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On February 10 the Alabama Library Association College, University, and Special Libraries (CUS) Division Executive Board met at the Houston Cole Library at Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama. The following report is supplied by Tim Dodge, Auburn University CUS Liaison and CUS Chair-Elect.
Present: Janice Franklin, Tim Dodge, Jean Thomason, Keith Powell, Kay Fowler, Sue Flood, Linda Harris, Brenda Turner, Bill Hubbard, and Sonja McAbee.
Absent: Bob Lane, Susan Herring, Linda Thornton, Cecilia Schmitz, and Pat Henderson.
1) CUS Chair Janice Franklin (Alabama State University) called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. She spoke briefly about the November 18 CUS Executive Board meeting and introduced the new Member at Large for Programs, Keith Powell (Ala. State U.).
The Alabama Library Association Executive Council has approved suggested changes to the CUS bylaws pending approval by the Association's Bylaws Committee.
We are still waiting to find out if the Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries (AACRL) listserv will change its name to reflect the pending incorporation of the new CUS listserv into the AACRL listserv.
Janice outlined a tentative agenda for the CUS business meeting to take place at the annual conference on April 16: a) brief reports from the various officers and committee chairs; b) the presentation of awards by the Publications Committee; c) recognition of new officers; d) presentation of "year in review" by the History Committee; e) approval of bylaws changes by the members present; f) the CUS Chair's report; g) passing of the CUS gavel to Tim Dodge (!); and h) the featured speaker's presentation.
2) CUS Chair-Elect Tim Dodge (Auburn University) sent completed convention planning forms to Betty Suddeth (Fairhope Public Library), Convention Committee Chair, on November 20, 1997. On January 22, 1998 he was contacted by Martha White of the Convention Committee in regard to the menu for the CUS "lunch." Tim clarified that it was breakfast, not lunch, and confirmed other details with Ms. White. The breakfast will cost $14 per person once taxes and hotel service charges are added.
In December Tim contacted Keith Powell, the new Member at Large for Programs. Tim and Keith conferred several times about program ideas for 1998-99 (see Keith's report for details).
Finally, Tim is wrapping up convention planning details.
3) Bob Lane (Air University), CUS Past-Chair, absent, via written report listed the following nominations for CUS positions for 1998-99:
a) Chair Elect: Robert R. Burkhardt (Athens State College) and Tim Lewis (Alabama Supreme Court and State Law Library)
b) Secretary: Margaret K. Alexander (Tuskegee University) and Suzanne J. Peterson (Samford University)
c) Member at Large for Planning: George E. Whitesel (Jacksonville State University) and Hsiao-Hung Lee (Troy State University)
d) Member at Large for Organization and Bylaws: Lynn Lonergan (Air University).
4) Susan Herring (University of Alabama - Huntsville), absent and no report.
5) Linda Thornton (Auburn University), Member at Large for Planning. Absent but Janice Franklin says she is expecting a report soon regarding the five-year plan and that the CUS mission statement is under review.
6) Cecilia Schmitz (Auburn University), Member at Large for Projects. Absent and no report but Janice says that Cecilia has done a good job with the CUS website and that Cecilia plans to revise the CUS directory. Sonja McAbee (Jacksonville State University) suggests adding information to the website on criteria for submitting abstracts and papers to the CUS Research Committee. Bill Hubbard (Jacksonville State University) suggests adding criteria for the CUS Publications Award too.
7) Keith Powell (Alabama State University), Member at Large for Programs, presented a list of five possible convention program ideas and speakers for the 1999 convention developed together with Tim Dodge:
a) Joint Digitization Project (Tuskegee/Alabama State/The U. of Alabama) - digitization of special collections materials concerning minority groups. Speakers: persons from those institutions involved in the project;
b) Paraprofessional Staff Support/Development - improving job satisfaction, career development, and communication. Speakers: Donna Fitch (Samford U.) or Terry Rodgers, author of The Library Paraprofessional;
c) Leadership/Management Training (Communication Focus) - workshop format? Speakers: David Penniman (University of Tennessee) or someone from private industry;
d) Positioning/Marketing Libraries (Library Advocacy) - Friends development and information issues positioning. Speakers: David Warren (Richland County Public Library, Columbia, S.C.) or someone from a private marketing or public relations firm;
e) Step Toward the Virtual Library, Alabama - lobbying, funding, and resource sharing. Speakers: Jane P. Kleiner (Lousiana State U.) or Steven L. MacCall (SLIS, U. Alabama).
Janice Franklin suggested that the Executive Board consider holding a workshop this Fall in addition to the 1999 convention programs. Brenda Turner (Faulkner University) suggested a workshop or program on publishing and Bill Hubbard (Jacksonville State University) suggested one on the trends in libraries toward outsourcing or hiring temporary and adjunct employees. The Board was encouraged to send Keith more suggestions for programs and speakers.
