.wayne@utsouthwestern.edu) with topics, suggestions, offers of assistance, etc.

Nancy Buchanan reported on conference program planning. This year we have had to deal with two major changes: 6:00pm yesterday was the deadline for the 2005 conference event form, and every program being proposed must be reviewed and scheduled by the TLA Conference Program Planning Committee (CPPC). This is being done to avoid duplication, and to try to ensure that all interest areas are addressed. NetFair will be the same time as usual, and Adam and Diane are scheduled to present the topics to the CPPC for approval this afternoon. Nancy also said that, among CPPC members, ATRT has a reputation for quality programs, and the committee is simply watching for duplication of effort and conflicting timing. Pre-conferences are not being reviewed by the CPPC at this time. The Technology Showcase does not have to go through the CPPC. Nancy reported that co-sponsorship must now involve some financial donation, although the amount is not specified, and, therefore, could be small.

Jill Emery asked if the revised timeline for program planning would be posted to the web for everyone to see. Nancy replied that the dates have not yet been announced, but there has been discussion on adding training for program planning to the annual conference schedule. Chris suggested that election dates might need to be adjusted also so that new officers can make plans to attend any such training at annual conference. Nancy will pass this concern along.

Melody Kelly, our liaison to the Executive Board, explained that the "Foothills Fiasco" last year (where people camped out in their sleeping bags in the hallways to be sure get at the front of the line to book their programs) has led to this new, more structured way of doing things – TLA has just grown too large to continue to operate as it has in the past. She said that many groups are establishing a program planning committee consisting of the past chair, the current chair, and the chair-elect for the sake of continuity of ideas and mentoring. Melody also mentioned the People to People Ambassador Program, which will visit China or Russia in 2005; anyone interested in being a delegate leader (all others who participate will have to pay their own way) should let the Executive Board know of his/her interest right away. Members were reminded that their home districts can request up to $1,000 from the Best of the Best fund to help pay for improved programming at local district meetings. Catherine Lee is the TLA contact for Best of the Best funds, as well as for the CPE units that districts will want to offer. Members were encouraged to attend tonight’s Apocalypse Now program, scheduled from 7:45 to 9:00, and were reminded that Legislative Day in Austin will be February 15-16, 2005. Contributions to the Legislative Reserve Fund were solicited.

Discussion next turned to the new business topic of the ATRT Stipends to the 2005 Annual Conference. Last year two stipends were awarded, but one of the recipients received another stipend and was kind enough not to take ours, as well. Shelley spoke to this subject – she had only three applicants last year, so she handled the process herself. Vickie Phillips agreed to be responsible for the RT’s stipends for the coming year, and Adam offered to assist if needed. Sharon suggested that we consider distributing applications through the District meetings to see if we can get more responses.

The next new business topic was the 2005 Preconference. Initially the officers debated whether to do a preconference this year because they were not sure that we broke even. When the final numbers were crunched, however, we not only broke even, but we also made a small profit. Setting up a wireless network was the only topic suggested when Adam polled the RT by email, and it received an 80% positive response rate. We are fortunate that our own Richard Wayne and Jerry McCulley have agreed to present this program. The Cataloging Round Table has asked to be a co-sponsor, but Patricia said that this was not mentioned at their meeting, and those who belong to both RTs expressed concern that the Cataloging RT may not have sufficient funds to co-sponsor, if TLA is going to require that all co-sponsorships involve cash support. Naomi indicated that she had been authorized to tell the RT that the State Library has $500 to donate to ATRT for either a conference program or the pre-conference.

There was considerable discussion of whether the pre-conference should be half-day or full day in length. Richard expects to address the actual setting up of the basic wireless network, and Jerry will cover securing that network. The consensus seemed to be that the content was unlikely to be sufficient to require a full day. The possibility of offering the pre-conference in the morning and again in the afternoon was mentioned, and may be pursued later if it seems that two time slots are justified. Richard indicated his willingness to commit a full day to presenting the program, but Jerry was not present and would have to be consulted.

Chris suggested that it would be helpful if the program includes how to help patrons who come in to the library with a laptop with or without a wireless card. Sharon and Patricia suggested it would be helpful to include handheld applications, but that seems to be an idea worthy of another program at another time.

Several ideas were floated for improving the marketing of the pre-conference, including giving participants a book or CD-ROM or a wireless card to take home with them. Chris suggested also that the conference program should include the URL to a link on our web page with more specifics about the pre-conference than can be included in the brief amount of space allotted in the official program.

Diane Neal reported on the NetFair program she has put together and will present to the CPPC this afternoon. She has lined up the following excellent presenters and topics:

The Technology Showcase for the 2005 Annual Conference will be coordinated by Beth Marsh and Angela Skaggs.

Adam indicated that, in addition to the Cataloging Round Table, a couple of other groups have expressed interest in co-sponsoring with ATRT.

Once the 2005 Conference business was taken care of, Adam asked for help with the RT’s web site. Someone is needed to make sure that the minutes, agendas, officers, and programs are loaded and kept current. It is helpful to know HTML, although the information is sent to TLA to actually be posted. It is estimated that this task will require some attention a couple of times each quarter. Vickie Phillips offered to take on this responsibility for the RT.

TLA is asking for contributions to the Legislative Reserve Fund. Sharon moved that ATRT donate $2,000, and Vickie seconded. The motion was approved. Adam encouraged participation also in Legislative Day.

Chris announced that she is doing the Internet Room at the 2005 Annual Conference, and she solicited suggestions for improvement. Aside from a request that there continue to be at least 30 standing stations provided, and more than 1 ADA station, if possible, the group seemed to feel that the Internet Room operates pretty well.

Diane announced that she would be on the program committee for Annual Conference 2006. In fact, the Chair of ATRT will be on the Conference Program Planning Committee from now on. Adam said that he had requested that the Chair-elect be placed on the CPPC, but Pat Smith has decided the Chair should occupy that seat.

The meeting adjourned at 11:35am.

RETURN

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