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NEA Executive Board Meeting Minutes

Hogan Campus Center, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, October 20, 2000

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order by President Aimee Felker at 1:05 p.m. Present were Kathryn Hammond Baker, Diana Barnard, Jean Berry, MaryAnn Campbell, Aimee Felker, Cally Gurley, Sheri Kelley, Joan Krizack, Daniel McCormack, Peter Nelson, Deborah Richards, Bill Ross, Susan von Salis, Mark Savolis, Diana Smith, Rick Stattler, Jane Ward, Leah Weisse, and Rudy Witthus.
Fall 2000 Local Arrangements (Holy Cross):

Local Arrangements Chair Mark Savolis reported that 160 people registered for the meeting, and that two of the mini-workshops were cancelled by their speakers. SAA paid for the morning coffee break for the Friday workshop. The format of ten simultaneous mini-workshops had posed a challenge to the committee: ten different rooms were needed, often with several different audiovisual requests per room. Savolis asked if it would be possible to provide information such as the program online, perhaps emailing it to people who indicated that they would be willing to have it emailed to them. [This discussion was postponed to the Treasurer's report, per Felker's request.] He noted that there is no checklist of duties expected of the Local Arrangements Committee in coordinating the Friday workshops, such as creating a list of NEA workshop participants, and suggested that a checklist be created.
Treasurer (Appendix A):

Treasurer MaryAnn Campbell presented the 2001 budget proposal, which shows a $6860.00 loss. Part of the explanation for this is that receipts for the workshops are anticipated to be lower, but the main reason is that the disbursements increased dramatically. Felker explained that some of the rise in disbursements is due to planning the meetings farther out, with hotels and conference centers requesting deposits in advance. The largest increases in disbursements are the Outreach Committee's request, the $120 for the Haas Committee in Other Board expenses, the $250 for the logo contest also in Other Board expenses. Felker explained that the $120 Haas Committee request was added because she thinks that regular contact between NEA and ARMA would benefit the Haas Committee. ARMA meets monthly, and each meeting costs $40. It was pointed out that there is currently a Haas representative who is an active member of ARMA. Doubts were raised as to whether this was the best use of money in a tight budget year, and a preference was expressed to pay for gas or train tickets to facilitate a meeting between the various representatives. Discussion moved on to the $250 set aside for the logo contest. This had been discussed last year, but no prize was ever set, so Felker asked Campbell to put this sum in the budget. After discussion, in which it was noted that the real cost behind a logo contest is actually the money spent on new stationery, the Board agreed to take this out of the budget as well, postponing further discussion of the logo contest's future to the Spring 2001 Program Committee report.

Representative-at-Large Joan Krizack asked about donations, and Campbell noted that starting this year the donations don't show up in the budget. This next year NEA will have only one meeting with vendors present. Campbell voiced another concern: that there was no provision for the possibility that the Board might have to match the Hale Award next year if the campaign is successful. A question was raised whether the Board had previously planned to take that money out of investments.

For clarification, the MARAC expenses of $1500.00 were moved to a new line of post-2000 meetings and out of Other Board Expenses. Spring 2001 Program Co-Chair Diana Barnard noted that the proposed budget didn't allow for more than $100.00 for the Fall 2001 meeting, given that we approved the $1400 for the Spring Meeting. It was agreed to add $1200, the standard budget for honoraria, for the Fall 2001 meeting.

Past President Jean Berry stated that the Board should study the effect of meeting fees on attendance at meetings. This discussion was postponed to the President's report.

Development Coordinator Jane Ward stated that in the past the Board has approved at least one deficit budget. Outreach Committee Chair von Salis suggested that the Board resume circulating budget requests so that each Board member has them when they vote, and pointed out that this might involve changing the job description of Board members. Discussion also fell to the newsletter and the idea of making one edition a year a web publication. There was discussion over hidden costs involved in putting the newsletter online.

MOTION: Krizack moved (and von Salis seconded) that the Board appoint an individual or group to look into the services NEA offers to investigate the feasibility of being more web based. Krizack withdrew the motion until a later time in this meeting.

