Sunday, July 16, 2000

Janet McKinney called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.

Secretary/Treasurer Report

Membership: As of July 1, 2000, TS-SIS had 687 members. Information for the September 1999 dues credit was unavailable.

Election Results: The election for the 2000/2001 Executive Board officers was conducted by mail ballot. 602 ballots with accompanying biographical information and candidate statements were mailed to members the week of March 27, 1999. 300 ballots were returned by the deadline of May 1st giving a 50% return rate.

Financial Status:

  Balance (10/1/99)                     $19,816.52

  Income

  Donation from Innovative Interfaces     1,000.00
  Exchange of Duplicates Subscriptions    1,590.00
       TOTAL:                             2,590.00

  Expenses posted (as of 5/31/00)

  Postage/Freight                           602.81
  Printing                                  134.82
  Supplies                                   42.46
       TOTAL:                               780.09

  Balance (5/31/00)                     $21,626.43

  Encumbrances

  Expenses for Joint Reception              545.50
  Estimated TS-SIS Share of TSLL
   v.25 expenses (61%)                    4,485.44*
  Postage for Bylaws Mailing                206.70
       TOTAL:                             3,568.94

  Projected Balance (July 1, 2000)      $16,388.79*

* After reviewing the TSLL financial report, it was discovered that the newsletter budget had a deficit of $7353.18. Apparently newsletter expenses had not been deducted from the TS and OBS accounts for the past two years. These numbers reflect that omission and thus differ from the totals presented at the business meeting.

TS/OBS/RIPS/CS SIS Joint Reception

JoAnn Hounshell submitted her report on the Joint Reception which was held Saturday, July 15, 2000 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Marriot Salon. Approximately 175 people attended the reception. Innovative Interfaces sponsored the event again this year and each SIS also donated money for the food costs which totaled $5745.50.

Activities Area

Cindy May reported on the TS table in the activities area. The table was stocked with SIS brochures, mentoring forms, a sample issue of TSLL, joint research grant applications and candy. This year the SIS also sponsored a gift basket giveaway. Members were encouraged to visit the table and sign up for the basket.

Standing Committee Reports

Acquisitions: Carmen Brigandi reported that the Committee’s one-day workshop on electronic licensing, held Saturday, July 14, 2000 and moderated by Jim Mumm, was a huge success. She also reported success on the automating of LAW-ACQ, and activity on the Vendor and Collection Development Policies Web sites. The Committee also plans to submit three program proposals for the 2001 meeting in Minneapolis.

Cataloging and Classification: Chris Long reported that the Committee remained busy during the 1999/2000 year. Currently the Committee has a task force and three subcommittees: "Great Britain" vs. "England" Task Force, Description and Entry, Inherently Legal Subject Headings, and Administration. Chris believes the latter will concentrate on subjects such as copy cataloging issues.

Exchange of Duplicates: Janet read a report submitted by Kristina Kuhlmann. (See below under "Proposed Bylaws Amendment".)

Preservation: Sally Wambold reported that a survey had been sent to chapter presidents asking what the Preservation Committee could do to help them address preservation issues. Response to the survey had thus far been limited. Sally also described the Committee’s activities in Philadelphia including the tour (Tuesday at 9:30), the Committee meeting (Monday at 7:30) and the Roundtable (Tuesday at 12:15).

Serials: Joan Liu reported that the Serials Committee had submitted two proposals for AALL 2000 both of which were accepted. The program on EDI went very well. Acquisition and Control of Electronic Legal Resources was scheduled for Wednesday from 3:15-4:15 in Room L4. Joan encouraged everyone to attend.

Special Committee Reports

Education: Patricia Sayre-McCoy reported that the Education Committee was working on 14 proposals for the 2001 meeting in Minneapolis.

Nominating: Nonie Watt reported that we had had a very qualified slate of candidates for the 2000/2001 elections. She encountered a few difficulties in getting the slate together and encouraged the TS membership to become more involved. The new officers are: Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, JoAnn Hounshell; Secretary/Treasurer, Pam Deemer; and Member-At-Large, Angelina Joseph.

Strategic Planning: Caitlin Robinson reported that a draft strategic plan had been submitted to the board via email prior to the annual meeting. At the 1999/2000 board meeting on Saturday, the outgoing board passed the issue on to the incoming 2000/2001 board.

Other Reports

MARBI: Rhonda Lawrence reported that the big news this year is seriality in terms of AACR2 and MARBI. Rhonda’s full report was distributed in handouts is available at: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/commrept/2000/marbi2000.htm.

OBS/TS Joint Research Grant Committee: Corinne Jacox explained to members that the purpose of the Joint Research Grant was to provide the support necessary to promote the research interests of technical services librarians. OBS gives $500 each year as does TS. This year’s recipient is Larry Dershem who will use the funds to aide in researching the Library of Congress classification system.

