Technical Services SIS
2008 Business Meeting
Minutes Draft
Sunday, July 13th, 5:30-6:30 pm
Oregon Convention Center F149
Portland, Oregon

Get the PDF version of the minutes (31 KB) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

The meeting was called to order at 5:30 P.M. by TS-SIS Chair Alan Keely.

A quorum was verified.

Approval of Minutes from the July 15, 2007 Business Meeting in New Orleans

Minutes were approved unanimously.

Secretary/Treasurer Report

Sima Mirkin reported the online election results for the executive officers. 210 ballots were cast by the April 30th deadline with a return rate of 38%. Chris Long won the Office of the Vice-chair/Chair elect; Betty Roeske will be the TS-SIS new Member-at-Large, and Wendy Moore new Secretary/Treasurer. The projected balance for August 1, 2008 is $12,072.

Standing Committee Chairs Reports

Acquisitions Standing Committee – Ajaye Bloomstone

Ajaye reported:

The TS-SIS Acquisitions Committee met from 7-8:30 am on Monday, 16 July 2008, during which time current and future program development was discussed.

The Committee reviewed results of the full-day Acquisitions Workshop (held Saturday, 14 July 2008). Prior to the registration deadline, all spaces in the workshop were reserved, and headquarters decided to open up several additional spaces which were also filled. Attendees evaluated the workshop very positively.

Two task forces have been designated: Anne Robbins (University of Illinois) and Lisa Arm (Boston University) are working with Eleanor Cook (Appalachian State, and now At East Carolina University) on the contribution of legal vendor information to the revamped ACQWEB database. Currently, the existing contents of ACQWEB are under a review/updating process prior to the addition of new contributions. Several Committee members have volunteered to assist in the future. This project constitutes an ongoing cooperative effort between ALA ALCTS and AALL TS-SIS members since members of both organizations have heavily used ACQWEB in the past. Eric Parker (Northwestern University) is the Acquisitions Committee representative to a pan-SIS project (along with ALL and PLL) charged with collecting current collection development policies. Martin Wisneski, as the TS webmaster, is assisting to make these policies accessible to AALL members through the TS-SIS site.

On Tuesday, 17 July, from 12-1:30pm, the Acquisitions Roundtable presented a program sponsored by TS, "Tips and Tricks for Successful Vendor Negotiation." Anne Robbins presented tips and tricks in dealing with vendors through a variety of methods of communication, and Emerita Cuesta (University of Miami) presented information to assist us when dealing with Latin American vendors of legal materials.

Cataloging and Classification Standing Committee – Jean Pajerek

Jean referred the group to the full text of her report on the TS-SIS website. This report outlines accomplishments of the Committee’s subgroups. The Descriptive Cataloging Policy Advisory Working Group was chaired by Ann Sitkin; the Classification and Subject Policy Advisory Working Group by Chris Tarr; the Task Group on Vendor-Supplied Bibliographic Records by Angela Jones. Dan Blackaby assumed leadership of the New Catalogers’ roundtable, and Sarah Yates continued as a leader of the Rare Book Cataloging Round Table. Jean reminded attendees about the Committee meeting 16 July and said that she is an outgoing chair of this Standing Committee, and that Karen Nuckolls is taking over.

Preservation Standing Committee – Janice Anderson

Janice reported that at this year’s meeting TS-SIS sponsored two programs on preservation. Both of them were in the afternoon – one on print materials in repositories and one on digital preservation. Both were very well received by the audience. There was also an archives workshop yesterday, and the comments that are coming in are very favorable. Janice reminded the group about the Preservation Round Table on 16 July and introduced Marilyn Estes who is taking over as the new Preservation Standing Committee Chair.

Serials Standing Committee – Carol Avery Nicholson

Carol also referred the group to the full text of the report published on the website. Carol pointed out that the Project Counter Task Group worked hard this year under the leadership of Shyama Agrawal. Nancy Cowden and Ellen McGrath compiled a list of serials-related articles for submission to the special issue of the Law Library Journal to celebrate its 100th (Centennial) volume. The Amazing Technical Services workshop, which Carol co-coordinated, was fully subscribed. It looks like everyone enjoyed it, but the evaluations will detail the participants’ experience. The Exchange of Duplicates Program continues. Bonnie Geldmacher is stepping down as chair of this program. Carol thanked Bonnie for her work. Michele Pope volunteered to become chair of the program. Carol reminded the group about the Serials Standing Committee meeting on 17 July and the upcoming serials programs at the conference.

Awards – Kevin Butterfield

Kevin announced this year’s TS-SIS Grant Awards winners:

Marla Schwartz Grant recipient

The Committee awarded the Marla Schwartz grant to Jennifer Tsai, Head of Technical Services at the Golden Gate University Law Library.

TS-SIS Educational Grant Recipients

The winners of Educational Grants this year are:

Kevin said that the Awards Committee had a lot of grant applications this year and thanked the Board for allotting a good budget to hand out.

