Business Meeting History of the Health Sciences Section of MLA

History of the Health Sciences Section
Medical Library Association
Minutes - Annual Business Meeting
May 21, 2002
Adam’s Mark Hotel, Dallas, TX

Present: Mike Flannery, Anne Maria Frketich, Patricia Gallagher, Steve Greenberg, Heidi Heilemann, Susan Marshall, Diane McKenzie, Erich Meyerhoff, Richard Nollan, Joan Stoddart, Paul Theerman, Jeff Wehmeyer

Call to Order: Heidi Heilemann, Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:15PM, welcomed the attendees, and stated Ms. Jocelyn Rankin, MLA Board Member, was expected to attend.

Minutes: Minutes of the May 29, 2001 Business meeting were reviewed and accepted.

Treasurer’s Report: Anne Maria Frketich presented the Treasurer’s Report. The Section checking account balance as of April 30, 2002 was $3,696.64. Expected expenses were the $15 monthly fee charged by MLA for hosting of the Section Web site. Section membership as of July 31, 2001, was 85.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

2002 Program (Patricia Gallagher)

Pat Gallagher reported the Section would be sponsoring four programs at the 2002 MLA Annual Meeting. The first program, Library Digitization Projects, held Monday May 20, was co-sponsored with the Educational Media and Technologies Section. The second program, Electronic Records Management, also held Monday May 20, was co-sponsored with the Medical Informatics Section. The third program, Non-Book Historical Collections at the National Library of Medicine, scheduled for May 21, was sponsored by the History of the Health Sciences Section only. The fourth and final program, Don’t Put it Here: Dealing with Unwanted Library Content and Responsibilities, scheduled for Wednesday, May 22, was co-sponsored with the Hospital Libraries Section. All programs were well attended and well received.

Website (Patricia Gallagher)

Ms. Gallagher reported the Section Web site was moved to MLANET in November 2001. The site was down for approximately 5-6 days but the move went smoothly otherwise. The WebTrends software that reports the statistical data on Web site usage was not replaced and stats were not available from November 2001 forward. Ms. Gallagher received a statistics report prior to the Conference covering the period October 1, 2001 – April 29, 2002. According to the report the site received 36,000 visits during this period with the most popular page being the History of the Health Sciences Web Links Page followed by the Section Home Page. Ms. Gallagher also reported an article in "Medicine on the Net" discussed the History of the Health Sciences Web Links Page, which is edited and maintained by Gallagher and Greenberg.

Listserv (Heidi Heilemann)

Heidi Heilemann reported the section listserv, currently in its third year, has 52 of the 85 Section members signed on as of May 17, 2002. Ms. Heilemann suggested a reminder be posted on the listserv indicating this is an election year for the Section.

Membership (Diane McKenzie)

Diane McKenzie reported on the MLA Membership Committee which she has been attending for 2 years. Ms. McKenzie has one more year to serve on this Committee. Ms. McKenzie reported the first year was not a productive year for the Committee, last year was spent working on the program, and this year the outlook is much better. Russet Hambrick’s assumption of the Chair position contributed to the positive outlook for the Committee for the present year.

Ms. McKenzie reported the New Member Breakfast was very successful this year. She brought brochures and pamphlets to the Breakfast, placed them on the tables, and spoke about the History of the Health Sciences Section in an effort to promote the Section and recruit new members. Ms. McKenzie reported the HHSS was the only Section to bring materials to the Breakfast this year. Ms. McKenzie reported several individuals approached her about oral histories. Ms. McKenzie also reported there is a great interest on the part of MLA in promoting membership and recruitment. MLA suggested these should be goals for the Sections. The individuals to be targeted included the "millenials" - defined as individuals in their teens and twenties - who apparently have different recruiting needs. One suggested method Ms. McKenzie reported was to request pictures of current members and their hobbies and explain how the hobbies related to the individual Section. The question was raised as to what would make a good visual to promote the History of the Health Sciences Section and which hobby would best represent the Section. The suggestion of a Civil War re-enactor was offered.