There was further discussion about ways to cut costs: emailing the program, including the ballot with the newsletter, holding one meeting a year. Vice-President Bill Ross suggested that a group of three or four people get together to go through the budget and discuss ways of saving money or using new technologies to NEA's advantage. This discussion was postponed to the President's report. Felker noted that this budget incorporates a lot of changes and new ideas that the Board wanted to have happen, and suggested that while the Board might pass a deficit budget, it might actually balance by the end of the fiscal year. As a result of the budget discussion, Krizack, Ross and Campbell agreed to work together to write a charge for a committee as described below in the President's report.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Berry, the Board voted to approve the budget as amended with three adjustments: to raise the honoraria disbursements for 2001 to $2600 and delete $370 from Other Board Expenses for 2001 in the form of the Haas Committee award and logo contest award. The vote to approve was opposed by Campbell.
Fall 2000 Program Committee (Holy Cross) (Appendix B):
Program Committee representative Peter Nelson presented the report and noted that two of the mini-workshops had been cancelled and that Beth Patkus was being replaced by Karen Brown for the session "Preservation on a Shoestring." Felker thanked the Program Committee for their hard work.
Spring 2001 Local Arrangements (Dartmouth):
There was no report received by the Local Arrangements Committee.
Spring 2001 Program Committee (Dartmouth) (Appendix C):
Program Committee Co-Chair Diana Barnard reviewed the program of the meeting, which has the theme Archives and the Arts. Barnard also brought up the issue of the logo contest, which had been suggested for this meeting, given its arts emphasis.

