New England Archivists
Winter Board Meeting
10 January 2003
Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA
1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by President Joan Krizack, at 11:00 am.
Present: Liz Andrews (Treasurer), Jeannette Bastian (Spring 2003 Local Arrangements Committee), Paul Carnahan (Representative-at-Large), Claire Goodwin (Spring 2003 Local Arrangements Committee), Beth Carroll-Horrocks (Membership Committee), Cally Gurley (Representative-at-Large), Tim Hughes (Web coordinator), Joan Krizack (President), Maura Kenny (Webmaster), Dan McCormack (Pubic Relations Coordinator), Peter Parker (Representative-at-Large), Bill Ross (Immediate Past President), Susan von Salis (Outreach Committee), Jessica Steytler (Outreach Committee Chair), Jane Ward (Development Coordinator), Rutherford Withhus (Vice President), and Diana Yount (Print Coordinator). Absent (Voting Members): Bridget Carr (Representative-at-Large), Tara Hurt (Secretary).
2. Bulk vote to Accept reports listed in the 11:05 slot.
All board members voted in favor of accepting the following reports that had been submitted electronically prior to the meeting.
Development Coordinator's report (Appendix A)
Haas Award report (Appendix B)
Membership Committee report (Appendix C)
Membership Secretary report (Appendix D)
Newsletter Editors report (Appendix E)
Outreach Committee report (Appendix F)
President's report (Appendix G)
Print Coordinator report (Appendix H)
Public Relations Coordinator report (Appendix I)
Secretary's report (Appendix J)
3. Treasurer's report (Appendix K) Andrews summarized the budget documents distributed at the meeting. The conversion to QuikBook has been completed. NEA's budget, financial reports and ledgers are now being generated from QuikBook. It will probably take some time for Board members to become familiar with the new format. Andrews prepared and went over a key to the NEA budget that she prepared to help familiarize the Board with the new format.
The Treasurer's report provided the following financial summaries for fiscal year 2002. NEA's equity as of January 1, 2002 was $61,178.88 and as of December 31, 2002 was $55,035.41 for a net loss of $6143.47. The "end of year" balances in NEA's four bank accounts were as follows.
- NOW/checking (Cambridgeport Bank): $23,584.10 ($4,020 of this is unearned dues for FY 2002, which will become "earned" dues at start of fiscal year, January 1, 2003.
- Hale savings (Cambridgeport Bank): $21,797.85
- Cash reserves (Fidelity): $13,330.96
- Bulk mail (U.S. Postal Service, Boston): $342.
4. Web Committee report (Appendeix L) Jessica Branco reported that NEA's website was successfully moved to the Tufts server. There was discussion about who should take the initiative to post changes and new content to the NEA website. Should the Web Committee take the initiative or should they wait to hear from the Board or Committee members? Krizack mentioned that this is a little unclear at the moment and that there are several NEA job descriptions that need to be revised to clarify who is responsible for what. Krizack asked Tim Hughes to draft a procedure for getting information on the web site. Hughes is planning to contact committees to make sure their part of the NEA web page is accurate and up-to-date.
The Board Voted to Accept [all in favor] Peter Rawson as co-webmaster. Web Committee - approve Peter Rawson as co-webmaster.
5. Communications Survey Task Force report (Appendix M) Task Force chair Greg Colati was present for a lengthy discussion of the report and recommendations submitted by the Communications Survey Task Force. Colati highlighted a few of the Task Force's findings: there is near universal access to email and the web; there is strong support for a paper Newsletter; There is strong support for a New England archives email list; there is strong support for receiving some information electronically; and there was strong support, with reservations, for web access to membership directory information.
Over the past couple of months the Task Force held some lively meetings and extended e-mail discussions during which a lot of opinions were expressed. The Task Force feels that NEA should move members towards using electronic means of communication. The four key recommendations made by the Task Force include: 1) The NEA should establish two email lists -- one list to which members are automatically subscribed upon paying membership dues for NEA announcements and information, and, a second list to be a more general discussion list for archivists in New England; 2) A redesigned Newsletter should continue to be published in paper for the foreseeable future with some existing elements being removed by use of an electronic bulletin board; 3) NEA communications could be streamlined to make greater use of the internet, including election ballots and meeting announcements; and 4) The NEA should seriously consider providing web access to a NEA membership directory.
