ONLINE AUDIOVISUAL CATALOGERS
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
ALA ANNUAL MEETING
Toronto, Ontario
June 21, 2003

Minutes

1. Call to Order, Introductions, Announcements (C. Gerhart)
   
   Vice President/President Elect Cathy Gerhart called the meeting to order at 3:18 pm. Board members present included: Kevin Furniss (Past President), Rebecca Lubas (Secretary), and Jain Fletcher (Newsletter Editor). Guests included Marc Richard (OLAC Conference 2004 Co-Chair), Lisa O’Hara (OLAC Conference 2004 Co-Chair), Sharon Rankin (OLAC Member), Sue Neumeister (OLAC Web Manager), Tim McCarthy (OLAC Member).
   
   
2. Approval of Minutes (R. Lubas)
   
   The minutes for the meeting at Midwinter in Philadelphia were approved.
   
   
3. Announcements
   
   Due to the absence of several members at this ALA, the Board decided to hold off on finalizing some decisions until an e-mail discussion takes place. These minutes will reflect the updated decisions.
   
   
4. Treasurer’s Report
   
   See full report elsewhere in this issue.
   
   
5. New Business
   
   
   1. OLAC 2004 Conference (M. Richard and L. O’Hara)
      
      Marc and Lisa reported on progress towards planning the 2004 Conference. This will be the first OLAC Conference held in Canada. Hopefully, the Conference will raise the profile of the organization in Canada. Features of the Conference will include offering some sessions in French.
      
      (For more information about the Conference theme and program plans, please see the Membership Meeting minutes and Marc Richard's notice in News & Announcements -- Ed.)
      
      
   2. Membership Directory
      
      The Board discussed whether the printed directory should be continued. It was agreed that the issue should be brought to the membership. One of the questions posed should be if a printable version on the Website would be an acceptable substitute. A print directory will be issued this year.
      
      
   3. Indexes of the Newsletter
      
      The Board agreed that the continuance of print indexes should be an issue posed to the Membership (via the OLAC-List). Indexing is becoming an increasingly complex issue, considering the rapidly evolving formats (and their terminology) with which OLAC deals. Jain suggested that an alternative for the time, trouble and cost of a human indexer (not to mention the costs of printing and mailing) is the Web searching capability currently in place on the OLAC Website. OLAC should try to determine how much its membership relies on the indices, as well as their overall opinion of its results, as opposed to those of the online searching capability.
      
      
6. Newsletter Editor’s Report (J. Fletcher)
   
   Jain plans to make a proactive effort to solicit reports of conferences that may be of interest to members. We discussed imposing a word limit for such reports. Jain plans to update submission guidelines, as the current ones are out-of-date.
   
   
7. Old Business
   
   OLAC Conference: Proposed changes to OLAC Handbook (C. Gerhart)
   
   Cathy proposed several items to improve the Handbook in general and specifically the Handbook guidelines for the planning of an OLAC Conference.
   
   Instead of arranging the Handbook by page number, the Secretary will create section numbers.
   
   The invitation to host an OLAC Conference should be offered in June before current Conference. The Secretary will make the change in the Handbook.
   
   
8. Adjournment. The meeting ended at 6 p.m.
   
   
9. Items discussed and approved electronically, June-July 2003
   
   Action Item 1: OLAC Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator and Conference fund-raising
   
   The Board approved an updated version of the position description for the OLAC Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator:
   
   The OLAC Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator is responsible for promoting the purposes and objectives of OLAC and encouraging membership growth. This position also acts as a repository for fundraising data related to conference sponsorship and pursues conference donations in cooperation with the Conference Planning Committee. The Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator is an ex-officio member of the OLAC Executive Board and is required to attend at least one Board meeting per year, consult with the Board and contribute regular reports to the OLAC Newsletter. At the Coordinator's request and the Board's discretion, task forces may be appointed as needed. A stipend of $100 will be given for each Board meeting attended. The term of office runs two years with the possibility of reappointment upon satisfactory performance.
   
   Action item 2: Board stipend at OLAC Conference
   
   Money for Board at OLAC Conference: instead of waiving conference fees for the Board, give them the usual stipend. This way, the money will come from OLAC's general fund rather than the conference monies.