ALCTS MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

Sunday, January 11, 2004 2 –4 p.m.

WYNDAM SAN DIEGO AT EMERALD PLAZA Pearl Room

Present: Manual Urrizola) Chair, Janet Belanger (SS), Vanda M. Carnes (CRG), Mary Case (liaison to the ALCTS Board), Michelle Crump (AS), Judith Hopkins (CMDS), Cherie Madarash-Hill, Tony Olson (CCS), Sheila Smyth (PARS)

Absent: None

Guests: Carol Diedrichs (ALCTS President-Elect); Brian Schottlaender (President, ALCTS), Kirsten Ahlen (ALCTS staff);

I. INTRODUCTIONS AND MINUTES

Manuel introduced the new members: Sheila Smyth (PARS representative) and Mary Case (liaison to the ALCTS Board)

The minutes of the June 22, 2003 meeting in Toronto were approved.

II. BRIAN SCHOTTLAENDER

Brian thanked the members for agreeing to serve on this committee. As part of ALA strategic planning in preparation for Action Plan 2010, ALCTS will be gearing up to revise its strategic plan and the ALCTS Board has decided to hold a strategic planning retreat on Friday afternoon, June 25, 2004 in Orlando. All ALCTS division-level committee members, including interns, plus ALCTS section chairs and members of the ALCTS Board (75-80 people) will be invited to attend the retreat. The Board is also considering trying to use virtual focus groups. Since the ALCTS activities will occur before the ALA-level planning effort gets underway, what ALCTS does may influence the ALA planning process. Action Plan 2010 is intended to be more operationally-oriented than was Action Plan 2005. Among the topics that may be considered at the retreat are virtual membership, support staff issues, and continuing education. Brian asked the committee to put strategic planning for a 5 year plan on our agenda.

Brian reported that at the Presidents breakfast that morning there had been some discussion of ALA’s electronic publishing capacity; a task force was established to study the matter. He noted that the ALCTS journal, Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS), is not available in machine readable form.

III. OLD BUSINESS

A. Library School brochures (Cherie Madarash-Hill, Janet Belanger, and Michele Crump).

The new brochure which the committee had prepared will be ready by Orlando. Until it is ready people should take copies of the existing ALA career brochure for Technical Services when they speak at library schools, etc.

B. ALCTS booth at summer conference

1. Manual reported that there had been lots of traffic at the ALCTS booth in Toronto.

2. ALCTS Booth in Orlando. Janet Belanger and Vanda Carnes volunteered to coordinate. The ALCTS office provides the supplies and equipment; set-up will have to be done on Friday morning because of the retreat in the afternoon. (Appendix 5 to the Agenda contains a list of supplies)

3. It was agreed that the call for volunteers would be posted to the following lists: AUTOCAT (Judith Hopkins), ACQNET (Janet Belanger), SERIALST (Manuel Urrizola), COLLDEV-L (Mary Case); ALCTS leaders (Janet Belanger); PADG (Charles Wilt can post).

4. Janet will probably announce the availability of the booth web-site for volunteers to sign-on in late March 2004.

C. Continuation of the Reduced Fee for Library Support Staff

Tony Olson asked about the status of our committee’s recommendation that the ALCTS Board endorse continuation of the present reduced fee for library support staff, beyond the 3 year pilot project, until the new dues category takes effect. Manuel said the ALCTS Board had endorsed our recommendation; it now has to be approved by the ALA Membership Committee and the ALA Council before it goes on the ALA ballot.

Kirsten said that, based on discussion on the NexGen electronic discussion list, an automatic deduction from salary would help encourage membership. Dues are a big hurdle for ALA and ALCTS membership. Brian suggested that our committee propose this.

Marion Reid moved that the ALCTS Membership Committee recommend that the ALCTS Board endorse the idea that ALA should support some type of automatic monthly payment plan for ALA membership. Janet Belanger seconded the motion which was unanimously supported.

Kirsten urged creation of new interest groups for support staff and new members. All it takes to establish IGs is for one person to fill out a form containing the name of the group, the name of the chair, and names of 10 persons who have petitioned to form it; only the chair has to be an ALCTS member. Kirsten runs web meetings, chats, etc. for IGs.

IV. NEW BUSINESS

A. Goal 1. The Committee will continue to engage students by:

1. Looking into the feasibility of having a student intern appointed to the committee and determining what the student intern’s role should be.
2. Identifying several library schools with career days and having Kirsten identify ALCTS leaders to visit some of them to speak and answer questions about ALCTS and careers for librarians;
3. Assisting Kirsten in compiling and maintaining a list of library school contacts.

Manuel commented that schools contacted are either near committee members or near conference sites.

