Library and Archival Studies Student Association 2013-2014 School Year Meeting #11
Date: March 24, 2014
Time:12:00-13:00
Location: SUB 212
In attendance
Grace Romund (MLIS Co-President)
Kate Clayborne (Secretary)
Michael Wynne (MLIS Member-at-Large)
Inti Dewey (GSS Representative)
Mitchell Meler (GSS Representative)
Heather Gloster (Events Coordinator)
Nicole Askins (MLIS First Year Representative)
Stephanie Dror (MACL Representative)
Matthew Murray (Webmaster)
Kelsey Ockert
Monica Swamiraj
Christopher Stephenson
Alamir Novin
Stefania Alexandro
Elise Gowen
Regrets (Excused):
Adena Brons (Dual Member-at-Large)
Roohie Kaur (Faculty of Arts Representative)
Sheena Gardner (Events Coordinator)
Helen Halbert (AMS Representation)
Absent:
____________________________________________________________
Meeting called to order by Grace at 12:01 PM.
1. Approval of Minutes
A. 2014 LASSA AGM
a. No revisions were received.
Nicole moves to approve. Inti seconds. All in favour, none opposed. Motion passes.
B. March 9, 2014
a. No revisions were received. Inti moves to approve. Michael seconds. All in favour, none opposed. Motion passes.
2. Outgoing Committee Reports
A. Facilities Committee (Inti)
a. The committee is still looking for a wishlist from SLAIS students.
b. Coat rack/umbrella space has been requested for computer labs.
c. The request for more computers has been denied.
i. With the push towards the iSchool brand, there was a need for the recent computer upgrade, as well as an expectation that students have their own laptops to bring to SLAIS.
ii. However, these new computers have been an issue. They are running many programs as requested by faculty, but this has led to an overload of their capacity.
B. Accreditation Oversight Committee (Grace & Roohie)
a. The responsibilities of this committee have concluded with the ALA accreditation process.
C. Faculty Search Committee (Grace)
a. Three faculty candidates have visited the school. All is going well and the hiring process is moving forward.
b. Following several recent meetings, a decision has been made and Grace’s responsibilities have come to an end. If the chosen candidate declines the offer, Grace will resume her role as needed.
D. As of today, any outgoing exec members have concluded their terms as a committee
representatives. New representatives will be determined by the incoming exec at a future meeting.
3. Treasurer’s Report
A. LASSA’s AMS funding has been received.
B. Any outstanding reimbursements for individual LASSA members should be collected from AMS by April 1. The office is open from 1 PM – 4 PM.
4. GSS Report
A. Both Mitchell and Inti were unable to attend last week’s GSS meeting. They have expressed interest in setting up a system to determine a proxy in such circumstances.
B. In future, they will send an email to the LASSA exec requesting a proxy on an as-needed basis.
5. LASSA Exec Transition
A. Transition reports will be written by the outgoing exec members and sent to their incoming replacements by April 1. 100-200 words about the position and its responsibilities will suffice.
B. The following positions remain open: all MAS positions (including MAS Co-President),
MACL Representative, and AMS Representative.
a. Michael expressed interest in becoming AMS Rep.
i. Matthew moves to elect Michael Wynne to the position of LASSA AMS Representative. Inti seconds. All in favour, none opposed. Michael is elected AMS Representative for the 2014-2015 year.
6. LASSA Listservs
A. Members of the exec are able to send announcements via either the lassa-exec@googlegroups.com listserv (for matters specific to the executive board) or the lassa-slais@googlegroups.com listserv (for matters pertaining to all LASSA members). No specific guidelines exist for the exec list, but the existing guidelines for communicating via the lassa-slais list should be followed.
7. Events
A. Director’s Forum
a. Generally went well.
b. Approximately 15 students attended. This is down from last year, but this event did take place in another building and food was not provided.
c. MLIS and MAS students were both well-represented, and one MACL student also attended.
d. MLIS 504 (Management) was brought up, and SLAIS has stated they intend to look into the teaching of the course based on student concern.
B. Deloitte Informational Event
a. Accounting & consulting firm Deloitte is interested in employing SLAIS students and/or graduates, and would like to coordinate with LASSA to host a brown bag informational lunch. They have twice had to cancel on the chosen dates this semester, but this is a possibly valuable future event to hold.
C. End of Term Potluck
a. The potluck would generally be held April 4, as this is the last day of classes. However, the Meet the Grads event is being held at VPL on March 4, 7 PM – 8 PM.
b. The potluck’s time will thus be shifted back to 4 PM – 6 PM, rather than 5 PM – 7 PM.
c. The presence of alcohol at the potluck is up to SLAIS administration.
d. Any further organization of the potluck is in the hands of the incoming exec members.
D. Plan your program
a. General sentiment was that there was no information provided that couldn’t be found on the SLAIS website.
b. While there are opportunities for following a stream, this is difficult if the required courses are not always offered and notice is not given of when they will be.
c. The capstone course seems promising, but still needs to be finalized and promoted. It will begin January 2015.
8. New Business
A. Stefania and Elise were present as incoming co-chairs of SLA. SLA is currently an organization directly under AMS, and are looking to switch back to being under LASSA.
a. The advantage of being a LASSA subgroup is that LASSA takes care of any paperwork and dealings with AMS, so that the group members can simply plan their events and provide services to the student body.
b. Grace will send an email to Stefania and Elise requesting their constitution and a list of current members of the exec. Since SLA is a previously established LASSA subgroup, the transition should be simple.
c. Nicole moves to accept the Special Libraries Association as a LASSA subgroup. Kelsey seconds. All in favour, none opposed. Motion passes.
B. PEP Surveys
a. People have expressed interest in reviving PEP surveys, perhaps in a simpler format.
b. Grace recommends speaking with Rick Kopak about this, as he was heavily involved in the past and has institutional knowledge.
c. Kelsey, Michael, and Adena have expressed interest in helping out with this. They will discuss the issue over email this summer.
C. LASSA Documentation Digitization
a. Grace recommends the digitization of PEP surveys and other LASSA documentation from the 1990s, currently in hard copy in a filing cabinet.
b. Elise expressed interest in such a project.
c. The conversation will continue.
D. Kelsey is looking into creating some sort of suggestion box or similar physical process as an accessible and obvious way for SLAIS students to submit information to their LASSA reps.
E. LASSA Awards
a. Matthew suggests, based on our discussions regarding the Just Desserts Award, the creation of three LASSA awards, one each for a student, staff member, and faculty member.
b. The idea is positively received. An email will be sent to the LASSA exec, calling for nominations.
F. Grace attended the Just Desserts awards ceremony & expresses her gratitude for the kind words & her time as president.
G. Kelsey is very excited to start her term as LASSA Pres. She will be emailing the incoming exec regarding a meeting before the end of term, and would like to speak casually with new members about any concerns. She also intends to meet with subgroup exec members.
H. The next LASSA meeting will be on April 7, following the turnover of the exec.
Meeting was adjourned by Grace at 12:40 PM.