This report covers the period of May 1999-December 10, 1999.

The Standards Committee has worked on contacting Sections to up-date
information about standards activities within the Sections.

The Council Chair solicited input from Council regarding a proposal to provide individual Section representation on the MLA Membership Committee, similar to a structure already in place for Chapter representation on the Committee. A Section listserv discussion resulted in several recommendations regarding a possible structure for the implementation process that will require further development. The Council Chair consulted with MLA Headquarters regarding a timeline for the implementation process.

The Council Chair reviewed the guidelines and rotation schedule for the implementation of the new Section Council structure. The Council Chair developed a time-line and a plan for communicating and discussing the changes that need to be implemented by Sections beginning with the March representative elections.

The Council chair consulted with the MLA Headquarters regarding the bylaws implementation for the individual Sections during the Section Council restructuring process. Individual Sections will not be required to change their by-laws until after the Vancouver Meeting and guidelines will be provided for the appropriate changes by the MLA Bylaws Committee.

The Credentialing Committee reviewed and communicated to the Section Council Chair a model that will be utilized for AHIP eligibility during the Section Council restructuring process.

Council approved the creation of the Section Program Planners Issues Committee to explore and provide recommendations related to issues associated with Section Programming at the Annual MLA Meetings.

The Council approved the transition of the Mental Health Section from Section to SIG status and the Council Chair consulted with MLA Headquarters staff regarding the resolution of treasury related issues.

The Council discussed and is in the process of voting on a proposal to change the Medical School Libraries Section name to the Library Management and Leadership Section.

The section programming for the 2000 Annual Meeting has been identified and submitted for the preliminary program by the 2000 NPC Liaison for Section Council. The schedule for the business meetings has been coordinated by the NPC Liaison.

Revised editions of the Section Council and Section Chairs' procedure manuals were distributed in print format on request and the Web versions were updated. A draft version of the SIG Manual for SIG conveners is in the process of being edited by the Section/SIG Review Committee.

Communication regarding the processes required for the formation of SIGS and Sections has been ongoing, specifically related to the formation of the Corporate Section, the Internet SIG, the Voyager SIG and the African American Libraries SIG.

The International Cooperation Section was notified by Council Chair that the MLA Board needs additional information for consideration of a proposal to pursue specific international bilateral agreements.

Communication with Council members, Sections and the MLA Board has been maintained through listservs, a Council mailing sent out in August and updates to the Section Council web site on a regular basis.

Council appointed a Webmaster and charged the Communications Committee with developing a plan to insure the ongoing housing, maintenance and continued development of the Section Council web site.

The Section Council Liaison to the MLANet Editorial Board (MEB) contributed to the development of a draft policy document addressing content and submission requirements for MLANet resources, collaborated with MLA Headquarters staff to create a listserv for Section/SIG Web workers and surveyed MLA colleagues to provide feedback on the integration of member-only services on the MLA web site.

This report is informational and requires no action by the Board of Directors.

Nancy I. Henry

Section Council Chair

December 10, 1999