New England Archivists - Minutes

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NEA Executive Board Meeting Minutes

January 11, 2002, Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, Mass.

1. Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order by President Bill Ross at 10:30 a.m. Present were Liz Andrews, Paul Carnahan, Beth Carroll-Horrocks, Aimee Felker, Joan Krizack, Donna Longo DiMichele, Peter Parker, Bill Ross, Susan von Salis, Diana Smith, Karen Spicher, Rick Stattler, and Jane Ward.

2. President's Report (Appendix A):

President Bill Ross reported that he had signed the agreement between NEA and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) to hold a joint meeting 24-26 October 2002 in Poughkeepsie, New York. He also wrote a letter to Representative Stephen Horn in respect to Executive Order 13233 and encouraged all board members to write letters to their Senators and Representatives if they had not done so already.

3. Secretary's Report (Appendix B):

Secretary Diana Smith reported that the Board voted on three issues via email between the October and January meetings:

to approve the question for candidates running for NEA office.

to approve the addition of Tamar Granovsky and Nighat Saleemi to the Education Committee.

to approve the minutes of the October Executive Board meeting.

Smith also reported that she had indexed the minutes for 2001, and had forwarded them to co-Webmaster Glynn Edwards.

4. Immediate Past President/Nominating Committee/Distinguished Service Award Committee Report (Appendix C):

Immediate Past President and Chair of the Nominating and Distinguished Service Award Committees Aimee Felker announced that no new nominations for the Distinguished Service Award had been received. The biographies and statements of the candidates for Executive Board appear in the January newsletter. Felker added that in the future she would like to see this as a pull-out section of the newsletter. The Board discussed the cost of adding the four extra pages to the newsletter.

5. Outreach Committee Report (Appendix D):

Outreach Committee Co-Chair Susan von Salis had nothing to add to her submitted report, which stated that the December Archives on the Road event was cancelled because of a room conflict at Boston College. The committee will soon start work on Archives Week 2002. von Salis clarified that each regional association can pick any week to be Archives Week. Vice President Joan Krizack noted that so far all of the Archives on the Road events have taken place in Massachusetts. von Salis explained that despite widespread publicity for the "On the Road" events, so far the only interest has come from individuals and organizations in Massachusetts

6. Web Committee Report (Appendix E):

The Board reviewed Co-Webmaster Glynn Edwards' report, which stated that the committee is currently looking for a new Web Coordinator, and welcomes nominations for the position.

7. Print Coordinator's Report (Appendix F):

The Board reviewed Print Coordinator Diana Yount's report, which stated that the meeting announcement and ballots would be mailed in late January and early February.

8. Treasurer's Report (Appendix G):

Treasurer Liz Andrews reported that total deposits into the general account were $50,316.36 for fiscal year 2001, and total disbursements from that account were $43,638.13. These numbers include the receipts from the fall meeting but not disbursements, as Yale Catering has not yet presented a bill, and speaker honoraria have not been paid due to a lack of names and addresses from the Program Committee. If expenses for the fall meeting exceed $6,678, then the budget for fiscal year 2001 will have been in deficit.

The Board discussed the Richard Haas Memorial Fund Award and what might be required to make the Haas Award self-sustaining. Andrews reported that she had spoken to Mark Robinson, the ARMA Treasurer, who stated that the award account held a balance of $8,316.74 as of December 12, 2001. He projected needing a total balance of $24,900 for the award to become self-sustaining based on a withdrawal of $500 per year, at today's low interest rates. The NEA Board agreed that this issue warranted further investigation.

Andrews reviewed different budget reports, and noted that the budget by quarter doesn't match how the Board votes on the budget. She would like to reconcile this difference in future budget reports. She also stated that the new investment account as of December 31, 2001 is with Fidelity Investments.

9. Task Force on Organizational Efficiency Report (Appendix H):

The Board reviewed the final report of the Task Force on Organizational Efficiency, written by Chair Susan von Salis. The Committee investigated a number of ways to improve fiscal efficiency, and also examined some ways to improve organizational efficiency. The specific initiatives investigated were:

should NEA put the Newsletter on the web?

should the board establish a set meeting fee for a number of meetings into the future?

can the organization move to greater communication via electronic formats?

should NEA raise cost of workshops?

should NEA reduce meetings from two to one a year?

how can NEA improve board communication?

would there be any benefit to initiating an NEA records manager position?

can we reduce the cost of the accountant?

can the organization afford to initiate NEA scholarships (to attend spring and fall meetings)?

can NEA begin to conduct business with the use of credit cards?

should NEA try to increase membership (and thereby income)?

The Task Force concluded that for the most part, NEA is "already doing many tasks in the most efficient, financially responsible, and/or useful manner." The Board discussed the recommendations made by the Task Force for each point above, with the exception of letters H-J, which needed the input of the Treasurer, who was busy with other NEA matters and could not contribute to the Task Force. Ideas that arose from the discussion include: doing a member survey to determine the number of members who have web access, reducing the number of Newsletter issues to three, looking for meeting sites which are cheaper, arranging meetings which will be targeted for more experienced archivists, and other meetings targeted to newer archivists, holding workshops in addition to those at fall and spring meetings, undertaking initiatives to increase NEA's membership, putting a "ticker" on the home page with constantly updated information for members, keeping a copy of all the policies set in meetings in the Secretary's administrative handbook, and having a records manager in addition to an archivist. von Salis will write up a summary of the discussion that took place, and Krizack agreed to head up an implementation team.

10. Development Report (Appendix I):

Jane Ward, Development Coordinator, reported that she currently has commitments from four vendors for the Spring 2002 meeting, and is aiming to have nine.

