Meeting Minutes
Name of Group: New Members Roundtable Executive Board
Type of Meeting: ALA Midwinter Executive Board Meeting January 2015
Date Submitted: February, 2015
Date and time: Saturday, January 31, 10:30AM CST
Place: McCormick Place West, W186c
Name of Chairperson: Megan Hodge, President
Name of Recorder: Mandi Goodsett, Secretary
Attendees: Katrina Schell (NMRT Essay Contest Committee), Naomi Wolfson (Mentoring Committee), Kate
Kosturski (Director), Mandi Goodsett (Secretary), Megan Hodge (President), Maureen Cropper
(Parliamentarian), Tinamarie Vella (Director), Kirby McCurtis (Vice President and President-Elect), Jonathan
Lu (Treasurer), Easter DiGangi (Assistant Treasurer), Emily Prather-Rodgers (Past-President), Kari Weaver
(Director), Kelly Trowbridge (Director), Kim Redd (ALA Staff Liaison), Nicole Spoor (Resume Review
Service Committee Chair), Peter Hepburn (ALA Executive Board Liaison)
Signature of Recorder/Secretary on Official Copy of Minutes: Mandi Goodsett
Body of report:
The meeting was called to order at 10:51am CST.
I. Introductions
All present board members and other guests introduced themselves.
II. Approval of minutes
Minutes from the Special Board Meeting Oct. 8th were approved.
Minutes from the Fall Official Board Meeting were approved.
Minutes from the Special Board Meeting Dec. 4th were approved.
III. Reports of officers
A. Update on Archives Database Migration Ad Hoc Committee:
Kari gave an update on the Archives Database Migration Ad Hoc Committee. The committee
members are doing clean-up on the NMRT website and are hopeful that they will have some finished
materials to give to the Archives Committee for recommended changes by mid-April.
B. Update on Networking Regional Mixers Ad Hoc Committee
Tinamarie gave an update on the Networking Regional Mixers Ad Hoc Committee via email. The
committee has completed the Fall round of socials. Attendance was not strong across the board, but
it was a good effort. For the Spring Socials scheduled for March and April, the committee will
increase marketing and try to reach areas that weren’t involved in the first round. Tinamarie
proposed that this become a permanent committee that the Networking Director will supervise.
C. Update on Fundraising & Vendor Sponsorship
Kim said that the Mango Travel Grant was approved for 2015. GALE has expressed interest in
offering a travel grant for NMRT this year and is hoping the grant will be ongoing. She clarified that
both GALE and Mango really only can commit to one year at a time, but both have approved grants
for this year. The board wanted to know what can be done to improve the chances that the donors
can commit to more than one year, and Kim said NMRT should send thank you letters, work to build
relationships with these companies, and show the value of the award for recipients to the donors. She
suggested that the board have the recipient write a thank you to the donors as well.
Emily noted that NMRT has a list of other things recipients can do for the donors as part of the
stipulations for accepting the award, such as work at their booth, etc., and Kim suggested that we
send the list to the companies with the thank you letters. Kirby said we could advertise these grants
heavily on the website; the committee could also advertise on their section of the website.
The Conference Programming Committee may approach NMRT to solicit help from members to do
introductions to some “News You Can Use” sessions at ALA Annual.
D. Update from the ALA Executive Board
ALA Executive Board liaison Peter Hepburn gave an update from the ALA Executive Board. He
mentioned the decline in MLS student enrollment over the past year. Library schools are no longer
turning people away and have turned to recruiting students. He asked the board for feedback about
their perceptions of the job market for MLIS graduates.
Megan said that, anecdotally, there seem to be more job announcements, although many graduates
still seem upset on social media. Kate said when she graduated there were much fewer positions and
things are better now. Emily said she is seeing many more entry level jobs and fewer jobs for midcareer librarians. Kari said she notices that a lot of job descriptions are asking for a lot from potential
candidates, especially for things that are “required.” Emily pointed out that the pay doesn’t always
reflect the experience required from job ads.
Peter suggested that NMRT consider doing a formal survey, perhaps in partnership with PLA,
LLAMA, or another group, to determine the current situation for new MLIS graduates. Kirby said
that this sounds like a great Emerging Leaders project.
ALA Midwinter Conference enrollment is doing a little better than in the past few years. The budget
is currently in the black. The budget may change a little after Midwinter, however.
AASL is currently trying to promote the value of school libraries more aggressively. The presence of
school libraries affects all librarians, even those who don’t work at school libraries.
The ALA Strategic Plan process is moving to discussions at the division and roundtable level in the
ALA Midwinter Conference and will continue to move forward in the coming months. The Task
Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion sent out a survey link to determine the current perceptions
and climate of diversity in ALA. According to initial feedback, many did not think ALA has met the
equity/diversity standards currently in place.
Kari said she has a library school student who wants to know why she can’t pay monthly for ALA
dues. Peter explained that the dues software currently cannot handle that kind of payment plan, but
he would bring it up to the board. Megan asked if there was a schedule in place for overhauling the
ALA website. Peter said that there was no timeline currently, but he would ask Jenny Levine about
it. Kate asked if there were ways ALA could help the Canada Library Association support new
librarians, or if ALA could somehow support them directly. Peter said he could talk to connections
in ALISE and that it would be helpful to find an MLS faculty member in a Canadian MLIS school
that could serve as a connection to ALA.
