Annual Meeting 1997: Business Meeting Minutes

PRELIMINARIES:  Ysabel Bertolucci, incoming Chair, announced and invited everyone to the NAHRS anniversary celebration that was to follow immediately after the business meeting. She also reminded everyone of the evening dinner, as well as the Board meeting and breakfast scheduled the next morning at 7:30AM in Room 205. She encouraged all to come and to get involved in NAHRS.Jacqueline Picciano, incumbent Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:05PM; thanked those responsible for the excellent program and planning of this year's special events: the NAHRS committees who worked so hard during the year, as well as NAHRS members who were participating in this year's conference. A special thanks went to Bob Pringle for his leadership in the design,production and distribution of the anniversary pin commemorating NAHRS 35th anniversary.

Chair: The Chair's annual report to MLA was submitted on schedule in March. The report highlighted major achievements of the section during the year. This included the extensive revision of the Strategic Plan, copies of which were distributed in the meeting. The report also cited the creation of two new committees, both under the chairmanship of Margaret Allen. These committees were: Research and Continuing Education.

Secretary/Treasurer: Nelia Wurangian, Secretary/Treasurer, submitted the minutes of the 1996 NAHRS business meeting as published on the NAHRS website and newsletter, and as distributed in print prior to the meeting. It was moved, seconded and accepted. Two financial reports were distributed prior to the meeting. The first was NAHRS' annual report for fiscal year 1996 (Jan-Dec) submitted to MLA in April. The other covered the period of January to May 25, 1977, which showed an ending balance of $3,542.55. Both reports were accepted. 

Archives: Reporting on behalf of Ann Lippman, NAHRS Archivist, was Esperanza Moreno of the University of Texas in El Paso. She began by assuring everyone that the archives were "safe and sound" in the Burns Library at Boston College, but that contributions had "slowed down to a trickle." A plea for submission to the Archives was made, with emphasis on materials before 1980--however small or insignificant. Moreno also reported on Lippman's planned retirement at the end of May and her willingness to continue as Archivist till the end of the year or until a suitable replacement was made. Moreno expressed a special interest in Archives, recounting her experience in preservation of historical nursing documents in El Paso, Texas. The Chair endorsed the importance of preserving and collecting NAHRS documents and memorabilia, pointed out a serious gap in our history due to the lack of appropriate documentation; also suggested that a policy statement be added to our Bylaws, defining the nature and type of documents to be archived. 

Section Council: Jody Guenther, Council representative, distributed MLA's priorities for 1997/1998 and shared highlights from the Council meetings: Two special interest groups were considered. These were the Molecular Biology and Complimentary or Alternative Medicine. Molecular Biology was voted in, but there were questions about the second group relating to conflict or overlap in membership. Council Reps were to take this to their Sections and report back to the Council.Guenther announced the availability of all MLA forms for Section reporting on the MLAnet website. This should make it easier for Section Chairs to file reports on a timely manner.On the question of why members would not run for MLA office, NAHRS members offered the following reasons:a) lack of institutional support b) not enough credit points awarded for certification purposes. c) too much and too complicated reporting structure d) system is too rigid; did not allow for flexibilityThe MLA Board voted on a change in governance model involving Council Alternates. Voted to abolish the Alternate position in lieu of a model that offered a one-year learning period, where a newly elected representative overlapped and "apprenticed" during the first year; assumed full and sole responsibility in the remaining two years. Implementation of this model would be done on a 3-year rotation, with NAHRS scheduled in the first round to come through.Guenther reiterated an observation made by Naomi Broering, outgoing MLA President, about spiraling interest in consumer health, opening the way for librarians to assume expanded roles as quality filters, and the need to work closely, rather than in competition, with Medical Records professionals.On a suggestion to post the Brandon Hill List on MLAnet, NAHRS members unanimously thought that this was a good idea.MLA announced an offer to Sections to avail themselves of the use of the MLA server.On the question of a policy specifying that elections be completed by March 1st, Guenther suggested that this change be addressed in conjunction with the next revision of the NAHRS Bylaws. 

