2022-10-05 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

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Minutes
WAML Executive Board Meeting 
October 5, 2022
10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST

Call meeting to order: 10:02 am PST

Officers in attendance: Katherine Strickland (President), Jessica Benner (Vice President), Evan Thornberry (Past President), Rebecca Seifried (Secretary), Bruce Godfrey (Treasurer)

Other attendees:  Heather Ross

Approval of Minutes from last meeting:

Officer Reports & Check-in:

  • Katherine Strickland (President)
    • The conference went smoothly. Attendance was on par with last year. Haven’t yet sent out the post-conference survey. Cleaned up information about the presentations on the website.
    • For WAML 2023, confirmed that Cheyanne (University of New Mexico) is interested, but the space is small. Jessica also has a contact at UNM that could coordinate with Cheyanne.
    • ACTION: Kat will send out the post-conference survey to WAML attendees.
  • Jessica Benner (Vice President)
    • Nothing to report.
  • Evan Thornberry (Past President)
    • Nothing to report.
  • Rebecca Seifried (Secretary)
    • Sent the approved September E-Board meeting minutes and the WAML 2021 Business Meeting minutes to Chrissy.
  • Bruce Godfrey (Treasurer)
    • We had three sponsors for WAML 2022; two have been received. Will follow up with the third sponsor.

Actions approved over email by E-Board since September 2022 E-Board meeting:

  • No reports submitted

Updates from task forces, committees, etc.:

  • Scholarship Committee (Philip White)
    • Philip has expressed interest in finding someone else to chair the committee. It would be a good idea for the E-Board to help advertise the open position. This will encourage transparency and enable the wider membership to apply.
    • ACTION: Kat will follow-up with Philip (cc: Evan) to offer to put out a general call for expressions of interest for chair of the Scholarship Committee.

Old Business:

