RUSA HISTORY SECTION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2002
ATLANTA GEORGIA
Saturday, June 15, 2002 8:00 – 9:00am Atlanta Marquis, Press Room
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 8:00 – 11:00am Atlanta Marquis, State Room
15 June 2002 8:00- 9:00am
Present
Jim Niessen, Chair Sam Boldrick Carole Callard Marilyn Carbonell Ruth Carr, Nancy L. Eckerman, Tom Kemp,
David L. Langenberg, Ann Reinert, Rebecca Tolley-Stokes, Curt Witcher
Announcements:
Nancy Godleski and Ray Wright are attending New Chairs' Orientation during this time. Rebecca Tolley-Stokes was introduced as the section's new web master, replacing Teresa Mudrock, who was thanked for her service.
Celestine Roth is the new News Editor, replacing Nancy Huling, who was thanked for her service. Reminded members about the History Section dinner, 16 June, Sunday, 6 pm. at Mary Mac's Tea Room.
Jim made the following announcements: RUSA President's program: "Reference Interview – connecting in person and in cyberspace," will be followed by the RUSA Awards reception. The first RUSA Hot Topics Discussion
Group, based on input from Midwinter is scheduled during this conference.
1. Approval of Minutes
Minutes of the Executive Committee meetings, 19 and 22 January 2002, Midwinter Conference, New Orleans, were approved.
2. Committee Announcements and Reports
Bibliography and Indexes Committee (Ed Oetting)
Ed Oetting reports that the History Section program planned by the Bibliography and Indexes Committee is scheduled for Sunday, 8:30am, and entitled:" What Do You Mean I Can't Rely on Hitler's 1960 Web Diary for My
Papers: Evaluating Historical Sources on the Web." HS is co-sponsoring program (SAA) on historical sources for K-
12, preceded by brief showing. Jeannette Pierce is the new incoming chair of B&I, replacing Ed Oetting. The "Best
Bibliographies" are in progress.
Genealogical Publishing Company Award Committee (Sam Boldrick, Acting Chair)
Ray Wright is the incoming chair. The RUSA History Section GPC award winner for 2002 is Curt Witcher, and the awardee luncheon is scheduled for Sunday at the Swan Coach House Restaurant.
Genealogy & Local History Discussion Group (Tom Kemp)
39 registrants attended the preconference, down from 80 at the last conference. The publishers donated 50 books; each participant received one free. The next one is scheduled for ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia, January 2003.
Genealogy Committee (Tom Kemp)
Tom said the Discussion Group and Committee Program today features (I) Dr. Vladimir Wertsman. ALA EMIERT
Round Table, speaking on American immigrant groups; and (2) Tom speaking on the 1930 census
Historical Events Committee (David Langenberg)
The Historical Events Committee website has been up for three weeks and linked from the HS website.
Local History Committee (Ed Frank)
Planning for the program for the Annual Conference in Toronto (June 2003) is in process. Susan Mal bin is the in­ coming Local History chair. Discussed the "Guidelines on Establishing Local History Collections" (2

p.) Needs improvement and major revision. Since there was no action by time of the annual conference, the document will be removed from the website. Curt said that it needs updating and improvement, can be up to 5 pages, but needs to be revised and submitted according to RUSA schedule and channels.
RUSA Conference Program Committee (Carla Rickerson)
"Adoption Searching," the PLA program for librarians and non-librarians is an issue in public services, but is not advocacy, but deals with the very specialized reference interview. Local History also has a program for Toronto
2003: "All History is Local." The HS will have two programs for the June 2003 annual conference. Tom
Kemp questioned the policy and enforcement or monitoring of "no conflict" scheduling for programs and co-sponsored programs.
RUSA Organizing Committee (Ruth Carr)
The Committee is discussing virtual members again, a survey, and the structure of the RUSA Board. MARS and BRASS have written documents on committee membership defining roles, working and business meetings.
The spontaneous discussions that occur at meetings may mean virtual members are not represented. Discussed whether exclusion may be against the "open meetings" policy, but they are closed only in one sense. Tom said sending the question and business to RUSA-L would provide a broad forum and opportunity for members. For example, LHist links well.
RUSA Standards and Guideline Committee (David Langenberg)
David reported that standards and guidelines needing revision in 2003, included guidelines for teaching in
SUS. Also, revisions to the guidelines for continuing education need to be prepared and submitted. Tom said the committee could probably work on both.
3. RUSA Board of Directors Report (Jim Niessen)
The RUSA Board will discuss virtual membership and a new section on "Resource Sharing" proposed by the
.
MOUSS Interlibrary Loan group. Will also discuss limits on number of members on committees.
4. History Section Award(s) and Possible Second Award (Jim Niessen, Ray Wright, Sam Boldrick)
Discussed the long-established Genealogical Publishing Co., GPC Award, established in the 1980s according to Ann. The text on the purpose of the award (1992) is on the web. Ruth asked if the language need to be changed. The purpose of the award has been to recognize service to the section over a professional career.
Sam raised committee membership and that the number of members can't go below five and there are currently three. Need to discuss staggered terms. Jim said current RUSA award guidelines specify amounts for new awards: $2,000. Older awards may need to be increased. Also discussed the possible establishment of a new award with a purpose different from the GPC award for example honoring anyone, not limited to HS members.
5. New Business includes recruitment to the profession and strategic planning. Reminder: Next meeting,
Tuesday,
18 June 2002.
Meeting adjourned at 9:0 I am.
Respectfully Submitted by:
Marilyn Carbonell, Member-at-Large
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