MOTION: On a motion by Baker, seconded by Krizack, the Board voted to defer discussion of the new logo until the planning for 2003, the 30th anniversary of NEA. Representative-at-large Cally Gurley opposed.
Fall 2001 Local Arrangements - New Haven/Yale (Appendix D):
Felker reviewed Local Arrangements Committee Co-chair Diane Kaplan's request for clarification of a policy for free registration to the host institution of the Friday workshop (in this case the New Haven Colony Historical Society). Felker stated that there was no such policy and that there doesn't need to be a policy as there are more flexible ways of handling such requests. Felker also stated that the meeting doesn't actually have a location at Yale yet due to the law school's slowness in setting its calendar, but that a location would be set by the January board meeting. As for the location of the Friday workshop, Felker stated that she would leave it to the judgment of the Local Arrangements Committee and that the only ruling she would make is to have the workshops in the same place rather than in two different places. Local Arrangements Committee representative Diana Smith affirmed that Yale has no policy that would prohibit hosting the vendor showcase. She also stated that Paul Conway had volunteered to work on local fund-raising, and Felker directed Ward to get in touch with him. The Friday evening reception is still being investigated, as some of the sites were proving expensive. One of the more affordable function rooms could hold 80 people, and in discussion it was pointed out that a big meeting is 200, a normal meeting is 160, but that 40% attendance at the Friday reception would be high.Given the location, there might be more people staying overnight, but consensus was that a crowded room was better than a cavernous open space for a small group.
Fall 2001 Program Committee - New Haven/Yale:
There are new co-chairs for the Program Committee: Rudy Witthus and Nanci Young. Co-chair Rudy Witthus reported that the committee is going to meet November 10th, and that they would be in touch with Local Arrangements soon after that. Steven Hensen has agreed to be the keynote speaker. Witthus stated that Hensen worked at Yale's Manuscripts and Archives in the past, and that there are many other former Yale employees who might also be asked to speak at the meeting. Felker thanked Witthus and Nanci Young for agreeing to serve as co-chairs when Donna Longo DiMichele had to resign as chair due to other commitments.
Vice-President (Appendix E):
Vice President Bill Ross stated that the booth at the SAA Annual meeting was well-attended, and that the NEA social drew about 25 to 30 people. For the Spring 2002 meeting a $500 deposit was given to the Newport Marriott Hotel, and an additional $1500 has been requested in the budget for 2001 for further payment on the contract. For the Fall 2002 meeting Ross and Felker met with MARAC representative John LeGloahec to discuss schedule and local arrangements issues. Ross pointed out that MARAC sets up bank accounts for meetings which he thought was an interesting idea. Further discussions with LeGloahec are planned concerning the hotel as a meeting space.
Outreach Committee (Appendix F):
Chair Susan von Salis reported that the concept of the Archives Roadshow had been changed to "Archives Sideshow" and that with the addition of two new members to the committee, a subcommittee had been formed to begin planning. Felker suggested that Archives week activities gear up for NEA's 30th anniversary by organizing progressively larger Archives week activities.
Membership Secretary (Appendix G):
Felker presented Membership Secretary Anne Sauer's report. Current membership is 540 and the number of new members since July 30 is 18. Krizack asked that Sauer include the number of people who did not renew in her April report, so that the Board could see whether the numbers are going up or down. Renewal notices were mailed with the fall meeting registrations in September and the renewals have been coming in much earlier than in previous years.
Membership Committee (Appendix H):
Felker thanked the committee for their work on the brochure. Chair Sheri Kelley asked for submissions of images of archives or materials from archives for the new brochure. The committee is planning an open house at Simmons for prospective archives and records management interns for the fall of 2001. Kelley noted that for future planning, the handbook and directory could go online as well.
Distinguished Service Award (Appendix I):
Felker submitted for discussion the revised award policies and procedures document which she, Berry, and Ross had created. The Board went through the document carefully and suggested changes. Major changes included making the criteria more developed and that the committee should consist of all voting members of the Executive Board. Felker read a letter to the board from Leith Johnson at his request commenting on the handling of the Distinguished Service Award selection at the previous board meeting.
Web Committee (Appendix J):
Web Coordinator Deborah Richards reported that the Web Committee has received photographs for the homepage from every New England state but Rhode Island. She welcomes submissions from other institutions. It was noted that when the logo is being planned the Web Committee should have input as to how the logo would be used on the web site.
New Business: Consultants Listing
The Board reviewed a request from Gregor Trinkaus-Randall for help in compiling a database of potential consultants for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (Preservation Advisory Committee). The Massachusetts State Archives has a database which they are working with but the understanding is that there are not enough names in this database.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Ross, the Board voted to offer a set of mailing labels to Gregor Trinkaus-Randall for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (Preservation Advisory Committee) for the purpose of soliciting consultants.
Newsletter (Appendix K):
Newsletter editor Peter Nelson reported that the October issue is out. President Felker stated that she had received a great many compliments on the content of this issue. Upcoming articles in the January issue include Cally Gurley on the Maine Women Writers Collection, Jill Lepore's fall keynote address, and in the April issue, Andrew Martinez on the Rhode Island School of Design, and Greg Colati on finding aids.
Development Coordinator:
Jane Ward will complete Ron Patkus's term as Development Coordinator. Ward stated that she has Ron Patkus' files and that she planned to get started working on vendors for the next year. Ross reminded the Board of the idea of putting vendor information in the packets for the Spring 2001 meeting to make up for a lack of a vendor presence at that meeting, and Felker said that she would talk to the Spring 2001 Local Arrangements Committee to get this rolling.
Public Relations (Appendix L):
Public Relations Coordinator Daniel McCormack reported that he sent out a total of 137 releases to advertise the most recent meeting. For the next meeting he's looking to bump the list up to 150 organizations and media outlets. He stated that he is always looking for more archives organizations and related organizations to which he can send mailings. He asked about publicizing MARAC, and Ross offered to help him coordinate. Felker asked that he work on a release for the Distinguished Service Award.
Education Committee (Appendix M):
Krizack presented Chair Maureen Melton's report, stating that the workshops are taking place as planned, and that the committee has not yet determined the number and subject of the workshops to be offered in conjunction with the Dartmouth meeting, because they plan to observe attendance at the mini-workshops at the fall meeting. Bruce Stark has agreed to teach an introductory course on Arrangement and Description for the fall 2001 workshop.
Haas Committee (Appendix N):
Felker presented the report, stating that in lieu of a single award for $500, the 2000 award monies will be utilized to waive meeting fees for members of the Simmons Library School records management class at the November ARMA-Boston meeting. The Board commended the creativity of this idea. Baker mentioned that ARMA also invited Rhode Island records management students.
Secretary (Appendix O):
Secretary Diana Smith noted that she needed to amend her report to state that the board voted on five committee assignments and one committee job description via email between the July and October board meetings:
- To approve Nanci Young, Smith College and Rutherford Witthus, University of Connecticut as co-chairs of the Fall 2001 Local Arrangments Committee.
- To approve Jane Ward as Development Coordinator, to serve out the term of Ron Patkus, who is moving to New York.
- To approve the addition of Jessica Steytler and Jen Lyons to the Outreach Committee.
- To approve Lois Hamill as Haas Committee Representative.
- To approve the revised job description for the Outreach Committee.
The email vote to approve the minutes of the July board meeting was postponed after an amendment was suggested during voting. The amendment is to correct the statement made in the Distinguished Service Award section that "the award…has been given to people who were retiring or moving away from the area." to "has been generally given to people…" Another amendment is that Felker abstained from the voting in the Distinguished Service Award. The Board clarified that calls for discussion would be so stated in the subject line with a deadline, as would calls for votes.

