NAHSL Executive Board Meeting

Regional Medical Library

Shrewsbury MA

December 6, 2002

 

Present:  Marj Anderson, William Anger, Fran Becker,  Happy Copley, Janet Cowen, Ed Donnald, Carole Foxman, , Barbara Ingrassia, Patty Kahn, , Len Levin, , Debbie Sibley, Mary Ann Slocomb

 

Mary Ann called the meeting to order at 10:11 a.m., as Ed was running late and had not yet arrived. 

 

Announcements

Mary Ann welcomed Fran Becker (incoming Treasurer) and Janet Cowen (new HSLIC rep to NAHSL) to the Board.  Introductions were done around the table. 


Chair’s Report was deferred until Ed’s arrival. 

 

Secretary’s Report

Action:             Minutes of the September 23, 2002 Board Meeting were accepted as presented. 

 

Treasurer’s Report

Discussion:       Marj  presented a report that showed that the Attitash NH conference had netted $2369.45.   At present, there is no breakdown of Continuing Education figures to see how that portion of the conference fared financially.   The entire NAHSL treasury has had expenses of $2,828,52 over income this year so far.  The treasury is still extremely healthy.  The CD comes due on January 11, 2003.  As incoming treasurer, Fran will determine what best to do with the CD funds. 

Action:  The Treasurer’s Report was accepted as presented.

 

Committee Reports

Archives

Discussion:       Carole reported that Kate Kelly from Tufts has agreed to serve on the Archives Committee.  Carole asked the Board whose responsibility it is to print materials from the website.  At present she is having difficulties printing from certain segments of our website. 

Action:             Carole will send reminder emails to committee chairs about providing her with paper copies for archiving purposes.

Discussion:       Carole and her committee do not feel it is necessary to create a formal subcommittee on automation as recommended in the policy and procedure manual.

Action:             Carole will keep communication going with the webmaster and there will be no need for a special subcommittee at this time.

 

 

Chair’s Report

Ed apologized for arriving late.  He also apologized to Mary Ann for failing to name her as past chair in recent report sent to MLA.  Ed will check to see why Janet Cowen is not yet on the NAHSL-EXEC listserv.  Ed recently submitted our Paypal project for the Majors Chapter Award; he will send a copy of the submission to Carole for the Archives.

 

Committee Reports (con’t.)

Bylaws

Discussion:       Patty reported that changes to the Bylaws and procedures that were voted on at the NAHSL 2002 Conference have been posted to the website.  We are also required to submit Bylaws changes to MLA for approval. 

Action:             Patty will send our changes to the Bylaws to the MLA Bylaws Committee for approval.  She also gave Carole a copy for the Archives.

Discussion:       Patty asked about specific membership procedures related to year-end, which are not yet detailed in the policy & procedure manual.    Ed mentioned that Peter Jones has offered to continue to serve as Membership Chair.

Action:             Patty will contact Peter for details on end-of-year procedures.

Discussion:       Patty urges all committee chairs to know their policies and procedures and keep them up to date for her.

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

Chapter Council

Discussion:       Debbie reported that she had sent in the mid-year report, including discussion of the conference and our submission for the Majors Award. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

Discussion:       Debbie reported that she is the Chapter Council rep to the MLA Membership Committee.  She will be attending the Chicago midwinter meeting in January. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

Discussion:       Debbie asked if Ed is on the Chapter Council’s Chapter Chair listserv?

Action:             Ed and Len (as incoming chair) will both subscribe.  Patty will un-subscribe as she should have been off this list long ago. 

 

Conference ‘02

Discussion:       Karen did not send a report.  Margin of profit for conference was $2369.45 as mentioned earlier in Treasurer’s Report.  Marj is hoping to see some clear figures on Continuing Education income and costs. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

Conference ‘03

Discussion:       Len Levin passed out a Conference Budget proposal, which drops registration fees about $10;  for example, $120 full package for NAHSL members.   The committee is hoping to make this an all-inclusive fee, with banquet included. 

Action:             The Board approved the fees as long as they did not exceed the fees charged in New Hampshire at the 2002 conference. 

Discussion:       The Program is almost all set.  Dr. John Halamka , CIO of  the Caregroup Health Network and  Harvard Medical School is the keynote speaker.  Anne Marie Balderisserto from North Shore Medical Center will conduct a workshop on dealing with change.  Linda Moulton will be speaking on how to create a business plan for a non-profit organization.  Dori Zaleznik from Up-to-Date and Maura Kelly Epstein from MD Cases (Lippincott) will speak about life from the vendor side of online databases.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 Discussion:      Marj suggested every conference committee should have a finance person designated to keep track of budgets and record-keeping. 

Action:             Len will be the designated finance guru and Fran Becker is also on the committee for the Massachusetts Conference. 

 

 

Conference ‘04

Discussion:       Kathy Brunjes could not attend but sent a report.  Donna Wickstrom is negotiating with Sebasco Harbour Estates and going over a contract with them.  The committee is planning to meet again in early January to get rolling on details on the conference. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

Education

Discussion:       Ed reported that by next week he should know whether Heather Blount or Karen Odato is chair of Education for this year. 

Discussion:       A day-long class is being planned for Spring, to be taught by the RML staff, possibly in 5 different locations around the region.  

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

Electronic Communications

Discussion:       Lida could not attend.  Ed reported that there is a new link from the NAHSL website to the MLA mentoring site. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

.

Government Relations

Discussion:       Barb mentioned that teleconference on the Patriot Act is scheduled on December 11, 2002, in various locations around New England.