Ms. Mckenzie suggested the Section members think about a liaison position. The person in the position would need to participate in recruitment efforts.

Ms. McKenzie reported the MLA brochures were now being translated into Spanish. She asked if the Section was interested in translating the HHSS brochure into Spanish as well to reflect diversity. She stated there was something on the Duke University Web site regarding African American physicians. Ms. McKenzie also raised the question as to how the Section wanted to promote membership.

Section Council (Stephen Greenberg)

Steve Greenberg reported on the Section Council meeting he attended. Developments from Section Council included the announcement that MLA was now incorporated in Illinois. Greenberg reported a SIG name change from Complementary Medicine to Complementary and Alternative Medicine. He also reported MLA would allow a new Section if members of existing Sections expressed approval. He stated Corporate Information Services wanted to become a Section. Discussion regarding the pros and cons of allowing Corporate Information Services to become a Section ensued. If members voted to allow the group to become a full Section it would not detract from the HHSS and could possibly prevent current Corporate Information Services group members from leaving MLA to join SLA because MLA had nothing to offer. After the discussion Ms. Heilemann called for a vote and the HHSS voted to allow the group to become a Section. Greenberg would report the results of the vote at the Section Council Meeting.

Greenberg reported the Section should have had a Section Council Representative election this year but due to an oversight this did not occur. As there is no longer an Alternate required for Section Council Representative, this may have been the reason for the oversight. It was stated the Section Bylaws are up to date but Section compliance is 3 months behind. Ms. Heilemann called for a nomination and Steve Greenberg nominated Diane McKenzie as Section Council Representative. Ms. Heilemann then opened the floor for other nominations but none were forthcoming. Ms. Heilemann indicated the Section would proceed with an electronic election ballot.

Ms. Heilemann stated the elections for the Section would need to be held early this year. Greenberg stated if a slate could be assembled at this Annual Meeting, then one election could be held. Recruiting would be done for a Chair Elect who would not become Chair for 3 years. Duties of the Chair Elect were discussed as well as general term lengths for other positions. Ms. Heilemann called for a slate for Nominating Committee. The resulting Committee consisted of Steve Greenberg, Pat Gallagher, and Heidi Heilemann. It was also stated a replacement for the position Diane McKenzie currently held would be necessary.

It was also announced at Section Council that Norma Funkhouser was elected to the position of Section Council Liaison to the MLA Board of Directors replacing Nancy Henry.

Upcoming MLA meeting sites were discussed. MLA would meet in the following cities in the following years:

San Diego 2003
Washington, DC 2004
San Antonio 2005
Unknown 2006
Unknown 2007
Chicago 2008

The 2003 San Diego meeting site is near a resort village and the location would limit the number of available meeting rooms. Consequently there would be less room for Section Programming but more for posters. Also, no Ballroom large enough to accommodate the number of individuals attending the Awards Luncheon so none would be held at the 2003 meeting.

Discussion followed regarding the impact of non-Section sponsored poster sessions at the upcoming 2003 MLA meeting in San Diego. It was stated that it is more difficult to recruit poster submissions than paper submissions.

Joan Stoddart reported on the MLA Continuing Education (CE) Committee. Ms. Stoddart reported on a survey done by the Technical Services Section regarding the retention rate for online CE courses versus single session on-site CE courses. The survey showed individuals taking the online courses had a higher retention rate of the material. Further discussion followed regarding how to do a Symposium, how to do a journal club, and how to avoid conflicting Section sponsored programs. Ms. Heilemann asked if anyone had done an online CE course but none in the Section had done so. Steve Greenberg stated he and Pat Gallagher were planning on teaching their half-day CE course on the History of the Health Sciences at the University of Maryland. They were also considering developing a half-day course on the history of health sciences librarianship.

Ms. McKenzie suggested an Archives course as a possible course offering. Ms. Gallagher stated she and Greenberg did not want to teach a History of the Health Sciences course every year at MLA nor was MLA interested in offering one every year. Additionally, Ms. Gallagher explained how a course would be accepted as a CE.

