New England Archivists - Minutes

Home > About > Business > Minutes > October 14, 2004

New England Archivist Fall Board Meeting Minutes

October 14, 2004, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine

1:00 - 5:00 PM

Agenda

1:00-1:15
Call to order and review agenda
Approve Secretary’s June meeting minutes
Accept reports requiring no action

1:15-1:25
Treasurer’s Report

1:25-2:15
Fall 2004 Conference Program Committee Report
Fall 2004 Conference Local Arrangements Committee Report
Spring 2005 Conference Program Committee Report
Spring 2005 Conference Local Arrangements Committee Report
Development Coordinator Report

2:15-3:15
Newsletter Committee Report
Education Committee Report
Outreach Committee Report
Web Committee Report
Public Relations Committee Report
EAD Plan – Mike Rush

Any others: Haas, Hale, Print Coordinator, Membership

3:15-3:30
Break

3:30-4:30
President Report
Vice President Report
Immediate Past President Report

4:30-5:00 Old Business New Business: NEA listserv and vendor use, workshop fee structure Next meeting date and adjournment

Present: Ellen Doon, Meg Moughan, Jane Ward, Anne Sauer, Liz Andrews, Paul Carnahan, Kelcy Shepherd, Rodney Obien, Diana Yount, Susan von Salis, Bridget P. Carr, Brenda Lawson, Mary Ide, Tom Hyry, Jason Wood, Anne Ostendarp, Elizabeth Slomba

Call to Order, Introductions, Secretary, Accept reports requiring no action

Meeting was called to order by Mary Ide at 1 pm. Members attending introduced themselves.

The June 17, 2004 board meeting minutes and Secretary’s report (Appendix A) were presented. Elizabeth Slomba briefly mentioned what was in the Secretary’s report.

It was moved that the June 17, 2004 board meeting minute and Secretary’s report be accepted. The motion was seconded. All members voted in favor.

There was a brief discussion about the Fall 2004 Program and Local Arrangements Committees reports, which were not received at the time of the Executive Board meeting.

The Print Coordinator (Appendix B) and Membership Secretary (Appendix C) reports were distributed by email. It was moved that the Print Coordinator and Membership Secretary reports be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted in favor.

Treasurer’s Report

Liz Andrews started the discussion about the draft budget (Appendix D). The NEA fiscal year ends on December 31. She discussed the registration numbers for the Fall 2004 meeting (at the time of the draft budget there were 160 registered). She had not received bills from Skybuilders so far so the Web Committee had not spent the budgeted amount yet. Additional expenses were $1000 to the Society of American Archivists for a reception at their annual meeting held in Boston and airfare for Mary to attend a meeting in Washington D.C. arranged by the American History Association for archival groups to meet with the nominee for Archivist of the United States. Diana Yount requested $250 for the Print Coordinator budget.

Overall revenue for NEA is down by $2000. NEA met the needed numbers for spring meeting registrations but membership is down. Liz continued to go over the numbers in the draft budget. Mary discussed numbers of fall meeting registrations, which were, as of October 11, 185, with possibly 200 with on-site registrations. But there was no information on new membership numbers from the meeting registrations.

Liz then mentioned that NEA keeps funding the same items and that now is the time to discuss if the organization wished to reallocate money to other projects or commitments. Although there were no proposals for new initiatives, it was expected that the Web Committee might be suggesting some in their upcoming report.

There was a brief discussion concerning the proposal for a web-based membership directory and whether there should be a print membership guide printed before the web guide was published. Discussion was held for the upcoming Web Committee report.

