St. Louis Medical Librarians

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

November 14, 2002

The following documents were distributed to the board: Minutes from the Sept. 27, 2002 board meeting, 2002-2003 Strategic Plan, Governance Committee proposed budget 2002-2003, and Treasurer’s Report.

President Chesmelewski called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

Heidi Currie moved to approve the Sept. 27 minutes and Marlene Pelton seconded. Minutes were approved. Secretary will post approved minutes to the SLML web page and send out message to the listserv when they are posted.

Ruth Lewis distributed the Treasurer’s Report. She brought to the attention of the board several expenses that have not previously been incurred by SLML.

1. There will be expenses incurred in purchasing a domain name and a web hosting service in order to move the SLML website off Washington University’s server and set up SLML’s own website.

2. Washington University will also no longer pay postage on mailings for SLML activities.

Committee Reports

Communications: The Communications Committee will meet to work on moving the SLML website. It will be at www.SLML.org. According to Russ MoniKa, Communications Committee member, there will be a charge of $6.95 per year to register the SLML domain name for 10 years for a total cost of $69.50. There is also a monthly charge of $12.95 to host the website. The committee will be evaluating the current webpage and deciding what needs to be removed and what additional information might be added. There was some discussion among the board about getting more people involved who will know how to maintain the website.

Continuing Education/Program: John Chesmelewski offered the facilities at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Jefferson Barracks Division, for a College of DuPage Teleconference on “Effective Web Design”. It will begin at 11:00AM and run until 1:00PM. John suggested it be promoted as a “lunch and learn” type program. There will be no charge to SLML, other than any refreshments that may be offered. Heidi Currie, Education/Program Committee chairperson, said she would have more on programs to report to the board later.

Governance: Cheryle Cann reported that the Governance Committee is beginning work on the Bylaws and Procedure Manual, but has nothing to report at this time.

Membership: Georgianna Grant told the board all the renewals have been sent out. She will have the new SLML directory out by the beginning of 2003. Approximately sixty (60) membership renewals have been received. It was suggested that follow up phone calls be made to those who haven’t renewed as a reminder and to let them know what events are tentatively scheduled for the organization.

Nominating: Gabrielle Carrera said her committee would be happy to take suggestions for potential nominees.

Recognition and Awards: No separate update. Discussed in relation to the Strategic Plan under New Business.

Old Business

Jackie Hittner agreed to chair the Communications Committee.

There were 25 votes cast electronically for the new Strategic Plan. All were in favor, so the Strategic Plan was accepted. President Chesmelewski said he would like to have seen more votes.

New Business

Strategic Plan Objectives:

Saundra Brenner pointed out that some of the wording in the Strategic Plan needs to be clarified and that the goals need to have measurable objectives with target dates for completion. Each goal should be assigned to a specific committee that would then review the goals and develop specific, measurable objectives.

Professional Development -- Part 1

Professional Development goals in Part 1 were discussed in a committee meeting that followed the regular board meeting.

Advocacy -- Part 2

2a. There will be criteria established for additional awards for SLML membership. Recognition and Awards Committee will investigate and determine awards. Possibilities include a service, leadership, library school, mid-career, or vendor award. There will be presentation of suggested plan to the board by April 2003 to have it in place for the 2003-2004 year. Jennifer Plaat will participate in drawing up the award plan.

2b. Publication of SLML members’ achievements are an ongoing objective. Input from the membership on achievements will be solicited twice a year. This information will be passed along to the Communications Committee for SLML publication. It will also be submitted to external media outlets.

2c1. The term library “professionals” will be changed to make the objective more inclusive. Contacts will be made to prospective SLML members. An effort will be made to get SLML members to inform colleagues about SLML. Cheryle suggested offering welcome information to new members about the workings of the organizations, instructions, procedures and the like.

2c2. The University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Illinois were mentioned as specific contacts.

2c3. The details of a scholarship program will be defined. Financial aspect needs to be explored to determine if an annual or biannual award will be given. A program will be drafted this year for possible implementation in 2003-2004, although it may require more time than this. A formal presentation to the board will be made in April 2003.

Organization – Part 3

3a1 and 3a2. A date for voting needs to be included in this goal. Jackie Hittner made the suggestion that for members to be considered active, participating SLML members that they should serve in a position or work on a committee every few years. This would require a change to the Procedure Manual.

3b2. Recommendations concerning the next business year's strategic plan are due from the President-elect by the Annual Business Meeting. It was noted that the Strategic Planning Committee was an ad hoc committee and that the SLML board is the term that should be used in this instance to evaluate the strategic plan. The Strategic Plan is changed every few years. It had been done every five to 10 years, but it may need to be updated more frequently than that to keep current.

3c. No comments.

3d. Committee reports and the Treasurer’s Report should also be archived.

3e1. When a change is made to the SLML webpage, a message should be sent to the listserv, alerting the membership to the change.

3e2. No comments.

3e3. No comments.

3e4. No comments.

3e5. Changes to the Procedures Manual will be submitted by the May board meeting.
All board members will review their section of the Procedure Manual and give changes to the Governance Committee by the May board meeting. Governance should be notified even if there are no changes.

3f. Georgiana Grant reported that she is still planning to have a print directory available for the membership. Russ Monica is planning a search feature on the webpage for membership searching.

3g. By-laws will need to be revised so they are in line with the changes in the Strategic Plan. Cheryle does not anticipate as many changes to the By-laws as will be necessary in the Procedures Manual, however. Cheryle also posed some questions to the board and asked for some feedback regarding them. She suggested having three members-at-large to speak to each of the three strategic goals of the organization. There was also talk of eliminating members-at-large. It was pointed out that there is so much done electronically now, members-at-large are less important in carrying information and disseminating it to the membership. Cheryle will e-mail the questions for consideration by the board.

President Chesmelewski and Kim Lipsey will finalize the Strategic Plan and get it out to the board.

Marlene moved to adjourn the meeting. Georgiana seconded. Meeting adjourned by President Chesmelewski at 3:55 p.m.

Maria Minowitz, Secretary

Back to the top of the page.