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Executive Committee Minutes
June 18, 2001

Present: Mischa Buczkowski (Oregon), Tatiana Barr (Florida), Jackie Byrd (Indiana), Brenda Carter (Pittsburgh), Joanna Dyla (Stanford), Inna Gudanets (Stanford), Jared Ingersoll (Columbia), Tim Larson (Indiana), Sandra Levy (Chicago), Terri Tickle Miller (Michigan State), Brad Schaffner (Kansas), Leena Siegelbaum (Harvard), Marek Sroka (Illinois), Mary Lee Sweat (Loyola--New Orleans), Cathy Zeljak (George Washington)

Minutes: The minutes of the January 2001 meeting were approved

Committee reports:

• Program Planning: Sandra Levy reported that the program for the Atlanta conference in June 2001 will be "What to Do When You Don't Have a Subject Specialist". The proposal was turned in March, 2001. The purpose of the program is to offer guidance to libraries that lack a Slavic collection but serve a researcher who needs a Slavic collection. Work is needed on the title and description. A decision on approval and budget will be made soon. Committee volunteers are Tatiana Barr, David Chroust, Jared Ingersoll, and Marek Sroka. Ideas for speakers include:
  • A librarian and/or faculty member from an institution like that described above
  • A librarian from an institution that offers service to librarians or faculty in need, e.g. someone from the University of Illinois Reference Service
  • Someone to speak on slavlibs as a mechanism for sharing information and expertise

• Automated Bibliographic Control: Inna Gudanets reported that there was good attendance for the committee meeting. Topics discussed included:
  • The Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language issue. A letter was drafted by Inna to be sent to the Library of Congress. Janice Pilch, the incoming chair, will continue work on this
  • A list was drafted to expand the Russian language abbreviations in Appendix B of AACR2. Work on this will continue
  • A new home is needed for the Princeton Slavic Cataloging Manual. Work on this will continue

• Continuing Education: Joanna Dyla reported on several issues, including:
  • Work will continue on the mentoring program
  • Tatiana Barr reported that having a table for SEES at ALA conferences is no possible
  • A message will be sent to slavlibs exploring interest in a Slavic NACO funnel
  • New members for the committee are needed

• Electronic Resources/Preservation (Joint Meeting): Brad Schaffner and Cathy Zeljak reported:
  • Thomas McKinlay Vanderlinden from Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc. spoke on ways to preserve library materials
  • Updates were given on projects, including the Letopis zhurnal'nykh statei digitization project at Indiana, the Slavic Librarians Directory, and the AAU/ARL document delivery proposal
  • Another joint meeting is recommended for the New Orleans conference in January, 2002

• Newsletter: Sandra Levy reported on the Newsletter Committee meeting:
  • Issue #17, just published, was discussed, including the sending of issues to active members via first class mail
  • Issue #18 is in the planning stages. Terri Tickle Miller will be the new editor. Content and assignments were discussed. Hillwood will be the spotlighted collection
  • The possibility of archiving the newsletter on the WWW was discussed

• Nominating: The committee met

Mischa reported on the drop in SEES membership and hoped that the advertising would spark new interest in the section. There were other ACRL sections with dwindling membership, and some of them are considering member surveys. Jared Ingersoll will look into whether we could use some of the $1500 for a survey for SEES.

SEES/WESS event in Atlanta: Suggestions for the event included a winery tour, a tour of CNN, or a zoo tour. Terri Tickle Miller reported that the winery tour will probably be chosen. Marek Sroka will follow up as member-at-large.

Member-at-large a 2-year position: Terri reported that, after working on the SEES/WESS event for the San Francisco conference, having this as a 2-year position probably wouldn't help that much. Terri said that having regular communication with WESS was a struggle, and she had to have a WESS member forward to her messages about the event. However, a 2-year appointment might facilitate continuity.

SEES website: Cathy Zeljak reported that ACRL links to the websites for each section. SEES committees maintain their own sites and the SEES website links to them.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2001: A SEES member can be funded. This year, a Czech speaker is preferred. A message will be sent to slavlibs to solicit applications. It was suggested that SEES require a report from the funded member at one of the ALA conferences.

ACRL Council meeting:

• ACRL is soliciting nominations for a new initiative fund. $1500 will be awarded for the best proposal. Proposals are to be emailed to ACRL
• There is a proposal to shorten mid-winter to 3 days, Friday afternoon to Monday. This would begin at the 2002 mid-winter conference in New Orleans. Sections could request a big block of time and divide it as needed. It was suggested that the "no meeting times" may interfere with this concept
• SEES needs to change its outdated blurb in the ACRL Professional Interest Sections. The group discussing the ad at the Illinois workshop will work on this. There is a 30-word limit
• ACRL Board minutes are available
• ALA wants feedback on the reorganization (conference, tracks, etc.)
• Mary Ellen Davis is the new ACRL director
• There is a pilot project on virtual committee membership

ACRL liaison: Mary Lee Sweat is going off the ACRL Board, and she will no longer be the ACRL liaison to SEES. SEES members expressed appreciation for Mary's work with the section.

Career development: The combination of several position openings and the falling membership of SEES prompted a discussion on career development in Slavic librarianship. The mentoring program was mentioned as a way to offer guidance. A AAASS panel on career alternatives was suggested. It was also suggested that the SEES website include a "career opportunities" link to open positions.

Submitted by Jackie Byrd

Last updated 01/10/02