NAHSL Executive Board Meeting

Regional Medical Library

Shrewsbury MA

September 5, 2003

 

 

Present:  Fran Becker, Kathy Brunjes, Happy Copley, Javier Crespo, Ed Donnald, Lida Douglas, Anne Fladger, Barbara Ingrassia, Len Levin, Jill Livingston, Evelyn Breck Morgen, Mary Ann Slocomb, Joan Yanicke

 

Ed called the meeting to order at 9:56 a.m. 

 

Announcements

 

Ed welcomed all to the meeting.  He requested that Lida change the NAHSL website’s Executive Board listing to reflect that Cindy Hutchison is now the rep from MAHSLIN. 

 

Secretary’s Report

Action:             Minutes of the June 6, 2003 Board Meeting were accepted as presented.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Discussion:       Detailed report attached.  Fran mentioned that one member has paid dues for 2004 already.  The final speaker fee from Conference 2002 was actually paid in 2003. 

Action:             The report was accepted as presented.

 

Committee Reports

 

Archives

Discussion:         Carole could not attend and did not send a report.

 

Bylaws

Discussion:       On July 17, Patty received a message from Mary Langman of the MLA Bylaws Committee, asking if changes made to our bylaws in 2002 had been approved by the MLA Bylaws Committee and by our chapter.  Patty told her that two minor revisions had been made in 2002 and that these had gone to membership for approval before going to the MLA Bylaws Committee for approval.  Patty assured Ms. Langman that in future we would be very careful to send them to the MLA committee first. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

Discussion:       Patty asked Lida to post the Article IX amendment revision to the website.  This has been completed.    No revisions underway for Bylaws.

Action:             Patty proposes a Bylaws review in 2004.

Discussion:       Patty suggested adding a section 8 to the Policy & Procedure Manual, detailing Rights & Privileges of NAHSL Membership, to include:  annual conference and CE fees at member rate; scholarships; participation in NAHSL listserv; consultation with chapter Credentialing Liaisons when pursuing AHIP.   Patty argues that the current write-up on the website is very wordy. 

Action:             Ed proposed that an FAQ be created for the website, and that this could be a major piece.  He suggested that Len use this as one of the goals for the coming year.           

 

Conference ‘03

Discussion:       Len reported that Program is all set.  Online registration had been delayed for 2 weeks at the start of registration, but is now working well.   Sponsorships are lagging a little from other years, due to the weak economy, but the committee is also being careful with expenses.  He suggested that attendees bring their golf clubs and bathing suits, as well as Halloween costumes for the Welcome Reception.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Conference ‘04

Discussion:       Kathy announced that Program Committee has scheduled our keynote speaker and is working on the rest of the program.  Website is under development and will be live immediately after Conference ’03.   Video and small giveaways are in readiness for publicity at Conference ’03.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Chapter Council

Discussion:       No report given. 

 

Education

Discussion:       Heather did not send a report.  Len said that all CE courses for Conference ‘03 have been approved for MLA education credits.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Electronic Communications

Discussion:       Lida had no report.  Kathy asked about the possibility of getting an alphabetical membership directory on the NAHSL web page so we could skip through the members list letter by letter.

Action:             Lida will check with Penny about this design change.

Discussion:       A general discussion about the larger membership Access database ensued; Kathy asked if it would be possible to have a field print off onto the mailing list that showed the most recent year of membership? 

Action:             This is a project for Membership Chair to work on, not part of the website.

Discussion:       Jill asked Lida about getting website files so that her committee could update the Marketing section of the NAHSL website. 

Action:             Jill will get the Marketing files from Penny.  Javier will talk to the University of Massachusetts IT Department to find out if Lida could have access to the development site of our website, to help us make changes and alterations.

 

Finance

Discussion:       No additional report.  The Finance Committee will meet late afternoon on Monday during the Sturbridge conference.  They will be working on a 3-year plan for finances and checking on procedural matters.

 

Government Relations

Discussion:       Barb reported on the Supreme Court ruling on CIPA, requiring public libraries that receive Federal funds to filter their public Internet stations.   This scenario will bear watching; some libraries will purposely violate this requirement to serve as test cases for enforcement.   Little else happened this summer on the legislative front.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Marketing

Discussion:       Jill reported that articles are coming in for the marketing newsletter that will be given out at the conference.  Rachel Vigneron will be in charge of the swap table at the conference.  The Marketing Committee will meet at noon on Tuesday during the conference.  Committee plans to offer a CE on some aspect of marketing during Conference ‘04  in Maine. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Membership

Discussion:       Peter Jones now has a position as a high school librarian, and has resigned as Membership Chair. 

Action:             Ed will recruit a new chair via the NAHSL listserv.  He will follow up with Peter to make sure that all materials are passed on to the new Chair.

 

Nominating

Discussion:       Mary Ann reported that she has put out a call for nominations for the NAHSL Achievement Award.  Two people nominated Debbie Sibley for her years of service to NAHSL.  ARIHSL was nominated for their years of excellence as a chapter.  

Action:             Board voted to give the NAHSL Achievement Award to Debbie Sibley.  Board also decided to issue a special proclamation in recognition of ARIHSL’s 50th Anniversary this year. 

