Executive Board Meeting Minutes Saturday, July 29, 2000 TLA Annual Assembly Austin, Texas |
| Jack Becker | Sherri Lazenby |
| Tina Oswald | Bobbie Johnson |
| Elspeth Blakeman | Fran Ebbers |
| Nancy Anderson | John Hepner |
| Marian Jackson | Susan orrisey |
| Patricia Stinson Switzer | Tom LaFleur |
Martha Tarlton| Jeffrey Levy |
|
| Lynne Hambric | Beth Perry |
The meeting was called to order by RRT Chair, Jack Becker at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, 2000 at the Hyatt Hotel in Austin, Texas, during the TLA Annual Assembly.
All were reminded that the TLA Conference for 2001 would be held in San Antonio from Wednesday, March 28, 2001 through Saturday, March 31, 2001.
Martha Tarlton gave the Treasurer’s Report for Sandy Gillman, who was not able to attend. There is a total of $7,918.88 in the RRT account.
Tina Oswald read the Minutes for the last RRT Executive Board Meeting for Sandy Gillman. They were approved.
Tina Oswald, Chair-Elect, reported on the RRT program for the 2001 TLA Conference. The program is tentatively titled: Information Literacy: Librarians and Teachers Bridging the Gap. The program will look at teachers and librarians who have worked together to bring information literacy to their students through a change in the way library use and doing research is taught. The panel will consist of a librarian and professor from an academic library, a librarian and teacher from a middle school, and a public library librarian. The program has been scheduled for Thursday, March 29, 2001, from 10:15 -11:50 a.m. Those who have ideas for a catchy title can contact Tina at toswald@sfasu.edu.
Having preconferences is a good way for RRT to make money, but it is hard work. Jack Becker spoke to this topic. Last year as the Chair-Elect, he chose to do both a program and a preconference. At the present, if a preconference is done, it is the job of the Chair-Elect. The Chair-Elect also has the duty of setting up the RRT program. That is too much to ask one person to do. It was felt that a separate committee be set up to arrange the preconferences, with the Chair-Elect concentrating on the program. A preconference gives RRT visibility, membership gains, and profit. There was discussion about whether preconferences should be planned yearly, or every other year. There was a general consensus that RRT do a Genealogy Preconference again in Dallas for the 2002 TLA Conference. A Genealogy Preconference was done for the 2000 TLA Conference. It was felt that the 2002 preconference should focus on Spanish, Asian and Native American genealogy.
Jack also led the discussion on RRT being asked for donations. In the past RRT has given funds to the TALL Texan Leadership Development Institute and Legislative Day. It was moved that RRT give $300.00 to support TALL Texans and $200.00 for Legislative Day. Both of these are the amount for one year. The motion passed.
Sherri Lazenby reported on the work of the Planning Committee. The committee is hard at work on the next edition of Texas Reference Sources. Volunteers are needed to be reviewers and editors for the different subject areas. The General Editor will be Lynne Hambric. The committee also needs titles to be submitted that will be included in the work. They are going to begin by contacting the previous editors to see if they are willing to serve again. Internet sites will be included in the new edition. There was also discussion about whether the new version would just be a web version, with no print version available. For that, there would need to be underwriters to cover the cost of ongoing maintenance, and a host for the site, perhaps TLA or an academic institution. The print version in the past has made only a small amount of money. It is usually used as a buying guide and the electronic version could contain links to the publisher's home pages for ordering information. Perhaps the publishers would be willing to pay a fee for the links. If it was an online version, then the Planning Committee could update one section every year.
The Program Committee arranged the days and times for the RRT meetings to be held at TLA Conference 2001. The RRT program will be on Thursday, March 29, 2001, from 10:15-11:50 a.m. to be followed by a short business meeting. The RRT sub-committees will meet on Thursday, March 29, 2001, from Noon-1:50 p.m. The RRT Executive Board meeting will be on Friday, March 30, 2001, from 10:00-11:50 a.m.
The Public Relations Committee is still working on getting a logo designed for RRT. Once a logo is decided on, they will look into the possibility of having an RRT banner made. The logo can also be used to put on the cover of the Texas Reference Source Award book. It was decided to look into the possibility of the Art Department at a university being asked to design the logo, perhaps as a class project. There was also some discussion on whether or not the TLA office could be asked to assist with the logo design. A motion was made and seconded that RRT give a set amount of no less than $350.00 for a banner to be made that would include the new logo. The banner would be placed in the booth of the publisher who won the Texas Reference Source Award. The banner would also be used to give the RRT booth visibility. The Executive Board of RRT would have to approve the amount to be paid for the banner. The motion passed.
There was also discussion about whether or not the authors of the Texas Reference Source Award should be given recognition. At the present, the publisher of the award winning book is given a plaque. It was decided that if there are three or fewer authors, then they would each receive a smaller plaque. All of the author plaques should not exceed a total of $75.00. A motion was made for this. It was seconded and passed.
At the present, John Hepner is the Web Committee for RRT. He began his report by stating that the RRT site needs to be updated. As John is also the RRT newsletter editor, he also reported that he would like to put the newsletter out in a web version. Much discussion followed on the possibility of doing the newsletter in a web version only. The newsletter is expensive to produce and send out (476 members, 8-page newsletter, $1,300.00 per issue, 2 issues per year). It was mentioned that most librarians have web access at work. However, John pointed out that there are one quarter of RRT members who do not list an e-mail address. This also raised discussion on the ballots, which are usually sent out in the Fall newsletter. There is always the possibility, with online ballots, that people can vote more than once. However, with the small number of ballots that are usually received by the Nominating Committee, that was not seen as a huge problem. John then noted that the nominations need to be turned in so that they can be included in the Fall newsletter. The Spring issue should be out prior to TLA Annual Conference. It was requested that more RRT members send in things for the newsletter, especially news notes.
The Texas Reference Source Award committee is seeking more participation from all colleagues. They are in need of titles to be recommended for the award. The winner of the 2001 award is A Field Guide to Common Texas Insects. A total of nine titles were submitted for the award, and most of the nominations were from the publishers, not librarians. The committee would like to see that change. It was suggested that the committee use an e-mail directory of RRT members and send out reminders for librarians to send in their nominations for the award. TLA can supply us with an e-mail directory of RRT members.
John Hepner gave the report from the TLA Centennial Celebration Circle. It has been decided not to do the time capsule. They are at work compiling a list of 100 Texas Library Champions. This will be a list of the 100 people, organizations, etc. that have had a significant impact on libraries in the State of Texas. The President’s Party for the Centennial Year will be a soiree.
It was noted that the 2001 Conference pins are available.
Jana Knezek, the RRT Executive Board Liaison, reported that a dues increase for TLA is being discussed. The Council will vote on the dues increase, then the vote will go to the membership. If it passes, the increase in dues will go into effect in 2002. It will be a 30% increase overall. It was mentioned that the last dues increase was in 1981. We will have the opportunity to discuss this online for 8 months prior to the vote.
The speakers for TLA Annual Conference 2001 include: Clifford Stohl for the General Session, Edna Buchanon for the
Adult Services Luncheon, and Richard Peck at the Closing Luncheon.
Submitted August 25, 2000 by Tina A. Oswald for Sandy Gillman