CSU Fullerton (Manuel Urrizola and Marion Reid)

Manuel Urrizola and Marion Reid reported that they had attended Career Day on the campus at California State University, Fullerton (where a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree program is offered by the San Jose State University’s College of Library and Information Science, the only ALA accredited program in the California State University system). ALCTS was the only ALA national body represented. Carol Diedrichs asked whether all library schools have career days, and, if so, could we provide someone to visit them. Manuel said some schools do and we could provide someone to attend. Manuel noted that he and Marion had emphasized the opportunities in librarianship, not just in technical services. While at Fullerton they had signed up a student to serve as an ALCTS intern at the San Diego midwinter meeting.

Marion said it was important that individuals speak at library schools and make clear what the profession has provided them and what the profession has to offer. Kirsten Ahlen agreed. Marion added that in this day of online degrees it is all the more important to have personal presentations. Brian noted that the regional groups are a large untapped membership resource and said it might be possible to give a price reduction to regional group members who want to join ALCTS. Carol Diedrichs commented that NASIG [the North American Serials Interest Group, a non-ALA organization] has been very good at mining the regional groups.

Kirsten said the ALCTS has calendars which can be distributed to students as well as literature which can be sent to the schools.

Marion Reid suggested that, in addition to contacting the schools, that we contact student organizations there, such as ALA or SLA or ASIS chapters, and asking if they would like a speaker. The speaker could be any local librarian who is an ALCTS member. Kirsten said that the ALCTS office would reimburse for expenses.

Simmons (Janet Belanger)

Janet reported that Simmons is planning a program for students with speakers from various library organizations. Her contact at the School had also suggested that we contact professors who teach classes in technical services to ask them to speak on our behalf in their classes if there is no opportunity to speak to the schools or student groups.

University of South Florida (Michele J. Crump). Michele reported that USF doesn’t have a career day but the School is willing to distribute brochures to classes and student groups.

Florida State University (Michele J. Crump). The Library School at FSU does have a career day in Spring in conjunction with the University Career Center; they also wants brochures. They can plan for either an on-site or online visit. Michele asked if there any online program we could access?

Louisiana State University (Cherie Madarash-Hill). Cherie reported that LSU doesn’t have a career day but they would like brochures. Marion Reid, who formerly worked at LSU, volunteered to get the names of LSU faculty teaching in technical services areas.

University at Buffalo (Sheila A. Smyth). UB has a career day in Spring and a jobs workshop in October; they would also welcome literature.

Syracuse University (Sheila A. Smyth). Syracure has Spring and Fall career days in collaboration with Graduate Career services. They are very enthusiastic about having speaker and brochures.

Janet Belanger pointed out that if local library school faculty are involved ALCTS members they can speak themselves without any of us going to speak.

Michele Crump suggested that the section representatives on the committee ask their sections for a list of names of section members who might be willing to speak to schools to promote ALCTS and careers in librarianship in general and technical services specifically.

We need to get a list of the CRG regional groups from the ALCTS office. Manuel will get the list; we can then contact groups in our geographical areas.

B. Goal 2. The Committee will assist Kirsten in developing a plan for international membership in ALA/ALCTS.

The Committee has recommended that the ALCTS Board endorse a new dues category for international members. We hope that it will be passed by the ALA Membership Committee when they meet today and by ALA Council so that the proposal can go on the forthcoming ballot. International support staff would have the option of joining either the International Members or the Support Staff dues categories.

C. Goal 3: The Committee will identify appropriate committees and ask Kirsten to notify them about our target groups.

D. ALCTS website.

Some segments will be available only to members. Janet Belanger said the E-brary will be working with American Libraries to make it available online. The question was raised as to whether ALCTS Newsletter Online (also known as ANO or AN2) should remain open to anyone or be made available only through subscription.

Judith Hopkins moved that ANO remain open to all as a public relations vehicle for ALCTS; Sheila Smyth seconded the motion which was passed unanimously.

Mary Case said that Peggy Johnson, editor of Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS) is planning to make its Tables of Contents and abstracts publicly available via the web. Janet Belanger suggested providing a perks page for members that would provide features such as advance availability of material; ability to print newsletter issues via a single button, etc.

Marion Reid moved that ALCTS keep open as much as possible at this time; Sheila Smyth seconded the motion which was passed unanimously.

E. ALCTS membership reception.

The San Diego reception was sponsored jointly by ALCTS and the UCLA Department of Information Studies in honor of Seymour Lubetzky. While it was generally well-received, the committee thought it could have used better publicity and that the site where it was held needed better amplification and more seating. Janet Belanger wondered if ALCTS has a list of e-mail addresses for members through which such events could be announced. She also thought that the midwinter reception should be announced to the same lists through which we publicize the booth.

F. ALA Membership Committee.

Manuel attended part of its meeting.

1. Today they will discuss the special dues category for support staff.

2. Sheila Smyth reported that the next ALA election will be conducted with online voting with a login and password that ALA will provide to all members. People who don’t have electronic access can request paper ballots.

3. Members health insurance. This insurance is intended to be supplemental to what people already have; it will be good for people between jobs and should serve as an incentive for people to stay in ALA. This ALA service will be unveiled in early summer 2004

4. The Intern orientation program was successful.

There were no announcements.

The meeting was Adjourned at 3:55 p.m.