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Minutes of PLL Business Meeting
July 21, 1996
Indianapolis, IN
Mary Smith Forman called the meeting to order at 10:35 a.m.
Margaret Lundahl moved that we accept the minutes of the last business
meeting as printed in PLL Perspectives; the motion was seconded
and passed.
Mary asked for a moment of silence in memory of our colleagues who
passed away this year:
Ann A. Atwater of Maguire, Voorhis & Wells
Martin Borelli of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue
William D. Murphy of Kirkland & Ellis (retired)
Duane B. Schrock of Hunton & Williams
Mary introduced the officers, then welcomed all to the 19th
official meeting of PLL SIS, the largest section in AALL. She thanked
Donna Tuke Heroy, past AALL Executive Board member, of Alert
Publications, for underwriting the coffee at today's meeting; she also
thanked Holley Moyer and Lexis Nexis for sponsoring our luncheon
speaker, Herbert White. She then asked our past and present AALL
Executive Board members to stand and be recognized.
OFFICERS' REPORTS
Chair's report: This year, the AALL Task Force on the Value of Law
Libraries produced the Tool Kit, Law Librarians: Making Information
Work. The PLL Executive Committee authorized a donation of $7,000
towards this project, to be sure that all our members received the
advantages of the publication. There was no scholarship awarded to a
non-MLS JD student this year. We established two new committees, the
Newsletter Advisory Committee, chaired by Susanne Zumbro, and the
Technology Committee, chaired by Anne Abate, who will work with Mark
Folsombee on a listserv and a home page. Al Podboy attended the
Association of Legal Administrators meeting; to facilitate our
representation at this meeting, from now on the chair of the Public
Relations Committee will be from the city hosting the ALA meeting and
the vice-chair will be from the next site. The PLL brochure has been
revised and copies are available at the activities table. The
Procedures Manual was updated, for the first time since 1990; it
should be updated annually, as it is an important part of our
corporate memory. A new group has formed, the Intellectual Property
Librarians; they will operate informally for three years and can then
petition for recognition. The chair has proposed, and the Executive
Committee has approved in principle, that we work on a long-term
strategic plan, to focus our energies; the details remain to be worked
out.
Michael Saint-Onge, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, encouraged everyone to
come to the luncheon to hear Herbert White. A limited number of
tickets will be available at the door for those who did not prepay.
Cornelia Trubey, Secretary, reported on the election results and
thanked her committee. It was moved, seconded, and approved to destroy
the ballots.
Joan Jarosek, Treasurer, reported that the section is healthy, with
1622 members, and that the treasury is also healthy. We started with
$37,273, had income of $13,577, and posted expenses of $24,216,
leaving a current balance of $26,635.
Al Podboy, Past Chair, reported that our activities at ALA went
very well; he distributed the Tool Kit order form and issues of the
newsletter. It is very important that we continue this effort. He also
worked on the Task Force on the Composition of the Executive Board,
which recommended that voting rights be granted to the Council of
Chapter Presidents and the SIS Council Chairs; however, the Board did
not accept this recommendation. He then expressed his appreciation of
the opportunity to serve PLL and urged everyone to volunteer for AALL
and PLL committees.
Martha Goldman, Executive Committee member, thanked the SIS for the
opportunity to serve.
Sabrina Pacifici, Executive Committee member, served on the Law
Library Journal and Newsletter Advisory Committee this year; she also
represented PLL as a speaker at Legal Tech conferences in Chicago, New
York and Los Angeles.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Carla Evans for the Bylaws Committee: three proposals were posted
on the listserv and published in Perspectives; only one comment was
received; the committee will continue the discussion.
Anne Ellis and Martha Goldman for the Education Committee: we have
five programs this year, the result of a two-year planning process
that submitted a total of eight proposals. The AALL Education
Committee complimented us on the excellence of the proposals and their
presentation. Anne thanked the committee members, especially Aimee
Ruzicka, who will be chair for the Baltimore meeting. Aimee then
discussed the process for Baltimore, which has involved
teleconferences with committee members and the idea generators; four
good ideas have emerged and are being worked on. All are invited to
the meeting later today to discuss them. We get one guaranteed program
next year, so choices are important.
Diane Gates for the Mentoring Committee: we worked closely with the
AALL committee and CONELL this year, taking responsibility for PLL
partcipants; now our mentoring chair is also on the AALL committee. A
total of 52 matches with private librarians were made, 10 before the
meeting and a number onsite. We need to work on evaluation forms and
the final report.