Technical Services Law Librarian: Linda Tesar reported that Susan Goldner has agreed to work on the 25 year index. Aaron Kuperman will be taking over "Subject Headings" which Alva Stone is giving up as she becomes TS-SIS chair. Linda reported the need for additional columnists. Specifically, TSLL needs columnists for "Technical Services in Small Libraries", "MARC Remarks", and "Description and Entry". Anyone interested in writing columns or articles for TSLL was encouraged to contact the editors.

Proposed Bylaws Amendment

Janet McKinney presented the following proposal by Kristina Kuhlmann to amend the bylaws:

Proposal to amend TS-SIS Bylaws to dissolve Exchange of Duplicates as a Standing Committee and continue the activities of the Committee as a subcommittee of the Serials Standing Committee.

Propose to delete Article IX, Section 1e. "The Exchange of Duplicates Standing Committee encourages the exchange of duplicate materials among law libraries by issuing periodic lists of exchange materials available from member libraries".

Rationale:

It is my understanding that last year the Exchange of Duplicates committee consisted of one person who did most or all of the work to create one list of duplicates. This year I am again both the Chair and the sole member of the Committee. The list is being created using Microsoft Access, which eliminates the need to have typists or compilers. Additionally, due to other avenues for finding missing issues, the number of libraries participating has decreased over the years and the 1999/2000 exchange consequently had only 54 participating libraries.

If the Exchange of Duplicates is to continue, I believe it would be more appropriate to have it as a subcommittee of the Serials Standing Committee.

After some discussion about where the Exchange of Duplicates committee should go (as a subcommittee of which standing committee?), Reggie Wallen made a motion to table the amendment until the Executive Board could decide upon its future home. The motion passed unanimously.

Renee D. Chapman Award

Gary van der Meer, chair of the Award Committee thanked the other committee members, Kathy Faust, JoAnn Hounshell and Pam Deemer. He then introduced Margie Axtmann who presented the award to this year’s winner, Anna Belle Leiserson. In her remarks, Margie praised Anna Belle’s contributions to technical services including her Web expertise and the development of AcqWeb.

Comments from the New Chair

Alva Stone thanked the outgoing and incoming board members and presented Janet McKinney with a gift of appreciation for her work as TS-SIS chair. Next, Alva discussed her goals for the coming year. The following comments come from a handout Alva distributed at the meeting.

Mentoring Program, which will connect "newbie" catalogers (acquisitions librarians, serials librarians, etc.) with more seasoned or experienced cohorts, with the idea that the latter can serve as informal one-on-one advisors to the beginning librarian—by use of phone calls, e-mail, etc. The Mentor/Mentee Facilitator (i.e., matchmaker, record-keeper, etc.) for this program will be Mary Burgos (Columbia University). This program will be available to all TS-SIS members, not just those who are able to attend AALL meetings.

Clearinghouse of Model TS Documents. Develop a Web-based "clearinghouse" of sample written policies, procedures, and forms that may be useful in Technical Services areas of both large and small law libraries. This might consist of the actual documents or hyperlinks to the documents. It will not be an exhaustive list, but rather, a selective list of representative documents that can be used as resources, for which individual law libraries would modify the texts to suit their own circumstances. Vendor- or system-specific procedures shall be avoided (or wordings revised to eliminate naming these). The project director is Joyce Manno Janto (University of Richmond); the other Clearinghouse developers are: Chris Tarr (University of California) and ___________ (volunteer from a private or state/court/county law library—could this be you?)

Management Issues might become the focus of a new Standing Committee for the section. For the past two or three years TS-SIS annual Membership Surveys have indicated that there is a need for more educational programs and professional development in this area. The TS Heads of Technical Services Roundtable and the PLL Technical Services Interest Group have been asked to investigate this idea, and to propose a charge for such a Committee to be included in our Bylaws, for voting on at some point in 2001.

Strategic Planning. Work will continue toward revision of the final draft of a strategic planning document for the Section. Through this process we assess the goals and objectives of our group, and develop realistic directives for achieving those goals and objectives. Without such a plan, we "flounder," we just exist, we lack the vitality that comes from growing, stretching, trying. Organizations must change, to remain viable, and if we are to control the changes, we need to engage in the self-examination, planning and follow-through that are typical of "strategic planning." Caitlin Robinson (University of Iowa) is the Chair of the TS-SIS Strategic Planning Committee.

After going over these items, Alva mentioned the need for more members of the Awards, Bylaws and Nominations committees. Interested persons were asked to contact her before the end of July.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda Tesar
Secretary/Treasurer
l.tesar@law.vanderbilt.edu