NAHSL Executive Board Meeting

Regional Medical Library

Shrewsbury MA

December 5, 2003

 

 

Present:  Fran Becker, Happy Copley, Janet Crager, Ed Donnald, Andy Dzaugis,  Carole Foxman, Penny Glassman, Shirley Gronholm, Patty Kahn, Claire LaForce, Evelyn Morgen, Joan Yanicke

 

Len called the meeting to order at  10:03 a.m. 

 

Announcements

 

Len welcomed Andy Dzaugis to the Board as our Education Chair. 

 

Len announced that we might work through lunch in the interest of finishing before bad weather began.

 

Chair’s Report

 

Len gave Happy the conference binder to deliver to Kathy Brunjes.  He will mail another binder to Janet Crager and Ruth-Ann Gildea in Rhode Island.  He reported that conference evaluations were generally positive.  There were 125 full conference attendees, 29 registrants for Monday only, 8 for Tuesday only, and 4 people who took  CE classes but did not attend the conference.  Financially, the conference took in $41,534 plus $5,000 contributed by NAHSL itself.  Expenses were $42,951.08, so the final balance was $3582.92.  Len thanked his whole committee for their efforts.

 

Secretary’s Report

Action:             Minutes of the October 27, 2003 Board Meeting in Sturbridge were accepted as presented.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Discussion:       See report.  Fran noted that the numbers she has do not agree exactly with Len’s final report for Conference 2003, as some items are still outstanding.  The overall NAHSL budget is very similar to where we were last year.

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

 

New Business

 

Len announced we would discuss Goals for 2004 before proceeding with committee reports.

 

Goals 2004

 

Discussion:       We reviewed the goals from December 2003:

 

  1. Increase NAHSL support for continuing education.
  2. Examine the way we handle financial awards.
  3. Create a mentoring subcommittee.
  4. Continue to nominate chapter activities for Majors award.
  5. Examine group purchasing and shared resources.
  6. Raise benchmarking awareness in region.

 

.From there we discussed  the following goals for 2004:

 

  1. Scholarship – Finance Committee met in October and recommended that we establish a permanent fund that could evolve into an endowment; place leftover funds from Scholarship 2003 into this fund; expand the concept of scholarship to include support for MLA conference.  Board agreed and discussed other ideas such as funds for first-time attendees, library school students, and other conferences.    A subcommittee consisting of Len, Fran, Happy, and Andy was created and charged with drafting parameters for a Professional Development Fund to be brought to the Board meeting in March 2004. 
  2. Mentoring – How shall we encourage this effort?  Joan will be the key person in this area, coordinating with MLA efforts.   (See Goal 4 below).
  3. Majors Award – Len will submit a nomination this year on the concept of using a professional meeting planner to assist with hotel negotiations for our annual NAHSL conference.
  4. Credentialing – Joan proposed that we have a segment on our website that is labeled Professional Development, to include mentoring , credentialing (such as AHIP advice and links), continuing education, the new Professional Development Fund (see Goal 1 above), and links to other conferences.

Action:             The Board approved these four goals for 2004. 

 

Committee Reports

Archives

Discussion:       Carole reported that she still needs one more full Conference 2003 packet to send to MLA.    She mentioned that Claire LaForce had found a 1997 packet for the Archives.  They are still seeking a packet for the 1999 conference. 

Action:             Len will see about getting one more Conference 2003 packet for Carole.

 

Bylaws

Discussion:       Patty reported nothing new in the Bylaws area.  She urged Chairs to keep their portion of the policies & procedures manual up to date. 

Action:             Patty will contact state chairs to remind them that they must support the state reps to NAHSL.  She will also double check the wording in the membership section. 

 

Chapter Council

Discussion:       Evelyn mentioned that Chapter Council is asking what our “job description” is for the Benchmarking coordinator.   

Action:             Janet will work on writing up  a job description.  Len noted that he would also insert Benchmarking in the Board agenda listing again. 

Discussion:       Shirley submitted a mid-year report to Chapter Council.

Action:             Shirley will send a copy to Carole for the Archives.

 

Conference ‘03

Discussion:       See Len’s comments under Chair’s Report.

 

Conference ‘04

Discussion:       Kathy sent a report.  She requested that the Board approve the purchase of a landscape painting by Beth Whitney,  a local Maine artist, to use as our logo and as part of the Scholarship raffle. 

Action:             The Board approved the purchase of the painting. 

Discussion:       Kathy reported that our Registration chair Ann Jordan has been investigating the Acteva payment system as an alternative to PayPal.

Action:             The Board approved a trial of Acteva for conference payments only;  Fran will get in touch with Ann Jordan directly to resolve questions about Acteva. 

Discussion:       Kathy reported that Scott Plutchak will be our keynote speaker on Monday morning and we are working on a panel seminar for Tuesday morning. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Conference ‘05

Discussion:       Janet Crager asked if there is a NAHSL Program committee that works as an independent entity from the conference planning committee?  Because Rhode Island is so very small, they may need the help of those outside the state.  There is a description in the policies & procedures manual showing that the Program Committee shall include the Program Chair, another member from the host state, the former Program Chair and the incoming Program Chair. 

Action:             Len will discuss this committee’s structure with Ann Fladger and Janet Cowen. 

 

Credentialing (MLA)

Discussion:       No report at this time.

