Submitted by Pam Rees, Midwest ChapterRepresentative to the MLA Chapter Council
State Library of Iowa, Medical Library, Des Moines, IA
and
Karen Hanus, Midwest Chapter Alternate Representative to the MLA Chapter Council
Medical College of Wisconsin, MCW Libraries, Milwaukee, WI
MLA's Chapter Council met on Saturday, May 17, 2008 in Chicago for their annual meeting. Most of the chapters were represented at this meeting. Karen Hanus and Pam Rees, your Midwest Chapter representatives, attended. Following are some highlights from the meeting.
Chapter Council representatives reported on social networking activities taking place in their chapters. It was suggested that Chapter Council start a wiki that would include pictures of each of the representatives. A wiki could also be used for chapter discussions on topics of interest. For example, chapters could ask questions about meeting planning or policies and procedures. A task force was appointed to look into this suggestion. It was also recommended that MLA News highlight a chapter's activities in every other issue. Chapter Council is allowed to run 6 columns a year.
There was a report from the Benchmarking Network Editorial Board Liaison noting that 307 libraries participated in the benchmarking survey last fall. The final results are not out yet.
Pam Rees chairs the Majors/MLA Chapter Project jury. The jury received three applications this year. The New York-New Jersey Project received the award for their digitization project. It was pointed out that chapters must follow all the instructions on the application in order to be considered. A chapter may reapply for an award the next year if they don't win the first time.
The Pittsburgh Chapter announced that is considering merging with another chapter because they have very few members. They could join the Philadelphia Regional Chapter or the Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Many issues have to be worked out if an MLA Chapter decides to either disband or merge with another chapter.
Section Council is in the process of reorganization. Section Council includes representatives elected from each MLA section for three year terms. Under the new structure, there will be two year terms. The representatives will be the section chair and vice chair from each section serving as representative and alternate representative respectively. A new section for paraprofessionals is in the process of being approved.
It was reported that 1,727 attendees, not counting exhibitors, attended the 2007 MLA meeting in Philadelphia. There were 99 students in attendance.
The MLA annual meeting schedule for the next several years was announced:
2009 - Honolulu, Hawaii
2010 - Washington, D.C.
2011 - Minneapolis, Minnesota
2012 - Seattle, Washington
2013 - Baltimore, Maryland
2014 - Chicago, Illinois.
The Hawaii Chapter will celebrate their 40th anniversary next year. The meeting will be held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu and the room rates will not be more expensive than they are in the 48 states. For more information, go to http://www.mlanet.org/am/am2009/.
Representatives talked about the positive aspects of joint chapter meetings. Meeting expenses are shared and usually end up in the black. Exhibitors like them because they see more people in one place and they don't have to do so much traveling.
Karen Hanus was on the Chapter Council Presents Chapter Sharing Roundtables committee in 2007-2008 and will co-chair for 2008-2009. The Chapter Council Presents Chapter Sharing Roundtables is a popular event at every MLA meeting. Attendees register for a topic and are seated with others who have a common interest. The discussions are recorded and notes are posted on the chapter council's website at http://www.chaptercouncil.mlanet.org/. In 2008, there were Midwest Chapter and MLA scholarships available for this event. The MLA scholarships are given out to the first people who apply no matter what area of the country you are from. The Midwest Chapter asks applicants to write a short essay on why they want to attend. There are always questions asking why this is a ticketed event because participants have to pay extra to attend. It was pointed out that people have to eat anyway and if you make it a free event, it is too easy to decide not to go. Also, it would be difficult to take registrations if it were not a ticketed event. There have been some roundtable discussions sponsored by the sections that were free in the afternoon, but the attendance at these was very low.
Carla Funk, Executive Director of MLA, reported on an MLA membership survey that was taken. According to the survey, 83% of MLA members belong to a chapter. 43% plan to attend their chapter meetings in 2008 and 20% don't know yet. She said that it is encouraging to see a larger 30-39 age group coming into the association especially because there is a smaller number in the 40-49 age group. Over 50% of the organization is over the age of 50. A retiree special interest group (SIG) is under consideration because we don't want to lose the expertise and leadership abilities of those nearing or in retirement. They are good mentors for our newer members.
If you have questions about Chapter Council, please contact Karen Hanus (khanus AT mcw.edu) or Pam Rees (pam.rees AT lib.state.ia.us).