Presentation of the Renee D. Chapman Memorial Award by Margie Maes

Margie Maes announced that this year’s Renee Chapman Award recipient is Joe Thomas, Head of Technical Services of the Kresge Library at the Notre Dame Law School. Margie described Joe as someone who has worked in the AALL trenches for 15 years. He has been a particularly strong volunteer in AALL’s Technical Services SIS, serving on several committees before being elected chair of the section. Joe has done his share of small and large tasks. These include planning and reporting on educational programs, making presentations and serving as an editorial board member for the Technical Services Law Librarian newsletter. He chaired the SIS in 1998 and 1999. Margie highlighted three specific areas that make Joe deserving of the Chapman Award: his production of a members’ briefing on the state of Technical Services Law Librarianship in 2000; his editorship of the Technical Services Law Librarian from 2001 to 2004; and his brilliant writing of the Miss Manager column in TSLL. Joe’s contributions to the TSLL as both of a writer and an editor are significant and worthy of recognition. Joe Thomas is an exemplary recipient of the Chapman Award for his leadership in Technical Services activities, his service to the profession and his diverse contributions to the literature.

Joe Thomas responded that although the meaning of the Chapman Award is not obvious to just anyone, this award comes from his peers, from people who understand the nature of the technical services everyday work. This makes it important to him. Joe added that to be nominated by Margie Maes is really an honor. He thanked all the previous recipients of the award because their work made all the rest better librarians. This award, Joe added, will give him incentive to try to live up to it. He thanked his mentors and colleagues who he considers to be very much part of this award. Joe thanked the committee for this recognition.

TSLL Report – Brian Striman

Brian announced that he is stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of TSLL effective when a new editor is appointed. He recognized Cindy May, Julie Stauffer and Martin Wisneski for making a fabulous TSLL staff. Brian said that being an Editor-In-Chief is a major undertaking. It is a lot of work but it’s extremely rewarding. The two things that he wanted to accomplish in his four years of service were: one – to move the publication from print format to electronic, and the second – to move it a notch up from a newsletter into a real publication that the section can be proud of. Brian regrets that there is one thing that he was not able to accomplish, though. This is to get the SIS Newsletter Award. Brian hopes this award will come in the future for this publication. Brian recommended paying more attention to the incredible Tech Scans column in the TSLL which comes out in blog format. There are plans to deliver the TSLL columns as RSS feeds in the future. Brian added that the official TSLL report will be on the TSLL website. He thanked all the columnists for their wonderful job.

A round of applause was given to Brian for the incredible work he has done on the TSLL propelling it to the status of the AALL premiere publication.

Chair’s report – Alan Keely

Alan said that this has been a great year. He has submitted a full Chair’s report where all the accomplishments were highlighted. Everyone will be able to read it upon its publication. At today’s business meeting Alan wanted to highlight couple of them.

One of the most important things to happen this year was that the Board established a Task Force on Continuing Education Opportunities to take advantage of free money that the association was offering to present continuing education opportunities outside of the annual meeting. JoAnn Hounshell became Chair of this Committee. The Committee put together a grant proposal which was accepted, and on August 14th the first educational program will take place. It will be a webinar on redesigning Tech Services. JoAnn deserves a round of applause for this accomplishment.

The next accomplishment this year is that the membership brochure was revised - something that can be done every three years. This brand new, hot off the press brochure is available for everybody to take and to recruit new members to the TS-SIS. There is lots of information in this brochure about TS, the committees and recent programs. The Membership Committee should be congratulated for compiling all this information.

The Education Committee also should be complimented for putting together a wonderful set of programs and workshops for this conference. There were no conflicts, the workshops were fully subscribed. Everybody had a great time and learned a great deal. Alan asked the members of the Education Committee to stand up and said that they deserve a round of applause as well.

Alan said that one of his goals for TS this year was to bring in more young members in leadership positions - and there are a number of younger members on several committees now.

Alan concluded by saying that being Chair of the TS-SIS was one of the most rewarding experiences of his career, and that he really appreciates the trust that the TS-SIS members put in him.

Other Old Business

A few Words from our Old Chair

Alan then asked individuals to stand who he thought should be recognized for their contributions to this year’s TS-SIS’s activities. At the end, all received a round of applause.

Alan acknowledged the work done by the retiring Board members: Sima Mirkin (Secretary/Treasurer), Marie Whited (Member-at-Large), Janice Anderson (Chair of the Preservation Standing Committee), Jean Pajerek (Chair of the Cataloging and Classification Committee); Rhonda Lawrence (Past Chair). All of them did a fabulous job. Alan recognized work done by Linda Tesar (Vice Chair/Chair elect) who has been a true godsend.

New Business

Passing of the “gavel”

After finishing his speech Alan presented the TS-SIS with a gavel. It is engraved: AALL Technical Services SIS 2008.

A Few Words from our New Chair

Linda Tesar said that Alan has been a wonderful role model for her. She thanked him on behalf of the membership for an excellent year. Linda also recognized the work of the ad hoc Committee on Continuing Education and encouraged the membership to submit their ideas on future programs to this Committee. She said that her goal for this group is to continue to apply for grants to keep continuing education programs going. Linda encouraged librarians from law firms and states court libraries to volunteer to work on the committees.

Linda then wielded the gavel and announced the meeting adjourned.

Meeting adjourned at 6:30 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Sima Mirkin
Secretary/Treasurer