 

Program

Discussion:       Anne reported that an Open Forum on scholarly publishing will be held on Monday afternoon of the conference.  Anne has only received three submissions for poster sessions so far and is hoping to receive more soon; they will be renting display boards for this and they have room for 15 posters in the large exhibit hall. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Scholarship

Discussion:       Happy reported that she has sent out two notices on the NAHSL listserv urging members to take advantage of scholarships for the NAHSL 2003 Conference.  As of this week, we have approved 5 scholarships for a total of  $660.

Action:             For informational purposes only.


MLA Credentialing

Discussion:       Joan is working on getting a link from our website to the Academy page.  She is urging NAHSL members to sign up as mentors on the MLA website.  Evelyn mentioned that she had mentored someone who was thinking of becoming a medical librarian. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

 

MLA Membership Representative

Discussion:       This is usually the same person as the membership chair. 

Action:             Ed will discuss this position with anyone interested in serving as NAHSL Membership Chair.

 

RML

Discussion:       Javier announced that Michelle Eberle is the new Consumer Health Coordinator; she will be starting on September 22.  Awards for electronic document delivery went out a few weeks ago.  Outreach subcontracts available in public health or consumer health, will be $10,000 to $40,000.  The RML is planning to have one staff member as something of a ‘specialist’ in each state:  Donna will have CT; Mark will have MA; Penny will serve RI; Michelle will possibly have NH/VT and ME.   The RML is seeking new participants for the various subcommittees of the Regional Advisory Committee.  The RML site visit was in June and went very well;  Javier thanked those from the region who took the time to attend that day’s events.  The RML has been asked to participate in the site visit for the RML-Pacific Northwest; Javier and Barbara Harness from MaineGeneral Medical Center at Augusta will be going on this visit.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

State Reports

ARIHSL     Janet sent a report.  June 18 was the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of ARIHSL.  Festivities included a CE class by Jeannine Gluck (a former ARIHSL member) on Running with the Squirrels; a luncheon and business meeting at the Brown Faculty Club; a proclamation from MLA delivered by MLA President Pat Thibodeau (another former RI medical librarian); and a reception, which included 45 former and current members, at which Barbara Davis presented an interactive presentation showing the events over the years since ARIHSL’s founding in 1953.  ARIHSL will offer a poster session at Conference ’03 to mark this milestone. 

 

An ARIHSL grant proposal was funded by the Library of Rhode Island (LORI) for $36,000 to enter hospital holdings into the InRhode database, where they will be available to public and private libraries throughout the state.

 

Tovah Reis is the new ARIHSL President. 

 

CAHSL        Evelyn reported that the Annual Banquet was held on June 12.   Consortia purchases were discussed: LWW titles will be renewed; StatRef did not get enough new buyers to offer CAHSL a group contract. 

 

Several libraries across the state are experiencing staffing and/or budget cuts.  

 

Nancy Goodwin is the new President of CAHSL, with Daniel Dollar as President-Elect. 

 

HSL - NH/VT      Claire LaForce sent a report.  The Finance Committee reports that they have 30 paid renewals as members are encouraged by the new model for HSL-NH/VT.  The fall meeting will be at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont on Friday, November 7, with a demonstration of EBSCO databases. 

 

The North Country Consortium is pursuing funding from the RML to start an Ariel project similar to the one in Maine.  Bill Garrity and his staff at Dana Medical Library indicated they would be willing to help with the proposed project. 

 

HSLIC        In Janet’s absence, Kathy reported that HSLIC received a grant from NLM for 3 years of funding to introduce Ariel to all health science libraries in Maine.  The HSLIC fall meeting will be October 17, at the Senator Inn in Augusta, where we will celebrate HSLIC’s 30th Anniversary. 

 

MAHSLIN The annual meeting was held in April at Tower Hill Botanical Garden, including a CE class on what has changed recently with PUBMED and Linkout. 

         

Old Business

Virtual Reference Project  - Connecticut and Maine both reported results to the NEVIRTREF-L list after surveying their libraries about interest in a virtual reference project.  In Connecticut, seven libraries showed interest, and in Maine public libraries expressed interest.  Very few libraries are currently using any virtual reference software.  Evelyn discussed the project with several librarians and heard concerns such as:  possible negative impact on staffing levels and budgets of hospital libraries; problems with virtual reference software, such as co-browsing, which raises new licensing issues; libraries that only want to answer professional questions, not queries from health consumers.  Medical Reference Services Quarterly covered virtual reference in their Summer 2003 issue.  

Action:             Evelyn will keep monitoring the situation.

State Reps Voting on NAHSL Board Jill brought up the question for discussion.  It was mentioned that the reps are appointed by the states, not elected.  Patty asked how are other regions doing this?  Should we check with MLA about what they require? 

Action:             Patty will send an email to the state Chairs to remind them that they are appointing these reps and should be covering their expenses.

Awards/ScholarshipsMary Ann mentioned that we should form a task force to look into how we treat awards and scholarships. 

Action:             Len said this task force would be formed and a resolution of this question would be a goal for next year. 

 

New Business

National Medical Librarians Month -   Mary Ann mentioned that Lifespan’s display from NMLM 2002, “Medical Information: Then & Now,” was currently featured on the MLA website as an example for those planning for NMLM 2003. 



Next Meeting:   Monday October 27, 2003, 7:30 a.m. at Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center,  Sturbridge, Massachusetts,  during  NAHSL ‘03 Conference.

 

Following Meeting:       Friday, December 5, 2003, 10 a.m., at Regional Medical Library in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

 

The meeting was adjourned at  1:11 p.m.  

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Happy Copley

NAHSL Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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