There was a lot of enthusiasm for the report and lively debate about which recommendations should be implemented; how they should be implemented; how their implementation would affect our traditional ways of communicating as an organization; how implementing different recommendations might impact current NEA job descriptions; and whether new NEA positions would need to be created.
It was the sense of the board that people were favorably disposed to all four of the Task Force recommendations but that it made the most send to begin with the first and fourth recommendations. The Board voted to accept the Communications Survey Task Force report and recommendations. All Board members voted in favor. In a motion made by Carnahan and seconded by Ross, all Board members voted to officially thank the Communications Survey Task Force members for their excellent work. The following NEA members served on the committee: Greg Colati, chair; Dominic Grandinetti; Lisa Long; Peter Nelson; and Debbie Richards.
ACTION: Recommendations 1 and 4 will be considered first. Krizack will appoint an implementation team to come up with an action plan for implementing these recommendations. In doing this work, they will solicit input from existing NEA committees including but not limited to the web committee, the newsletter editors, and the membership committee. Beth Carroll-Horrocks requested to be on this team.
6. Spring 2003 Program Committee report (Appendix N) Following the last Board meeting, Krizack followed up with chair Katherine Hammond Baker concerning some timing/scheduling issues. The Board meeting was omitted from the program. Krizack proposes that the Board meeting be held on Friday from 12:30 to 5:00 at Simmons so that Board members will be able to get to the 5:30 reception at the Massachusetts Historical Society. On Saturday, the morning sessions will take place as scheduled. Fifteen minutes have been added to the Saturday lunch period so there will be ample time for the business meeting and also for the presentation of awards. The afternoon sessions will therefor begin at 2:00. The reception will be from 4:15 to 5:00. Krizack thanked Hammond-Baker and her committee for the great job they did in putting together such an interesting program. She feels that the program will appeal to a wide variety of folks.
7. Spring 2003 Local Arrangements Committee report (Appendix O) The Board welcomed Jeanette Bastian to the meeting for a discussion of the local arrangements budget. Bastian referred to the second/revised budget that she sent out via e-mail as being the correct one. Printing and postage costs were discussed. In an e-mail received from Krizack suggested an allocation of $900 for printing and $900 for postage. Later on she heard that we should try to keep the mailing to a weight of one ounce per item at a cost of $.37 as opposed to two ounces costing $.60 per piece. A two-ounce mailing of the program to 400 people would cost $600. A long discussion ensued during which the Local Arrangements Committee voiced their opinion that they felt a two-ounce mailing was what they would need to distribute important program information and to attract attendees. Krizack raised the point that at a previous meeting, the Board expressed a desire that the NEA website be used as a way of conveying local arrangements information. Bastian stated that this had been considered; they plan to refer registrants to NEA's URL for detailed local arrangements such as travel directions, hotels, and local attractions. There was a consensus that the substantive information about the content of the program -- session descriptions, names of speakers, and detailed information about workshops was important to convey in the mailing. Bastian stated that the program information alone is quite lengthy -- currently 12 to 14 pages in length. It was suggested that if the program was designed using a two-column format, more program and workshop information could be conveyed in less space. Bastian will try the two-column format and perhaps all the content will be able to fit into a one-ounce mailing at a cost of $.37 per piece. If not, Bastian will proceed with a two-ounce mailing at a cost of $.60 per piece. There is ample money in the budget for a two-ounce mailing that would cost approximately $480.
The printing of the program will be worked out between the Print Coordinator and the Local Arrangements people. About $500 should be allocated for photocopying and $480 should be allocated for postage which will cover a two-ounce mailing.
There was discussion about setting the registration fee for the meeting. Krizack felt that we should plan on 175 registrants although we could likely expect 200 attendees. There was a sense that basing the registration fee on a conservative estimate of attendees would preclude financial disasters, however, it was pointed out that a higher registration fee might keep some people from attending. Treasurer Andrews strongly advocated a conservative approach to setting the fee. Bastian estimated that 30 or 40 Simmons students (each paying half price) will attend the meeting.
Ward estimated that without factoring in funds raised by the Development Committee, conservatively estimated at $3,000, the true cost per person for attending this meeting would be ca. $78.37. After factoring in donations the cost drops to $56.94 per person for 175 people. As this is NEA's 30th anniversary meeting and is Boston and that there is a fancy reception on Friday night, there was a sense of the Board that the registration fee should be set at $65.00.
