NASIG Newsletter

EVALUATION & ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE
Anne Mitchell, Chair

Committee members (2007):  Anne Mitchell, Chair (University of Houston), Lori Terrill, Vice-chair (University of Wyoming), Joe Badics (Eastern Michigan University), Carole Bell (Temple University), Jana Brubaker (Northern Illinois University), Sarah Corvene (Harvard Business School), Susan Davis (State University of New York, Buffalo), Lee Krieger (Library System of Lancaster County), Martha Spring (Loyola University)
Board Liaison:  Adam Chesler

In February the committee was informed that 2007 conference evaluations should again be available both in print and online so conference attendees would have a choice of evaluation format.  To encourage use of the online evaluation form, the Executive Board authorized a drawing for a free 2008 conference registration; anyone who submits an online evaluation is eligible for the drawing.

In April the committee created the print evaluation forms for the conference, preconferences, and poster sessions.  These forms were sent to the Conference Planning Committee for distribution.  To further encourage attendees to use the online evaluations, individual conference packets will not include the evaluation itself, but will contain an insert with the URL for the online evaluations.  A limited number of print evaluations will still be available on-site.

In May the committee developed the online evaluation forms.  In lieu of the custom-programmed evaluation site used in 2006, the committee is using the hosted survey product SurveyMonkey to build the online evaluations.  This tool requires no programming expertise and should greatly simplify survey creation from year to year.

The committee is working with the conference Web designer to provide a link from the conference site to the evaluations a week or so ahead of the conference.  An announcement will be made on NASIG-L when the evaluations are available.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Anna Creech, Chair and Dalene Hawthorne, Co-Chair
 
Committee members: Abigail Bordeaux, Jennifer Duncan, Eric Elmore, Tony Goodwyn, Tonia Graves, Jennifer Lang, Jonathan David Makepeace, Jia Mi, and Wendy Robertson; Board Liaison: Katy Ginanni

CONTINUING/NEW ACTIVITIES
Website:

• Jennifer L. continues to maintain the online photo album. Jennifer D. and Abigail successfully moved the Jobs section to a WordPress blog. Anna has updated the web pages regularly and has been involved in supporting several projects from other committees. 
• Anna coordinated the purchase of the nasig.net domain name and hosting services via SiteGround for setting up a Moodle installation to be used at the annual conference. 
• A one year subscription to SurveyMonkey was also purchased for the purposes of creating membership surveys and post-conference feedback forms. 
• Anna and Abigail both worked with the task force collecting and evaluating RFP responses from ISPs and other vendors in response to the board’s decision to look for companies who can support the growing needs of the organization.

Lists:

• Dalene, Wendy, Jennifer L., Tonia, Jia, and Jonathan have all been rotating the monitoring of the listservs.  The list managers also handle any inquiries from NASIG members, monitor the spam inbox, and resolve bounces from committee lists.
• Dalene adds new NASIG members, creates new committee lists, updates committee list membership, and updates forwarding email addresses.
• D&D provided lists of active and inactive members after the membership renewal.  Dalene used these lists to update NASIG-L.  Dalene is still working to remove mostly out-of-date e-mail addresses from NASIG-L.

COMPLETED ACTIVITIES
Many completed activities are now ongoing and included in the above section.

ACTIVITIES THAT SUPPORT THE NASIC STRATEGIC PLAN
Stimulate diverse communication channels:

• The Moodle installation will provide options for continuing discussions from conference sessions, and will more easily facilitate the distribution of handouts and other presentation material.
• SurveyMonkey will make it easier to create feedback channels for the membership.

Define options for using technology and employing support necessary to avoid volunteer burnout:

• A new host that meets the needs outlined in the RFP will allow NASIG to transition into Web/Library 2.0 models of communication and information organization, as well as provide better tools for managing older technologies such as the listserv.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Website (May 2006 – April 2007):

• Average hits on the site per month: 222,473 / home page: 4,770
• Average page views per month: 99,546
• Average visitor sessions per month: 43,480
• Average one-time visitors per month: 5,940
• Average returning visitors per month: 3,010

Full details - http://nasig.org/statistics/

Lists: 

• 41 committee lists: 29 active
• 878 current subscribers to NASIG-L
• 37 active forwarding addresses

ACTION(S) REQUIRED BY BOARD 
None at this time.

QUESTIONS FOR BOARD
None at this time.
 
RECOMMENDATIONS TO BOARD

• It is possible to have the committee listservs set up so that e-mail attachments can be used by the committees.  There is no additional charge for this, but it will require bee.net to move our listservs to another server.  Dalene recommends that we ask bee.net to make this change for the convenience of the committee members.
• Dalene recommends that we change the policy that states that only committee members can be added to the committee listservs and that other NASIG members that are assisting the committees may be added to the committee listservs with the president’s approval.

CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE
Tyler Goldberg and Angel Clemons, Co-Chairs

WRAP UP REPORT, 22nd ANNUAL CONFERENCE (2007)

Members: Angel Clemons, co-chair (University of Louisville), Deberah England (Wright State University), Tyler Goldberg, co-chair (University of Louisville), Steve Kelley (Wake Forest University), Jeanne Langendorfer (Bowling Green State University), Kat McGrath (University of British Columbia), Neal Nixon (University of Louisville), Peter Whiting (University of Southern Indiana), Danielle Williams (University of Evansville); Consultants: Connie Foster (Western Kentucky University), Joyce Tenney (University of Maryland, Baltimore County); Board Liaison: Alison Roth.