Then there was a question concerning the Outreach Committee budget needs. Nothing was budgeted for the committee in the draft budget. Usually the committee requests money for printing the bookmarks and for reimbursements for committee members traveling for Archives on the Road programs. The Board discussed whether to table the discussion regarding the Outreach Committee budget until a member of the Outreach Committee could respond to the Board’s questions. There was a discussion of how much the Outreach Committee spends on printing bookmarks. Susan von Salis said that the Outreach Committee had printed enough bookmarks for two years in 2003 but that the committee is likely to run out of bookmarks soon and will need to reprint them. They generally distribute 500 per year. The committee did not print new ones in 2004 so the $1000 budgeted for bookmarks in 2004 could be rolled over to the 2005 budget. There was a short discussion about printing a membership brochure compared to using the bookmarks. The bookmarks are aimed at non-NEA members and the general public and advocate archives while a membership brochure is meant to recruit new members. The Board suggested setting $1000 budget line for bookmarks. Paul Carnahan then proposed $300 for program costs and $350 for travel. Liz discussed checks from NEA sponsors for outreach programming.

Liz reiterated the need for funding for the NEA website and projects to overhaul the site. She suggested that the Board discuss whether to fund upcoming ideas from the Web Committee; if no funding in the 2005 budget, then any projects requiring funding will need to wait to January 2006. Anne Sauer discussed the need and process of updating web links on the NEA site and that the Board might need to hire someone to do page clean-up, check addresses, and fix design elements. Mary asked if the Board should hire from within NEA. Jane suggested that the Web Committee should be responsible for the web work. Anne explained the heavy work required for fixing the pages. Susan suggested that a person could be hired for web clean-up at one-time fee. Brenda Lawson asked if money would be need for the web work and where would the money come from. Liz explained that based on current NEA income, she would not need to take money from other budgeted lines. She then went on to discuss how the newsletter is funded and suggested as using the newsletter budgeting as a model for handling the website expenses. She proposed setting up a budget line for web projects, then the Board could review spending and the budget in six months. Liz warned if development money was not coming in and the membership kept declining, then NEA would need to seriously review spending. Brenda advocated a budget line for the website and the possibility of hiring someone to do the web clean-up. Mary suggested the Board should continue the discussion of website funding issues at a future Board meeting.

The Board then continued to discuss budgeting for the Outreach Committee. It was suggested that the budget be: $1000 for bookmarks; $350 travel; $50 for program expenses (handouts, materials for archives on road) for a total budget of $1400.

Then Board discussed meeting expenses. Paul noted the decreasing amount budgeted to spend on meeting expenses in the draft budget and then asked if NEA wanted to spend less on meetings. Liz responded that expenses are based on meeting fees; it is an artificial number for budgeting purposes. She said that meeting fees have been less lately so that would be reflected in the expense budget numbers. Income is deposited and expenses paid from the same account.

It was moved that Board approve the draft budget as sent on September 29, 2004 with additions for $1400 for the Outreach Committee, $1000 for the Web Committee, and $250 for the Print Coordinator. It was seconded. Kelcy Shepherd then asked if Membership’s requested amount was included in the draft budget; Membership had requested $1254. There was a brief discussion over the amount requested. Liz had added the requested amount to the budget but she did not send the updated budget out to the Board yet. Kelcy added that her requested amount was in addition to Debbie Richards’ request as Membership Secretary. Liz amended the motion to include the $1254 for Membership. It was moved that Board approve the draft budget as sent on September 29, 2004 with additions for $1400 for the Outreach Committee, $1000 for the Web Committee, $250 for the Print Coordinator and $1254 for the Membership Committee. The motion was approved.

Mary asked Liz if the Hale Award money would be moved to the restricted Hale account. Liz explained the history of the Hale account and why it was problematical to put in and take out money from CDs. Liz suggested that the Board review the Hale account when interest rates increase.

Fall 2004 Program and Local Arrangements Committees, Spring 2005 Program and Local Arrangements Committees, Development Coordinator Reports

Fall 2004 Program Committee
Mary received a report from the committee and will forward the report to the Board. She briefly mentioned what was in the report. Mary said that she wanted to discuss later structure and process guidelines for new Program and Local Arrangements Committee chairs

Fall 2004 Local Arrangements Committee
The committee will submit their report later.