  • Zoom registrations for E-Board meetings (Becky)
    • Three of our attendees didn’t register ahead of time, and when they tried to join (either directly via the link Becky shared or via the registration link), they were directed to register before they could join the meeting. So the anticipated advantage of knowing ahead of time who is planning to join isn’t guaranteed. 
    • Other benefits / reasons to continue registrations: feels more like an invitation, gives people an easy way to add the event to their calendars.
    • Decided to continue sending out a registration link to the membership.
  • Stanford physical address (Evan/Bruce)
    • Recap: WAML does not have a physical address for the organization, which is necessary for tax purposes and internet domain registration. In the past, WAML has relied on volunteers to use their own information when physical addresses are needed. Julie Sweetkind-Singer was the first point person from Stanford in this process; the rationale for working with Stanford is that we have a long history and an existing MOU for the WAML Archives. Julie requested a proposal from WAML for the University Librarian to sign; Bruce and Evan worked together (with consultation from Lisa Lamont, former WAML Business Manager) and submitted the proposal in May 2022 (see the Physical Address folder in Google Drive). We are hoping to resolve this before February 2023, as this is when the WAML domain will be renewed (three-year commitment). 
    • Next steps:
      • Following up by email would be appropriate, given that it has been four months since the last contact. 
      • Could we draft an MOU now, perhaps based on the WAML Archives MOU?
      • Can we start thinking about a Plan B? The physical address must be in California. Is there someone else in the UC system we could approach?
      • ACTION: Evan will reach out to Julie (cc: Jessica) to ask for a status check on the process of getting a physical address.
    • Andria Olson has left Stanford, so the WAML Archivist position is open (see New Business for more discussion).
      • Right now, Kim Durante is doing that work. Andria’s email implied that the next person will be responsible for the WAML Archives. 
      • It would be nice to have this responsibility be an official part of the next hire’s job description.The job isn’t listed on Stanford’s job page yet.
      • If we’re reaching out to Julie already, we might mention the topic of WAML Archivist. We could also touch base with Kim.
  • WAML domain (Evan)
    • This is dependent on establishing a physical address first. February 23 is the renewal date.
  • Listserv migration (Evan)
    • See previous discussion in the 9/7/22 E-Board meeting minutes.
    • ACTION: Evan will coordinate a meeting (separate from the E-Board) with Kat, Kevin, Matt, and Nick to discuss listserv migration.
  • Continuing Education Committee review (Kat)
    • See previous discussion in the 9/7/22 E-Board meeting minutes.
    • Kat reached out to Jon Jablonski, who is happy for this committee to change forms. He no longer wants to be the chair.
    • ACTION: Kat will reach out to the rest of the Continuing Education Committee to gather ideas about how the group might be reshaped.
  • Web Communications Committee review (Jessica)
    • The only documentation in our Google Drive is from when the group was named in 2016:  2016 Web Committee Meeting Notes/Report.  
    • Jessica emailed the currently listed members of the committee and 2 responded. daniel said that he hasn’t attended any meetings and has asked to be removed; Ken also hasn’t been involved but is willing to stay on. Jessica hasn’t yet reached out to Amy. 
    • Amy’s position started after this committee was formed, so it’s interesting that she isn’t listed as a part of it. There may have been an intention for this committee to be retired. It also may have been an ad hoc group with the goal of migrating IB to the website; not sure it was intended to be a permanent committee.
    • Reminder about our ideas from last month’s meeting:
      • Idea 1 – the group could be integrated into Amy’s work as Social Media Manager.
      • Idea 2 – the group could be morphed into an “Appointed Positions” committee (which it nearly is already, based on membership). 
    • If the group is reframed as an “Appointed Positions” group (rather than as a committee), they could continue meeting twice per year or quarterly (as they do already) in order to support each other and provide a space to meet with the E-Board. This would avoid needing to appoint a chair and write a charge.
    • Suggestion to vote on dissolving the committee (which the E-Board can do; see WAML Policies and Procedures – 5.1.a.8), but we would like to gather more feedback first, and then we can vote at our next meeting
    • ACTION: Jessica will reach out to the Web Communications Committee members who have not yet gotten back to her.
  • Updating the Policies and Procedures (Jessica)
    • This is on Jessica’s to-do list. There is quite a bit of language that needs to be updated, so this will be a valuable activity.
  • Future WAML conference planning survey / WAML 2023 conference location (Kat)
    • Draft of the survey – any suggestions? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjmAX2rBaP3eaVQ4Q4rx-tn89YB3rgcMs8szbovGGsgD3fhA/viewform 
    • “Are you interested in attending shorter WAML meetings and workshops throughout the year?” What is meant by “shorter meetings”? Suggestion to cut this and leave only “workshops”; add examples like MAGIRT-WAML events.
    • Travel restrictions:
      • Is it possible to format this as a conditional question? Google does allow conditionals, but it is a cumbersome process. Decided against using Qualtrics (which has this formatting option) so that it would be easier for the E-Board to edit it and see the results. 
      • Could this be reformatted as “Which states are you restricted from traveling to” with a list of the states/provinces where WAML can be held (see WAML Bylaws: 10. Principal Region)? If only CA employees are affected by this, then we already know which states they can’t travel to, so we could remove this question.
      • Would people be able to travel to Vancouver if WAML 2023 is held there? WAML conferences are self-supporting, so we need to have a good idea ahead of time of how many people are willing to attend. Perhaps we can reframe the question as “Which states/territories are you able to travel to?”
        • Note that US residents without a passport should be able to travel to Canada by car/bus if they have a Real ID, but if there is enough lead time they also can just apply for a passport. Because this is an international North American organization, members expect to travel to Canada sometimes.
      • What is the goal of this question? Initially we wanted to find out where Californians can’t travel because of state travel restrictions.
    • If our goal is to get feedback on how likely people are to attend specific locations in person, we can build into this survey as “How likely are you to attend a conference in ____” and list all our potential locations (Idaho, Vancouver, New Mexico, etc.), asking people to rate how likely they are to attend these places. We can add a disclaimer that we aren’t promising it will be in these places, we are just gathering information.
      • Note that ranked choice won’t necessarily work for the poll because it depends on who is available to host.
      • Smaller airports (like Reno) might be harder for people to travel to if coming from other small markets (like State College, PA). Recommendation to phrase this as “where are you likely to go” rather than “able.”
      • We can also add a question “Are you willing/able to host?”
      • Encouragement to send out the poll quickly so we can get started on planning for WAML 2023. 
      • Can someone reach out to Cheyanne to confirm whether UNM should be included in this survey? For the future, we could also ask Marcy at Milwaukee (but this is outside the scope currently).
      • Bruce is willing for Idaho to be listed as a potential location.
    • ACTION: Jessica will reach out to Cheyenne about UNM as a potential host location for WAML 2023.
    • ACTION: Kat will update the conference planning survey:
      • “Would you be able to attend in person?” to “Are you generally able to attend in person?” with a follow-up “If not, what are the restrictions?”
      • Add a question, “How likely are you to attend a conference in ____?” (including all places where potential hosts are available: Vancouver, New Mexico, Idaho). We should specify that these will be hybrid conferences since that might impact people’s decision to attend in person.
    • Potential WAML host locations – Kat would like to revisit this question.
  • WAML 2023 hybrid format (Jessica/Evan)
    • Jessica reached out to a local contact from Code4Lib to ask about hosting a hybrid conference but didn’t get specific advice or names of people to contact. Will keep looking into this. Code4Lib uses the company called Concentra to virtually manage the conference, and relies on volunteers.
      • ACTION: Jessica will reach out to Concentra to ask about what they offer.
    • NACIS was doing hybrid even before Covid (which was mostly just streaming presentations) and is doing it well now. Evan will explore. Maybe all we really need to do is livestream presentations.
    • UT GIS Day will be hybrid; anticipates a virtual Q&A.
    • Could we ask in the survey which activities people would be likely to engage in virtually?
    • How can participants communicate if they are attending in-person? We could open the Slack channel earlier.
    • Vancouver update (Evan): Evan reached out to his boss to initiate the conversation around UBC being a host. He has been in contact with the AUL and UL (Susan) to answer their questions. It sounds like there is limited funding for the library and there is concern about being left responsible for expenses (e.g. A/V equipment, a block of rooms on campus). There aren’t accommodations near campus, and staying downtown wouldn’t be feasible for all attendees. To reserve a block of rooms on campus, we would need to pay a deposit and guarantee a minimum number of reservations. The AUL/UL were also concerned about cancellation insurance related to covid. From here on out, Evan will make sure to cc: Jessica.
      • Whatever potential issues Evan’s AUL/UL are raising are exciting opportunities we can overcome!
      • Is it possible to estimate the minimum number of attendees needed to meet cost? All the numbers aren’t figured out yet, but the WAML Conference Planning document suggests keeping the registration fee to less than $45. Sponsors usually pay for refreshments. For the UT conference, attendees were required to purchase tickets for the banquet (to cover that cost), and there was also a block requirement. UT purchased 1 refreshment break and t-shirts.
      • In recent years when we’ve gone virtual, sponsorship has been directed toward scholarships, so if we intend to use that funding differently we should be in touch with the Scholarship Committee.
      • ACTION: Evan will contact Internet Archive to ask about costs, availability and hybrid potential.

