ONLINE AUDIOVISUAL CATALOGERS
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
OLAC CONFERENCE
St. Paul, Minnesota
September 26, 2002

Minutes

1. Call to Order, Introductions, Announcements (K. Johnson)
   
   President Kay Johnson called the meeting to order. Board members present included Kay Johnson (President), Cathy Gerhart (Vice President/President Elect), Kevin Furniss (Past President), Iris Wolley (CAPC Chair), and Rebecca Lubas (Secretary). Newsletter Editor Jain Fletcher was unable to attend. Guests included Bobby Bothmann (OLAC Conference 2002 Co-Chair), Betsy Friesen (OLAC Conference 2002 Co-Chair), Ian Fairclough (Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator), Robert Freeborn (CAPC Member).
   
   There were no announcements.
   
   
2. Secretary's Report (R. Lubas)
   
   The minutes from the Board meeting held at ALA Midwinter in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 19, 2002, were approved as published in the online version of the March/June OLAC Newsletter.
   
   The minutes of the Board meeting in June have yet to be published.
   
   
3. Treasurer’s Report (K. Johnson for J. Mayo)
   
   The written Treasurer’s report can be found elsewhere in this issue.
   
   
4. Newsletter Editor’s Report (K. Johnson for J. Fletcher)
   
   The President announced that Jain Fletcher is now officially the Newsletter Editor.
   
   The March/June combined Newsletter is now available online. The print version will be mailed in early October.
   
   Deadline for the December issue is November 1st. This issue will include the OLAC Conference reports.
   
   
5. OLAC/MOUG 2002 Conference Report (B. Bothmann and B. Friesen)
   
   There were 185 registered attendees, of which 45 were non-members and 3 were students. Twenty-three registrations were waived. There were 11 cancellations due to emergencies and weather conditions.
   
   Eight institutions received training at the NACO Funnel Pre-Conference.
   
   Photocopying has been the greatest expense for the conference. The Conference Co-Chairs expect to break even.
   
   Reporters have been assigned for every session for the Newsletter summaries.
   
   An overview report of the conference should be submitted for the Newsletter for the December issue.
   
   
6. Future OLAC/MOUG Conferences (K. Johnson)
   
   The Board will send an e-mail to persons/groups that have expressed interested in hosting the 2004 OLAC Conference, soliciting a formal proposal. The proposal should include information about the proposed site’s transportation access, the conference facility, and if there are local human resources to draw on for an arrangements committee and a program committee.
   
   The Board and 2002 Conference Co-Chairs discussed how it would be helpful if the OLAC Handbook included more guidance on conference planning. Details could include the size of the planning and local arrangements committee, the Board’s role in conference planning, scheduling the meetings, and guidelines for how to handle cancellations. It was agreed there should be a clearly written cancellation policy on the registration form.
   
   Cathy Gerhart, Bobby Bothman, Betsy Friesen and Kevin Furniss will draft guidelines for the proposal document by October 15 and Cathy Gerhart will chair this effort. The document should be finalized by ALA Midwinter 2003. Eventually this will be an appendix to the Handbook.
   
   The Future of OLAC Conference survey date will be extended due to the delay in the Newsletter publication.
   
   
7. Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator’s Report (I. Fairclough)
   
   
   1. OLAC-OCLC relationship development. Ian Fairclough has made initial contact with people at OCLC regional networks to see how they handled member relations and workshops. Response varied in detail. Fairclough suggested getting the regional networks to distribute the OLAC brochure as a method of publicity. Ways of getting more OCLC and OCLC regional network people to attend the OLAC Conference were discussed. One possibility is to make a point of inviting a local network person to do one of the workshops at the next Conference. It was also suggested that OLAC consider setting up a speakers’ bureau to provide OCLC local networks with instructors for media cataloging workshops.
      
      
   2. Mentoring/training and proposed Education Committee. The model for a mentoring could be based on the ones used by MLA, ALA’s NMRT, and NASIG. A possible way to start off the program would be at a conference for help for new members navigating the event.
      
      The creation of an OLAC panel of experts was also discussed. There were questions about whether the OLAC directory served this purpose; no one has ever studied it. The matter will be taken up as new business at the CAPC meeting.
      
      The creation of one or more task forces to cover education, mentoring, and experts will be on the agenda for Midwinter.
      
      
   3. OLAC List concerns. The discussion on OLAC List over whether the List should have heavier monitoring overwhelming was in favor of leaving the List "as is."
      
      
   4. Other outreach concerns.
      
      Recruitment. OLAC should consider promoting itself more heavily in library schools. Members should also be encouraged to recruit colleagues. Most of the attendees at the meeting found out about OLAC via a colleague at their first professional position.
      
      Fairclough is keeping a log of when OLAC is promoted via mentions of the organization by members in classes and workshops.
      
      OLAC appeared in the Singapore Libraries Bulletin. Members who attended the last OLAC Conference in Seattle wrote an article on their experiences.
      
      
8. Old Business (K. Johnson)
   
   OLAC logo. Johnson will split the award for the logo among those who submitted. Johnson distributed copies of logos designed by graphic designers. After a vote, the Board decided to use a logo that is an update of the current logo (the film reel is replaced by a stylized "O").
   
   
9. New Business (K. Johnson)
   
   There was no new business.
   
   
10. Closed Session
    
    The following appointments were discussed in closed session: Election Committee, Awards Committee, CC:DA audience observer, Research Grant Committee.
    
    
11. Adjournment
    
    The meeting adjourned at about 8:00 p.m.