24:2 (2009:05) Committee Annual Report: Newsletter

June 1, 2009 at 12:20 pm | Posted in Newsletter | Leave a comment

NEWSLETTER ANNUAL REPORT

Newsletter Editorial Board:  Kurt Blythe, columns editor (UNC-Chapel Hill), Susan Davis, Profiles editor (University at Buffalo), Lillian DeBlois, conference/calendar editor, Jennifer Duncan, blog editor (Utah State University), Sharon Heminger, PDF production editor (JSTOR), Kathy Kobyljanec, copy editor (John Carroll University), Kathryn Wesley, editor-in-chief (Clemson University), Naomi K. Young, submissions editor (University of Florida)
Jill Emery, board liaison

May 1, 2009

COMPLETED ACTIVITIES 2008/09

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
September 2008 issue (23:3)
Blog postings – July 17-September 16, 2008.
Newsflash – September 19.
This issue featured conference reports and an article detailing and clarifying NASIG’s new communication tools.  Lillian DeBlois did a great job soliciting and coordinating conference reports.

December 2008 issue (23:4)
Blog postings – October 28-December 19, 2008.
Newsflash – December 19.
This issue featured the announcement of the new logos, the collaboration with NISO on member rates for events, an announcement on the first organizational sponsorships for the 2009 conference, and the first individual vision speaker announcement by PPC.

March 2009 issue (24:1)
Blog postings – January 29-March 18, 2009.
Newsflash – March 21.
Highlights of this issue were announcements of the slate for the 2009 election and the vendor expo planned for 2010, and a new column, “Checking In.”

OTHER COMPLETED ACTIVITIES 2008/09

• Links to related organizations added to the blog sidebar (UKSG, NISO events, ALCTS Newsletter Online, Society for Scholarly Publishing)
• Name of “Other Serials News” changed to “Other Serials & E-Resources News” and scope expanded to include announcements of interest from other related organizations in addition to conference reports written by NASIG members
• Began including SSP, NISO, and ALCTS events to the events calendar
• Twitter feed from the NASIG Twitter site added to the sidebar
• New column featuring new members called “Checking In” introduced
• New Newsletter logo added to the blog template
• Asked the Electronic Communications Committee about getting the Newsletter editor authority to post items to the “What’s New” section of the website.  According to ECC, this requires “super user” status at this time, though ArcStone is supposed to be working to change this to regular admin status.  For the time being, we will continue to post items to “What’s New” through ECC.

CONTINUING ACTIVITIES
We are behind in production of the PDF edition due to various factors over the last year.  We are working hard to catch up.  The June 2008 issue was posted at the end of March and September 2008 is in production.  It should be completed and posted before the conference.

ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING STRATEGIC PLAN
Targeted commercial members were solicited for contributions of interest to non-library-based members.  Several have expressed willingness to do so, but have not actually been able to write anything yet.  Reminders will be sent over the summer.

PERSONNEL

• Angela Dresselhaus has been appointed as incoming editor-in-chief for 2009/10.
• Sharon Heminger, PDF production editor, has given notice.  When the September 2008 PDF is completed, we will advertise for a new PDF production editor and Sharon will work with the new PDF editor on the December 2008 issue.  Sharon has done a great job.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE BOARD

1. Committee annual reports are the only ones that are published in full in the Newsletter and on the NASIG website.  Accordingly, it seems they should cover activities for the full year of committee work.  However, the wording on the committee report template asks only for activities since the last report.  Recommend the template be revised to clarify that annual reports should recap the entire year of committee work.
2. For the last couple of years, a liaison between the Newsletter and ALCTS Newsletter Online has been appointed.  That person was originally on Continuing Education, and last year was on Publications/Public Relations.  Since the publicist duties shifted from the past president to a member of Pub/PR, it has been a little confusing as to whom to contact.  Recommend consolidating this liaison function into the publicist position.  The Newsletter and ANO editors could also just communicate directly if needed.

Kathryn Wesley
Newsletter editor-in-chief