AV
One committee member handled the AV responsibilities.  He contacted the hotel’s in-house vendor and three other companies for bids for AV services.  The bids ranged from just over $19,000 to nearly $27,000.  (One company was very upset that they had submitted bids for the NASIG conference three years in a row and never been selected.  They argued that it was unethical to simply use their bid to try to get the in-house company to lower their price).  The in-house vendor submitted the lowest bid, and provided what we needed for each room, including laptops, microphones, LCDs, screens, etc.  They were very easy to work with, and very prompt at fixing small problems or making last minute additions.  A different in-house company at the hotel handled Internet service.  Due to the high expense of Internet connectivity, very few sessions were provided with Internet service.  On the conference days the CPC member was available and checked on the set up in each room.  We also rented a combination copier/printer from a local company in Louisville, which the CPC member in charge of AV arranged.  The company was very slow to return a service call on the first day of the conference, which cost us a whole day’s use of the equipment we had rented from them.  In addition, the CPC member arranged the rental of walkie-talkies for the CPC to use.

COST: $23,615.00

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Make sure the CPC has access to a printer and copier.  Although we didn’t use them much, they were invaluable when we needed them.
• With the proliferation of cell phones, consider not ordering walkie-talkies for communication between committee members during the conference.  Even though we had walkie-talkies, we never used them. We only used cell phones.

CONFERENCE PACKETS
Conference totebags and lanyards were given to all attendees (see SOUVENIRS).  Conference folders and ball point pens were donated by Hannelore Rader, Dean, University of Louisville Libraries.  Folders contained all photocopied material that is listed in the NASIG Conference Planning Manual Appendix D.  Photocopies were made at Kinko’s using a Kinko’s NASIG account.  Lanyards and name badges (both purchased from the Louisville Convention Bureau), Louisville attractions brochures, and coupons were also stuffed into the conference totebags.  Souvenir Louisville pins, also from the Convention Bureau, were included as well.  Badges, copies of the itinerary, all special event tickets, and conference badge ribbons were put in envelopes and handed out separately from the packets.   Conference packets were stuffed by local volunteers the Friday before the conference, and the Dean of the University of Louisville Libraries provided pizza for all the volunteers.

COST:  $2543.62 (printed materials); NASIG ribbons: $96.91; preconference binders: $247.00

FOOD
All food decisions had to be approved by the Board and the food for some events (e.g., mentoring and breakfasts) were part of the contract with the hotel.  Since the hotel costs were very high we tried to be very minimal with the break food. We were lucky that the hotel worked with us and the breakfasts were by consumption only.  Attendees were given a meal ticket for breakfast (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and went to the regular hotel restaurant.  NASIG was only charged for tickets collected.  The hotel also paid for the cost of the mentoring reception and they also provided, at no cost, lots of snacks for the registration desk workers.  The hotel meal costs for 4 preconference breaks, 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 5 conference breaks, 1 late night social snack, and the food at the reception at the Frazier Museum (see OFF-SITE EVENTS) were budgeted at $89,914.00.  NASIG was exempt from state tax.  We made every effort to accommodate food needs, including vegetarian choices, gluten free and low-fat.   Food was plentiful and everyone who had a special food request was issued a food ticket that they turned in to claim their special meal.  The hotel provided water on the tables at the back of every meeting room refreshed after each meeting and bottled water free in other areas of the hotel. Therefore, NASIG did not provide bottled water.

COST:  $64,603.08 (we did not see the final hotel bill for food events so this number is based on our estimated counts of attendees.  It does not include the reception at the Frazier Museum.)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Although the Board requested a sit-down meal for the business lunch it was very difficult to find one menu choice that would please everyone in attendance.  A buffet offers many more options and would be recommended, but it can be very hard to do in a timely manner with so many attendees.
• We let attendees indicate any kind of food preference they wished on the registration form, and some were very challenging for the hotel. Make this a “drop down” on the registration form; with choices your caterers can accommodate (e.g., vegan, gluten-free, etc.)  
• The CPC recommended that box lunches no longer be purchased for Sunday’s lunch due to cost and the fact that there are now food/beverage restrictions on airlines. This was approved by the Board and the lack of box lunches on Sunday didn’t cause any problems.

FUN RUN
We had 20 to 30 people participate in an early morning run/walk along the Ohio River near the Galt House.  Three committee members, Alison Roth, Kat McGrath and Peter Whiting, helped the participants navigate the course.  Water bottles were provided to the runners/walkers.  Prizes, a knapsack and two magnets, were given to the three winners.

COST: $41.82

FUND RAISERS
In addition to selling raffle tickets for a free registration, the CPC offered a “bourbon tasting” at the hotel. The event was sold out at 75 tickets.

PROFIT:  $750.00 (bourbon tasting event); $374.00 (raffle tickets); souvenirs ($117.00)

HOTEL
Prior to the conference the co-chairs worked together with our primary hotel contact. She met with us, as well as the Food Subcommittee (this committee took care of all food separately). One of CPC co-chairs took care of room reservations.  The hotel contact was particularly helpful when there were reservation issues due to the room blocks filling earlier than anticipated and the hotel’s new reservation system. The co-chairs didn’t get a room because we thought we could go back and forth every night.

