“Oh. It’s the issue with all the minutes again.” That’s what many of you thought when you took a look at this issue. Yes, reading minutes is not usually a fun activity, and it’s not going to help you catalog that new looseleaf, negotiate a license agreement, decide on a new vendor, or any of the other million real-life tasks waiting. But unless you were at each of the meetings, you should skim the minutes at least. After all, you chose to join the TS-SIS, and someone paid for it, so you should monitor what’s going on. ‘Nough said.

This past year went much too quickly! It seemed sudden that I was no longer in the comfortable position of Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, and now I feel the not-so-comfortable responsibility of the position of Chair of TS-SIS. There’s no chance for a deep breath, either. Not long after returning from the Annual Meeting, two deadlines and a basketful of details faced me. As I begin writing this column, I’m waiting for a last-minute program proposal, wondering which proposal to select as the section’s guaranteed program at next year’s annual meeting, and hoping next year’s programs will live up to the high standard set by those presented this year.

Working on this column has given me a few moments’ opportunity to reflect, so I’ll ask your indulgence for my whining. I recognize that I’m not doing this all on my own; there are a lot of our fellow members working just as hard as I am on TS-SIS business. And isn’t that one of the purposes of an organization such as ours? To pool resources to benefit the members? I truly appreciate every one of you that worked on a program proposal in some capacity and those of you that said, “OK” when I asked you to do something for the section! I’m counting on that willingness to continue from others as I ask for participation throughout the year.

TS-SIS has a lot to do this year. That’s true every year, and I’m sure those that have chaired the section in the past would heartily agree. First of all, there are the programs for the annual meeting. Many of you may not know that the proposals are just the beginning of a process that continues throughout the year. Once a program is selected, that program’s coordinator takes over the task of seeing it through to completion in July by securing speakers and a moderator if necessary, and making sure they meet the many deadlines between now and then. The coordinator is also responsible for the program descriptions in the preliminary and final programs. My thanks to those of you who have agreed to take on this often-unrecognized task!

In a couple of months, Alva will begin her major assignment – the annual survey. This is no minor task! Please support her in any way you can, especially by completing the survey and returning it on time. I learned the past six months how much we truly do depend on the information given in the survey responses. It is your main opportunity to express your opinions about the activities and direction of the section. OK, I sang this same song at least four times last year, so I’ll let Alva take it up.

There is a small group of members, along with colleagues from OBS, which work hard throughout the year to bring us this great newsletter. I know how valuable this benefit of membership is to each of us, and I applaud the Editors, the Business Manager and the Board for their contributions. I happen to know, though, that it’s not an exclusive group – they welcome input, especially in the form of articles or guest columnists, from any of you. Just don’t expect to find out whom Ms. Manager is (several of us tried in DC, but, alas, to no avail) and have a good attitude when it comes to accompany-ing clip-art.

In the coming months, we have a number of goals to at least start on, all of which are in some way interrelated. Shortly, I will be forming an ad hoc Strategic Planning Advisory Committee. This committee will be assigned the task of reporting to the Executive Board its recommendations on a strategic plan for the Technical Services Special Interest Section. I decided a year ago that this would be the emphasis for my term as Chair, and I believe it is imperative to accomplish this goal before we can deal with the issue of whether to merge with the Online Bibliographic Services Special Interest Section. I’m not ignoring the results of the survey, in which the majority of members and non-members alike were in favor of investigating a merger. It could not be a fair evaluation of the merger issue without already having a firm grasp of what TS-SIS is all about. I sent out a call for volunteers for this ad hoc committee on the TS-SIS listserv, but I’m certainly still hoping to hear from any of you wishing to serve or who knows someone to recommend. I’d like to have members of the committee who are shorter-term, medium-term, and long-term members of the section, and those from a variety of library types.

Joe Thomas readily accepted the assignment of reviewing the TS-SIS “handbook” (go to the TS-SIS Web site to take a look yourself) to correct inconsistencies among the documents and between the documents and our practices. Thanks, Joe! Soon we will begin the process of formally disbanding the Exchange of Duplicates Committee as a standing committee and asking the Serials Committee to accept it as a permanent subcommittee. We also plan to formalize duties for the new Executive Board Member-at-Large and the process by which standing committee members are assigned.

Ugh, I almost feel like whining again! I won’t, though, because I know that I’ll have more than enough help from you. Right?