Ms. Stoddart suggested something in the NLM Archives of Special Collections as a possible course topic. Ms. Heilemann asked how the proposed ideas could fit into a Symposium. The question was also raised regarding the difference between a Symposium and a CE. Ms. Stoddart stated MLA included this information on its Web site but a Symposium has more of a hot topic type of content.

The topic of Archives Round Tables was raised and it was stated last year there were no Archives Round Tables but there were two at this year’s meeting. An additional topic for Round Tables included preservation issues.

A discussion regarding fundraising followed. Greenberg stated it was difficult to fundraise but on the positive side, there would not to have many funds raised. He stated NLM is basically agreeable to having groups visit.

Greenberg suggested Ms. Heilemann contact Elizabeth Fee, head of HMD at NLM, regarding holding a class at NLM. Ms. Fee would approach Betsy Humphries, Director of Library Operations, for consent. Greenberg also stated it would be difficult to have a commercial sponsor of a course held at NLM as NLM is a government agency. Ms. Heilemann and Ms. Stoddart agreed to explore the idea of developing a Symposium to be held at NLM and Ms. Heilemann agreed to contact Elizabeth Fee about a Symposium or course that could be held at NLM for the MLA meeting planned for Washington, D.C.

Ms. Heilemann announced Mike Flannery won the Gottlieb Award this year, an award Ms. Heilemann had been working on promoting. Ms. Heilemann was appointed to the MLA Awards Committee and attended her first meeting this year. Ms. Heilemann was appointed to the Gottlieb jury, which conducts a blind review of paper submissions. Discussion was held regarding the Gottlieb Award, the criteria for granting it, and who would be eligible to submit. Individuals eligible to submit included working librarians or archivist. Papers submitted should relate to American medical history. Ms. Heilemann reported the Gottlieb Committee’s statement that the criteria for the award were not well published.

Also discussed was what could be done with the Gottlieb papers. Flannery suggested they be compiled and bound. Flannery had reviewed the Gottlieb titles as part of preparing for his paper and stated if the papers were as good as the titles binding them would be appropriate.

NEW BUSINESS

Planning for 2002 Program (Patricia Gallagher)

Ms. Gallagher called for ideas for the MLA 2003 Annual Meeting. Mike Flannery suggested a session on botanical medicine, which could possibly be co-sponsored by the Complementary and Alternative Medicine SIG and possibly the Pharmacy Section. Discussion was held regarding the suggested topic and possible co-sponsoring sections. Flannery volunteered to approach the Complementary and Alternative Medicine SIG with the suggested paper topic and if they expressed an interest, would ask a SIG member to contact Pat Gallagher. Greenberg suggested Gallagher attend the Program Committee meeting the following day and coordinate with other Sections represented at the meeting. Greenberg suggested Ms. Gallagher offer the idea as a contributed papers session. The suggestion was also made to find out if there was an individual in San Diego who was an expert on botanical medicine and interested in presenting a paper. Discussion was held cautioning against invited papers, because the Section Treasury did not have sufficient funds to cover airfare, hotel fees, conference registration fees, honoraria, etc. for an invited speaker. Contacting individuals who have done exhibits for or research for exhibits, including electronic exhibits, for their libraries and ask if they would be interested in presenting a paper was also offered as a possible topic. Individuals from the NLM staff or MLA members from smaller institutions were suggested as possible resources.

Announcements

Ms. McKenzie announced that Victoria Pifalo would become the new Project Director of the Oral History Committee. Ms. Pifalo is from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Ms. McKenzie reported there was currently no old backlog of oral histories. The Virginia Holtz oral history came out last fall and the Jane Lambremot oral history was expected to be out soon.

Greenberg announced the 2^nd revised edition of the MLA Bibkit, History of the Health Sciences, should be ready in June 2002 and would be 40% larger than the first edition.

Ms. Heilemann adjourned the meeting at 2:38PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Anne Maria Frketich
Secretary/Treasurer