Spring 2005 Program and Local Arrangements Committee
Mary mentioned that site for the Spring 2005 meeting has been arranged and that members of the committee have experience in programming and local arrangements. She also distributed a report from the Program part of the committee (Appendix E). Paul Conway will be giving a new version of his SAA workshop on Archival Perspectives on Digital Preservation. For the Spring 2005 meeting, the Local Arrangements and Program committees will be combined into one committee. The committee will need to submit draft budget very soon by December 1st; usually the draft budget would be due by the October Board meeting, but since the committee was recently formed and is in the process of setting the budget, the budget has been pushed back. The Board discussed the need for the Board to have draft budgets in order to check planning progress and the need to have Program and Local Arrangements Committee members attend Board meeting. Liz discussed developing a template for Local Arrangements committees which would be available on the NEA website. Jason Wood, chair of Spring 2005 Local Arrangements, was unaware about needing to submit a draft budget for the Spring Local Arrangements and apologized. Jason said the plan for the Spring meeting is in place. He has talked to the Simmons Conference Center and booked rooms for the conference. The Board discussed possible costs, need for honoraria costs, what information was given to Jason regarding planning, and whether there was a handbook for Local Arrangements and Program Committees. Jane Ward discussed working on the handbook. Jason said the hotel for the conference had not been selected and the Board discussed the probable numbers of needed hotel rooms. Jason then said that due to construction on the Simmons campus, there will be no available parking. The committee may be able to arrange for parking elsewhere. But he was not sure how to account of the possible extra expense for parking or if meeting attendees would have to pay for parking separately. It was suggested that it may be easier to roll parking costs into the overall meeting budget and have parking expenses built into the registration fee. Jason mentioned that they could consider shuttle service, but Board members said that shuttle service could be inefficient and difficult to plan.

Development coordinator
Jane presented her report (Appendix F). For the Fall 2004 meeting, they received not quite $3000 from Vendors. October is a very busy month for vendors. Vendors think attending the Fall meeting is expensive but Jane wonders if there are other factors involved. She mentioned reduced traveling budgets for vendors, numbers of meetings, the SAA meeting in August, and timing of the meeting. And vendors may prefer attending the Spring meetings and Simmons in Boston would be an attractive meeting for them. Light Impressions donated certificates for a lottery and they may attend as vendors at the Spring meeting. Jane projected that it will be difficult to attract vendors in October and added that Board should not assume as much for Vendor support for future fall meetings. Susan mentioned that if vendors receive space in newsletter for an ad, would it be possible for them to have an ad or space on the NEA website. It was mentioned that the website has links to the meeting programs; links stay up as long as the electronic program is available. Susan also suggested that a request for vendor prospects be posted to the NEA listserv. New vendor prospects should be forwarded to Jane. Jane added that her term as Development Coordinator is ending soon and that she would be interested in staying on.

It was moved to accept the Development Coordinator report. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted in favor.

Newsletter Committee, Education Committee, Outreach Committee, Fall 2004 Program Committee, Web Committee, Public Relations Committee Reports, EAD Plan, A*Census

Newsletter Committee
Meg Moughan reported that the October newsletter would be coming out soon and presented the committee report (Appendix G). Chris Burns is an outgoing editor as of the last issue of the newsletter and Meg acknowledged his work on the newsletter. Michelle Light has accepted a new job out of the region and will be leaving the committee. The committee requested that the Board accept Michael Forstrom as the News and Notes editor as a replacement for Michelle Light.

It was moved that Michael Forstrom be approved as News and Notes Editor with a term of three years (January 2005-January 2008) to replace Michelle Light. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted in favor.

