Business Meeting History of the Health Sciences Section of MLA

History of the Health Sciences Section Medical Library Association
Minutes - Annual Business Minutes May 29, 2001
Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, FL

Present: Anne Maria Baxter, Billie Broaddus, Elizabeth Fee, Pat Gallagher, Steve Greenberg, Heidi Heilemann, Susan Marshall, Diane McKenzie, Dick Miller, Joan Stoddart

The meeting was called to order at 12:30PM by Heidi Heilemann, Incoming Chair. Ms. Heilemann explained she was chairing the business meeting in the absence of Barb Van Brimmer, the current Chair, who could not attend because she was in Italy.

Introductions:

Individuals attending the business meeting were asked by the Ms. Heilemann to give a brief introduction of themselves to other attendees of the meeting.

Minutes:

Minutes of last year’s meeting were read and accepted.

Treasurer Report:

Ms. Baxter presented the Treasurer’s Report. The section checking account balance as of April 30, 2001 was $3,461.68. Expected expenses from MLANET included a $25.00 start up fee, and $15.00 monthly fee for hosting the History of the Health Sciences Web site. Ms. Gallagher added there would also be a $40.00 domain name fee. Section membership as of February 28, 2001 was 92.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Program Committee – update (Heidi Heilemann)

Ms. Heilemann reported the History of the Health Sciences Section would be sponsoring 2 programs at the 2001 MLA Annual Meeting. The first program, Profiles in Leadership: Time Travel with Some of Our Most Memorable Mentors, held Monday, May 28, had approximately 25 attendees and met with favorable comments. The second program, IAIMS Then and Now: An Informatics Odyssey, would follow the HHSS Business meeting. The section also co-sponsored From Idea to Research Plan: How to Get Started with the Research and Consumer and Patient Health Sections scheduled for presentation Wednesday, May 30.

Election Results (Steve Greenberg)

Steve Greenberg reported the 2001 election results. 38 ballots were received. Pat Gallagher was elected the incoming Chair in a unanimous vote. Anne Maria Baxter was re-elected to a second term as Secretary/Treasurer by a unanimous vote.

Continuing Education (Pat Gallagher)

Only one CE, the History of the Health Sciences – A One Day Overview, was taught in the past year. It was presented by Pat Gallagher and Steve Greenberg to the New York/New Jersey Chapter. The course had 19 attendees and received good reviews. The same course may be taught at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter meeting being held October 2001 in Ocean City, MD.. A request to have the course taught was also made by the MLA Triple Chapter meeting being held this October.

Steve Greenberg reported MLA BibKit #5, History of Health Sciences, done by Gallagher/Greenberg was reported to be sold out by MLA. A request was made by MLA to reprint the BibKit and also make it available on CD. Gallagher and Greenberg agreed. MLA reported the History of Health Sciences BibKit to be the 3rd largest selling of the MLA BibKits.

Heidi Heilemann reported a request was made by MLA for a liaison to the MLA Continuing Education Committee. There were no volunteers at the business meeting to act as liaison. McKenzie suggested an Archives course also be prepared and offered. Diane McKenzie knew of a candidate to prepare the course but could not recall the name. Steve Greenberg agreed the Archives course would be a good idea.

INCIPIT:

Heidi Heilemann reported Colleen Weum, a member from Washington, would be taking over as editor for INCIPIT, the section newsletter. Fred Pachman would assist Weum initially. Heilemann reported Pachman was still looking for a complete publication run of INCIPIT. If a full set could be assembled, Pachman would have it bound and passed on to subsequent editors of the newsletter. Pachman did not provide Heilemann a formal report on INCIPIT which could be presented at the Section’s Business Meeting.

Website: (Pat Gallagher)

Pat Gallagher agreed to continue the responsibility of the Section Web site. Gallagher reported on the issues which led to the change in hosting of the Section Web site from Duke University to MLA. Scott Garrison, who had been maintaining the HHSS Web site, resigned from Duke. Gallagher worked with the incoming Duke Webmaster in an effort to maintain hosting of the site at Duke, but problems in communication ensued. As a result of these problems, Gallagher believed a change in host site would be necessary. Gallagher contacted MLANET as well as a private vendor to conduct a price comparison for the new Web site host. MLANET’s price quote was ½ the private vendor’s quote because HHS was a section of MLA. Kate Corcoran, of MLANET, worked with Gallagher to finalize the details of the domain name. In January, 2001, the HHSS site was moved to MLANET. The MLANET sever updates page stats daily. The HHSS site was reported to be a heavily used page, possibly the result of the CE course taught by Gallagher and Greenberg, which includes discussion of the site.