Bylaws: Janet Schnall reported on the revision of the Bylaws and its submission to the Bylaws Committee. She commented on the impending task of a new revision to bring it in compliance with recent changes in governance. She informed everyone that the current Bylaws have been posted on the NAHRS Home Page. Commenting on a handout she developed entitled "Historical Highlights," Schnall talked about the paucity of information in the NAHRS archives and the total absence of data prior to 1981. She urged everyone to send to her whatever they could find for this period. She also requested members to review the list for accuracy and send her whatever changes they see as necessary.The need for an Historical Committee was noted, but no action was made. 

Membership: Reporting on behalf of Eileen Wakiji was Nelia Wurangian, ex-officio member of the Committee. There were 24 new NAHRS members this year, 211 in total signed up in the last reporting period. The 320 members listed on this year's issue of the NAHRS directory included all paid members in the last two years of the publication cycle. A statement of production cost comparison showed continued decline in the cost of production, from $3.78 to $1.94 per copy. Apology was made for the omission of Margaret Allen's name and the Committees she chairs. An errata sheet to correct these errors was distributed during the meeting.  

Research/Continuing Education: Margaret (Peg) Allen gave an update on the status of two NAHRS research projects: the Task Force to Evaluate Search Engines for CINAHL and for RNDex, and the Task Force to Map the Nursing Literature. Recruitment for the latter took place in an earlier introductory meeting, chaired by June Levy. A third NAHRS research project, the Task Force for Mapping the Literature of Allied Health, predates the Research Committee and is part of the overall NAHRS research interest. Allen also reported on the progress of a personal research project: "The key nursing journals, their characteristics and database coverage." She recruited for volunteers and asked members to suggest titles they would like to see included on the list. She also indicated that the list would be made available on the ICIRN (InterAgency Council on Information Resources for Nursing) website, to which members may link.URL is:
http://www.nursingcenter.com/people/nrsorgs/icirn/page1.html

Task Force on the Mapping of Allied Health Literature: Barbara Schloman reported progress on two phases of the project this past year, highlighted the completion of Phase One and the acceptance of manuscripts for publication in the July issue of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. Phase Two had began their work in the summer of 1996 and presented an overview of this in this year's poster sessions. Next steps would be to set a timeline for completing Phase Two and to submit the manuscript for publication. She invited volunteers for Phase Three. The group would address additional areas, and also work with database producers to increase coverage of key allied health journal titles. Members participating in these projects are: Phase One: Judy Burnham, Barbara Schloman, Linda Slater, and Eileen Wakiji. Phase Two: Peg Allen, Hope Barton, Sharon Lee Cann, Ardis Haaland, Ellen Hall, June Levy, Kara Logsden, Patricia Nolan, Kitty Reed, Barbara Walcott, and Betty Warner.

Honors: Jeanne Gittings shared news of a nomination for the "Librarian of the Year" award and encouraged members to take their time to fill out the forms to nominate deserving members.

Task Force for Celebrations/NAHRS Anniversary/MLA Centennial: Bob Pringle commented on the pin to commemorate NAHRS' 35th anniversary, encouraged members to buy and wear the pin in the meetings. A replica of the pin was incorporated in the design of the anniversary cake. There were plans to post an image of the pin on the NAHRS webpages, and possibly use it on the new NAHRS brochure. The Chair suggested that a specimen of the pin be sent to the NAHRS Archives.

Nominating: Jody Guenther announced the newly elected officers: Judy Burnham, Chair-elect; and Eileen Wakiji, Secretary/Treasurer. She noted that out of 324 ballots that were sent, 160 were returned, which doubled the rate of the previous year. Mary Reimer of Clemson University is next year's representative to the Nominating Committee.  

Installation of New Chair: Jacqueline Picciano, outgoing Chair, made her concluding remarks by thanking all committee chairs for a job well-done before giving the floor to Ysabel Bertolucci.

NEW BUSINESS: "Librarian of the Year Award." Ysabel Bertolucci, new Chair, presided over this portion of the program. She began by acknowledging the recipient of the Librarian of the Year award, and added that this would be repeated next year when Ellen Hall could be present.  

Looking Ahead...She then turned the floor to Judy Burnham, Chair-elect, who introduced MLA's program theme for next year: "Visions of the future; reflections of the past," Burnham enumerated some suggested presentation topics, namely new relationships, benchmarking, human rights, downsizing, alternative care, etc.; also solicited program ideas to be forwarded to her before the June 18. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10PM.

Nelia C. Wurangian, NAHRS Secretary/Treasurer.