Present: Robin Ewing, Victoria Peters, Stephanie McConnell, Karen Docherty, James Caufield, Kimberly Clarke, Linda Eells, Anne Mackereth, Julie Kelly, Jim Newsome

Karen Docherty called the meeting to order at 12:30pm. Stephanie McConnell was welcomed, and Board members introduced themselves. As Stephanie was attending by ITV, we made sure she could see and here all of us, and we could see and hear her.

Following an earlier Robin Ewing correction, the Minutes of the December 2004 meeting were approved and will be posted to the MLA website.

1. MLA Conference Planning-

   Victoria Peters, who attended the MLA Conference Planning meeting, reported on deadline dates and the basic process for the Conference Planning cycle. The Board brainstormed on how best to get program ideas from the membership. It was decided that Victoria Peters will compose a solicitation e-letter with an application form, to be sent to members by Stephanie McConnell. Karen Docherty will get Stephanie up to speed on how to communicate with the ARLD list.

   Potential topic areas were discussed. James Caufield recommended Information Literacy. Along with Information Literacy, other topics of special interest to be included in the solicitation letter are Collection Development, Ethics, Cataloging electronic resources and the web, Copyright issues, NISO-ISBN standards, Google Scholar, and a student panel timeslot.

   James Caufield recommended that our webpage have an email box for soliciting program ideas from members on a regular basis.

   Alison Schaub of MLA has agreed that there will be an opportunity for us to sponsor poster sessions at the conference.

   There was discussion of a possible keynote speaker. There was also discussion of the need for a time for ARLD members to socialize at the conference.

2. Volunteering at ACRL 2005- general call and hosted dinners

   Karen Docherty will send out a reminder to members that there will be opportunities to volunteer at the ACRL Conference in Minneapolis in April. The Hosted Dinners were discussed. Julie Kelly will send out a note to the list inviting members to be hosts for hosted dinners, and explaining what they are. Jim Newsome will bring a Minneapolis downtown dining guide to the next ARLD Board meeting. There will be an opportunity for people to sign up electronically for the dinners, as well as at the conference.

3. @Your Library Update-

   Karen Docherty continues to work with MINITEX to find a co-sponsor and co-presenter for an @your library session in St. Cloud. Anne Mackereth will contact Susan Motin, who has agreed to be a co-presenter, about her input on how we should proceed with planning.

4. ARLD Dialogues Update

   Victoria Peters reported on the upcoming ARLD Dialogue in Mankato, on Friday March 4^th. Debra Gohagan, a local faculty member will present information on cutting edge technologies. She is willing to take her presentation on the road, should other libraries be interested in hosting another Dialogue in the future. She is often free on Mondays and Fridays.

   There was discussion of what to do if others wished to attend the event in Mankato. Karen Docherty will contact the MLA Office to ascertain if they can help with registration. Then Scott and Victoria will work on registration details.

5. ARLD Brochures Update

   MINITEX delivered the ARLD brochures to member academic libraries. Stephanie McConnell will write a follow-up email, reminding members to show the brochures to non-MLA peers in their libraries.

   5a. ACRL Members as ARLD Members-

   A brief discussion ensued of Minnesota ACRL members being members of ARLD (they are), and therefore of them being able to get member conference rates (they should).

6. MEMO/MLA Literacy Initiative

   Julie Kelly reported on the MEMO/MLA Literacy initiative. MEMO is the Minnesota Educational Media Organization, i.e. the School Librarians and Media Center folks. Julie Kelly is our ARLD rep. to the initiative. There is a joint task-force looking at technology The Initiative is exploring ways to inform the Minnesota community of the importance of information literacy in the schools, and therefore of the importance of media specialists to teach it. It was mentioned that this argument might be enhanced by testing the information literacy skills of incoming college first-year students, and correlating them with whether they had media specialists in their schools. Julie Kelly will continue to solicit input on information literacy issues of mutual concern between school libraries and academic libraries.

7. ARLD Procedures-

   Tabled until next meeting

8. Interest Groups/Collegial Groups/Learning Groups –next steps

Tabled until next meeting

1. ACRL Rules

   Karen Docherty reported that ACRL rules require Board Members of ARLD to be members of ACRL. All now are. However, this should be written into the ARLD by-laws to ensure that future candidates for ARLD office know the rule. The rules also require the filing to ACRL of an ARLD annual report. This is the Chair’s responsibility.

2. Leadership Institute-

   Kimberly Clarke reported on the meeting of the MLA Leadership Institute Committee. The deadline for applications has been extended until February 11^th. There are a sufficient number of applicants to proceed.

3. ARLD Day-

Because of ACRL and other activities there will be no ARLD Day this Spring. At a later date, Julie Kelly and Karen Docherty will send a note explaining this to members.

February 25^th, 12:30-3:00 pm. MLA Office Area.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jim Newsome, Secretary