Wednesday, July 15, 1998

Sally Wambold, Immediate Past Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. on behalf of Jacqueline Paul, Chair, whose son’s wedding conflicted with the annual meeting. Jacqui regretted not being at the meeting but sent her good wishes. Sally thanked the Executive Board, Jacqui, and Jack for their leadership; Ellen McGrath for her contributions to the OBS Display Table and the Joint Reception; Innovative Interfaces for their continued support of the Joint Reception; and Sue Roach and the Nominations Committee for the excellent slate of officers.

Sally Wambold recognized the excellent service of Vianne Tang Sha who is leaving law librarianship to become the Head of the Cataloging Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Vianne has been our Webmaster, a member of the Executive Board, and presenter of several programs at the annual meeting. Jack Bissett made a certificate of appreciation, which Sally gave her. We all wish her the very best in her future endeavors.

Sally Wambold turned the meeting over to Jack Bissett, Incoming Chair, who introduced and welcomed the 1998-99 Executive Board: Brian Striman, Vice Chair/Chair Elect; Ismael Gullon, Secretary-Treasurer; Ellen McGrath, Member-at-Large; Marla Schwartz, Incoming Member-at-Large, and Jacqui Paul, Immediate Past Chair.

Chair report: Jack reported that 3 out of 6 proposals were accepted for the 1998 Annual Meeting. These were: A8. Here today, Gone Tomorrow? The Archivability of Electronic Records; C-3 The Desktop of the Future; and D-2 Cobweb Site or Web of Gold? How to Evaluate Sites on the Internet.

Jack and Joe Thomas, TS Chair are thinking about scheduling the business meetings back to back next year with an overlap so the Joint Research Grant Committee Chair, Research Roundtable Chairs, MARBI Representative, and TSLL Editors can present their reports just one time.

Treasurer report: Ismael Gullon provided a brief financial report. As of Oct. 1, 1997 we have a balance of $6,302.64. We have received $14.85 in income from royalties for the Law Library Systems Directory. Ismael announced that 309 ballots were mailed and 112 were returned. Brian Striman was elected Vice-Chair/Chair Elect and Marla Schwartz Member-at-Large. Ismael made a motion to destroy the ballots and it was moved and seconded. Ismael thanked the Nominations Committee for their great work.

Reports of Committees and Representatives:

Technical Services Law Librarian: Jack Bissett reported on behalf of Mary Dzurinko. He announced that Anne Belle Leiserson and Linda Tesar will be the new co-editors of Technical Services Law Librarian. Jack reported that we do not yet have a Business Manager but one member of OBS is considering the position.

Local Systems Committee: Phyllis Post reported that there is interest in a proposal on Systems Migration for Washington. We will continue to have the round table discussions.

Research Roundtable: Ellen McGrath reported that 18 people attended the meeting. Brian Striman and Ellen have been co-editors of the Research and Publications column in TSLL. Since Brian is stepping down due to his new responsibilities, LeGrande Fletcher will be co-chair and co-editor with Ellen McGrath. She stated that the informal group discussion works well and hopes to continue it.

Law Library Systems Directory: Carol Nicholson announced that a new release will be issued for the Law Library Systems Directory since it is in loose-leaf format. Carol will be sending a form to update each library’s listing.

OBS Listserv: Jack Bissett informed the group that the OBS listserv is alive and well. Jack is currently the list-owner. AALL has populated it and will continue to do that for all the members. We hope the list becomes more active.

OCLC Committee: Jack Bissett announced that Susan Chinoransky will be the new chair of the OCLC Committee.

MARBI Representative: Rhonda Lawrence made reference to LC formats that will be released for publication this fall. One of them is the “Concise MARC format”(you may view other publications at www.loc.gov.marc). Rhonda reported about “code relators” that LC will not be able to implement since LC is migrating to a new online system in 1999. CC:DA created a Task force on Metadata and invited MARBI members to serve on it. The Dublin Report explains issues about “metadata” and it is available at the MARC home page. There was a second joint meeting between CC:DA and MARBI in June at ALA in Washington. CC:DA looked at possibly changing cataloging rules and how those changes will affect MARC format, specifically Rule 0.24 which defines content versus carrier issues (are we cataloging a serial or electronic version?). Rhonda brought to our attention the issue of seriality raised in the paper presented by Jean Hirons and Crystal Graham. This paper includes proposals about how to expand the definition of what constitutes a serial and its impact on loose-leaf cataloging.

She reported that MARBI approved adding new subfield codes to the MARC authority record to allow for full genres in the subject authority. She briefly mentioned “Proposal 98-13” that defines the 856 field hot linked to the home page of the agency or person in the authority record. She made reference to “Discussion Paper 108”, which addresses adding language headings to the authority record. The concept is to have crossreferences to other languages.

Joint Research Grant Committee: Brian Striman reported that the Committee is recommending funding in the amount of $531.00 for 2 research grants. LeGrande Fletcher will receive $300.00 and Christina Tarr $231.00. Corinne Jacox (Univ. of Orlando Law) has been appointed Chair of the Joint Research Grant Committee to replace Brian Striman. Brian stated that Richard Leiter, Chair of the AALL Research Committee had asked about the Joint Research Grant Committee. Brain briefly described its purpose to him. Mr. Leiter indicated that AALL will be restructuring its Research Committee to make it more accessible to members.

Education Committee: Brian Striman informed the group that we have 7 proposals in need fine tuning: (1) Metadata - What is it? Part 1 and Part 2 with a roundtable session. (2) Multiple versions - An update. (3) Information architecture. (4) Small online systems. (5) Intranet robot. (6) Nitty and gritty of digitalizing. (7) Systems migration.

New Business:

Jack Bissett reported that the Web Advisory Committee and the TS/OBS Joint Research Grant Committee are not listed in the Bylaws. He will be appointing a Bylaws Committee to amend the existing bylaws to establish both as standing committees.

Jack mentioned that last year there were some questions about OBS’s mission and strategic planning relative to TS. The Board will be working on preparing a mission statement and strategic plans.

Brian Striman stated that one of his duties as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect is sending out the survey. He warned that he will be tracking down those people who have volunteered to coordinate or assist in programs. Year after year, we lose people who are interested in volunteering. Brian plans to create a database of people who have volunteered to coordinate. He will be using the survey that Jack just completed as the basis for his database.

We need to update our bylaws regarding our parliamentary authority from Robert’s Rules of Order to Sturgis.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.