STARS Executive Committee #2
ALA Midwinter January 23, 2006
Henry B Gonzales Convention Center Room 202A
10:30am to 12:30pm
Minutes
Attendees: Paula Asch, Stephanie Atkins, Anne Beaubien (Chair), Jennifer Block, John Brunswick Margaret Ellingson, Linda Frederiksen, Douglas Hasty, Mary Hollerich, Geneva Holliday, Karen Janke, Celia Livingston, Robin Moskal, Cyril Oberlander, Tom Schneiter, Nada Vaughn, Kay Vyhnanek, Suzanne Ward,Tanner Wray
Guest: Mary Williamson
Decisions:
- All sets of minutes were approved as distributed.
- Anne will provide a timeline for the paperwork necessary for a program to the STARS Executive Committee for Committee Chairs.
- It was confirmed that the bibliographic utilities and the national libraries liaison reports should be left with the Interlibrary Loan Committee.
- Anne will report back via the Executive Committee list regarding the demonstration of the ALA software for online communities.
- General consensus was reached regarding the upcoming meeting in New Orleans to use the Sunday meeting time for a particular topic and bring a petition to get signatures to create the new discussion group. The time should not overlap with LAMA/SASS. The intended result would be to establish the new group by the end of the Annual meeting.
- Regardless of when it is scheduled, support was expressed for moving the ILL Discussion Group back toward discussion rather than presentations and reports.
- The STARS Executive Board will discuss and resolve the issue of the length of the ILL Discussion Group meeting during a coming conference call meeting.
- Committee chairs are asked to limit report time at Executive Committee meetings due to time constraints. Reports should include meeting highlights. More complete reports, e.g., written reports, should be provided for the Website.
- The WebPages Task Force was approved with the following charge: To implement enhancements to the STARS Web Pages identified by STARS Executive Committee on July 6, 2005 by June 1, 2006. Identify and implement critical elements for the call for volunteers by March 1, 2006. Duration: January-June 2006.
- Anne will distribute numbers about membership in STARS and RUSA that she has received from Cathleen Bourdon.
Agenda items:
- Welcome and introductions
The meeting was called to order at 10:40am. Anne Beaubien welcomed attendees and each person introduced her/himself.
The agenda was adjusted to accommodate various members’ departure schedules. Items are reported as they appear on the agenda.
- Approve minutes from ALA annual 2005 and conference calls July-December 2005 --
Kay Vyhnanek
Anne noted that the packet of minutes had been distributed at the first Executive Committee meeting. Additional copies were handed out. She asked for corrections/changes/addition to each meeting’s minutes. Each set of minutes was approved as distributed.
- Action items and reports not covered in the ALL STARS Committee meeting from STARS Chairs including possible STARS programs for 2007.
Research and Statistics Geneva Holliday, on behalf of the Committee.
- Research and Statisticsinquired about presenting a program in 2007. Paperwork is due by May 2006. Anne will provide a timeline for the paperwork necessary for a program to the STARS Executive Committee for Committee Chairs.
- There was discussion regarding the possibility of an award for published research. Anne explained that a new award needs to be approved by four groups: STARS Executive Committee, RUSA Awards Committee, RUSA Board, and ALA Awards. It needs to have financial support including an administrative fee. The current minimum award is $3000 and the administrative fee is 20%. There is a format for awards on the RUSA Website. The Committee expressed the desire to have the award presented for the first time in 2007 but it may not be possible to make the necessary timeline. The proposal would need to be to the STARS Executive Committee by March 1, 2006, in order to have a chance of completing the process for 2007.
ILL Committee
Nada Vaughn mentioned that the ILL Committee had asked OCLC to provide coffee for the ILL program and had received tentative approval. Tanner Wray noted that RUSA wants to know about asking for vendor support before asking.
Membership Committee
Stephanie Atkins reported that the membership brochure would be updated and available for the annual meeting in New Orleans, including the five new committees and task forces.
- Vendor reports process
The ILL Committee Chair currently requests and posts the ALA liaison reports on the ILL list. The ILL Committee chair also sends the reports to the STARS webmaster, so she can post them on the STARS webpage. A question was raised about whether we want to move this activity to the Vendor Relations Committee.
STARS has broader spectrum of interest in vendors than strictly Interlibrary Loan which means there are a great number of potential vendors. It was confirmed that the bibliographic utilities and the national libraries should be left with the Interlibrary Loan Committee. Another suggestion was that the Vendor Relations Committee sponsor a technology update on a regular basis for all of STARS providing critical update information.
- Methodology to communicate within STARS: ALA Online communities? Blogs? Lists? Message Boards? Website? Other?