COST:  $0.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• The co-chairs should get a room, as it is very hard to go back and forth when the registration desk opens early and events run into the evening. In the end the hotel gave us a room for the last two nights.
• Stay on top of the room reservations for the speakers.  The list should be given to the CPC as early as possible This year the room blocks had filled on some of the nights by the time the CPC co-chairs received the list.  

LOCAL INFORMATION
We set up two tables opposite the registration desk for local information. Hosted dinners or “Dine-Arounds” proved to be the most popular reason for visitors at the Local Information Table.  Attendees found printed menus attached to the dinner sign-up sheets most helpful when deciding on restaurants.  Brochures of local attractions were on display, along with poster sized signs describing the nearby Riverfront Park and Fourth Street Live.  Other materials available were a local church list, conference reception flyer, Internet access location sign and Fun Run flyers.  The Local Information Table was staffed at heavy times, such as during breaks. 

OFF-SITE EVENTS
The opening event was at the Frazier International History Museum, within walking distance of the hotel. The contract for the museum was signed by the board, so the CPC didn’t choose this venue, but we were very happy with the choice. The food was taken care of by the Food Subcommittee.  The museum has 3 floors of exhibits and offers historical reenactments. We had an exhibition by Elizabethan sword masters, as well as an historical interpretation about Anne Boleyn. Entertainment was by the band “Hog Operation.” After initially intending to have the band in the rooftop garden, we moved it to another part of the museum to save on the cost of building a stage. We did have a shuttle bus (see TRANSPORTATION).

On Saturday night, attendees could register for a dinner cruise on the “Spirit of Jefferson.” (Normally the board likes to offer a baseball game to attendees on Saturday night, but the Louisville Bats were not in town that weekend.)  The ship was docked within easy walking distance of the hotel.

COST: $24,032.50 (event at the Frazier International History Museum)
COST: $0. (dinner cruise). (We made an estimated profit from this event of $1200.00)

ONLINE REGISTRATION
This year online registration had a bumpy road with the death of the NASIG treasurer and a late start with the systems technician.   Despite that late start we fortunately managed to have a good turnout at the conference. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• The registration form should be a one page form.  Examples of registration forms to follow include the Charleston conference registration form.
• Tours and trips need to be on another separate registration form since a majority of institutions do not allow payment for extras.
• A preview pdf version of the registration form should be available so that registrants have an idea of what the form looks like.
• When a registrant signs up as a member the Database & Directory committee will have to be informed so that the registrant can fill out a membership form.

OPENING SESSION
The conference was opened by Denise Novak, President, NASIG.  Hannelore Rader, Dean, University of Louisville Libraries, also welcomed the group.  Denise read a plaque from the Mayor’s Office, welcoming NASIG to Louisville. The speaker was Dr. Tom Owen, a local historian, who did a great job providing an entertaining and concise overview of the city’s history.

COST:  $250.00 (honorarium)

POSTER SESSIONS
Thirteen poster sessions were set up in the very spacious lobby area outside the plenary session hall.   Hosting the breaks nearby brought lots of traffic through regularly and allowed visitors to circulate without crowding.   The rental company was very accommodating in providing delivery and set-up on Thursday afternoon which ensured that presentations were in place with minimum fuss on Friday.  Storage and security was not a problem.  Take-down Friday evening was smooth.

COST: $625.00 for poster board, delivery, and set up

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• A single day for hosting the poster sessions is sufficient. A large, high visibility location is critical.  Overtime/weekend labor charges can be a factor when sourcing suppliers.  It is helpful to preview the boards as well as the space.  Dark (black) boards provide an attractive backdrop to presentations.   Presenters should be encouraged to provide a link to their poster content through the NASIG conference website (reduce paper, encourage follow-up).

PRECONFERENCES
Preconference registration ranged from 12 to 41 attendees for each of the four sessions.  CPC purchased binders for the preconference manuals.  CPC also downloaded the course information supplied by the PPC, had it photocopied at Kinko’s, and assembled the manuals.  We had two on-site registrations which required us to return to Kinko’s for additional photocopying.   Small snacks were provided for the attendees during each break but lunch was not included in the cost of the preconference.  One instructor requested an Internet connection that had not been previously ordered.  The registrations were as follows for each session:

Metadata Standards and Applications: 41
Publishing 101 — The Basics of Academic Publishing: 19
SCCTP Integrating Resources: 14
SCCTP Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop: 12

COST: Costs of binders and photocopying course materials can be found under CONFERENCE PACKETS.

PUBLICITY
The logo for the meeting was designed by Michael Garzel, a graphic designer whose services NASIG had used for past conference logos.   The board elected to not distribute postcards this year.  All communications were conducted via the NASIG-L listserv and the listservs of pertinent local groups.   Postings to NASIG-L were sent regularly to promote the meeting, advertise registration, and to inform the group of meeting details and items of local interest. Invitations to attend the meeting were sent to local groups in March and April.  

COST:  $500.00 (logo)

SOUVENIRS
The board determined that we would not purchase souvenirs for this year’s conference.  This was due in part to the limited quantity of affordable quality souvenirs that could meet our allocated budget and the fact that NASIG has lost money on souvenirs at the four previous conferences.   However, we did sell souvenirs left over from the 2006 conference, including tee shirts (sold for $5.00), cross stitch patterns (sold for $1.00 each) and water bottles (sold for $3.00 each). T-shirts and water bottles sold out, and the cross stitch patterns that were left were sent to Phoenix for next year’s conference.