The Board voted to accept [all in favor] a $65.00 fee for the Spring 2003 (Boston) meeting. : $65.00
Other local arrangements issues were discussed. Parking spaces in the Simmons College lot will be set-aside on Friday (60 spaces) and Saturday (100 spaces). Other parking options will be listed as well as public transportation information. Krizack is going to see if she can arrange for free parking at Northeastern on Saturday. A block of 40 rooms have been set aside at the Midtown Motor Inn on Huntington Ave. in Boston for a rate of $129.00 per night.
8. Education Committee report (See Appendix P) Carnahan summarized the Education report. There will be five workshops at the Spring meeting and the Committee is in the process of planning workshops for the Fall 2003 meeting. The Committee requested the Board's approval to supply the Museum and Library Archives Institute with mailing labels in exchange for sponsorship recognition. The Board Voted to Accept [all in favor] the motion to approve sponsoring 2003 Museum and Library Archives Institute by supplying free mailing labels.
Krizack complimented the Committee for the impressive slate of workshops they put together for the Spring 2003 meeting. It is great that they are thinking of both basic and advanced level workshops that will attract novice as well as more experienced archivists. The five workshops scheduled for this Spring's meeting are the most workshops to be offered NEA meeting.
9. Immediate Past President's report Ross reported that the Task Force on Future Meetings has not yet met. He would like to get a report out by the next Board meeting. He has received one nomination for the Archival Advocacy Award but has not yet received the proper letter of nomination and he hopes to have this by the next Board meeting as well. The Nominating Committee sent out letters to all candidates requesting information for publication in the January issue. Ross would like to propose that people be given the option of voting on-line at NEA's website. The use of a randomly selected unique identification number assigned to each NEA member would prevent members for voting for their favorite candidate twice. Maura and Debby didn't think there would be a problem setting up an online voting feature on NEA's webpage. There was a sense of the Board that Ross should implement this.
10. Vice-President's report Witthus reported on the planning for the Spring 2004 Worcester meeting being organized by staff members of the Holy Cross Archives and WPI. The people working on this meeting have proposed that one committee of nine people work collectively on the program and local arrangements. The Board supported this. Witthus asked for a vote to approve new joint committee members for the Spring 2004 NEA meeting. The Board voted to approve committee members (Michael Rush, Maggi Gonsalves, Peter Nelson, Julie Bartlett, and Thomas Knowles.
11. Fall 2003 meeting Krizack commented that the Fall 2003 Program Committee has come up with nine sessions. There was some discussion as to whether the committee should be asked to add more. In the past there have been as many as twelve or 15 sessions offered, but there have been many times when nine sessions have been offered. The Board felt that nine sessions were sufficient but that the Program Committee should be asked to add one session in which Archives students can present their research projects.
Witthus discussed some local arrangements issues. There was some uncertainty about how many rooms NEA should have held for the Friday night at the Storrs campus hotel. It was the sense of the Board that 50 should be sufficient.
12. Hale Award Gurley will e-mail Krizack the details concerning the new Hale Award application deadline, February 15, adopted at the last Board meeting. Krizack will incorporate this into her President's column. The January issue of the Newsletter has gone out with the July 1st deadline listed. Dan McCormack will be asked to send out a message about the new deadline late of February 15th to the Archives Listserv. This information will also be highlighted on the NEA website. There was a sense that if a few applications come in a week or two after the February 15th deadline, then they might be considered for this award cycle, but that this would depend on how the Hale Award Committee's schedule. Otherwise, applicants will be notified about the change of date and their applications will be eligible for the February 2004 deadline.
13. Old Business Krizack brought up the subject of the proposed dues increase. At the Fall meeting, the Board agreed to place a $10 increase in membership fees before NEA members. There was some discussion about how this dues increase would be applied to institutional members. The major difference between an institutional membership and an individual membership is that the institutional membership enables two employees to attend NEA meetings at the membership rate. There was some discussion about modifying the Bylaws in regards to institutional membership.
Krizack proposed that amendments be made to six NEA job descriptions that are outdated. These include job descriptions for the Secretary, Webmasters, Treasurer, Clerk, Archivist, and Membership Secretary. After some discussion the Board Voted to Accept with new amendments [all in favor] for job descriptions.
The next Board meeting will take place on April 11th 12:30 to 5:00 at Simmons College.
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