ST. LOUIS MEDICAL LIBRARIANS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

August 27, 1999

Minutes

PRESENT: Suzanne Dunmire, Jennifer Plaat, Barbara Halbrook, Linda Mercer, Sylvia Toombs, Ed Walter, Russ Monika, Cheryle Cann, and Maria Minowitz

The following documents were distributed to the Board: meeting agenda, minutes from the July 14, 1999 board meeting and June 10, 1999 business meeting, revised 1999-2000 Strategic Plan and board contact list.

The meeting was called to order by President Suzanne Dunmire.

Minutes were read and approved with one spelling correction.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Treasurer’s Report --Barbara Halbrook reported SLML has $4200 in round numbers. There was some concern about Mercantile Bank charging a $20 fee to businesses. They do make the charge on the SLML account, but then credit the amount back. Barbara recommended we stick with Mercantile for now, and the board agreed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Communication -- Russ Monika told the board that the SLML website has been redesigned. It is brighter in appearance. Russ needs committee information and program details for the page. By-laws have been posted in PDF and HTML formats. He intends to publish an electronic newsletter before the holidays, awards banquet and Annual Meeting. It will be mailed to the 10 or so members who do not have electronic access.

The list-serv is status quo and has been set to automatically reply only to the sender, not the whole list. Jennifer Plaat asked why people who have e-mail are not on the list? Russ will add all members with e-mail addresses to the list.

Continuing Education -- No report.

Governance -- Cheryle Cann reported that the revisions to the Procedure Manual regarding the deactivation of Cooperative Collection Development were completed and sent to Russ for the Webpage.

Membership -- Cindy Fedders was absent but sent a report to President Dunmire. She had checked into posting an Amazon.com link on the SLML webpage. The organization would get 5% on any order placed through the link, and 15% for orders from a recommended book. The board approved the affiliation, and Russ was to add the link to the webpage

Cindy also reported that the SLML membership renewals will be sent out in mid-September.

Program -- Jennifer Plaat and Linda Mercer announced the next program is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 30. Dr. Annette Veech of the Washington University MBA program will present "Be Careful What You Write, You Just Might Get It". The program will be on business writing and will run from 9 a.m. to noon at St. John’s Mercy.

Other tentative programs include a November panel discussion on evidence-based medicine. Cindy Hill from Sun Microsystems is being sought to speak on knowledge management possibly on Wednesday, Jan. 19 to coincide with her trip to SLA’s Midwinter meeting. Valerie Florence may be in St. Louis and could speak to the group on informatics. The Awards Luncheon this year will feature a non-librarian theme. The Annual Business meeting will hopefully coincide time-wise with the opening of the patient information center at Children’s Hospital and be held at that location. Jennifer and Linda said they will be submitting their budget soon.

Union List -- No report.

OLD BUSINESS

There was some discussion by the board about raising the price of dues. After some discussion about whether the board could vote to raise them, Cheryle Cann, as governance chair, clarified that a vote on raising dues must be put before the general membership at the Annual Business meeting. She moved that the board consider raising SLML dues from $10 to $15 per year. The motion was seconded and carried. It will be brought to the Annual Business meeting.

There was additional discussion about an Amazon liaison. Treasurer Halbrook said she couldn’t foresee such an influx of money that it would affect SLML’s non-profit status. There was also talk about starting a selected reading list. Linda Mercer had several suggestions that she will pass on to Russ for the Webpage.

NEW BUSINESS

An announcement was made about a satellite downlink that will discuss electronic copyright law and internet fair use. It is part two of a copyright series, the first part having taken place this past spring. It is planned to be shown at Washington University on Oct. 14 at 1:30 p.m. SLML will sponsor the downlink.

On Oct. 5, a workshop on the crisis in scholarly journal publishing is scheduled at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Attendance is being offered to SLML membership, and a bus is being planned to transport attendees. The announcement will be made to the list-serv.

President Dunmire briefly discussed the MD Consult presentation that preceded the board meeting. She said she would ask for clarification on what a consortia is, whether or not it needs to be a formal group.

ADJOURNMENT

President Dunmire set the next meeting for Thursday, Oct. 7 at 3:00 p.m. at Becker Medical Library.

Meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Maria Minowitz, Secretary