Tote bags and lanyards were not considered souvenirs, per se, but were given out free of charge to each registrant upon checking in at the registration desk.  These items were ordered by the Souvenir Subcommittee. Lanyards and name badges were printed and purchased from the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

COST:  $2323.68 (tote bags); $750.00 (lanyards)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• If you want a good bag (and we did), you need to pay for it. We looked at lots of cheap bags, and finally decided that these would not work. Bags cost $3.31 each (not including set up), and attendees liked them.   

TOURS (PRE- AND POST-CONFERENCE)
We arranged tours using a local company. We worked with the company’s owner to pick sites we thought visitors would want to see, e.g. Churchill Downs. We arranged two four-hour tours (Thursday and Sunday), as well as one shorter tour to Louisville Stoneware, and one downtown walking tour. Unlike former years, the post-conference tour sold out, and the Thursday tours had respectable numbers.  The tour company asked us to collect the fees as part of registration, which we did.

COST:  $0. (We advertised through the conference website and listservs.) 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• As noted under ONLINE REGISTRATION, tours and other special events should be on a separate registration form.

TRANSPORTATION
Details regarding transportation to and from Louisville via air, car, train, and bus were posted on the meeting website.  Attendees were responsible for their own transportation between the hotel and airport.  The hotel had a fee-based shuttle service.  Two events were held outside the hotel, but within walking distance.  For the opening reception, transportation aimed at those who had limited mobility was made available by renting a 24-seat shuttle bus with a wheelchair lift from the shuttle bus vendor used by the conference hotel.   For the dinner cruise volunteers were stationed to direct people to the boat dock and to escort anyone in a wheelchair if necessary.  Those who indicated special transportation needs on their registration form were emailed directly and informed of the bus and escort service to the two outside events.

COST:  $382.50 for shuttle bus rental.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• The CPC was asked to contact airlines about setting up a “conference airline.”  This proved to be impossible. Louisville isn’t a hub for any airline, except UPS, and with so many ways for attendees to get cheap airline reservations, this seems to be a useless endeavor now.  The CPC should no longer try to do this.

VOLUNTEERS
We received an excellent response to our calls for volunteers. A meeting was held April 17, 2007 to discuss the conference and potential volunteer projects.  Most of our volunteers were University of Louisville employees, although some other NASIG members and local people were included.  Eleven University of Louisville employees helped with the packet stuffing on May 25. 

We had a good response for staffing the registration/local information desk. Thirty-eight people, including board members, CPC members, and volunteers from local libraries helped.

There were eight dine-arounds on Friday night and four on Saturday night. Two were canceled because of distance and time.  All the others were well attended.

WEBSITE
While the website developed over time, all pertinent information was available online by March 1, 2007.  Online registration for the conference began March 21 and closed May 17.  

The website provided two versions of the conference program, a complete program and a quick guide, as well as electronic handouts for program sessions (provided after the conference using Moodle software).  The conference webmaster used WordPress to administer the conference blog.  NASIG personnel administered the forum section and the online evaluation forms were created using SurveyMonkey software. 

Cost:  $0. (But other NASIG committees may have incurred costs for SurveyMonkey, WordPress, and Moodle.)

SITE SELECTION

Committee members:  Denise Novak, Char Simser, Joyce Tenney

This year we solicited bids for the 2008 conference and we were able to negotiate a great rate with Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, Arizona.  The dates of the 2008 conference will be June 5-8, 2008, and the room rate will be $125 per night plus tax for a single or double room.

We solicited bids for the 2009 conference and did site visits to Orlando, Florida, Richmond, Virginia and will be looking at additional site visits this summer.  Bids have been received from Columbus, Ohio; New Orleans, Louisiana; Norfolk, Virginia; Portland, Maine; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Columbia, South Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; and others.

A survey to go out to the membership is being developed to get views from membership on conference location and facilities preferences.  This information will be used to develop the short list of sites to be presented to the board later in 2007.

PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE
Marit Taylor, Chair

ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2006-2007

Members:  Linda Pitts (University of Washington), Miki Scholl (University of St. Thomas), Jeff Slagell (Delta State University), Gracemary Smulewitz (Rutgers University), Glen Wiley (Rensselaer Research Libraries), Yvonne Zhang (California State Polytechnic University), Mary Page (Board Liaison).

Linda Pitts was originally chair of the committee but felt the need to resign as chair because of health and work concerns.  She remained on the committee and her service is greatly appreciated.  The co-chair, Marit Taylor, took over as chair.  Jo McClamroch resigned from the committee because of too much to do at work.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND PENDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS

NASIGuides.   The committee is charged with identifying topics for new NASIGuides and soliciting authors for them from outside the committee, as well as developing a schedule for updating them and other NASIG publications. Glen and Linda reviewed the existing NASIGuides for dead links and anything else needing updating.  Linda found no problems, and Glen contacted their original authors to ask them for updates.   The committee brainstormed and suggested more ideas for new NASIGuides.  Linda sent out a message to NASIG-L asking for volunteers to write new NASIGuides, and listing some recommended topics, and got some positive response.  Glen also asked the Continuing Education Committee for input.  New guides that are assigned to authors and either planned or already being worked on include ones on working with subscription vendors, cancellation workflow, serials in institutional repositories, MARC for serials, and FRBR.  Each NASIGuide will be edited by one committee member for content, and another for style, etc.  We hope that at least some will be up by the conference, and others should be ready by sometime in the fall.  A new call for authors and ideas for new guides will be posted in the NASIG Newsletter.

