SANDALL Board Meeting
May 12, 2009
11:30am

San Diego County Public Law Library, 1105 Front Street San Diego CA

Meeting called to order at: 11:37

•  Treasurer's Report

II. Business via Email

Items discussed and approved via email by the Board since the last Board meeting.

1) Membership Fee Waiver language for hardship – Approved by Board to place on website. The approved language is as follows: "Membership fees are waived for financial hardship.  Contact a board member for further information."  

2) Articles by vendors – if the main focus is promotional for their business - then it is not allowed in the E-newsletter. At this time, we do not accept advertising in the E-Newsletter.

3) Draft of letter to Mayor and City Clerk regarding the Municipal Code no longer being provide in print - Approved by board . Kudos to Tina Jagerson for taking the lead on this project and drafting the letter.

III. Old Business

•  Board voted to create an Outreach Committee to promote law librarianship. Board to create the Charge and ask for volunteers for the new Committee. (discussed on 7/2/08 and 11/2/08)

John to contact Valerie Railey to see if she is interested in leading the new Outreach Committee, creating the mission statement and forming a committee.

•  Budget Reallocation  (discussed on 7/2/08 and 8/28/08)

On Aug 28 , 2008 the Board Approved the following:
Programs budget to encompass everything - $9000
Lowered the Nominations Budget to $50
Increased the Public Relations Budget to $2000
Added a budget for Board Meeting Expenses - $ 250
Increase the Miscellaneous Budget to $500
Grants Budget increased to $2500 (just for 2008/2009 – return to previous amount of $1500) Removed AALL grants from our revenues.

•  Renew Vendor participation/Advertising in Newsletter to increase revenue (Discussed on 7/2/08 and 11/2/08)

Board proposed that it be folded into next year's Long Range Planning (LRP) Committee Charge. We are looking at ways to create revenue for the chapter. Recommendation to new Board to include this in the LRP Committee – Approved by Board.

•  Create New Member Packets – Leigh and PR Committee (Discussed on 11/2/08)

New Member Packets were created – they include a Key chain, welcome letter, directory, and the latest newsletter.

Leigh to send a packet to Maggie for the archives.

•  Membership Directories with member job titles, Zip code listing and affiliation listing – Leigh (Discussed on 11/2/08)

Directory information is currently at the publisher. This year we included job titles, alpha, zip and affiliation listing. Publisher agreed to additions and will still print for free.

Board proposed to make directory a 2009/2010 edition - Approved by Board .

Leigh to contact publisher and follow up on the final proof.

•  Password protecting of Webpage / directory info (Discussed on 11/2/08)

John to contact Carol regarding posting of new directory information and password protection.

•  Membership Wiki – request to members to see if anyone interested in creating (Discussed on 11/2/08)

John contacted Barbara Glennan regarding suggestions as to who to contact for this project. John asked her to take the lead and seek out people to participate and to make a recommendation to the board as to the best format. Board discussed changing the format to “Web Networking” (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Wiki, Blogs, etc.)

•  Board Wiki – Board voted to create and password protect Wiki for Board use – each Board member has own page (Discussed on 11/2/08)

Board Wiki was created. Charge to the Board to upload information regarding their respective positions and any planning information, documents or procedures that will be useful to future Board members by September 1, 2009.

•  New Book List & Newsletter Links – Board approved inviting organizations to send message on our member listserv with link to their new book lists and newsletter (Discussed on 11/2/08)

John sent out the invitation – no response.

•  Member Outreach – Leigh to compile list of listservs and contact info for places to post invitations to join SANDALL.  John to compare our discussion listserv to membership roster to see who is not a member and invite to join/renew membership in SANDALL. (Discussed on 11/2/08)

The compilation of listservs and the comparison of our listserv roster to the membership roster were ideas proposed to help reach potential new members. Board proposed that these could be a project for the LRP Committee. John will work on these projects next year as Chair of the LRP.

