Annual Reports of the Public Relations Committee
1992-1993
1992-1993 Public Relations (Advisory)The Public Relations Advisory Committee was created in the spring of 1992 as the result of an April 1992 report of the Special Committee on Public Relations that was adopted the same month by the Executive Board. This Special Committee report also included recommendations for the creation of a volunteer position of Public Relations Coordinator and for a $30,000 budget for public relations purposes. Subsequently, Frank Houdek of Southern Illinois University was named Public Relations Coordinator, and Donald J. Dunn of Western New England College was named to a one-year term as the Committee's chair.
The Advisory Committee held its first meeting on July 18, 1993 at the AALL Annual meeting in San Francisco. As its first order of business, Committee members drafted the Advisory Committee's charge. The Committee's charge, approved by the Board on July 24, is "to assist the Public Relations Coordinator in the development and implementation of a long range strategy and a continuing public relations program for the Association and its members and to advise the Public Relations Coordinator and the Executive Board concerning budget and personnel that will successfully accomplish the public relations strategy and program." The Committee also decided to propose a public relations program for the next Annual Meeting and an annual public relations award.
Throughout the year, the Public Relations Coordinator and the Advisory Committee Chair stayed in close contact, discussing PR strategies, resource allocating, and exchanging information that might be useful in the Association's newly established public relations efforts.
In May 1993, the Advisory Committee proposed to the Awards Committee the creation of an annual AALL Public Relations Award to honor outstanding achievement in the area of public relations, which may be presented to an individual, group of individuals, a library, a chapter, and SIS, or any other group associated with AALL whose various activities or programs or one single activity or program is considered to be the most significant public relations activity for the calendar year. The proposal was approved by the Awards Committee at the Boston Annual Meeting and forwarded to the Executive Board for action at its September meeting.
The Advisory Committee also sponsored a successful program in Boston entitled "Public Relations: What Do You Say? How Do You Say It?" This program immediately preceded an enthusiastically received "Public Relations Poster Session" organized by the Public Relations Coordinator.
During the year, great strides were made in public relations on behalf of law librarians, law librarianship, and the Association. These achievements are due in great part to the extraordinary, seemingly tireless efforts of Frank Houdek, our Public Relations Coordinator. The Advisory Committee is extremely grateful for his many outstanding accomplishments.
While the Committee enjoyed some successes in its initial year of operation, the extent of its involvement in overall public relations activities needs further refinement. This will certainly be a matter for the next Committee to address.
"AALL Reports of Chapters, Special Interest Sections, Committees, and Representatives 1992-93," 85 Law Library Journal 873, 902.
1992-1993 Committee Members (Advisory)
Donald J. Dunn, Chair
Michael S. Miller
Ruth Johnson Hill
Marie Wallace
Connie Pine
Patricia G. Strougal
Frank G. Houdek (Ex Officio)
Mary McNulty (Ex Officio)
Carolyn P. Ahearn, Board Liaison
Last Updated: December 11, 2002
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