Susanne Zumbro for the Newsletter Advisory Committee: this new
committee is tasked with helping the editor with production and policy
matters. She asked for four volunteers for new positions: (1) a
Business News Editor, to report regularly on activities at the PLL
Executive Committee level; (2) a Member/Chapter News columnist, to
focus on PLL activities and chapter activities on PLL issues; (3) an
Assistant Advertising Manager, preferably on the west coast, to help
get more advertising; and (4) a Marketing Manager, to get the word out
to potentially interested parties, especially the SLA Legal Division.
The Committee proposed, and the Executive Committee approved, an
increase in single issue and subscription prices to $10 and $35,
respectively. The Committee is going to investigate raising our
advertising rates, which have not changed in seven years, and present
recommendations to the Executive Committee.
Sabrina Pacifici, Editor of PLL Perspectives: profits are
down significantly in 1996 from previous years, because of the
significantly increased cost of both first class mailing and
high-quality paper stock. Our editorial content remains strong, thanks
to all those who wrote feature articles and the regular columnists.
She needs more articles and authors for future issues. She also
thanked our advertisers, who make the publication possible. Please
contact her for sample issues whenever PLL is represented at a local
bar meeting.
Gitelle Seer for the Nominating Committee: many thanks to the
committee members for their hard work and to the candidates who
graciously agreed to run. This year a set of written procedures and a
timeline was developed for the Procedures Manual; they submitted names
to AALL as possible board nominees; and they compiled a list of all
contacts with their degree of interest, to help future committees.
Al Podboy for Public Relations Committee (standing in for Tina
Gambrell): Tina did a great job and got us a good spot in the ALA
exhibits hall. Barbara Holt, chair for Seattle, has already started
submitting contracts. This year we gave out can huggies, the Tool Kit
order form, and issues of Perspectives; he recommended a
special issue or column on how to hire law librarians for next year's
samples.
Karen Schuh for the Salary Survey Committee: this year's edition is
out, with more breakouts relevant to us. Informal feedback is that the
survey has been useful in obtaining raises for some of our members. We
need to increase sales in order to insure future editions; at only
$60, it's a bargain.
Mary Forman read Anne Abate's report on the SLA Legal Division: the
programs in Boston were well attended, the listserv and the web page
are up, and the division has over 650 members. Anne recommends further
action to improve relations between the Legal Division and AALL; Mary
endorsed this and urged everyone consider belonging to both.
Karl Gruben for the Standards Committee: they are currently working
on job descriptions, having gotten a good response to the request
posted on the listserv. They still need government documents,
legislative history, and computer librarian descriptions.
GROUP REPORTS
Aimee Ruzicka for the Independents: there is much concern about
outsourcing issues, which will be the topic of today's meeting.
Michael Saint-Onge for the Intellectual Property Group (standing in
for Virginia McNitt): this is a new informal group which will get a 90
minute time slot for meetings and can send a non-voting observer to
Executive Committee meetings.
Jeanne Reynolds for the Records Management Group: they are
contributing a column to the newsletter and now have a listserv; they
have contacted ARMA and are going to open the listserv to them also.
One of the programs will be on conflicts control, with a speaker from
ALAS. Betty Roeske for the Technical Services Group: they are
discussing job descriptions and librarians' value to employing
organizations, and have a low-activity listserv.
Mary then introduced the new officers:
Anne Ellis - Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect
Jean O'Grady - Secretary
Karl Gruben - Executive Committee Member
She also thanked the other candidates for the willingness to run.
She then turned the meeting over to Michael Saint-Onge, the new Chair.
Michael predicted a good year in store for us. Expect a project to
do a strategic plan and watch for a document to be circulated for our
input. He mentioned the new committees, the Newsletter Advisory
Committee and the Technology Committee, which is charged to produce a
packet outlining Internet suppliers and useful sites and a document to
present to management to obtain access. They will also work on our
home page. He hopes to work with SLA to strengthen our mutual
interests; with PLI, who wants to partner with us; with ALA, to
present useful programs; and would like to begin a relationship with
the ABA Law Practice Management Section. Please call your Executive
Committee members with concerns and issues. He then thanked Mary for
her hard work and presented her with a wooden clock bearing an
engraved plaque.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
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