Business Meeting History of the Health Sciences Section of MLA

MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
HISTORY OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES SECTION
Business Meeting Minutes
Minneapolis, MN
Monday, May 16, 2011
4:30pm - 6:00pm

Attendees: Susan Sanders, Michael Flannery, Leslie Behm, Melissa Nasea, Donna Hirst, Heidi Heilemann, Patricia Gallagher, Stephen Greenberg, Lucretia McClure, Richard Nollan, Deidra Woodson, Joan Stoddart, and Fred Pachman. Cynthia L. Henderson attended as the MLA Board Representative. Priya Shenoy, a student member, also attended.

Chair, Michael Flannery called the meeting to order at 4:40pm

45th Anniversary Recognized

Cynthia Henderson, MLA Board Representative, read a resolution honoring the 45th anniversary of the MLA History of the Health Sciences Section. This resolution was adopted May 2011.

Chair's Report

Rather than reading the Annual Report in detail, Michael Flannery remarked that the individual reports that would be given at the meeting would summarize the overall Annual Report. Before concluding, he recognized the efforts of the ad hoc Advocacy Committee, chaired by Lucretia McClure, which included establishing the white paper and developing the special issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association that focused on the history of the health sciences.

Treasurer's Report

On behalf of Dee Jones, Deidra Woodson submitted the 2010 - 2011 Treasurer's Report with a balance of $6,286.90.

• Although there was no expenditure for the Gottlieb Prize for the 2010 - 2011 year, the Section will continue to support the award.
• The Section will not have any expenses for the 2011 Annual Meeting.
• Stephen Greenberg moved to accept the Treasurer's Report, and Lucretia McClure seconded. The Report was approved.

Continuing Education Report

Stephen Greenberg gave the Continuing Education Report:

• Deb Cavanaugh will now be the MLA Headquarters' liaison to the CE Committee.
• MLA is interested in conducting symposia and webinars. Greenberg proposed "Civil War medicine" as a possible webinar topic that would be conducted by the HHS Section. All webinars must be approved by the CE Committee and would not have to be presented during the MLA Annual Meetings. CE credit would be available for the webinars, and attendees may have to pay a fee. However, all of the details have not been finalized by MLA, yet.
• Deb Cavanaugh encouraged the HHS Section to teach an "Archives for Beginners" CE course at the 2013 Annual Meeting in Boston.

Ratification of Bylaws Changes

Michael Flannery announced changes to the bylaws that were approved via electronic voting.

• Article IV, Section 2: Duties, Part C was changed to reflect that the immediate past chair will no longer serve as the Section Liaison to the Oral History Committee. Instead, a "Part E" was added to state that a liaison will be appointed by the Section Chair.
• Article X was amended to allow electronic voting.
• These changes were approved by Dena Hanson, MLA Bylaws Chair.
• The ratification was moved by Heidi Heilemann and seconded by Patricia Gallagher

Section Programming Report

Susan Sanders announced that she needed at least three program ideas for the 2012 Annual Meeting to suggest at the Section Programming meeting. The theme for the 2012 MLA conference is "Growing Opportunities: Changing Our Game," with the focus being baseball.

• Patricia Gallagher reported that the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section (NAHRS) requested that the HHS Section partner with them to sponsor a session dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the NAHRS. Since they already have other sessions planned, they also requested that the HHS Section take the lead.
• Susan Sanders suggested the topic of Civil War medicine, which "changed the game" in medical history.
• Melissa Nasea proposed the history of Sports Medicine as a possible topic.
Further discussion included that the Section call for contributed papers to involve MLA members and the number of sessions that the Section should lead and co-sponsor. Ideas for sports metaphors and themes were also discussed to develop names for the sessions. These ideas included "hitting it out of the ballpark," "changing the game," "taking one for the team," "league of their own" for the NAHRS session, "field of dreams," and "grand slam." Baseball history, as well as baseball and medicine were also briefly discussed to generate ideas.

Section Council Report

Patricia Gallagher reported on the following issues discussed at the Section Council meeting:

• Books panel would like to partner with Sections and SIGs for topics to be published.
• Sections need to update their websites.
• Section Shuffle at the 2012 Annual Meeting will be May 20th at 6pm.
• There were problems with the election process: low response to nominations and nominees not submitting paperwork on time. Patricia Gallagher will be on the ballot for the Nominating Committee. Jo Dorsch was elected Vice-Chair of Section Council.
• Two new SIGs were established: Informationists and Translational Sciences.
• The "Rethink Your Section" Survey was discussed, and results will be published.
• The committee that was responsible for developing the history of the Sections was unable to complete the task.
• The 2013 Annual Meeting will be in Boston and is a joint meeting with the International Congress on Medical Librarianship, International Clinical Librarian Conference, and the International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists. The theme is "One Health: Information in an Interdependent World."
• The MLA Headquarters staff and their responsibilities have changed: Lisa Fried has left; therefore, Carla Funk is taking on Awards. Deb Cavanaugh is now the liaison to the CE Committee.
• MLA is interested in establishing a Disaster Preparedness specialization.
• The MLA paid lobbyist was let go, as part of the budget reduction.
• Job description for future Section Council Chairs was developed.
• Some sections have defined their quorum as the members present at the meeting.
• New Section Council Chair is Ysabel Bertolucci.
• The work of the committee to document the Sections’ history will continue.
• Conveners of SIGs will be surveyed.
• The problem of conflicting Section Business Meeting times was discussed.
• There was a debate about extending the free section allowance from six months to one year.

Membership Committee Report

Susan Sanders reported that the HHS Section has a total of 101 members, and 27 new members have joined since January 2010. She sent welcome letters to all new members. Sanders also called for a volunteer to take over as the Membership Committee Chair, as she is now the Section Chair-Elect, and Patricia Gallagher suggested asking a new member to take on this position.

Oral History Committee

No report was given, as the Oral History Committee meeting had not been held at the time of this business meeting.

Website and Listserv Update

After Patricia Gallagher called for a volunteer to take over the Listserv, Leslie Behm agreed to take on this task. Then, Gallagher reported that the HHS Section website receives about 1,500 unique visitors a month. She also stated that she will be making updates to the Section website.

Incipit Report

Michael Flannery thanked Melissa Nasea for approaching the HHS Section newsletter with an "innovative and progressive viewpoint." Nasea stated that she needs content from Section members in a timely manner.

Questions about the newsletter from a new member led to the suggestion that a list of new members should be sent to the Listserv Manager, so that he/she can be add the new members to the listserv.

New Business

Gottlieb Award

Michael Flannery reported that Stephen Greenberg, who was supposed to be a member of the Awards Committee for the Gottlieb, was not included in the Committee due to a failure in communication. The suggestion was made to contact Carla Funk, who is now the new Awards liaison, to resolve this issue. Further discussion included methods of promoting the Gottlieb Award.

Formation of Standing Advocacy Committee

Michael Flannery proposed that the ad hoc Advocacy Committee be established as a standing committee that could promote historical interest through MLA, such as establishing a regular column with a historical focus in the Journal of the Medical Library Association. Lucretia McClure volunteered to continue as chair of the Advocacy Committee. Michael Flannery, Stephen Greenberg, and Donna Hirst volunteered to participate as members of the committee.

Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting was submitted by Stephen Greenberg and was seconded by Susan Sanders. The meeting was adjourned at 6:08pm.

Minutes submitted by Minutes submitted by Deidra Woodson, Secretary/Treasurer of the MLA History of the Health Sciences Section

10/17/2011