Annual Meeting Minutes 2012
Medical Library Association
Section Council Meeting Minutes
May 14, 2011
Call to Order: 8:35
Rikke Ogawa reported that there were three general topic sessions for papers for the conference: Education, Next Steps, and Technology. All have papers and these broad topics allowed for the acceptance of papers that were not going to be picked up by the other section programming. The Rising Star Program partnered with the Section Council to sponsor these sessions. Judy Burnham reminded everyone to remember not to be too specific when program planning.
Introductions. Each section spoke about one project they were proud of from the last year.
Judy Burnham reported that Recruitment and Retention Wiki was not being utilized very much and we may want to discontinue it.
Judy Burnham also reported that Section Council bookmarks will be at the Section Council Table and will be distributed at the New Members Breakfast.
Rikke Ogawa reported that the Books Panel is currently recruiting book and DocKIT authors. They are always looking and taking suggestions for topics. Ms. Ogawa noted that the Book Panel watches the programming for topic ideas. The Book Panel also is interested in partnering with sections to author works that may appeal to the broader membership of MLA.
Section Anniversaries were announced.
Update Web pages: Judy Burnham reminded everyone to make sure and link their Section Web page to the new president’s priority list and make sure the officers are correct.
Listserv guidelines: Judy Burnham asked the group for feedback; specifically was the amount of traffic too high. People indicated that tagging the emails with Chair-elect, Chair, Past Chair, etc was very helpful. One suggestion was to send people an introduction and welcome message when they are subscribed. [Note to Judy & Ysabel- you can set up a welcome message in mailman that auto sends a welcome message when someone new is subscribed].
Award Deadlines: There were no nominations for Section Project of the Year and Judy Burnham encouraged people to consider applying. Sections only need to contribute to the Award funding if the Section Project is awarded. Section Council Chair and MLA Headquarters will continue to try and get sponsorship for the award. Judy Burnham will also check to make sure there is a link to the Section Project of the Year from the Section Council Web page.
Section Shuffle 2012: Will be May 20th at 6pm. SIGs also want to be involved. Please email Ysabel Bertolucci if you are interested in helping with Section Shuffle in 2012.
Grids & Reports: Watch for the announcement of deadlines. There is a calendar in Google Docs with tentative deadlines linked off the Section Council Web site.
New Leaders Tea is scheduled for 3-5 pm this afternoon.
Approval of the 2010 Mintes: Julie Esparza made a motion to accept the minutes. The motions was seconded by Sylvia McAphee and were approved unanimously.
Committee Reports:
- Elections Committee (Penny Coppernoll-Blach)
? The elections were done using SurveyMonkey. There were not candidates for Nominating Committee Nominee from all Sections. Penny Coppernoll-Blach reported there was some internal confusion. Some never reported back and some voted twice, etc. One suggestion was to send the link to the ballot only to the people that are actually supposed to cast a vote. Also, some candidates never sent in biographical information. There was a suggestion that perhaps having candidates submit information such as biographical information via a Wiki may be helpful.
- Section / SIG Review Committee - Holly Hubenschmidt
? Two new SIGs were formed during the year: Informationist SIG and the Translational Science SIG.
- Rethink Your Section - Holly Hubenschmidt
? Holly Hubenschmidt asked for feedback on the survey that was sent out. The survey did generate discussion in some Sections already. Others are waiting to discuss at their business meetings. The results will be published in some form. Preliminary finding show that sections do feel they have unique identities and most show some declining membership but that could be due to the timing of the survey.
? Holly Hubenschmidt also reported that some Sections say a quorum is the number that attend the meeting and that many do use surveys to gather information.
? Questions they wished they had asked included alternatives to physically attending the conference and innovative retention techniques.
? Recommendations include rerunning the survey every three years and doing a similar survey for SIGs. Surveying past chairs as they are leaving may also provide helpful information.
- History of the Sections - David Nolfi
? This is a worthwhile goal but was not finished this year.
- Communities of Practice - Julie Esparza
? The group had a good discussion centering on a definition of Community of Practice and developing processes for Sections to collaborate beyond programming. The process is simplified into about six steps. Collaboration can be formal or informal.
- 2013 Joint Program - Terry Ann Jankowski
? The meeting will be in Boston and will involve international organizations. Please let Terry Ann Jankowski know if you have ideas for topics for the joint Section Council/Chapter Council program.
- Web Page - Melissa Rethlefsen
? Sections should be careful to make sure they are following the archive guidelines on the Section Council Web site. For instance, if you have moved your Section newsletter to a blog format you still need to print entries to archive them.
? Be sure to note that MLA does not backup your Web site.
? Make sure to you let Kate Corcoran know who your Section Webmaster is so they can be added to the Web master list.