Ellen Doon reported on an SAA publications proposal (Appendix H). The proposal was to publish a compilation of columns and articles from the NEA Newsletter; she was assisted by Chris Burns in developing the proposal. SAA rejected the proposal for a variety of reasons. She thought it would be more worthwhile to putting newsletter articles on the NEA website. She mentioned that it would be difficult editing project for many reasons. Doon and Burns are not interested in pursuing the project themselves. The Board discussed articles to be included, the worthiness of project, the editing needed and possible impact of project. The Board also discussed putting the entire newsletter on the website, not just selections. Discussion touched on the ease of selection and getting author permission to post on website, the need to explain why which articles were selected for the web, and the possibility of hurt author feelings. The Board then discussed that it would be better to invest time and money in putting in up current newsletter on the web since the website is being redesigned and that it would be better to keep the publication project as pending project or even publishing the project as a special issue of the newsletter, using the selected articles. Publishing through the newsletter could include the Round and About items, which represent the variety of the New England archival institutions and experience. Also the project could be a possible 40th anniversary project, which would demonstrate the evolution of and more professional look of the newsletter. There was a brief discussion about updating the index to the newsletter and when the last update occurred.

Meg then announced that the editors were thinking of devoting the April issue to information on the planning initiative. They would report the feedback on the feedback and what happens next. Mary said that by the Spring meeting she will compile a report on the planning initiative. She will report to the Board, then to the newsletter.

It was moved that the Newsletter Committee report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted in favor.

Education
Brenda presented the report and said that no action was needed on the report (Appendix I). Elizabeth gave new Fall meeting workshops attendance numbers and briefly discussed the success of the workshops.

It was moved that the Education Committee report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted in favor.

Outreach
Anne Ostendarp presented her report on Outreach activities (Appendix J). She announced that Archives on the Road was in demand. It has become an annual event for the Greenwich, Connecticut Historical Society. Archives on the Road will be doing programs in Litchfield Connecticut, Rindge New Hampshire, Strafford Connecticut, Gloucester Massachusetts, Waverly Rhode Island, Natick Massachusetts and Winchester New Hampshire. The table display created for the SAA meeting is available for use in NEA events. The Outreach Committee is always looking for information to incorporate in their events and literature. There will be a table at the Massachusetts Social Studies Teachers event. However there has been no activity with the Speakers Bureau. Susan suggested that perhaps the Speakers Bureau function had been combined with Archives on the Road.

Then Anne described the candy give-away at the information table at SAA and the success of the event. The Outreach Committee has discussed whether the information table should have been an Outreach event or a Public Relations or a Membership event.

If members are having special events for Archives week, please send the information to Outreach for inclusion on NEA website. For example, the Greenwich Connecticut event is billed as an Archives Week event. It was asked if Public Relations should be involved and suggested that Anne get in touch with the Coordinators. Bookmarks have been sent to State Historical Records Advisory Board coordinators. Anne encouraged members to take bookmarks to hand out at home institutions, local libraries, and any place one can think of.

The Outreach Committee is working on the look and content of Archives on the Road and creating standardized content. Paul suggested that they use the graphic look from the NEA brochures in Archives on the Road materials.

Anne concluded by saying that the committee is working more collaboratively with other committees – Education, Public Relations, and Membership. Brenda added that the discussion in the Continuing Education session would address who is NEA educating, workshops for non-archivists, and so forth. It is hoped that the Public Relations Coordinators could create a preformatted press release for Archives on the Road programs. April Hagins is stepping down as co-chair of the committee but remaining a member of the committee.

It was moved that the Outreach Committee report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Fall 2004 Program Committee
Anne then discussed briefly the Fall 2004 Program. One speaker dropped out due to family illness but a replacement speaker was found. Sessions held so far have had overflowing attendance. She discussed the questions the committee had regarding honoraria. It was agreed that speakers who are not NEA members and practicing archivists beyond the New England area receive honoraria. There was a general discussion about honoraria. Mary said the Friday afternoon programming was very attractive.

