ARLIS/NE Executive Board Meeting
January 20, 2006
11:00 a.m.
Northampton Public Library

In attendance: Rachel Beckwith, Robert Garzillo, Brooke Henderson, Susanne Javorski, Christina Jedziniak, Anne Reid, Rachel Resnik, Kathy Ritter, Linda Zieper

Call to order and introductions: Rachel Beckwith convened the meeting at the Northampton Public Library. The new board members, Brooke Henderson Incoming VP and Robert Garzillo, were welcomed.

Introduction of New Officers: Rachel Beckwith is now President, taking over the position from Kathy Ritter. Brooke Henderson, new to the board, is now the Presidentelect. Robert Garzillo, also new to the board, is taking over the position of treasurer from Susanne Javorski. Christina Jedziniak, Rachel Resnik, Linda Zieper, and Anne Reid continue in their respective roles as webmaster, listserv manager, newsletter editor, and secretary.

Annual Calendar / Responsibilities of Each Officer: Rachel Beckwith distributed the ARLIS/NE Annual Calendar for review. The calendar outlines officers' responsibilities, but new officers can ask their predecessor or Rachel Beckwith any additional questions about position responsibilities. Carol Fabian, the ARLIS/NA regional rep, reminds the group to look the Chapter Success Book on the ARLIS/NA website. Kathy Ritter noted that there are some discrepancies between the ARLIS/NA and ARLIS/NE calendar of events in detailing officer responsibilities and recommended the Board decide upon which calendar to follow.

Treasurer's Report: Susanne Javorski distributed three reports: the year end balances, the year to date, and the Seibel and Freitag donations. As of January 17, 2006, the balance of the checking account was $2,894.10; the one year CD $3,226.98; and the two year CD $4,776.87. Since July 2005, the Seibel Scholarship Award has received $80.00 in donations and the Freitag Award has received $207.00 in donations. The treasurer's files were transferred to the new treasurer, Robert Garzillo. The checking account will be closed so that one can be reopened for the new treasurer, but CDs will remain with the South Adams Savings Bank in South Hadley. The question again of if ARLIS/NE had too much money and that dues should not have been raised arose. Kathy suggested spending more money on speakers for programming.

Rachel Beckwith reminded the board that the deadline for the Freitag, Seibel, and Travel awards has been extended to January 31. The board was encouraged to send out reminders about the travel award in their respective institutions.

Secretary's Report: Anne distributed a membership report. To date, 66 members have renewed and there are two new members. A reminder email was sent out to those members who have not yet renewed earlier in the week. Brooke and Anne will coordinate a second mailing.

Bylaw Change Ballot: Rachel Beckwith reported that the bylaw change notification was mailed with the membership renewal mailing in November. Ballots will be mailed in the spring, perhaps with the spring meeting notification. Ballots will be returned to Brooke, as president-elect. If approved, nominations will be sought in the fall for next year's elections.

Spring Meeting: The proposed date for the joint meeting the VRA at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is May 19th. As for the program, the only item so far is the Peabody Essex will show what they are doing with their digital collections, but the VRA is open to our programming ideas for the meeting. Brooke suggested a forum for a dialogue between the VRA and ARLIS/NE.

Chapter Meeting in Banff: Rachel Beckwith raised the question of whether to have a chapter meeting at the annual ARLIS/NA meeting in Banff. Based on the low attendance board members at Banff, and since a small turnout is expected for Banff in general, the decision was made to hold a very casual and informal meeting, perhaps at the hotel bar. The opportunity to use the meeting as a reach out to ARLIS/NA members in New England who are not ARLIS/NE members was raised. Rachel Beckwith will ask Cameron about a list she compiled last year; Anne will check the secretary files for the list. Rachel Beckwith reminded the board that they should be members or ARLIS/NA as well.

Awards: There have been three applications for the Seibel, two applications for the travel, and no applications for the Freitag award. Rachel Beckwith again asked board members to encourage their colleagues to apply for the awards. Board officers are not eligible for the Freitag award, but are eligible for the travel award. Since they are not officers, the listserv manager and webmaster are eligible for all the awards.

New Business: Rachel Beckwith asked for any new business. Anne offered to coordinate an ARLIS/NE sponsored career panel at Simmons GSLIS, as part of the board's effort to reach out to students. The board agreed to this.

Ars Libri Event recap: Approximately twenty ARLIS/NE members and guests gathered at Ars Libri in Boston's South End on December 2. Ars Libri staff spoke about their collections, as well as the exhibitions they currently had on display. They also discussed collection development services they can offer to libraries that render them more useful than a typical online bookdealer.

The talk was followed by a wine and cheese reception. The group of attendees included GSLIS students who had joined ARLIS/NE Brooke Henderson, Rachel Resnik, and Anne Reid at Simmons earlier that afternoon to talk about the art library profession. After the Ars Libri event, a smaller group attended the SOWA gallery hop.

Website: Christina Jedziniak updated the board on the new website design. She asked for feedback on the color and asked board members if they would like their job titles added to the online listing. Board members agreed it would be helpful for employment information to be listed on the site. Christina would like to update the ARLIS/NE meeting location history page since it currently ends at 1997. Linda suggested looking at past issues of Focus; Anne will check the membership database.

Submitted by Anne Reid, Secretary