Human Resources Directory.  The committee is also charged with revising and updating the Directory.  Glen and Jeff had some preliminary discussion on how we might want to update them.   There was some concern about whether the Directory was much used or needed.  Marit sent a message to NASIG-L asking for feedback on that subject, and received a positive response.  Some respondents have used the Directory, and others did not know about it but might use it now that they know.  Several people said they might volunteer to be included in the Directory.  It is clear that the Directory needs more publicity; there will be information about it in the Newsletter.  There was a problem with the submission form, which Jeff resolved after consultation with the Electronic Communications Committee.  The committee discussed changes and updates to the list of subjects for speakers, and Gracemary and Yvonne collected ideas.  Gracemary prepared a spreadsheet of topics to add, remove, or change.  Jeff suggested that we rename the Directory, and the committee agreed on changing it to the Speakers and Consultants Directory.  Marit asked Mary to submit the change to the board for approval.  Jeff drafted and the committee approved a message to be sent to people presently in the Directory asking them up update their entry; this should be done at least annually.  Jeff has been working on ideas for making the format of entries more consistent. The plan is for the committee to divide up the names in the Directory and each contact those people asking for updates.

NASIG-L.  Mary Page asked the committee to discuss ideas about how the scope of NASIG-L might be changed, and feedback given to the Electronic Communication Committee.  After discussion, the committee members felt that the scope did not need to be changed, and Marit reported this to the ECC, which had come to the same conclusion.

The committee has not acted on other elements of the committee charge on the recommendation of Mary Page, because of the pending outsourcing of the NASIG Web pages.  These involved selecting a metadata schema for NASIG publications and establishing HTML/XML/PDF standards, and standard announcements.

PROCEEDINGS
Carol Ann Borchert and Gary Ives, Co-editors

ANNUAL REPORT, April 23

Board liaison:  Rick Anderson

NARRATIVE OF ACTIVITIES SINCE LAST REPORT

• Gary and Carol Ann visited Haworth Press July 16-18.
• The 2005 Proceedings was published in summer 2006, and the monograph version was released in the fall.  We anticipate a similar schedule for the publication of the 2006 Proceedings.
• The manuscript for the 2006 Proceedings was sent to Haworth early in November, a few days past Haworth’s October 31 deadline.  We received papers from all speakers and recorders.  Many thanks to all for their contributions to this publication!
• The co-editors received the final draft copies of the 2006 Proceedings at the end of February.  Haworth received the document March 21.
• Because the Proceedings time schedule has altered from what was originally in the editors’ manual, our original indexer for the monograph version, Melissa Beck, stepped down for 2006.  Gary contacted Smita Joshipura, and she graciously agreed to be our indexer for the 2006 Conference Proceedings.  The manual’s timeline has been updated.
• Carol Ann sent .pdf files of the 2005 Proceedings to the ECC Chair, but they are not yet on the NASIG website.  Carol Ann will ask about this when she sends the updated editors’ manual to ECC.
• Gary and Carol Ann have both agreed to continue as co-editors for the 2007 Proceedings.  A call has gone out for a third co-editor to join them this year, hopefully to continue in 2008 as an experienced editor with a new co-editor to train.
• The call for recorders was sent for inclusion in the March 2007 NASIG Newsletter and later sent to the NASIG-L listserv.  Because we only received 15 applications in our first batch, we have sent out an extended call.  We are especially having a hard time finding people who will be able to record for the preconferences.
• Gary contacted the speakers to give them information about submitting papers to us and to give them the copyright forms.  Papers from recorders and speakers are due July 2.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION (IF APPLICABLE)
None

ACTIONS(S) REQUIRED BY BOARD (IF APPLICABLE)
None

QUESTIONS FOR BOARD (IF APPLICABLE)
None

RECOMMENDATIONS TO BOARD (IF APPLICABLE)
None

Name of persons submitting report:  Carol Ann Borchert & Gary Ives

PROGRAM PLANNING COMMITTEE
Rachel Frick and Sarah George, Co-Chairs

SUMMARY OF CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The Program Planning Committee finalized the program featuring 34 sessions involving 65 speakers.  In addition, poster sessions and discussion groups are planned for additional programming opportunities. 

Program Proposals

Special Program Events

SPECIAL PROGRAM EVENTS
The Poster Sessions Subcommittee consisting of Meg Mering, Jennifer Arnold, Nathan Rupp, Trina Holloway, Sarah George, and Rachel Frick sent out the call, selected, advertised, and coordinated 14 poster sessions out of 17 submissions.  Poster sessions provide an opportunity to share innovative ideas and new applications of technology.  Posters will be on display in the East Exhibit Hall of the Galt House on Friday, June 1, from 9:30-5:30.  Presenters will be available to discuss their topics during both break periods.  Posters this year include:

• Janice Cox – “Hedge Your Bet to Improve the Odds of Going the Distance: Dental Theses Journal Citation Analysis”
• Nancy Beals – “Taking a Gamble: Venturing into the Development of an Electronic Resources Management System”
• Chandra Jackson – “Making a Silk Purse from a Sow’s Ear”
• Patrick Carr – “Maximizing Access through Consortial Partnership: Mississippi State University Libraries’ Journal Expansion Project”
• Germaine Wadeborn – “Coming Down the Backstretch of Moving Technical Services Out of the Library and into a Dedicated Facility: Will This Be a Long Shot or a Sure Bet?”
• Raleigh Muns – “Comprehensive Serials Information Database Eases Journal Cuts”
• Randall Watts – “”Yes, As a Matter of Fact, We Are Throwing Those Away” : A Small Public University Library Deals with De-Selection
• Janette Prescod – “Partners in Space: Integrating Periodicals and Government Documents”
• Brian McDonald – “Designing a Local Database for Usage Statistics”
• Sarah Sutton – “”I need to find an article on … ” : What Librarians Need to Know about How Patrons Look for Journal Articles on the Library Web Site”
• Les Hawkins & Hien Nguyen – “The CONSER Standard Record”
• Laurentiu Micrcea Stefancu – “Using Open Source Software to Build Your Tools”
• Rebecca Martinez – “The SUPERFECTA – The Best Bet for Winning the Electronic Derby”
• C. Derrik Hiatt – “A Comparison of Journal Impact Factor to Journal Use in a University Library”

The Informal Discussion Group Subcommittee consisting of Stephen Clark, Bonnie Parks, Janice Lindquist, Mary Grenci, Sarah George, and Rachel Frick sent out the call and are in the process of selecting, advertising, and coordinating these groups.  The purpose of Informal Discussion Groups (formerly known as Networking Nodes) is to promote discussion among NASIG attendees who have a shared interest in a topic, idea, workflow, problem…  The emphasis of these sessions is open discussion and the generation of new ideas.  Informal Discussion Groups will take place over lunch on Saturday, June 2.

In addition to informal discussion groups, there will be sessions dedicated to user groups of a specific product or service.  The purpose of these sessions is to share product implementation or development experiences and ideas. User group attendees will have an opportunity to discuss topics of common interest in a non-commercial setting.  This year, user groups will have two distinct sessions.   The first session, on Friday, June 1, from 3:15-4:15 p.m., will focus on ERM products and services.  On Saturday, June 2, from 4-5 p.m., the sessions will involve other technologies and services used by serialists.

PPC ACTIVITIES SINCE JANUARY 2007
PPC members have continued to work as liaisons to program speakers.  Liaison responsibilities included sending speakers their official notification of acceptance, informing speakers of their reimbursement and audio-visual equipment options and conference and proceedings responsibilities, gathering biographical information, distributing information for electronic handouts.  They also informed selected speakers of their hotel confirmation numbers and answered numerous miscellaneous questions.  PPC members managed an average of three speakers each.
    
PPC co-chairs worked with Anna Creech, NASIG webspinner, to develop a system for electronic handouts.  These handouts will be available to conference registrants in advance of the conference. 

Other activities of the PPC co-chairs:

• Worked with the Evaluation & Assessment Committee regarding the conference survey.
• Worked with the Proceedings Editors to help them contact speakers and coordinate receipt of papers from vision and strategy speakers.
• Called for volunteers to introduce speakers
• Coordinated hotel registrations, airline reservations, conference registrations, and AV information
• Managed unexpected speaker changes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The PPC co-chairs would like to thank the entire committee for their flexibility and hard work.  The following people served on PPC and helped shape the 2007 conference: Norene Allen, Jennifer Arnold, Stephen Clark, Jill Emery, Mary Grenci, Trina Holloway, Bill Kara, Janice Lindquist, Meg Mering, Bonnie Parks, Erika Ripley, Nathan Rupp, and Jenni Wilson.  Special mention goes to Erika Ripley, our liaison to the Online Registration Team, and to Meg Mering and Bonnie Parks who coordinated the subcommittees for poster sessions and discussion groups.  We also owe a huge thanks to our board liaison, Char Simser. Although the work of PPC can be intense and hectic, the opportunity to work with such creative and dedicated colleagues makes this work a pleasure.

NOMINATIONS & ELECTIONS
David Burke, Chair
 
Committee Members: Gail Julian, co-chair/web liaison, Michael Arthur, Christie Degener, Beth Holley, Lisa Macklin, Virginia Rumph

Board Liaison:  Mary Page, past president

NOMINATIONS AND CANDIDATE SELECTION

At the conference, a call for nominations using the forms in the conference packets was made.  This resulted in something less than success, considering no one returned a nomination form.  After the nominations submission page was activated on the NASIG web site, the chair sent calls for nominations via NASIG-L on June 1, July 27, and August 25 (last two dates approximate), as well as the Special Business Issue of the NASIG Newsletter.  The deadline for nominations was September 1.  In retrospect, I should have made the date later in month or even into October.

Through 30 submitted nomination forms, the committee received 16 nominations for vice-president/president elect (8 different people), 9 nominations for treasurer (8 different people), and 54 nominations for member-at-large (35 different people). 

Following an intra-committee conference call on September 11, each member of the committee called six to seven nominees for permission to forward their names through the nominee-review process.  Unfortunately, only 14 member-at-large nominees, 1 treasurer nominee, and none for vice-president/president elect opted to continue.  The committee contacted several other NASIG members to broaden the pool; this new pool yielded 1 additional member-at-large prospect, 1 additional treasurer prospect, and 1 vice-president/president elect prospect.  Some of these nominees removed themselves prior to the deadline for submitting a completed profile form.