Heidi Heilemann reported on the section logo Van Brimmer arranged to have designed in response to an MLA request. All sections were requested by MLA to provide a logo representing their section which would be used in an MLA quilt. Gallagher stated she would update the Section Web site to include the new section logo.

Listserv (Heidi Heilemann)

Heidi Heilemann reported on the HHSS listserv, also on the MLANET site. Heilemann provided an explanation of how to sign on to the list. Per Heilemann, the list initially had 35 subscribers, and at present, there are 42 subscribers. Heilemann plans to promote the listserv more during the upcoming year. An initial e-mail message alerted members of the listserv’s existence and provided directions about how to sign on.

Membership – need a new chair

Van Brimmer requested Heilemann ask for a volunteer at this year’s business meeting to fill the position of section chair at the MLA Membership committee. Diane McKenzie attended the MLA 2001 Membership meeting and reported on the events of the meeting. Per McKenzie, the MLA Membership committee is a new committee that is undergoing organizational challenges. The best deliverable of the committee is the New Member’s Breakfast, which goes over well. There were approximately 150 attendees at this year’s Breakfast. At the Breakfast, sections are encouraged to talk about who they are and the mission of the section. Sections could also put literature regarding their section at each table. HHSS did not have any literature, which was viewed as a missed opportunity to gain section members. Currently McKenzie serves as liaison to the committee. MLA is seeking a 3 year representative to the Membership committee. Liaisons are encouraged to become members of the committee. McKenzie volunteered to be the Section chair on the MLA Membership committee.

Pat Gallagher reported she had served on the membership committee for 6 years and at the time, sections were not encouraged to advertise.

Section Council (Stephen Greenberg/Diane McKenzie is proxy)

Diane McKenzie reported on the Section Council meeting she attended in Steve Greenberg’s absence. Per McKenzie, the organization of Section Council has undergone a change. In the past, Section and Chapter Council had a representative and an alternate. The individual attended meetings as alternate for 3 years and then became representative and attended meetings for 3 more years as representative. In the new scheme, individuals are elected for a 2 year term. During the first year, they attend 2 meetings as “watchers” and then attend as full representatives. MLA requested section bylaws be updated to reflect the change. Gallagher had already updated the HHSS bylaws to reflect the change in policy. Discussion then followed regarding the official start and end dates of an elected individual’s term.

Other developments at Section Council included the announcement of a new Internet SIG and a name change from Gay and Lesbian SIG to Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender SIG.

Other

Susan Marshall reported on a talk she gave to a group of 8th graders on the topic of her career as a librarian. Marshall suggested MLA produce a PowerPoint presentation that could be used in future talks of this nature.

Discussion was held regarding the Bylaws Committee. Gallagher has kept up the section Bylaws to this point. Heilemann congratulated Gallagher on the work she had done. MLA is looking for a contact regarding section bylaws?. Heilemann will ask Barb Van Brimmer about volunteering. Generally the immediate past chair is the liaison between ???

NEW BUSINESS

Programming for 2002

Suggestions were offered regarding program ideas for the MLA 2002 annual meeting in Dallas, TX. The theme for the meeting is “The Big D” and program ideas should be in keeping with the theme. Suggested ideas included Deep in the Heart of MLA and Digitization. Heidi Heilemann requested other ideas be submitted to Pat Gallagher.

Promotion of the Murray Gottlieb Prize (Barbara Van Brimmer offered to promote this award for next year.)

Discussion was held regarding promotion of the Gottlieb Award. Barb Van Brimmer had volunteered to work on promotion of the award. Billie Broaddus stated she had contacted MLA regarding submitting a history paper and was told no. Steve Greenberg asked if the Section wanted to promote the Gottlieb to other sections.

Gottlieb Award

A general discussion regarding the publication of Maggie Yax's paper in the BMLA (Bulletin of the Medical Library Association) was held. Yax was given the Murray Gottlieb Prize for the paper. Greenberg stated the publication of the paper in the BMLA would need to be pursued as it was not automatic. Greenberg stated last year's Gottlieb Prize paper has yet to be published in the BMLA.

Goals for 2002

Van Brimmer volunteered to contact the BMLA editor regarding publication of the Yax paper.

Contribution

Heidi Heilemann stated the goals she planned on working on during 2002 included recruitment, education, technology, retention, promotion of the Gottlieb Award, utilization of MLANET more fully, and issuing a reinvitation to members to join the Section listserv.

Other

Diane McKenzie reported most of the completed oral histories are now on MLANET. Approximately 8 or 9 have yet to go up. Billie Broaddus announced Maggie Yax is now at the Cincinnati Medical Heritage Center.

Heidi Heilemann adjourned the meeting at 2:10PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Anne Maria Baxter
Secretary