Discussion:       Barb  warned everyone that UCITA may come up for discussion again.   The law still permits “shrink-wrap” and “click-on” contracts.  

Action:             NAHSL members in each state should watch their legislatures for signs of UCITA and join the effort against it. 

Discussion:       There is talk at the Federal level about supplanting GPO with independent contractors. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

 

 

Marketing

Discussion:       Jill Livingston sent a report.  The Marketing newsletter was distributed at the Tuesday morning workshop at the 2002 Conference.  Ed complimented Jill on an excellent newsletter product.   

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

Membership

Discussion:       Peter Jones has agreed to continue to serve as membership chair. 

Action:             Ed will let Peter know that we are glad to have him continue in this work.

 

Nomination

Discussion:       Mary Ann reported that co-chairs for Conference ’05 in Rhode Island would be Janet Crager from Brown University and RuthAnn Gildea from Butler Hospital. 

Action:             The Board approved these two choices.

Action:             Janet Crager  will start coming to NAHSL Board meetings.

 

Scholarship

Discussion:       Kathy Brunjes sent report.  Seventeen scholarships were awarded this year, totaling $2,180.  This is the largest amount given out in scholarships in recent years.

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

RML

Discussion:       Debbie Sibley gave a report, noting that the RML has given out several recent awards, including one for Continuing Education, 5 for Ariel support, and 2 technology awards.  January 15 is the due date for the next competitive award.   RML will be looking at budgets in late December, preparing for the start of Year 3 in May.   RML staff sent a mailing to local health departments in New England but has not had a good response, so they are looking at other ways to reach this constituency. 

Action:             For informational purposes.

 

State Reports

 

ARIHSL     Bill Anger reported that the ARIHSL website is being updated.  Conference chairs have been chosen for Conference ’05, as noted above under Nominations.  On Monday December 9, 2002, Debbie Sibley and Donna Berryman are going to do a class on the NLM Gateway and other NLM services for Librarians of Rhode Island (LORI).  ARIHSL will be celebrating their 50th anniversary on June 18, 2003.  Mary Ann mentioned that some ARIHSL librarians are involved in “Read Across Rhode Island,” a program where folks across the state will read, Wish You Well, by David Baldacci.

 

CAHSL      Evelyn Breck Morgen did not send a report.

 

HSLIC        Janet Cowen reported that on October 1, 2002, HSLIC submitted  an Information Access grant proposal to NLM, with Maine Medical Center as the principal investigator.  The grant request was for $150,000 over 3 years, to help HSLIC members around the state acquire and install ARIEL and increase interlibrary loan efficiencies.  A response is expected in May or June 2003. 

 

HSL-NH/VT        Alice Reed sent a report.  Staffing changes have been numerous.  Anne Rolfe retired from Concord Hospital and died tragically one day later, as had been reported in the region.  Concord Hospital has now hired Maureen Breslin, who had previously worked in public libraries in New Jersey.   Stacy Wein is the new librarian at Copley Hospital in Morrisville, VT.  Cynthia David, who had been at Elliot Hospital for a while, has been hired at Catholic Medical Center to replace Diane Bourque (who moved out of state).    Littleton Hospital recently hosted a  group of New Hampshire public, school, and medical librarians for a program on the improved state union catalog.  Holly Eddy from Parkland Hospital in Derry, NH, recently received a grant form the RML and from the Southern NH AHEC.   A possible spring meeting is planned to discuss reorganizing the state group’s leadership. 

 

MAHSLIN           Roger Manahan could not attend, but Debbie reported that there is a Massachusetts Technology Day scheduled in February at University of Massachusetts Medical Center.  Tower Hill will once again be the location for the annual meeting.  Budget cuts at the state level have caused databases to “disappear” to the consternation of all librarians.  The MAHSLIN Board has invited the leaders of the six consortia that make up MAHSLIN to attend the January Board meeting.

 

 New Business

 

Discussion:       Marj mentioned that in some areas one can rent a car for as little as $35-45 per day, which is much less than mileage reimbursement for those who drive long distances. 

Action:             The Board recommends that whenever possible Board members choose the least expensive means of traveling to these meetings.

 

Discussion:       Debbie Sibley mentioned that Chapter Council has been discussing the use of conference planners.  She told the group about our contract with Donna Wickstrom; they were fascinated by the idea of such a service. 

Action:             Ed will look into the idea of using the contract as another possibility for next year’s Majors Chapter Award.

 

Discussion:                   Goals 2003  

 

1.                  Increase NAHSL support for Continuing Education. 

2.                  Create a subcommittee to examine financial awards and our procedures in awarding them (to see if they could be treated as more of an honor, and the award publicized).

3.                  Create subcommittee to examine ways of mentoring younger professionals.

4.                  Again submit a project for the Majors Award.

5.                  Monitor the situation regarding regional shared resources; see how NAHSL could assist with this across the region. 

6.                  Raise benchmarking awareness in the region, encouraging hospitals to participate in the ongoing MLA benchmarking effort. 

 

Discussion:                   Meeting Calendar 2003

 

March 7, 2003             10am-3pm       Worcester (University of Mass Library)

March 14, 2003           snow date

June 6, 2003                10am-3pm       Shrewsbury (RML offices)

September 5, 2003       10am-3pm       Shrewsbury (RML offices)

October 27, 2003        TBA                 Sturbridge (at Conference)

December 5, 2003       10am-3pm       Shrewsbury (RML offices)

December 12, 2003     snow date

 

Meeting was adjourned at 2:08 pm. 

 

 

Submitted by:               Happy Copley, Secretary