A second intra-committee conference call was held on December 7 to choose the most appropriate candidates for the ballot (after overcoming some technical difficulties with Netspoke).   The committee then contacted those candidates’ references; no information emerged to eliminate any of the names previously selected.  So the committee announced this preliminary ballot on January 15, along with a call for petition candidates:

VP/President Elect:   Meg Mering
Treasurer:  David Bynog, Peter Whiting
Member-at-Large: Carol Ann Borchert, Abigail Bordeaux, Anna Creech, Sandra Hurd, Kim Maxwell, Jeff Slagell, Sarah Sutton

The committee chair received one completed and valid petition by the February 1 deadline.  Jill Emery was added to the ballot for VP/president elect.  The committee was also pleased to see that one of the accompanying bylaw changes would open the door to electronic voting.

BALLOTING

The printer mailed 631 ballots (to addresses specified in the submitted membership list) on February 12.  Only those ballots postmarked March 15 or earlier were considered valid.  However, an ice storm threw off the distribution, so many members received ballots well past the expected February 15 arrival—online voting cannot come soon enough!  Seven ballots postmarked after March 15 were received.

The chair counted 288 ballots (a disappointing 46% return rate), which were recounted by Jutta Seibert (another librarian at Villanova University).  Three names were submitted as write-in votes—one for vice-president and two for member-at-large. 

On March 23, the chair reported the election results to the president and contacted all of the candidates.  The NASIG was notified of the results through NASIG-L on March 28, and the results were posted on the NASIG website the following week.  They will also be reported in the May issue of the NASIG Newsletter.

The winners of the election are Jill Emery for vice-president/president elect, Peter Whiting for treasurer, and Anna Creech, Kimberly Maxwell, and Jeff Slagell for member-at-large.

COMMENTS ON PROCEDURES

Many members of the committee had concerns regarding the reference process.  A number of references gave very brief or incomplete answers to the questions because they were not especially familiar with a given nominee.  Also the information gained in the references could be useful in choosing the top candidates if it was available sooner.  The committee recommends future N&E Committees have the option whether to call nominee references before or after they choose the top candidates (depending on the total number of nominees in a given year). 

Some members also expressed concern with the petition process in its current form.  Considering the extensive review process the originally slated candidates go through, gathering ten signatures seems comparatively easy.  Perhaps as NASIG moves to online elections, both the vetting procedures and the petition process should be examined.

In closing, the chair would like to thank every member of the committee and Mary Page, our board liaison, for the hard work and good ideas they contributed to the process during the last several months.  This election would not have gone so smoothly without them!  The chair would also like to thank Anne McKee and Kathryn Wesley (N&E chairs of the past two years) for their advice along the way.

NASIG NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL REPORT, May 2007

Newsletter Editorial Board:

Lillian DeBlois, conference/calendar editor (Arizona Health Sciences Library)
Susan Andrews, columns editor (Texas A&M University-Commerce)
Kathy Kobyljanec, copy editor (John Carroll University)
Sharon Heminger, PDF editor (JSTOR)
Maggie Rioux, profiles editor (MBLWHOI)
Naomi Young, submissions editor (University of Florida)
Kathryn Wesley, editor-in-chief (Clemson University)

Board Liaison: Char Simser

2006-07 PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

Summer 2006 business issue (21: suppl.) [first blog issue]
Articles were posted to the blog between June 30-July 4, 2006.  The PDF was published on July 18.  The issue featured the Executive Board annual report, committee annual reports, and rosters of the incoming Executive Board, board liaisons, and committees.

September 2006 issue (21:03)
Blog postings took place August 29-September 23.  The PDF version was published and announced on NASIG-L on September 1.  This issue featured conference reports. 

December 2006 issue (21:04)
Articles were posted to the blog version November 20-November 30, 2006.  The issue was announced on NASIG-L on December 1 with the first Newsletter Newsflash.  The PDF version was published and announced on NASIG-L on December 13. 

March 2007 issue (22:01)
Blog articles were posted February 13-28, 2006.  A Newsflash was posted to NASIG-L on March 1 announcing the issue.  The PDF was published March 12.

May 2007 issue (22:02)
The target for publishing the May issue is May 25.  Since the conference takes place in late May/early June this year, a late May date will allow for publication of committee annual reports in this issue.  A summer supplement issue will therefore not be necessary.  The PDF will probably not be published until after the conference, early to mid-June.

OTHER ACTIVITIES 2006-07
Blog version of the Newsletter
The html version of the Newsletter was replaced this year with a blog version.  The blog version debuted with the summer business supplement.

Advantages of the blog include the capacity to publish articles individually instead of all at once, and to assign categories to articles, allowing sorting by topic.  Blog software also allows user comments.  In addition, the blog provides more in-depth and sophisticated usage statistics.  On the downside, posting is time- and labor-intensive. 

The blog’s commenting function was enabled for the March 2007 issue.  Many thanks to our board liaison, Char Simser, for her technical assistance with this process.  Comments have been added at the top of the sidebar.

NEWSLETTER NEWSFLASH
In fall 2006, the Publications/Public Relations Committee suggested that announcements of Newsletter issues on NASIG-L include snippets of articles with links to the full articles.  This was instituted with the December issue and continued with the March issue.  In addition, a Newsflash was posted to NASIG-L well ahead of the full March issue when the article on the 2008 conference site was posted.

The Newsflashes have been very successful.  Blog statistics consistently show spikes in user views on the days that Newsflashes are posted, and on the business days immediately following.  The number of views on the posting day plus the following business day have consistently been 1000+ (editor’s views are not included).  Thanks to Pub/PR for the great idea! 