Formal verification of online vote for the MLA Nominating Committee and vote for Section Council Vice-chair: Penny Coppernoll-Blach reported that there were fourteen candidates and six were selected:
- Keith Cogdill
- Amy L Frey
- Patricia E Gallagher
- Joy Kennedy
- Mindy Robinson-Paquette
- Lisa K Traditi
The Section Council vice chair is Jo Dorsch
Twenty of the twenty-three sections voted.
Incoming President- Elect - Jane Blumenthal
- Jane Blumenthal shared her preliminary thoughts with the group. She stated the greatest asset of MLA is the people and that we need to work hard to value and nurture that asset.
- She indicated that Ruth focused on the changing environment and Jerry Perry is looking at the implementation so what is next in the progression? She is thinking of positive themes like excitement, identifying strengths, and balancing all the things we do. Should we do more? Should we do better? She wants the theme to apply to MLA and to our everyday work. What could MLA be doing better? What are we doing that we could stop doing?
- She also asked what are the role, interests, and concerns of the Sections? What are the differences from mainstream MLA and the Sections?
- Think about what you do as Sections as it relates to MLA in a broader sense and how can the Sections and MLA help each other?
Liaison Reports:
- MLA Social Networking Committee / Technology Advisory Committee (Jeanne Burke/Melissa Rethlefsen
? The group is looking into access to software and is intending to do an RFP.
? A Twitter tutorial has been developed and they developed a survey.
? The committee is looking into CORE as a way to publish the posters online.
? The group suggested that the deadline for getting posters online was too far out from MLA.
? The group wanted to be sure every one knew about the Connection Blog and MegaMeeting.
? The committee is also working on developing guidelines on how to archives pictures and newsletters.
- NPC ‘11 - Rikke Ogawa
? Thirty section programs; three general sessions, one Ignite session, and 26 Section sponsored programs.
? Things went rather smoothly this year. The main difference this year was the three general topic sessions.
? A manual on programming planning has been updated based on feedback. Most indicated they felt the manual was helpful.
? The acceptance rate of papers this year was up a percentage point from last year and up 13 percentage points from the Hawaii conference. Overall, the acceptance rate was 47.5%.
- NPC ‘12 - Linne Girouard
? The only trend so far is taking the Tech Trends out of the Section programming time so to avoid it competing with other programs.
- NPC ‘13 - Ramune Kubilius
? The conference will in Boston and will be combined with several other international medical organizations. Seventy-five percent of the programming will be MLA programming while the rest will be focused on the other groups.
? The theme is One Health: Information in an Interdependent World.
- MLA Benchmarking Liaison - Christine Chastain-Warheit
? No report
- MLA Membership Liaison - David Nolfi
? David Nolfi encouraged everyone to consider being a New Member Mentor as well as to consider being a part of the lapsed member phone-a-thon.
? Only about 1/3 of the MLA members belong to Sections. The group discussed the benefits and pitfalls of offering new members a free year of membership to a particular Section.
? The group also discussed the importance of personal contact with new members welcoming them to the Section, etc and were reminded that they can get a list of new members easily and quickly from MLA HQ.
? A committee has also been created to expand membership beyond libraries especially with organizations where there are natural affiliations.
- MLA PRRC - Mellanye Lackey
? No report
- MLA Credentialing Liaison - Priscilla Stephenson
? This year 179 portfolios were reviewed. There is a decrease of 41 from last year. Thirty-two percent of MLA members are AHIP members.
? Official bloggers that blog more than 500 words are awarded an AHIP point.
? An AHIP Q&A will be held Monday.
? The group is also working on a survey to gauge what specializations people are interested in having.
? Hopefully on online portfolio submission system will be online by the end of year 2011.
? A survey investigating why people pursue AHIP is also being planned.
- MLA CE Committee Liaison - Ana Cleveland
? There needs to be more awareness that the CE position exists as well a codified expectation of the what the person in this role is expected to do.
? The group is working with MLA and the NLM on creating a specialization in disaster information and outreach. They received an overwhelming response to their March workshop which included presenters from government agencies as well as librarians.
? A working group has been formed to look into what the competencies need to be for this new specialization.
MLA HQ Report - Carla Funk
- Carla Funk reported on staff changes due to the reduction in positions. Lisa Fried is no longer with MLA and Kathleen Coombs has taken over the credentialing duties.
- MLA is working on enhancing the management system.
- They are working on an electronic portfolio system which will be demonstrated at the MLA booth. This system is expected to provide a way to upload documents like certificates.
- They are also working on the availability of a portal system for Section documents.
- A link between the membership and mentor databases is being established. You should be able to self-select you areas of expertise.
- The grant and scholarship programs have been moved to the Executive Director’s office. There is an endowment of one million dollars that gives MLA the ability to give away fifty thousand dollars a year.