E. Update on Handbook Migration
Kari gave an update on the Handbook migration. NMRT has been asked to migrate the NMRT
Handbook from its current wiki format to the NMRT website. The committee is in the early stages of
this transition. The committee is currently cross-referencing what’s on the website and in the
handbook and considering the architecture necessary to begin this process. This may mean that in the
future there is no independent Handbook Committee and updates to the handbook will be handled by
the Web Committee, which may increase in size by about a third to handle more work. The project
will probably take a couple of years to complete. Kim said there isn’t currently a hard deadline for
this project, but she can let the committee know if one is set.
F. Update on Emerging Leader Survey
Megan gave an update on the Emerging Leader survey results. She explained why there was a need
for formal feedback on the program. She noticed that, based on participant feedback, NMRT clearly
needs to grow its services for 3-10 year or mid-career librarian memberships. There was also a lot of
confusion from participants about the free year of NMRT membership for Emerging Leaders. Megan
suggested that the board send an email to Emerging Leaders participants detailing the process of
becoming an NMRT member for free. Many participants wanted more mentoring in navigating ALA
as opposed to career mentoring, so the group might consider adding this as a new track in the
mentoring program. Participants also wanted increased personal leadership development, so NMRT
needs to keep working with LLAMA to develop continuing education opportunities. Kate
recommended using state emerging leader programs as models. One participant wanted more
speaking opportunities for new librarians and Megan recommended this as an area NMRT could
address in the future. Kate said RUSA has considered doing a student showcase and a similar event
would be great for NMRT.
IV. New Business
A. 2015-2016 Draft Budget
Jonathan reported on the NMRT budget. Dues are up from in the past. The draft budget has an
increase in the meal functions for student receptions, the Midwinter Social, and the Annual
Reception.
Jonathan asked about the equipment rental budget for the Student Reception Committee. Emily said
that the committee traditionally didn’t really use the budget, but Kirby said this year the group is
considering using a microphone and might need the money.
Jonathan also added the request for money for Wi-Fi at the Midwinter and Annual executive board
meetings as necessary. Kim suggested the board make sure to meet in the convention center so there
wouldn’t be a need for the Wi-Fi budget money.
Jonathan asked about the requested budget for a day trip for the Local Arrangements Committee.
Megan said the committee wanted a fundraising project that would also include a networking
component in an annual conference location each year. The event will be more like a pre-conference,
not a full day trip. The committee is still in the planning stages but they wanted to plan ahead by
putting in the request for money now. Kim said the money would need to be added to the preconference budget line.
Easter asked how the board should budget the NMRT t-shirt initiative as well. Kim deferred the
board to the budget liaison, Lorelle, and suggested waiting to add a budget line until the board gets a
sense of how well the shirts are selling.
Megan said that the President’s Program Committee had asked how much the room/rental equipment
budget is, to see if some of the money from that budget could go toward coffee or food. Kim said the
room should not cost anything if it’s on the ALA campus (convention center, hotels, etc.), and we
can use leftover funds for their request without starting a formal budget line. Kim said to let her
know if the committee is doing catering; she can give them a ballpark number for the cost and
negotiate with the catering company to reduce costs. Kirby volunteered some of the Vice President
budget if the committee needs it.
Kate motioned to approve the 2015-2016 budget. Easter seconded. The 2015-2016 budget was
approved.
B. Discussion about Job Announcements on NMRT-L
Megan and Kirby reported that they spoke to the Liaison Committee Chair about asking the liaisons
not to post job announcements to the NMRT listserv, since members have so many other outlets for
finding that information. Also, member feedback was negative about the number of emails coming
in about job announcements. Kim suggested having liaisons just post once per week. Megan
suggested having a weekly update on the blog instead. Kirby and Kate pointed out that many other
groups already list job advertisements. Emily has not found the job announcement emails annoying
and has found them helpful. Kari suggested the emails be sent in a digest, perhaps on the blog to
drive more traffic there. The board reached a consensus that job announcements shouldn’t be posted
by liaisons on the list-serv. However, since NMRT serves many newly graduated librarians, Megan
suggested the creation of a dedicated page on the blog for job resources. Kirby also suggested having
it on the website in the future because the blog may be phased out. Kelly will give feedback to the
Liaison Committee chairs, Liz and Alyssa. Kate will write the job resources post for the blog and
Mandi will create a new page where it will permanently reside. Kim suggested sending out a
monthly message to remind members to check the job resources page of the blog.
Megan introduced the strategic planning process packet from ALA. The current plan expires in
August and ALA is looking for feedback. There are three areas of focus: advocacy, information
policy, and professional development. The board got into three groups and each group discussed one
area for 5 minutes.
V. Guest speakers
Jamie LaRue, Julie Todaro, JP Porcaro spoke to the board about their ALA presidential campaigns
and how they would serve NMRT members.
VI. Announcements
Megan reminded the board about NMRT events at Midwinter:
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Membership, Networking, & Committee Interest Meeting – Saturday, 3-4pm @ McCormick
Place West W474a
Midwinter Social – Saturday, 5:30-7:30pm @ Flemings, 25 East Ohio St
LLAMA/NMRT Discussion Group – Sunday, 10:30-11:30 @ Placement Center
She encouraged board members to stop by the resume review booth to say thank you to the resume
reviewers, and by both the Mango Languages booth (#3730) and GALE booth (#2011) to say thank
you to our travel grant donors.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:26pm CST.
Approved May 7, 2015.
Submitted by Mandi Goodsett.