PERSONNEL CHANGES
2006/07
Sharon Heminger, formerly columns editor, took over as PDF production editor with the summer business issue.  Naomi Kietzke Young assumed the position of submissions editor at that time.

2007/08
Maggie Rioux, profiles editor, and Susan Andrews, columns editor, will retire from the Newsletter Editorial Board following the 2007 conference.  Their writing talent, rock-solid dependability, and unwavering dedication to meeting or beating deadlines will be sorely missed.

Kurt Blythe, a new NASIG member from UNC-Chapel Hill, will take over as columns editor following the conference. We look forward to working with Kurt. 

The profiles editor position has not been filled yet.  A blog editor position will be established and filled this year.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Blog stats of interest as of April 24, 2007:

 Total views (since June 30, 2006): 11,317
 Best day ever: 729
 Views over the last 30 days (March 26-April 24, 2007): 754
 (editor’s views not included)

REPORT ON BOARD ACTION ITEMS
The only action item from the board this year was to push specific news items to the membership via NASIG-L.  This was implemented as the Newsletter Newsflash.

REPORT ON GOALS FOR 2006/07
The big goal this year was to make the switch from the html version to the blog version.  Starting up the blog, experimenting with workflows, learning its quirks, and actually posting all the articles this year has been so time consuming that it has been difficult to make much progress on other goals.

I have made some new guidelines on general stylistic matters and given them to the copy editor, Kathy Kobyljanec.  These will be included in the manual this summer.

GOALS FOR 2007/08
1. Find a blog editor.
2. Find a profiles editor.
3. Continue update of manual.
4. Post items to the NASIGWeb news page regularly.

KUDOS
Many thanks to the Newsletter Editorial Board for their hard work, high standards, and positive attitudes.  And to Char Simser, our board liaison, for her experience, support, and unfailing zen-like calm. 

Submitted by Kathryn Wesley, editor-in-chief
April 24, 2007

MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Marla Chesler and Tina Feick, Co-chairs

REPORT OF ACTIVITIES FROM NOVEMBER 2006 – APRIL 2007

NARRATIVE OF ACTIVITIES SINCE LAST REPORT FROM OCTOBER 2006

CONTINUING ACTIVITIES

• A draft of the revised NASIG brochure has been sent to the NASIG Executive Board for review.  Morag Boyd, Alice Rhoades, Linda Griffin, Meg Walker, and Pam Cipkowski worked on the revision.   We will produce one set of quick set of brochures using a color printer to get the revised brochures out quickly – by May 16.  The professionally printed brochures will be available shortly afterward. (Strategic Direction #2 & 4)
• Tina Feick has been in contact with Tyler Goldberg, one of the Louisville Conference Planning Committee chairs to see if there were local serial-related groups that we could send membership brochures to encourage them to join and attend the conference. (Strategic Direction #2 & 6)
• Members of the MDC have volunteered to serve as mentors for the upcoming NASIG conference is Louisville, KY. (Strategic Direction #1 &2)
• We are still working on a survey to the NASIG commercial sector in order to determine what would keep NASIG relevant to the group and to increase participation in the commercial sector. (Strategic Direction #2 &6)
• After the conference, the MDC will contact attendees that did not join NASIG to see why they didn’t join and to encourage them to join for 2008. (Strategic Direction #2 &6)
• Mentor Group Activities
  o The first announcement to sign-up for the Mentoring Program was sent out on April 3rd and it has been publicized in a number of other locations.  The deadline has also been added to the conference important dates.
  o At least two more reminders will be going out before May 14. 
  o Updated mentoring forms have also been made available from the main NASIG webpage and the conference page. 
  o A list of new members will be sent to us shortly and we will be sending a target announcement to them as well.

COMPLETED ACTIVITIES

• The MDC (Membership Development Committee) reviewed our membership and asked Alice Rhoades, Linda Griffin, Meg Walker, and Morag Boyd to accept reappointment of their committee membership for another two years.  They all agreed.
• Tina and Marla met at ALA Midwinter in Seattle.
• In February 2007, MDC started sending out personalized renewal notices for members who had not yet renewed.  We included their NASIG membership ID to facilitate the renewal process.  (Strategic Direction #2 &6)
• The committee wrote up a report on the renewal process to submit to the Executive Board.  It was suggested that the report be sent to the Database & Directory Committee since they are the group responsible for the renewals. (Strategic Direction #2 &6)

ACTIVITIES THAT SUPPORT THE NASIG STRATEGIC PLAN
The committee is involved in activities, which support Strategic Directions 1-4 & 6.  Please see notes in Continuing Activities and Completed Activities.
 
ANY CHANGES OR EXCEPTIONS TO BUDGET
None
 
STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Renewal Reminders:
• Renewal reminders sent February 2007: 455
• Bad email addresses:  17
• Number indicating they had or planned on renewing soon = 31
• Number indicating they did not intend to renew = 21
• Non-renewed members as of 3/30/2007 = 380
• Number of members renewed after the reminders were sent = 75
 
ACTION(S) REQUIRED BY BOARD (IF APPLICABLE)
None
 
QUESTIONS FOR BOARD (IF APPLICABLE)
None
 
RECOMMENDATIONS TO BOARD (IF APPLICABLE)
After reviewing our charge, we would like to recommend that the following sentence be removed since we are a standing committee and are required to submit reports to the Executive Board on a regular basis:

The Committee will prepare a Membership Development Plan with specific action items for review by the Executive Board at their Fall 2006 meeting.