Mars Executive Committee Saturday January 19, 2002 New Orleans Convention Center 295 Minutes Members Present: Executive Committee members: William McHugh (Chair), Nancy Buchanan (Past Chair), LeiLani Freund (Vice-Chair, Chair- Elect), Naomi Lederer, Carole Richter, Doris Ann Sweet, Nicholas Rosselli, Daisy Benson, Anne Haynes, Alesia McManus, Pat Riesenman. Committee and Task Force Chairs, Representatives and Planning Committee members: Marcella Stark, Natalie McDonough, Lori Morse, Rosemary Meszaros, Jose Aguinaga, Mary Pagliero Popp, Kelley Lawton, Carolyn Larson, Scott Garton, Marianna Fitzgerald, George Porter, Arlie Sims, Lesley Bell, David Hovde, Paige Weston, Pam Sieving, Becki Whitaker, Colleen Seale, Amy Tracy Wells, Linda Friend, Denise Bennett, Martha Walker, John Glace, Nancy Portnow. ------------------ William McHugh brought the meeting to order at 2:00 pm. A. Orientation. Committee members and chairs were introduced, followed by a review of the meeting agenda. A current roster was passed for corrections. B. News and Announcements 1. Products and Services: Jose Aguinaga reported that the Sunday morning forum will include three speakers on the topic of choosing live reference software products. 2. Education, Training and Support: Arlie Sims announced that Sunday's DG Forum will address the topic of support and training for virtual/chat reference services. The Forum is offered jointly by Education, Training and Support, and Management of Electronic Reference Services. 3. Managers in MARS DG: Bill McHugh reported that Sunday's Discussion Group topic is "Electronic Resources on a Shoestring." 4. MARS Web Coordinator: Alesia McManus announced that Daisy Benson will take over updating the MARS Web site after the Midwinter Conference. The official transition takes place after Annual. 5. George Porter reported that the ACRL Science & Technology Section will host a Discussion Forum Sunday, 9:30-11:00 am. where two speakers will address SFX and the NISO Open URL standards. MOUSS will sponsor a vendor Discussion Forum Sunday, 4"30- 6:30 pm on Integrated Library Systems (Ex-Libris, III, Sirsi and Endeavor). 6. Bill McHugh suggested posting discussion forums and programs relevant to MARS focus and interests on MARS-L. 7. Nicholas Rosselli announced that the Indigo Girls will be featured performers for the Atlanta Scholarship Fund. Get those tickets fast! 8. Bill McHugh reported that Executive Committee minutes from Midwinter were approved as written. Minutes from Annual 2001 were passed around to Executive Committee members and chairs; they may be approved by the end of the conference. 9. Bill McHugh reported that charges to the Digital Reference Guidelines ad hoc Committee and to the Section Review Task Force were both approved electronically by Executive Committee members between Annual 2001 and Midwinter 2002 conferences. 10. Appointment Process: LeiLani Freund (Vice-Chair) will be making appointments to committees throughout the Spring. Committee Heads should fill out Committee Member Status Reports no later than February 10, indicating which members will be remaining or leaving, including any special information. Most appointments are for two years except for except for chairs,internships, and other special appointments such as consultants that are usually only one year. Four years is the usual limit on committee membership, not including the intern year. This limit helps to encourage new member activity. The vice-chair appoints new members. Bill McHugh stated that 'consultant' status can be useful for special needs and projects. Consultants are generally individuals who have completed four years as a committee member, but are needed for particularly projects or to ensure continuity. Forms passed to members and chairs: MARS Committee Membership Status Report; MARS Committee and Discussion Group Interest Form. Naomi Lederer mentioned that the Outreach Committee should be added to the Interest Form. 11. Bill McHugh asked that committee minutes be sent to committee members and liaison, to the Marcella Stark as Chair of Planning, and to the section Vice-Chair and Chair. E-mail can be used in place of the paper form. Minutes are eventually sent to ALA Archives. C. MARS Business 1. RUSA Board Retreat: Bill McHugh passed the 'Retreat Results' memo, and reported on the Retreat discussions. RUSA is concerned about under-representation of front-line Reference librarians as well as some other groups (Public libraries, small libraries). There is a perceived need for a better place for the 'generalist' librarian. Denise Bennett referred to the survey about why librarians don't belong to RUSA: Answers included cost, lack of obvious place for front-line librarian. Section reviews for MOUSS