11. Education Committee Report (Appendix J):

Education Committee Chair Karen Spicher announced that three workshops were scheduled for Spring 2002: Caring for Historical Records (Barbara Austen), Disaster Preparedness (Gregor Trinkaus Randall), and Planning for EAD in an XML World (Timothy Young).

The Board discussed questions of maximum reimbursement for instructor mileage and lodging expenses, policies of raising workshop fees to cover high photocopying or other materials expenses, and budgeting for break food during workshops. The Board clarified that the understanding has always been that workshops pay for themselves. The Board instructed Spicher to keep the cost of workshops to $20 for a half-day workshop and $40 for a full day workshop, and to add a separate workshop fee for photocopying at the Education Committee's discretion.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Representative-at-Large Paul Carnahan, the Board voted to increase the maximum reimbursement for mileage and lodging for instructors to $100.

12. Public Relations Report (Appendix K):

The Board reviewed Public Relations Coordinator Daniel McCormack's report, which stated that he prepared a release for the two upcoming Distinguished Service Award honorees. The Board commented that they had seen and heard news stories about the Distinguished Service Award in several different places.

13. Fall 2001 Meeting (New Haven/Yale) Program Committee Report:

There was no report.

14. Fall 2001 Meeting (New Haven/Yale) Local Arrangements Committee Report (Appendix L):

The Board reviewed Local Arrangements Committee Chair Diane Kaplan's report which stated that Yale Catering Service has not yet presented the bill for the Saturday lunch. She also submitted a tabulation of the (mostly favorable) evaluation forms received.

15. Vice President's Report (Appendix M):

Vice President Joan Krizack stated that she had taken over President Ross's duties in the wake of his mother's passing, and had attended to a few other internal board business items.

16. Spring 2002 Meeting (Newport) Program Committee Report (Appendix N):

Program Committee Chair Donna DiMichele reviewed the program, themed "Collaborative Adventures in Archival Endeavors." She stated that they currently have three door prizes for the final reception, and would welcome other ideas for door prizes.

17. Spring 2002 Meeting (Newport) Local Arrangements Committee Report (Appendix O):

Local Arrangements Committee Co-Chairs Jane Ward and Rick Stattler submitted a budget for the meeting.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Ross, the Board set the registration fee for the Spring 2002 meeting at $55 for NEA members, $75 for non-members, and $27.50 for students.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Ross, the Board approved the addition of three new members to the Local Arrangements Committee: Douglas Doe of the Rhode Island School of Design, Mary Ellen Higgins, of the Willett Free Library in Saunderstown, and Cally Gurley, University of New England.

18. Fall 2002 Meeting (Poughkeepsie) Program Committee Report (Appendix P):

The Board reviewed Program Committee Co-Chair Barbara Austen's report, which contained proposed session descriptions.

19. Fall 2002 Meeting (Poughkeepsie) Local Arrangements Report:

There was no report.

20. 2003 Meetings:

There was no report.

21. Newsletter Report (Appendix Q):

Representative-at-Large Rick Stattler presented Senior Editor Joan Gearin's report. The current issue of the newsletter was longer than usual due to the candidates' statements, and cost $2,185.15.

22. Membership Committee Report (Appendix R):

Membership Committee Chair Beth Carroll-Horrocks reported that the Committee is working on ways to improve the open house for archivists and Simmons students, as well as current methods for welcoming new members. She plans to discuss issues raised in the report of the Task Force for Organizational Efficiency with her Committee members.

23. Membership Secretary's Report (Appendix S):

Carroll-Horrocks presented Membership Secretary Deborah Richards's report, which stated that total membership is currently 329, with 62 new members since October 2001. The current membership number is low because of outstanding renewals.

24. Haas Award Committee Report (Appendix T):

The Board reviewed the report of NEA's Representative to the joint ARMA/NEA Haas Award Committee, Lois Hamill, which raised the question of guidelines or policies in place for endowments of awards, in the wake of a query from an individual to endow the Haas Award. The Board was not aware of any guidelines, and did not feel that any were needed at this time.

25. Hale Award Committee Report:

There was no report.

26. Champion of Archives Award Report (Appendix U):

Representative-at-Large Rick Stattler presented the proposed Champion of Archives Award guidelines. Discussion ensued as to whether there should be a rule that it should be awarded at least once every five years, and whether the Immediate Past President should chair the award committee. Stattler will revise the guidelines, circulate them via email, and will call for a vote to approve them at that time.

27. Old Business: Job Descriptions for elected board members (Treasurer and Representatives-at-Large) (Appendix V):

Treasurer Liz Andrews stated that she had not had time to revise the Treasurer's job description, and proposed the idea of having a monitor read the Treasurer's reports. The sense of the Board was that this would be best performed by the Clerk.

The Board reviewed the job description of the Representative-at-Large. The Board agreed to discuss the Local Arrangements Committee and Program Committee job descriptions via email.

MOTION: On a motion by Felker, seconded by Stattler, the Board voted to accept the Representative-at-Large job description as amended.

28. New Business: NEA Archives, electronic record:

Discussion of this issue was tabled, as the topic will be pursued as part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force for Organizational Efficiency.

29. New Business: Lois Hamill's proposals for upcoming NEA programs (Appendix W):

The Board discussed Lois Hamill's proposals for joint meetings of NEA and other organizations, and for introducing new meeting formats. The Board noted that some of her ideas were already being pursued, and that a proposed Task Force on Meetings would address her other ideas.

30. The next Board meeting will be held at the Redwood Library in Newport, Rhode Island on March 22, 2002.
31. There being no further business, Ross adjourned the meeting at 3:25 p.m.