 

Education

Discussion:       Andy said that CE evaluations from Conference 2003 were positive; attendees enjoyed the courses.  Final costs have not been tabulated but the committee thinks they were very close to break even.  He indicated that the CE Committee had met at Conference 2003 and had some good ideas for Conference 2004, such as a marketing class and another class on physiology.   A class for Spring 2004 is not yet finalized, possibly another MLA teleconference?

Action:             Informational purposes only.

 

Electronic Communications

Discussion:       Lida could not attend.  Ed mentioned that he might be interested in helping with the website next year. 

Action:             Informational purposes only.

 

Finance

Discussion:       Fran reported that the Finance Committee met during Conference ’03.  The committee recommends that the Board keep about $55,000 readily available in cash instruments as a “cushion.”  The committee is no longer recommending that the Continuing Education courses “break even,” or that the annual conferences must make five percent profit. 

Action:             The Board endorsed these recommendations.

Discussion:       The Finance Committee also discussed changing the rules on who has access to the checking account and the NAHSL debit card.

Action:             The Board approved the concept that the Conference Chair would receive signing privileges on the checking account.  The Board decided to reserve rights to use the debit card to the Treasurer alone. 

Discussion:       Fran reminded committee chairs to work up their budgets for the new  fiscal year.

 

Government Relations

Discussion:       Barb was unable to attend and did not send a report.

 

Marketing

Discussion:       Jill sent a report.  The Marketing Committee distributed the second edition of Market News at Conference ‘03.  Jill will be sending extra copies of the newsletter to state groups to distribute at their meetings.  Rachel Vigneron coordinated the swap table at the conference.  At NAHSL 2004 the committee hopes to have another swap table, produce another newsletter,  and sponsor a marketing-related CE.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Membership

Discussion:       Penny reported that NAHSL had 237 members in 2003.  She will be sending out the membership notices for 2004 in late December; the renewal will now include an email confirm.  The website has two membership lists to choose from, and the current membership list is now the first choice. 

Action:             For informational purposes only. 

 

Nominating

Discussion:       Ed had no report.

 

 

Program

Discussion:       Janet Cowen could not attend.  See report for Conference ’04 for some details on Program. 

 

Scholarship

Discussion:       Happy reported that NAHSL had approved $1300 in Scholarships for 10 different members.  However, only $1230 was actually used by the scholarship recipients. 

Action:             Informational purposes only.

 

RML

Discussion:       In Javier’s absence, Penny gave the report.  Awards are still available for technology, electronic document delivery, Internet connectivity, and some smaller awards.  Mark Goldstein is doing a study of hospital library closings, hoping to use the Connecticut model of requiring library services as part of hospital accreditation in other states.  The RML is also working with NH/VT to replicate the electronic document delivery project recently run in Maine. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

State Reports

ARIHSL     Janet Crager reported that Brown is offering a presentation on 18th and 19th century medical instruments.  The Governor of Rhode Island has been trying to move the Office of Library and Information Services under the Rhode Island  Department of Education; fearing that this would emphasize only school libraries, Tovah Reis (current Chair of ARIHSL) sent a strong letter discouraging this change.  The Rhode Island Futures Conference is seeking a national speaker in consumer health issues.

 

CAHSL        Evelyn reported that CAHSL’s next meeting will be December 18, with Matthew Battles from the Houghton Library as speaker.  At this holiday meeting there will be a birthday cake to celebrate CAHSL’s 30th anniversary.    On October 21, Jeanine Cyr Gluck and Janice Swiatek-Kelly gave a presentation to the Connecticut State Medical Society on the value of medical libraries; at this same meeting the CSMS accepted new MLA standards as library requirement for accrediting hospital CME departments.    Donna Berryman will be at UCHC in Farmington on January 8 to teach the PubMed Expert Searching class. 

 

 

NH/VT       Claire reported that the Fall Meeting went very well; EBSCO gave a demonstration of their databases and Javier Crespo spoke on electronic document delivery, specifically regarding an Ariel document delivery project similar to the one done in Maine last year.   Cynthia Davis is now chair of the Communications Committee.  Anne Conner has moved to the Program & Education Committee.  The Administration Committee is reviewing the bylaws for needed changes and the Finance Committee is looking at issues around resource sharing. 

 

HSLIC        Janet could not attend.  Patty reported that the Ariel grant effort is progressing;  training sessions are scheduled and several libraries have received hardware and will soon be up and running with Ariel. 

 

MAHSLIN Cindy Hutchison sent a report.  MAHSLIN officers are making plans for the annual meeting  at the Wyndham Westboro in Westboro, Massachusetts on April 15, 2004:  Maximize Your Impact: Service, Skills & Strategies.  The Hospital Library Standards have been circulated to members of the Massachusetts Medical Society Accreditation Committee.  The MMS is planning to revise their application for Re-Accreditation as a Provider of CME to reflect eight of the nine standards (they are excluding Standard 8).  

         

Old Business

 

Len asked that NAHSL state representatives or chairs of state groups invite him to their state meetings. 

 

Upcoming NAHSL Board Meetings

 

March 5, 2004  --  Shrewsbury MA

June 4, 2004  -- Shrewsbury MA

September 10, 2004  --  Shrewsbury MA

October 4, 2004  -- Sebasco Harbour ME

December 3, 2004  --  Shrewsbury MA

 


Meeting was adjourned at  1:42 pm. 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Happy Copley

NAHSL Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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