MOTION: On a motion by Baker, seconded by Krizack, the Board voted to accept the minutes as amended.

Felker stated that a member had suggested that the Board's electronic votes were depriving the membership of participating in an open meeting. Krizack suggested that the Board specify that email votes be limited to approving minutes, nominations, and job description changes. Berry suggested that the board meetings are actually more open and more accessible than they used to be, given that the full minutes are up on the web. Discussion followed concerning the minutes on the web. The Board agreed that the shorter minutes should appear in the newsletter and the full minutes should appear on the website.
Nominating Committee (Appendix P):
Chair Jean Berry stated that the Committee is almost finished with the nominating process. The committee will have a question for the candidates ready by Thanksgiving. Berry deferred the discussion points in her report until the January meeting: if two slots are open for the Representatives-at-Large, would it be acceptable to list four candidates and choose the top two, as opposed to having two against one contests; and, should there be an elected nominating committee which would present an uncontested slate.
Hale Award:
Chair Kathryn Hammond Baker stated that there were no nominations for the Hale Award.
Hale Campaign (Appendix Q):
Krizack presented Chair James O'Toole's report, which states that the total amount received to date is $2,045. This includes two special contributions: $500 from a maturing NEA CD which was assigned to the fund, and $255 representing the refund from the Massachusetts Secretary of State for the overpayment of the NEA's filing fees. It was noted that the $500 was put in the board's matching $5000 not the fundraising. There is an anonymous "angel" who has offered to help the board across the finish line.
Print Coordinator (Appendix R):
Felker presented Coordinator Diana Yount's report that 803 announcements were mailed to NEA members (current and two-year lapsed) and 138 members were mailed to CRAG members.
President (Appendix S):
President Aimee Felker announced that, after asking the Academy of Certified Archivists to consider offering the ACA exam in New England, the exam will be offered in Boston in August. She also stated that NEA Archivist Betsy Pittman had pointed out that the deed of gift transferring the NEA archives to the University of Connecticut had never been signed and asked for board approval to sign the deed of gift.

MOTION: On a motion by Stattler, seconded by Berry, the Board voted to approve that Felker sign the deed of gift of the NEA archives to the University of Connecticut and send it to the University of Connecticut.

Felker stated that Dartmouth was pleased with the letter she wrote on behalf of NEA in support of Dartmouth's NHPRC grant application.

A review of the contents of the NEA Executive Board and Administrative Handbooks was tabled until the January meeting. Discussion of the findings of the NEA scholarship committee, formed at the last meeting, was tabled until January as well.

After the Board agreed that a committee is needed to review the budget and in conjunction with that investigate how best to use electronic resources to provide information, Krizack volunteered to devise a charge for a committee with Ross and Campbell. The Board will vote on the charge and Felker will appoint a committee.

Baker and Stattler offered to begin working on the issue of the effect of meeting fees on attendance, as suggested in discussion of the Treasurer's report.

MOTION: On a motion by Baker, seconded by Krizack, the Board voted to approve all nominations in the President's report: Kate Bowers, Tom Hyry, Lisa Long, Anthony Reed, Suzy Taraba, and Christine Weideman to the Fall 2001 Program Committee, and Vivien Goldman to the Education Committee.
Next Executive Board meeting:
The next meeting of the Executive Board will be held at the Framingham Public Library Friday January 19 (snow date Monday January 22), 2001, from 10 a..m. - 5 p.m.
There being no further business, Felker adjourned the meeting at 5:45 p.m.