Lone Star Docs
The Newsletter of the Government Documents Round Table
of the Texas Library Association
Vol. 4, #1 Fall 1997

Minutes of the TLA GODORT Business Meeting
TLA Annual Assembly, July 21, 1997

Attendees: Brenda Barns, Chair; Nancy Anderson, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; "Vickie" Phillips, Secretary/Treasurer; Cathy Hartman, Councilor; Bennett Ponsford; Stephen Short; Brad Meyer; Jack Becker; Laura Heinz; Diana Houston; Susan Norrisey; Laura Baker; Tom Rohrig; and Melody Kelly

Welcome & review of GODORT objectives: Government Documents Round Table Chair Brenda Barnes welcomed members then went on to address the GODORT objectives for 1997-98. These objectives are:

1. Create and maintain a TLA GODORT web page.
2. Create two GODORT listservs (one for the executive board and one for the membership).
3. Increase membership and communication among documents librarians in Texas.
4. Plan and present a 1998 TLA Conference program focusing on international and local government resources and information.

Annual Conference program planning: Nancy Anderson advised the group that the GODORT business meeting and 1998 conference program will be held on a Friday, rather than the traditional Thursday, next year. The conference will be in San Antonio. The business meeting will be April 3, 1998 from 8:00-9:50 with the program following from 10:00-11:50. The GODORT Electronic Resources Committee, chaired by Cathy Hartman, will hold its conference program from 2:00 - 3:50 on April 3rd also. The thought at this time is to have the afternoon program be a demonstration of the morning program. Nancy and Cathy will be ironing out the details in the GODORT Electronic Resources Committee meeting which will be held this afternoon. Although the nature of the program is unknown at this time, Nancy would like both programs to be put on a PowerPoint disk.

Minutes of '97 Annual Conference: Since copies of the minutes from Annual Conference had been distributed, "Vickie" Phillips asked that members scan them for corrections. With two minor corrections noted, they were approved by the membership.

Treasurer's report: "Vickie" highlighted the current Treasurer's Report which was for July, 1996 - June, 1997. The balance was $767.67. It was noted that for the Pre-Conference:

• $ 1,665.00

• $333.00 (TLA's charge)
• $250.00 (1/2 of Mass transportation cost)
• $177.19 (1/2 of Printing cost)
• $666.00 (Reference Round Table's part after TLA's charge)

• $238.81

(There was some confusion regarding a $28.00 charge that the TLA accountant had told "Vickie" was a Pre-Conference expense. "Vickie" will check this out and get back to the members present).

Councilor's report: Cathy Hartman, TLA GODORT councilor, reported that the association is very sound and is looking toward expansion. They have upgraded one temporary position to full-time and all staff have received raises. They have made a statement to the effect that the entry level pay of new librarians should be at least $28,000.00 per year. Cathy pointed out that the next meeting would be July 21, 1997 at 10:00 P.M.

GODORT liaison report: The membership was notified that Kay Schlueter is now the GODORT liaison for the TLA Program Committee. Elizabeth Snapp continues to be the TLA Executive Board liaison. Neither Kay nor Elizabeth attended the meeting.

1. Listservs: Tom Rohrig first reported that Tess Trost sent her thanks to GODORT for their contribution to send her to the Tall Texans Institute. He mentioned that an article about her experiences will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Texas Library Journal.

   Tom reported that TLA has approved two listservs for GODORT: One is called TLA-GOVDOCEB-RT. This listserv is for the GODORT Executive Board and will be a closed unmoderated list onto which only subscribers can post. Because the need of a moderator exist for TLA purposes, the membership voted that the previous Chair should hold that position, in this case, Tom Rohrig. Tom will serve until the new Chair takes office at which point the moderator position will pass to the previous Chair. Although the list will be unmoderated, the moderator will keep an eye on the e-mail that flows through the listserv.

   The other listserv is for the general GODORT membership and will be named TLA-GOVDOCGM-RT. It too will be a closed unmoderated list. The membership then held a discussion as to who the Moderator should be, should it be closed or open, how will non-subscribers who want to post to the list be handled, what will be the Moderator's role, should we have an Archives and should we have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section. After some discussion the group voted to approve both listservs with the previous GODORT chair being Moderator of TLA-GOVDOCEB-RT and Susan Norrisey volunteering to be the Moderator of the second listserv, TLA-GOVDOCGM-RT.

   A question was raised as to whether or not the GODORT Liaison should be added to the Executive Board Listserv. The group agreed that they should be added if they opted to be. Tom said he would check on this and let the group know.

2. Web Page: Susan Norrisey reported on the progress of the GODORT Web Page. A draft was circulated followed by membership discussion. So far the Web Page has a link to GODORT officers and committees, the GODORT Bylaws and Standing Rules and the TLA home page. A link to our Lone Star Docs newsletters and several Government Documents Websites are being worked on. The group agreed that the Round Table's accomplishments and goals should be added to the Home Page. These include:
   • GODORT's Programs on Government Resources & Electronic Information Resources
   • GODORT's Directory
   • GODORT's Booth at Annual Conference

3. Membership/Publicity: Bennett Ponsford reported that the membership committee will be working on a brochure to advertise the benefits of GODORT membership. The committee hopes to have the brochure ready by next conference so that it can be distributed at the GODORT Booth.

4. Newsletter: Bennett is looking for ideas for the next newsletter including reports on any conferences attended by the membership. She would like all information sent to her by the end of August so that she can have the newsletter ready by the end of September. If you have anything to contribute please contact Bennett at bennett.ponsford@wtamu.edu.

5. GODORT Booth: Both Brenda and "Vickie" reported that our booth at TLA was again a success. The membership voted to continue the "Booth Tradition" with Brenda bringing the backdrop and "Vickie" supplying the "Brochure Holder." The cost of the booth was $68.00 plus $28.00 for an extra table.

Election of Nominating Committee for new officers (Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Secretary/Treasurer): This years nominating committee will consist of Susan Hidalgo (Chair), Brad Meyer and Laura Baker. Besides electing a new Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Secretary/Treasurer, the group needs to elect a new councilor with the runner-up becoming the alternate councilor.

TLA Strategic Plan & GODORT: The TLA Executive Board had asked GODORT to discuss the TLA Strategic Plan and identify the following:

1. All the objectives that are appropriate to GODORT
2. Which two or three objectives are GODORT's highest priorities for the year
3. What activities can be accomplished to address the high priority objectives in 2
4. What, if any, additional resources will be needed to accomplish the activities

Other Business: The question of where GODORT stood on our schedule of articles for the TLA Journal arose. The article on gardening sources to be written by Susan Norrisey and Cathy Hartman has not yet been written nor has the article that Melody Kelly agreed to do on document sources for K-12. Diana Houston stated that the article written by Carol Winship and herself had already been published. Her understanding from Mark Smith, current editor of the TLA Journal, was that if you wanted to do an article that you should get in touch with him and he would advise you from there. Tom agreed to check with Mark Smith on this issue.

Adjournment of Meeting: Brenda Barns adjourned the meeting at 12:00 Noon.

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