•  SANDALL organize Pacific Chapters reception this year at AALL. (Discussed on 11/2/08)

John is communicating with West regarding the menu for the event – will finalize on 5/13/09. Each Pacific Chapter has committed to giving $300 to make up difference in budget. SANDALL to put $300 toward event.

•  Request from PR Committee to approve items for purchase – to promote SANDALL at AALL.

All items (gift basket, party decorations, stress reliever, brochures) were approved for purchase by the Board with the following instructions:

Stress reliever – (125 for AALL, 125 to remain for other SANDALL events)

Brochure – (50 for AALL, 50 to remain for other SANDALL events)

•  Vendor Appreciation Award approved by Board. Nominations via listserv, select by Board present award at Fall workshop (Discussed on 2/25/09)

Board discussed when to present the Award. John proposed that we do it at the Annual Meeting since that is the last meeting and it is appropriate to have the Board that made the decision actually present the award. The winning vendor will receive a special invitation to attend the Annual Business Meeting.

John to put out a call to the membership for nominations. Estimated cost of Vendor Appreciation Award – $50.

•  Approve GRC mission/charge – Approve with John's additions, not limiting policy to AALL. Send back to Tina with our endorsement and edits – for Tina to redraft final Statement.

Approved by Board - Tina to finalize the draft with John's changes. Tina to send revised GRC Charge and the webliography to Carol Hyne for posting to Web. See attached for approved GRC Charge .

•  Officer updates

President – John Adkins

•  Certificates of Appreciation at the Annual Meeting –

Leigh to work on template for the certificates and work with John on the list of recipients. Once the template has been created, Leigh will forward to Betsy for printing.

•  Suggested that the terms for Board members should be extended to 2 years to help with continuity. Board agreed that it is worth investigating and also investigate staggering election years. Board decided to send this issue to the LRP Committee.

Vice President – Betsy Chessler

•  Spring Workshop was a success, well attended. Received a great response to the evaluations, both in terms of number and remarks. The Key Note Speaker Alan Gin gave an excellent presentation and received high ratings in the evaluations, as did other segments of the program.

•  Future topics for workshops include web tools, management/leadership skills.

•  Fall workshop will be held at Morrison & Foerster , scheduled for Friday, 9/25/09, 9am to 4pm. Topic will be focused on technology tools.

•  Spring Picnic – 15 RSVPs so far. Benita Ghura and Gina Catalano volunteered to be greeters. Michelle Jones volunteered to help with the raffle. Sheila Corman contributed items for raffle – including box seats at Padres. Leigh Inman to make pies as raffle prizes.

The event is a Potluck – bring food to grill and a side dish to share.

Leigh Inman to drop off pies and drinks to Betsy at the Park in AM. Leigh to get drinks, napkins, plates, utensils, trash bags, aluminum foil, raffle tickets. Quantity 30 max.

Funny games – Leigh Inman to check out Party City for prizes/pins, etc.

If not enough money raised at this event we could possibly hold another raffle event at the Annual Meeting.

IV. Other

Annual Meeting tentatively scheduled for June 17 th (Wed)– John to check with Margarita Bull to see if she can host. Betsy to check with Vendors regarding sponsoring the lunch.

Last Board meeting – 1 st week in June. Board to confirm via email on dates. Leigh can host this meeting at TJSL.

Meeting adjourned at: 1:10pm

Respectfully submitted,
Gina Catalano
SANDALL Secretary

Attachment: Government Relations Policy

SANDALL Government Relations Policy
Approved by the Executive Board on May 12, 2009

MISSION STATEMENT

Government Relations

The Government Relations Committee (GRC) acts as a liaison between the San Diego Area Law Libraries (SANDALL) organization and the local, state and federal legislatures. In coordination with the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), the GRC monitors federal and California legislative, regulatory and judicial developments relevant to SANDALL, AALL, law libraries, law librarianship, or the dissemination of public information. The GRC shall report all relevant information to the SANDALL Executive Board and members. The GRC Chair shall advise the Executive Board about notable issues and make recommendations or propose any actions to be taken on behalf of SANDALL.

