Minnesota Library Association

Academic and Research Libraries Division

Minutes of the Meeting of November 12, 2004

 

Present:  Kim Clarke, Karen Docherty, Linda Eells , Robin Ewing,  Anna Hulseberg , Julie Kelly, Anne Mackereth, Jim Newsome

 

Julie Kelly called the meeting to order at Noon .

 

The minutes of the Business meeting of October 8th were approved after a minor correction, and the approved minutes sent to MLA for posting to the ARLD web pages.

 

Old Business

 

ARLD Elections

The nominating committee of Kim Clarke and Robin Ewing reported that at this time there are 6 candidates for 5 positions.  More are being solicited.  Logistics for the election were discussed.  Once the nominating committee has created them, Alison will be asked to send out ballots to ARLD members around Thanksgiving.  Before that, Kim and Robin will e-mail the Board when the final slate is set.  Not all positions will necessarily need more than one candidate. The latest version of the vision statement, created by James Caufield, will also be included on the ballot for approval by members.

 

@Your Library

Anne Mackereth reported on the ongoing plans for @Your Library. The current idea is to   hold it in St. Cloud , probably in late March.  Minitex is willing to provide support.  A teacher for the day has been located, and this person has asked for us to help locate a co-teacher. Karen Docherty will work to solidify Minitex involvement.  Anne will continue to work on the logistics for the program, with the help of Minitex, the presenter, and the Board.  The Board asked Anne to keep us informed via e-mail of any new developments. She was thanked for her excellent ongoing work developing this program.

 

ARLD Dialogues

Julie Kelly reported for Scott Marsalis who could not attend.  A Dialogue session is set for Mankato , with another possibility for Concordia-Moorhead.  According to Victoria Peters, they are still choosing topics for the Mankato Dialogue, planned for late February.  Logistics for holding the meetings were discussed.  MLA pays for lunches for ARLD members who attend.  Others are welcome to attend.  Victoria will send Linda Eells an announcement for the ARLD web page, when things are set.

 

MLA Re-Focusing/Student Group/Leadership Institute

The Board discussed possible ways to get more student involvement in ARLD or MLA.   Possibilities include an officially sanctioned student group in MLA.  Another idea is some sort of award for an outstanding Library Science student paper, which could then be presented at the annual conference. A similar idea would set aside a session at the conference for several short student presentations. These papers and presentations would enhance the conference, and give students the opportunity to present in a professional setting. The ARLD Board will revisit this, and Julie Kelly will report our discussions to the MLA Board for further direction.

Julie Kelly reported that the first MLA Leadership Institute is planned for March 29-31st at the College of St. Catherine .  It will offer possibilities for academic librarians to participate. More will be forthcoming from MLA as plans are finalized.

 

MLA Annual Meeting:  Evaluations and De-briefing

Julie will report on program evaluations at our next meeting.  Overall- evaluations were positive. And the Board agreed that it was an excellent conference.  There was a wide variety of program choices, and all were suggested from ARLD non-Board members. This demonstrates wide participation in ARLD activities by members. .There was discussion of evaluation forms and the evaluation process..  Some sessions had attendees filling out both ARLD and MLA evaluations and several people were confused about which to complete.  One comment was that our ARLD evaluations need some opportunities for attendees to rank things or answer multiple choice questions, rather than just answer open-ended queries.

The Board discussed how room selection was sometimes hit-and-miss in estimating crowd sizes. It was suggested that in the future the Conference planners might ask registrants to list program preferences on the registration form, so room planners could get the larger groups into the larger rooms. 

The Board agreed that there is still a perceived need for an ARLD Social Hour or similar event at the conference, with advertising ahead of time. The anticipated social gathering after the train ride did not materialize.

 The Aquarium venue for the reception was praised.

 

ARLD Brochure

Once the ARLD vision statement is approved by members in December, it will be included in the ARLD Brochure.  Then Alison Schaub, MLA Executive Director, will be asked to mail brochures to new ARLD members.  She will also be asked to copy and send 10 each to the directors of each 4 year academic library, and 5 to each 2 year library director, with a recruitment cover letter soliciting membership, and reiterating membership benefits.  Minitex can handle distribution.  Each brochure will be sent with a membership form, as well.  The Brochure will also go on the ARLD website.  Anna Hulseberg and Kim Clarke will talk to Alison about the mechanics of this.  Anna will forward to the Board James Caufield’s copy of the latest vision statement.  Jim Newsome will draft the cover letter for the directors.  The brochures will then be distributed in January, after the ARLD election.

 

Interest Groups/Collegial Groups/ Learning Communities – next steps

 

A discussion ensued of how to create ARLD learning communities, either focused on regions or common interests.  The Board identified two-year colleges as a potential group who might benefit from these communities.  A task force of Kim Clarke, Julie Kelly, Karen Docherty, Robin Ewing, and Victoria Peters was formed to further pursue creation of ARLD interest groups, with an emphasis at this time on Community Colleges.

 

ACRL Conference- Volunteers, hosted dinners  - discussion of this issue was postponed

 

New Business

 

ARLD Procedure Manual-

As the outgoing ARLD chair, Julie Kelly has volunteered to create a procedures manual for the Board – who does what, timelines, etc.  She is working on it and will report back to the Board at a later date.

 

Ideas for Chapter Council article

ARLD is the Minnesota chapter of the Academic, College, and Research Libraries Division of of the American Library Association (ACRL).  ACRL produces a publication called Chapter Topics which contains articles on local chapter happenings.  The Board brainstormed possible topics: a summary of MLA Conference programs, a report on Academic Libraries Day, and mention of the ACRL Conference hosted dinners on April 8th were mentioned as possibilities. Anna Hulseberg has agreed to write the next article.

 

MLA 2005-

The Board began discussion of the 2005 MLA Annual Conference.  A quick check revealed that for MLA 2004,  planning began in January 2004. It was suggested that an announcement of a call for topics and or program proposals be put on our web page.  Ethics was mentioned as one topic that could be emphasized..

 

Info rmation Literacy Standards-

Pamela Salela from St. Cloud State University plans to attend our December meeting to discuss the Info rmation Literacy Standards that MEMO has been active in creating.  It will be an  opportunity to collaborate with them.  Julie Kelly will find the standards and distribute them to the Board before the December meeting.

 

Next Meeting-    December 10th,  Noon 2:30pm ,   MLA Meeting Room

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Newsome, ARLD Secretary