New Business:

  • Membership renewals are down (Kat)
    • Nick reported that renewals are just over half of what is normal (54; normally at 97). He just sent out a reminder email yesterday, and 7 more renewals have come in since then. We want to know why people aren’t renewing.
    • We could activate the membership-only section of the website (i.e. the listserv, once it is migrated) as a way to encourage people to renew. Workshops could also be billed as member-only events – but we also want these events to be open to as many people as possible.
    • Could Nick send personal emails (or mass-ish personal emails) to remind folks who haven’t renewed?
  • Archivist position vacant as of Sept. 23 (Kat)
    • Andria Olson left Stanford on 9/23/22. She shared that Kim Durante has been working on accessioning items into their repository and is willing to cover the Archivist role until a replacement is found. Kim would like to aim to formalize a deposit system for members that could make the process more streamlined on both ends.
    • Status of accessioning:
      • Video recordings of WAML conference 2020: Currently there are just day long recordings in the Drive; these should be split per presenter before being accessioned.
      • Video recordings of WAML conference 2021: Evan coordinated these videos being pre-split before putting in the Drive folder and just need to be accessioned. 
    • Could we open the Archivist position to someone in another UC school? Should we invite Kim to come to an E-Board meeting?
    • One of the recommendations from the committee review process was to create a WAML Historian. Could we change the position?
    • ACTION: Kat will try to schedule a meeting with Kim Durante to formalize a deposit system for members and to talk about the WAML-Stanford relationship.
    • Someone emailed Kat asking when the videos from this conference would be available. Normally they are available once they are in ScholarWorks (i.e. not for a couple of years). We could make them available in a members-only part of the WordPress site, but would rather make them available to everyone.
  • Mike Smith from UC San Diego volunteered to be the New Mapping Editor (Evan)
    • Mike has chatted with Ken Rockwell about the process. Ken used to fill this position voluntarily, and focused the work specifically on western states.
    • We will need to approve Mike’s new position and announce it to members.
    • It has always been an appointed position but does not have an honorarium attached to it because it was vacant at the time the honoraria were approved. It would be the only position without an honorarium. Should it?
      • Did the group assess the amount of time involved for the position? If not, we could bring Ken into the conversation to ask about the amount of time the position requires.
      • We have limited funds to pay people, and we may have hit that limit already. Will need to investigate before we make a decision.
    • ACTION: Evan will ask (by email) for a vote on appointing Mike to the position of New Mapping Editor.
  • Second signatory on the bank account (Bruce)
    • Currently, this is still Susan but needs to be updated to someone appointed by the President. We should have done this a while ago (see Policies and Procedures 2.1.i). The policies state that typically this role is fulfilled by the Vice President.
    • ACTION: Bruce and Kat will both look into the second signatory vacancy.

Potential Social Media Announcements:

  • None

Next Meeting:

  • E-Board Meeting, Wednesday, 11/2/22 at 10:00 AM PST / 1:00 PM EST

Meeting adjourned: 12:02 pm PST

Action Items:

  • ACTION: Kat will send out the post-conference survey to WAML attendees.
  • ACTION: Evan will follow-up with Matt to ask for a receipt so we can reimburse him.
  • ACTION: Kat will follow-up with Philip (cc: Evan) to offer to put out a general call for expressions of interest for chair of the Scholarship Committee.
  • ACTION: Evan will reach out to Julie (cc: Jessica) to ask for a status check on the process of getting a physical address.
  • ACTION: Evan will coordinate a meeting (separate from the E-Board) with Kat, Kevin, Matt, and Nick to discuss listserv migration.
  • ACTION: Kat will reach out to the rest of the Continuing Education Committee to gather ideas about how the group might be reshaped.
  • ACTION: Jessica will reach out to the Web Communications Committee members who have not yet gotten back to her.
  • ACTION: Jessica will reach out to Cheyenne about UNM as a potential host location for WAML 2023.
  • ACTION: Kat will update the conference planning survey (see details above).
  • ACTION: Jessica will reach out to Concentra to ask about what they offer.
  • ACTION: Evan will contact Internet Archive to ask about costs, availability and hybrid potential. 
  • ACTION: Kat will try to schedule a meeting with Kim Durante to formalize a deposit system for members and to talk about the WAML-Stanford relationship.
  • ACTION: Evan will ask (by email) for a vote on appointing Mike to the position of New Mapping Editor.
  • ACTION: Bruce and Kat will both look into the second signatory vacancy.

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