The SANDALL GRC Chair is appointed by the President for a term of one year. The number of terms a Chair may serve are at the discretion of the Executive Board based on the best interest of the organization. The Chair may appoint additional members as needed to assist with GRC business and activities.

POLICY

Introduction

SANDALL is a local chapter of AALL. SANDALL received Chapter approval in July 1998 and currently has an approximate membership of 120 law librarians and information professionals throughout the San Diego area. The Government Relations Committee received approval from SANDALL's Executive Board as a “standing committee” in 2004, to further reflect SANDALL's ongoing involvement with the community.

This policy is promulgated by the SANDALL Executive Board to direct the Association's policy and advocacy work. SANDALL's policy endorses, but is not limited to, the AALL principles on access to public information, below.

The statement entitled “Principles & Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Websites,” approved by the AALL Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee (AELIC) on February 26, 2007, adopted by the AALL Executive Board on March 24, 2007, and adopted by the SANDALL Executive Board on May 12, 2009, is hereby incorporated in this policy by reference. The AELIC statement articulates SANDALL and AALL policies on creation, access, and distribution of government information in the digital age, and helps to further articulate SANDALL's and AALL's

policies on government information. It outlines five core values that SANDALL and AALL believe are essential guidelines that all government agencies should follow when developing websites that provide information to their citizens, the legal community and other users.  The full text of this statement may be found on AALL's website at: http://www.aallnet.org/committee/aelic/AELIC_Core_Values.pdf

Legislative Advocacy

In consult with the SANDALL Executive Board and in coordination with AALL's Government Relations Committee in Washington D.C., the GRC represents the views of the SANDALL membership to the state and federal legislature through letters, meetings, and testimony when necessary. The GRC coordinates advocacy and lobbying efforts with AALL and other related library associations as needed, including the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL), the Council of California County Law Librarians (CCCLL), Northern California Association of Law Libraries (NOCALL) and the Legislative Committee of the California Library Association (CLA).

The Chair of SANDALL's GRC is the official liaison to AALL's GRC, state and federal governmental bodies, and other library associations. The GRC Chair or his/her designee is responsible for updating, communicating and advocating all relevant SANDALL information and activities to these organizations via listservs, newsletters or other appropriate means.

Statement of Purpose

The GRC serves to promote the information-policy interests of SANDALL. The GRC strives to keep SANDALL members informed of current and relevant information-policy issues effecting SANDALL, law librarians, law librarianship, or the dissemination of public information. When necessary or desirable, the GRC shall assist government decision makers in developing laws, policies and practices consistent with SANDALL's Government Relations Policy and the incorporated statement entitled “Principles & Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Websites.”

On-going Tasks

To effectively carry out its mission and purpose, the GRC will actively monitor California and federal issues important to SANDALL, AALL, law libraries and librarianship and the dissemination of public information. The GRC shall inform the SANDALL Executive Board and members of such issues through regular updates. On-going updates shall be sent via the SANDALL listserv, newsletter or other appropriate means.

The GRC will regularly monitor online legislative databases and applicable online listservs for developments; inform the SANDALL Executive Board and members about legislative issues of interest and deemed sufficiently important to SANDALL through the SANDALL listserv and its newsletter; exchange information with the legislative advocacy sections of other library associations; announce and promote pertinent events as they may arise, including the annual Legislative Days sponsored by California AALL Chapters, the CLA and the American Library Association (ALA).

In furtherance of its mission and purpose, the GRC may at times draft proposed letters and position papers for adoption by the SANDALL Executive Board or the membership. Such documents will be consistent with the views of this GRC Policy, SANDALL, and AALL. If approved, such documents will be communicated to the appropriate governmental bodies and/or other interested groups, as well as to the SANDALL Executive Board and membership.

Conclusion

The SANDALL GRC will inform its Executive Board and association members of current information-policy issues, coordinate efforts with AALL and other relevant library associations for maximum effect, and assist AALL and/or policy makers in the development of laws, policies, and practices consistent with this and AALL's Government Relations Policies.