Jane wondered about getting bookmarks to non-NEA members. The bookmarks were not in every packet so non-members would not get them in the registration materials. It was suggested that the bookmarks could be put out at the Registration table for people to pick up. It was also noted that in the registration materials a program was not included, only a list of locations. Mary said that she would write non-members who attended the Fall meeting a letter encouraging them to join NEA and she would include a bookmark. There was a general discussion of bookmark distribution.

There was a brief discussion with Anne concerning the accepted $1400 budget for the Outreach Committee.

Web Committee
Susan asked Rodney Obien why NEA should move their listservs from Yahoo to Skybuilders. Rodney replied that he spent a lot of time administering the Yahoo listservs. Although he was not sure how the Skybuilders listservs would work since he had not seen them. The Membership Secretary currently manually adds names to the listservs.

Anne Sauer reported the site move went fine. She then presented the Web Committee’s report (Appendix K). She discussed how Skybuilders has proposed a way to streamline web page creation on the website. Skybuilders has suggested that the membership directory could be created through output from the database to create a member database on website. Membership access to site can be generated through the online membership database. Kelcy expressed concern that the Membership Committee needs to be involved in discussions with Skybuilders. The time and the tools to create the membership directory is covered by the contract with Skybuilders. And the security concerns would be different since NEA would not be taking online payments; the recent hijacking of the SAA website may have occurred because SAA takes such payments. There was a brief discussion of whether Skybuilders could also maintain the membership directory. Liz mentioned that the accountants who check NEA’s books may not like this and prefer that NEA maintain the membership database. Next it was discussed whether the database was backed-up and if two versions of the directory needed to be maintained.

There was a question concerning the timetable for the creation of the online membership directory. Membership is particularly concerned with finishing the new membership brochure; once the brochure is done, they will be free to work on the membership directory.

There was a discussion of the Skybuilders contract and what it covers. Anne discussed the work of the Web Committee and why it would be necessary to hire or find a person to specifically do website clean-up. She also mentioned the need to set up responsibilities for and delegated jobs to the Web Committee members. The Board then discussed how the committee handles the website currently, the possibility of structuring the committee to be more similar to the Newsletter Committee, how the Newsletter Committee is structured and the responsibilities of the editors. There are job descriptions for the editors so it may be desirable to have job descriptions for members of a larger Web Committee. The discussion also touched on how to get people on the committee who are skilled, possible names of people who might be interested and the process of writing job descriptions. Meg said that she would send the Newsletter Committee job descriptions to Mary.

Anne went on to explain that under the Skybuilders’ contract NEA would have five email boxes. The Board discussed how to assign names and email aliases. The email boxes can be used as real email addresses; Anne said that she would confirm this with the vendor. One address would be for the Web Coordinator; another one for Membership. Other possibilities might include an address for Outreach, Education, Newsletter, General Information or Public Relations. The Board discussed the possibilities, preferring that Outreach receive one address and the Newsletter another one. The idea of using a general information address (info@) was touched on. A general information address is becoming am industry standard yet some Board members were concerned with receiving spam and general non-specific reference questions. The Board decided to hold the fifth address in reserve.

Board then returned to the issue of job descriptions for the web work. The job description would be for a part-time person to do page clean-up and other web design fixes as needed. Rates for Skybuilders will remain at $200 per month for the foreseeable future. It was asked if future raises were covered by the contract, but Anne said that the vendor did not expect to raise rates for sometime. The cost per month for Skybuilders is accounted in budget. It is also possible that Skybuilders could be a vendor at future NEA meetings. The money set aside for web projects, $1000, is additional. Anne said that she would draft a job description draft and will distribute it to the Board shortly.

It was moved that the Web Committee report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

A*Census project
Anne Sauer distributed brief A*Census reports. She commented that the reports were generalized spreadsheets for working groups to look at and that data will be available online soon. The Board discussed when to include the information in the newsletter.

Public Relations Coordinators
Mary presented the Public Relations report (Appendix L).