Anne asked for comments on using some of the newer technologies for communication within STARS. It was pointed out that the standard list pushes information to members while some of the other technologies require checking back to make sure new information is not missed. The group was reminded that we need to include circulation and cooperative collection activities in mind and include them in the welcome letter being sent to members in the spring. It was noted that blogging allows for better tracking of “threads” of online discussions. ALA is providing access to online community software and STARS needs to prepare its community. Someone commented that Online Communities is confusing to use. Anne will be seeing a demonstration of the ALA software and will report back via the list.
- New Business
a.New STARS discussion group(s)
An open meeting was held Sunday morning to brainstorm about a possible focus for a new STARS discussion group. Suggestions included (in descending order of popularity): hot topics, access services, best practices, technology updates, entrepreneurial services, privacy and legal issues, and cooperative collection weeding. It was pointed out that the ILL Discussion Group is very important and the new discussion group would not displace that Group. One suggestion was for the ILL Discussion Group to cut back to a two hour time slot on Saturday morning (8 to 10am) and use the rest of the time (10:30am to 12:30pm) for other topics. Another suggestion was that Sunday time slot used to brainstorm discussion ideas could be used for a new group that could focus on different topics each meeting. That would help give the group its own identity. Regardless of when it is scheduled, support was expressed for moving the ILL Discussion Group back toward discussion rather than presentations and reports. Another possibility would be to spend one hour on presentations, etc., and the second hour on discussion of a STARS topic. It was suggested that the same time slot that had been set out on Sunday could be used for a new group that could focus on different topics each meeting. That would help give the group its own identity. A petition of 25 or more members is needed in order to create a discussion group. General consensus was for the coming meeting in New Orleans to use the Sunday meeting time for a particular topic and bring a petition to get signatures. The time should not overlap with LAMA/SASS. The intended result would be to establish the new group by the end of the Annual meeting.
Discussion on the length of the Interlibrary Loan Interest Group drew a mixture of support for retaining the four hour length and shortening the meeting to two hours. It was suggested that the focus of this discussion group could be broadened but retain the ILL centric perspective. Anne indicated that the STARS Executive Board would discuss and resolve this issue during a coming conference call meeting.
- STARS Social Activities
A general discussion of the dinner on Friday evenings indicated enthusiasm for continuing with the format we have been using; a social hour with dinner following. Doug Hasty pointed out that it is difficult to find a restaurant that is willing to provide the services that are needed. He has discovered a service in New Orleans that may be able to set up the dinner for him.
- Reporting from STARS Chairs; what venue is most effective?
The Chairs are asked to limit report time. It is useful to hear what each committee is doing but meeting time is very limited. More complete reports, e.g., written reports, should be provided for the Website. The reports should include meeting highlights.
- STARS WebPages Task Force
Due to several factors, including ALA changing their Website management software, content on the STARS pages has not been completed. It was proposed that an Assistant Webmaster be appointed and a STARS WebPages Task Force be appointed to help get the STARS Web pages in order. Tanner Wray made the following motion:
Motion:To create a STARS Web Pages Task Force with the following charge: To implement enhancements to the STARS Web Pages identified by STARS Executive Committee on July 6, 2005 by June 1, 2006. Identify and implement critical elements for the call for volunteers by March 1, 2006. Duration: January-June 2006.] Geneva Holliday seconded the motion. The motion was approved.
- RUSA Committee reports
a.Access to Information – No report.
b.Conference Program Coordinating – Both preconference have been approved for Annual 2007.
c.Membership – No report
d.Nominating – Things are moving along.
e.Planning & Finance – The RUSA budget is on track for 2006. The Committee reviewed the 2007 budget. An 8% drop in RUSA members is anticipated.
g.Professional Development – Colleen Seale reported that the Committee’s goal is to generate educational opportunities for RUSA members via several venues. Colleen will send Anne a copy of the minutes from the ALA Library Education Assembly meeting for distribution to the Executive Board.
h.Publications– The Committee has interviewed two candidates for RUSQ editor. The Committee has completed a survey and found that 71% of the respondents, who were primarily over 40, preferred print publications. The data and demographics received through the survey will be further reviewed.
i.Standards & Guidelines – Geneva Holliday
The Committee has approved the final draft of the Guidelines for the Evaluation of Reference User Services. The Guidelines set out what a reference transaction is and what reference work is. The Committee has received a first draft revision of the Guidelines for Cooperative Reference Services and will get another draft at Annual in New Orleans.
Orientation for STARS 2006-2007 team at ALA Annual New Orleans – Tanner Wray
There will be several new members of the STARS Executive Board as well as new Committee chairs in New Orleans. Tanner will organize and lead an orientation/meet and greet session for old and new Executive Committee members and chairs.
- Report from RUSA Board – Anne Beaubien
Anne reported that the RUSA Board had a retreat-type meeting where 10 to 12 questions served as the basis for discussion. Recruiting new members was a significant topic. The use of interns was discussed. Anne will distribute information from Cathleen Bourdon regarding membership numbers.
9. Matters arising – None.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:12pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kay Vyhnanek
Secretary