8) Kay Fowler (Troy State University - Montgomery), Chair of the Handbook Committee, informed the Executive Board that she is updating the draft of CUS Handbook revisions supplied by Susan Herring via diskette.
9) Pat Henderson (The University of Alabama), Chair of the History Committee. Absent and no report. Janice Franklin says that Pat is working on a presentation for the annual convention.
10) Sue Flood (Auburn University), Chair of the Legislative Development Committee reported the following:
a) Legislative Development Committee. Nancy Donahoo (North Shelby County Public Library) has resigned as the Chair of the Association's Legislative Development Committee and Scott Plutchak (Lister Hill Library, University of Alabama-Birmingham) has agreed to complete her term of office. Legislative Day is on March 4. The Legislative Development Committee convention program will take place April 15 at 2-3 p.m. The speaker is Dr. Joe Summers from the Center for Governmental Services at Auburn University. The program will explain how the state government of Alabama works.
b) Alabama Virtual Library. This is an important initiative estimated to cost $3,000,000 to ensure the development of an online library and to share electronic resources among all educational institutions K-12, two-year colleges and schools, and four- year colleges and universities. For more details see the CUS Quarterly Report in the December 1997 issue of Bits & PC's.
c) Washington Office Briefing from American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans.
Adam Eisgrau, legislative counsel for the ALA Washington Office, stressed that current legislation is the best approach for updated the Copyright Act of 1976 in light of electronic developments. For more information, see the Digital Coalition website at http://www.dfc.org and see Sue's editorial in the January 1998 issue of Bits & PC's.
Brian Shottlaender, of the UCLA library system and a representative to the Principles Working Group, discussed licensing agreements for electronic sources. See the draft statement of principles developed by ALA and five other library associations at http://www.arl.org/scomm/licensing/principles.html. See http://www.ala.org/washoff/ip/license.html for more information.
Ching-Chih Chen, member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing and Communications, Information Technology, and Next Generation Internet, discussed the issue of expanding the Internet in order to make it "100 to 1000 times faster than what we have now." See http://www.ala.org/oitp/inetng.html for more information.
Finally, Eric Peterson, staff director of the U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Printing reported that legislation on revising Title 44 of the United States Code may be introduced later this year. Title 44 covers printing and public distribution of federal government information. See http://www.ala.org/washoff/govinfo.html for more on this.
Sue also reported that library postal rates are going up again soon.
11) Linda Harris (University of Alabama - Birmingham), Chair of the Membership Committee, reports that the CUS liaison list is being maintained. On an Association-wide level, the CUS and AlaLA Membership Committees need to extend more invitations to public libraries for increased membership and there needs to be a new promotional brochure.
12) Brenda Turner (Faulkner University), Chair of the Public Relations Committee. Brenda has produced two CUS newsletters this year and has submitted notices in two issues of The Alabama Librarian, including announcements on convention speakers and proposed bylaw changes. The next newsletter will mention the AACRL/CUS listserv and the Research Forum winners.
13) Bill Hubbard (Jacksonville State University), Chair of the Publications Committee. The committee recommends that the Outstanding Professional Publication Award go to John Sandy (The University of Alabama) who will receive the award at the April 16 CUS annual breakfast/business meeting. EBSCO will present Mr. Sandy with the $100 award. Finally, the committee recommended that $28 be budgeted to cover the costs of the CUS convention breakfast for John Sandy and the EBSCO representative.
14) Sonja McAbee (Jacksonville State University), Chair of the Research Committee, reported that the winners of the EBSCO and Blackwell North America Awards for Research Excellence and Promise have been already notified. (Usually the winners are not informed until the Research Forum takes place). Jim Gravois (Auburn University) will present "Poster Sessions, Promotion, and Publishing: Is There a Connection?" and Susan Herring (University of Alabama - Huntsville) will present "The Value of Interdisciplinarity: A Study Based on the Design of Internet Search Engines." Ryan Womack (University of Alabama - Huntsville) will make a special presentation: "The Expansion of Radio: An Analysis of the Development of a New Medium of Communication." As the winner of the first CUS Research Grant, Deborah Grimes (Shelton State Community College) will present "What Academic Administrators Think about Academic Libraries." Sonja has submitted this information to The Alabama Librarian and has notified EBSCO and Blackwell North America of the date and time of the Research Forum.
II. Wrap-Up, Etc.
Janice Franklin urged the CUS Executive Board to have all of their activities finalized by March 30 so that all officers and chairs would be ready to present their annual reports at the business meeting at the convention. All receipts for CUS business need to be turned in to Janice as soon as possible. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
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