- Ms Funk also mentioned the new Disaster Informationist specialization being developed.
- The National Training Center Clearinghouse database is now under the auspices of MLA.
- MLA cut the position of paid lobbyist in DC and because of MLA’s strong relationship with other library groups on legislative issue they had a very good first meeting without a lobbyist.
- MLA is maintaining their strong relationship with Librarians without Borders.
MLA President - Ruth Holst
- Ruth Holst visited the meeting to say hello and remark on how pleased she was with the number of papers and posters that were able to incorporate the Rethink theme and to thank Sections for their contributions to MLA
Section Council Chair Report - Judy Burnham
- Sections are encouraged to consider/continue giving a travel award.
- A ‘job description’ for Section Council Chair was created
- Based on Section Annual Reports, there was common activity in several Sections:
? a number of Sections remarked looking closely at budgets
? moving newsletters to a blog format
? Web site revisions
? revisions of Section brochures
Judy Burnham recognized the contributions of all the outgoing members and noted that a contribution will be made to the MLA Scholarship Fund in honor of outgoing members. Ysabel Bertolucci presented Ms Burnham with a resolution recognizing her outstanding contribution over the last three years.
Incoming MLA President - Jerry Perry
- Jerry Perry visited the Council to touch on his goals for the next year. He expressed a commitment to keeping continuity and momentum from the last MLA presidents’ goals while incorporating his own goals which include: the virtualization of the annual meeting by involving the most people possible while maintain the integrity of the physical meeting, how to best establish metrics to measure what we do, rethinking how benchmarking works and partnering with AASHL to establish a core set of metrics, developing best practices for working with translational sciences, how to interface with a changing health environment based on public health and populations, the impact of the recession on retirements and the changing workforce, and developing an MLA Academy of Teaching Excellence.
- The theme for the Seattle 2012 meeting is Growing Opportunities: Changing out Game.
Discussion of Goals for 2011-2012
- Ysabel Bertolucci led a discussion of possible Section Council goals for next year. The group suggested the following:
? A task force for developing a procedure for Section Council elections.
? Developing a list of liaisons each Section should consider having.
? Continuing the goals of documenting the Sections’ history.
? Formalizing the role of Section archivist.
? Redoing the “Rethink Your Section” survey for SIGs and look for more possible collaboration opportunities between Sections and SIGs.
? Creating a program task force for NPC 2013.
? Creating an exit survey for outgoing past chairs.
? Work on the schedule so there are fewer conflicts between Section meetings.
? Work on knowing and documenting where your institutional memory is.
? The group had a general discussion of the program planning process including the use of technology for people that cannot attend the meeting in person, proxies, and perhaps rethinking the process as a whole.
? Julie Esparza asked that if people have developed any forms or guideline that they think would be useful for others to please send to her for inclusion on the Section Council Web site.
Adjournment: 2:37
Minutes recorded by: Lisa Ennis
Present:
| Julia M. Esparza | Cancer Librarians |
| Ysabel Bertolucci | CAPHIS |
| Rhonda Allard | CAPHIS |
| Becky Sullivan | Chiropractic |
| Montie Dobbins | CISS |
| Ramune Kubilious | Collection Development |
| Sylvia McAphee | Collection Development |
| Penny Coppernoll-Blach | Corporate Information Services |
| Linda Hasman | Dental |
| Jeanne M. Burke | EMTS |
| Amy Blevins | EMTS |
| Terrie Wheeler | Federal Library |
| Maria Taliafero | Health Association Libraries |
| David Sweet | Health Association Libraries |
| Patricia E. Gallah | History of the Health Sciences |
| Pat Hammond | Hospital Libraries |
| Margo Coletti | Hospital Libraries |
| Jo Dorsch | Leadership and Management |
| Gabriel Rios | Leadership and Management |
| Collen Cuddy | Medical Informatics |
| Beth Whipple | Medical Informatics |
| Ana D. Cleveland | Medical Library Education |
| Holly Hubenschmidt | NAHRS |
| Lisa Ennis | NAHRS |
| Christina Seeger | Pharmacy & Drug Information |
| Jenny Ann Jankowski | Public Services |
| Mary Markland | Public Services |
| Kim Pullen | Public Services |
| Ryan Harris | Relevant Issues |
| Diane Cooper | Research |
| Carole Gilbert | Research |
| Shamya Kiney | Technical Services |
| Micheal Wood | Technical Services |
| Heather K. Moberly | Veterinary Medical Libraries |
| Melissa Rethlefsen | Webmaster |
| Linne’ Girouard | |
| Rick Ralston |
Posted: October 7th, 2011 under Annual Meeting Minutes, Reports.