2025-10-29 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

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Minutes
WAML Executive Board Meeting 
10/29/2025
9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern

Registration link:

https://fresnostate.zoom.us/j/3729417891

We got in through the link sam sent via email

New link: https://fresnostate.zoom.us/j/3729417891

Call meeting to order: 9:17 AM Pacific/12:17 PM Eastern

*Late call to order due to problems with Zoom.

Officers in attendance: 

  • Cheyenne Stradinger (President)
  • Sierra Laddusaw (Vice President)
  • Meg Miller (Past President) 
  • Jack Tieszen (Secretary)
  • sam hidde tripp (Treasurer) 

Absent: 

Other attendees: 

Approval of minutes from last meeting:

Officer Reports & Check-In

  • Cheyenne Stradinger (President)
    • WAML 2025 conference expenses:
      • Total income $7627.12
      • Total expenses $6270.10
      • Profit $1357.02
    • Where this money goes is subject to further discussion once sam has control of the funds.
    • WAML 2025 conference survey results https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdY4dXMINi4xbM29abvbQfie7QW0zjgC3_rd6mWFCFDxgy8aA/viewform?usp=header
      • 19 responses with 4/5 and 5/5 ratings. Survey sent to all conference attendees (47). 
      • Some open question survey answers worth noting:
        • Out of all responses, only one regarding the banquet, “Did not attend – cost prohibitive.”
        • Everyone LOVES free breakfast and loved all of the amenities offered (shuttle, walkability to conference site, restaurant, etc.)
        • “I wish the links to the schedule, accommodations, etc. were linked somewhere on the conference home page.”
        • “Future discussions on locations need to address the laws and politics of different states–will all of our members feel welcomed and comfortable traveling to certain locations?”
          • A discussion of transparency and support for the members of WAML attending (or choosing not to attend future conferences.)
          • Having a statement for welcoming people is generally good policy.
          • Difficult to account for all the politics of a state or even of a city.
    • Lessons learned on business meeting and sounding board times during the conference.
      • According to the conference manual, the business meeting “should be scheduled for (at least) the day after the Executive Board meeting so that the Secretary will have an opportunity to prepare a summary of the Executive Board meeting.” It seems that the Sounding Board meeting should take place directly after this for wider discussion. The best time for those meetings seems to be Thursday so that we get all attendees. I’ve added this as a comment to the Conference Manual. 
  • Sierra Laddusaw (Vice President)
    • Continuing to be in conversation with Craig for the 2026 meeting. Selected hotels to reach out to on block rates, trying to get these ASAP as we aren’t the only event in Denver during that week.
  • Meg Miller (Past President)
    • Met with Nick to discuss Membership management workflows
    • Did not prioritize WAML this past month
  • Jack Tieszen (Secretary)
    • No reports.
  • sam hidde tripp (Treasurer)
    • Transfer from Bruce has been moving forward.
    • Met with Bruce to see expenses and pay interfaces (paypal, etc.)

Actions approved over email by E-Board since August 2025 E-Board meeting

  • N/A

Appointed Position Reports

  • Sarah Zhang (Information Bulletin Editor)
  • Ilene Raynes (IB Book and Geospatial Resources Review Editor)
  • Emma Slayton (IB Features Editor)
  • Nick Beyelia (Membership Manager)
  • Chrissy Klenke (New Mapping Editor)
  • Zoe Dilles (WAML Archivist)
  • Kevin Dyke (Web Administrator)

Updates from task forces, committees, etc.

  • Continuing Education (Kat Strickland)
  • Communications Committee (Georgia Brown)
    • No updates from the Communications Committee aside from the committee having a meeting later in the fall. 
  • Scholarship Committee (Jo-Ann Wong)
  • MAGIRT/ALA Liaison Report (Kathy Rankin)
  • ACMLA Liaison Report (daniel Brendle-Moczuk)
  • NACIS Liaison Report (Theresa Quill) –
    • NACIS held its annual meeting in Louisville October 15-17th. Several librarians presented sessions that were well attended, and there was talk about arranging a more intentional librarian tract or lunch bunch event for next year. The NACIS business meeting included the transition of leadership, with Vicky Johnson taking on the role of NACIS President. Reports from the NACIS Diversity Committee announced that they arranged a speaker series on Intersectional Feminist Cartography and donated $1,000 to the Indian Land Tenure Foundation in an effort to go beyond posting a land acknowledgement.
    • The 2026 NACIS conference will be held in Milwaukee October 21-24 2026!
  • GSIS (Chrissy Klenke)
  • NGAC Liaison Report to WAML Executive Board – September 2025

Old Business

  • Previous action items:
    • Meg: Update the list of potential conference location and pin people down for dates.
    • Send out a vote for Milwaukee as the destination for the 2027 conference.
  • George Carhart offering to host the WAML Conference at Texas A&M and the Cushing Memorial Library and the Cushing-Evans Map Room. Located in College Station, TX.
    • Figuring out how to prioritize the what/when of future conferences. A discussion of the possibility of an “expensive” location every ten years and the possibility of hosting an event at said location.
  • Discussion of Treasurer transition for Bank of America. Bruce Godfrey is no longer Treasurer and the position is now held by sam hidde tripp. Bank of America will need WAML Exec Board approval.
    • Approved by the board.

New Business

  • Jessica wanted to be here to see if there were any questions regarding Code of Conduct, but couldn’t make it today. Let’s add this to the November meeting.
  • Create Ad Hoc committee for MAGIRT Online Guide- Cheyenne
  • Where do all of our pictures go? Ken created a goup…should this be an ad hoc committee?
    • Leave this to Ken to continue.
  • Principal region discussion:
    • Start with Yukon which has been on Ken’s list. Potentially an easy addition.
      • Would tidy up the region.
    • Meg and Cheyenne had a long discussion as some want to advertise to MAGIRT but people seem to find us regardless. Can we take a large number of new folks showing up? Denver and Milwaukee will give us an answer.
      • Discussion of updating our “where our members come from” in the handbook and visualizing it for potential members.

Potential Features Announcements

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday November 26, 2025 at 9 AM Pacific/12 PM Eastern

Meeting adjourned: 10:07 AM Pacific/1:07 Eastern

Minutes submitted by Jack Tieszen (Secretary).

Approved by the Executive Board by email on November 3

Action Items

  • Meg: Figure out who sends the vote out for future conference locations.
  • Cheyenne: Create Ad Hoc committee for MAGIRT Online Guide. Put out a call for the chair of the committee.
  • Put the vote out to add Yukon to the principal region list.
  • Meg: Contact Kevin to send a file of membership location and create some type of visualization of institutions affiliated with WAML.

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