It was moved that the Public Relations report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

EAD Report
Susan reported that the New England EAD Collaboration Working Group had a successful meeting (Appendix M). A planning committee (an offshoot of the group) will be researching issues that came up during the meeting and wants to submit a grant for planning money to research EAD as a regional resource. But the questions are who would be able to provide oversight for that grant and would NEA be able to administer the grant. NELINET is interested in regional cooperatives and may be interested in supporting the project. But there is no structure to host the EAD database through NELINET. The group was grateful for refreshments provided by NEA and they did not use entire amount allocated by NEA

Susan added that no big institution wanted to be a host for the possible regional EAD database. The group felt that an EAD database would be of great benefit for small institutions and a collaborative effort for medium institutions. A case for involvement of big institutions would be beneficial collaborations and usefulness for their researchers. Small and medium institutions were interested in a regional database. The group discussed money and looked at several collaborative projects. They agreed that this is a good thing and that the group will research future directions. The group also recommends that the regional database includes finding aids held by New England repositories. The planning committee will be looking at grants and be writing the grant. There was a brief discussion regarding possible funding institutions.

It was moved that the New England EAD Collaboration Working Meeting Report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Haas Award, Hale Award, Membership Committees Reports

Haas Award Report
Lois Hamill submitted a report concerning the current state of the Haas Award Committee (Appendix M). In her report, she says she is willing to stay on the committee and that the committee needs another NEA representative. She also recommends that a NEA representative be the next chair, but says that the reconstituted committee can decide the issue when they meet. The Board discussed the recommendations and whether Lois should find the second NEA representative. Liz said she could think of a few possible interested people and suggested if the Board could not find someone, then a request for a volunteer could be posted on the NEA listserv. The Representatives At-Large discussed Board member representation on the Awards Committees. The Haas Award Board representative can serve as the additional committee member and be chair of the committee if needed. Brenda or Tom Hyry will be the extra representative on the committee; they will discuss the representation further.

It was moved that the Haas Award report be accepted and that one of the Representatives At-Large serve as a Haas Award Committee member. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Hale Award
Bridget Carr discussed her report and the idea of giving the award for specific reasons, such as giving the award to someone to attend an SAA meeting (Appendix O). She suggested more publicity for the award and that listserv announcements about the Hale Award be posted. There was a discussion about when the Hale Award is announced in the newsletter and the current publicity for the award. The Board also considered Bridget's recommendation for giving the award for a specific purpose; the purpose would change from year to year. The recommendation grew from concerns about needing criteria for awarding the award and the difficulty of deciding who receives the award when many applicants are applying for the award for the same purpose. Bridget researched the history and purpose of the award and how the award had been historically bestowed. Liz suggested splitting the award amount so that the award could be given for two different purposes in a given year. But Jane reminded that the award amount was raised because of need. Wary of mandating a specific purpose for the award, the Board suggested that the Hale Award Committee keep on watch on future applications, develop criteria, and see how the application process develops. There was a discussion of applicant need as a criterion.

It was moved that the the Hale Award report be accepted with the recommendation that the Board not change the criteria for the award at this time and that the Board may reconsider the criteria in future.It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Membership Committee
Kelcy presented the Membership Committee report (Appendix P). She and Rodney presented the proposed membership brochure and the Board suggested changes for the brochure after some discussion. Kelcy requested help finding better pictures of NEA events and archivists in action to include in the brochure. Mary thought that they would need to have a release agreement for the photos. There was a brief discussion on how to find pictures and get permission to use them. There were further discussions on whether to include “the” in the name of NEA, wording concerns and organization mission. Also the Board discussed whether to continue to use the Massachusetts State Archives as the official mailing address for NEA, the confusion for the Archives staff when they receive NEA mail, and what address to use if NEA does not use the Archives address. It was proposed to use the University of Connecticut as the official mailing address since the institution houses the NEA Archives. But it was agreed to use the Membership Secretary's address as the official mailing address; since this address could change, it was suggested that the committee print limited numbers of the brochures. The Board then discussed the brochure costs, content and colors. The discussion then turned to branding and graphic identity issues for NEA and whether NEA could possibly adopt a new logo. Discussion regarding a new logo would need to include the Public Relations Coordinators and the Print Coordinator. There was a discussion of branding development, the potential impact on image of New England Archivists and the impact of the branding discussion on other ongoing NEA projects. Mary summed up the debate and stated the Membership Committee's need for new brochure to assist them in recruiting new members. She added that the efforts to create a brand and graphic identity for NEA would be considerable and lengthy and that the current proposed brochure would be suitable for the interim.