and MARS should include consideration about whether they are appealing to these groups. Bill McHugh suggested ways to make the organization work for those who are less involved. - A Hot Topics in Frontline Reference Discussion Group will be created under RUSA - Think of potential committee members from small or public libraries - Marketing- make greater conscious effort to recruit new librarians/members - Coordinate Discussion Group Topics better - Web publishing issues could attract interest - Life-cycle of programs: find ways to expand and leverage program work into new forms Natalie McDonough mentioned the need for more direct promotion with public libraries; could offer pre-conference ALA program to PLA. Denise Bennett suggested consideration of further steps for program content from the beginning of planning; Doris Ann Sweet, George Porter and Nancy Buchanan all spoke to the potential to synergize and enhance program efforts beyond the program or forum itself (e.g. publication, report, PowerPoint presentation). Bill McHugh spoke to the continuing education aspect where content can be re- packaged as a pre-conference to bring in revenue. RUSA concern about a home for 'frontline' reference people was discussed. Because 'managers' is in the MOUSS title, the general reference person may perceive that their issues are not the focus. MARS real focus is librarians with a strong electronic orientation. Nancy Buchanan suggested that section descriptions may not help the new librarian identify with RUSA groups. Denise Bennett said the idea of a new Reference Section in MARS has not been totally rejected; the new RUSA Discussion Group (Hot Topics in Frontline Reference) is viewed as a way to test the water. The goal is to recruit members and find the right terminology and orientation. What would a new section do? Nancy Buchanan suggested that reference librarians express interest in practical challenges and issues/solutions. Amy Tracy Wells expressed a concern about duplication of effort. Bill McHugh commented that MARS is RUSA's largest section (about 2,000 members). Nancy Buchanan cautioned that it can be useful to have several discussion groups addressing the same topic, usually with a different focus. We don't want to legislate topic focus from the top down. 2. Updating of MARS Best Lists: Lori Morse Some resources included in these lists have changed; the URL or orientation of the site may be different. Do we want a print publication in view of the changing nature of the resources? Alesia McManus said that access problems may be reported to her; Publications is thinking about the issue of currency also. Becki Whitaker said currency is not necessarily the only issue. The MARS Best lists are dated and reflect choices for that point in time. How are the lists being used? Carolyn Larson suggested the current link should be added to the list if the site still exists. Further discussion concerned the options of updating URLs and other critical information as opposed to leaving each list as a snapshot in time. There was some concern about leaving dead or bad links on our Web pages, so if bad URL's aren't updated, they should at least be removed. D. Reports 1. Messages from MARS: Anne Haynes MARS will only be allowed one page in the new RUSA Update format in RUSQ. In the past MARS has received as many as four pages of messages, but Anne hasn't had to cut any copy sent to her. Under the new limit, she may need to edit the print version of Messages to fit the space limitations. The deadline will be earlier for each issue, and the information won't be as timely as the Web version was. Amy Tracy Wells said the 'Chair Report' could be brief to save space; we would like to use the Update to promote future events, but timeline might not allow for that. If recruitment is a goal, then Discussion Group summaries might be good to include. Anne stated that January 28 is the deadline for the next print version of RUSA Update. Should the Update be restricted to new post-Midwinter information? 2. RUSA Membership: Becki Whitaker Marketing is a new responsibility for Membership Committee. Some ideas include: - posting reference position job openings - target several groups such as LIS students, Reference librarians - Web pages for members? - Discount opportunities - RUSA booth sitters for Annual Conference- could we have giveaway items? - Post names of committees which have member openings - No budget for marketing! The Pre-Conference Program discussion will be postponed until the next meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM Transcribed by Carole Richter MARS Secretary Carole Richter Pilkinton Electronic Resources Librarian University of Notre Dame Libraries (574) 631-8405 richter.8@nd.edu