It was moved that the brochure be accepted after review. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

It was moved that the Membership Committee report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

It was moved that the President will form a branding committee to establish a graphic identity for New England Archivists. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

In response to the discussion about pictures for the brochure, Mary will ask the Public Relations Coordinators to be the official NEA photographers in order to have pictures of NEA events for future use.

President, Vice President and Immediate Past President Reports

President’s Report
Mary discussed her report and the planning initiative at the Fall 2004 meeting (Appendix Q). She led a discussion about the need for a handbook for officers and will be glad to write one when out of office.

It was moved that the President's Report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Vice President's Report
Paul presented his report (Appendix R). He noted that the Vermont Historical Society will be hosting a meeting of local Vermont historical societies on the Thursday before the Fall 2005 meeting. There could be some coordination between the two meetings. Paul then mentioned the proposed dates for holding the Spring 2006 meeting at Boston College, March 10-11, 2006. The archivist for the Mashantucket Indian tribe in Connecticut is also willing to host the Spring 2006 meeting. Some Board members said that the very early March date may interfere with NEA elections. There was a discussion of previous voting for early Spring meetings and of changing dates for elections. And there was a question of needing to change membership dates to make sure that eligible voters would be included. Ballot must be received by 30 days before meeting. The Newport Rhode Island meeting was held at the end of March but some elections rules were modified to accommodate the elections and the early meeting date. There were further discussions of elections, ballot mailing and bylaws. Paul will look at the calendar and check with Debbie concerning these issues. Paul was asked if he knew what the costs would be for holding the meeting at Foxwoods since that would likely be the conference center if the Mashantucket Indian tribe were to host the meeting. Concerns were expressed about holding a meeting at Foxwoods; it was suggested that holding an Education Committee workshop there might be better. Suggestions and comments regarding the early Spring 2006 dates, on holding the meeting at Boston College, and possible other Boston locations should be sent to Paul.

It was moved that the Vice President's Report be accepted. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Immediate Past President's Report
Mary reported that Rutherford Witthus is working on the candidate slate for the next election and on the distinguished service awards.

New Business, Old Business, Next Meeting Date and Adjournment

School for Scanning Request
Mary said that Steve Dalton of the Northeast Document Conservation Center asked if NEA would be willing to be a co-sponsor of the School for Scanning session to be held in Boston on June 1-3, 2005. This session will be the 10th anniversary of the School for Scanning. NEA would be a sponsor in name only but would be listed as a co-sponsor in posters and will be linked on the NEDCC website. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and OCLC are other co-sponsors.

It was moved that NEA be a co-sponsor of the School for Scanning to be held in Boston June 1-3, 2005. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

Phillips Library Letter
Mary asked the Board what NEA should do concerning the status of the Phillips Library at the Essex Peabody Museum. Mary suggested that she should draft a general letter of support and send the letter to the Board for review. She was under the impression that Rutherford had written one but if he did not, she will.

Handbook for Officers
Mary finished the meeting by saying that Margaret Gardiner offered to help write a handbook for officers.

Next Meeting
Mary said that she would send out possible dates for the next Board meeting to the Board over the listserv.

It was moved that Board meeting be adjourned. It was seconded; no discussion. All members voted to accept.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Elizabeth Slomba, Secretary