Organization > Chapters > Greater New York > Minutes/Reports
Notes from Fall Meeting 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
New York University, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Avery Fisher Center, New York, New York
Chapter Chair Billy Kwan called the meeting to order at about 3:00pm.
There was no new business from the floor.
Bundled membership and centralized bursary proposal:
Billy reviewed the recent memo from VRA President Allan Kohl. A vote of the members present accepted the first proposal, to bundle chapter membership with that of the national association, through their existing MemberClicks database.
The second proposal, that would have the national maintain a Chapter Bursary with all funds collected from member dues, elicited more discussion. Several questions were identified that we would like to investigate before the chapter votes on this proposal:
Would the chapter be able to use the bursary for additional revenue generated by the chapter, e.g. from donations or event fees, and would we maintain sole control of such additional revenue?
Would there be any fee charged back to the chapter for maintaining this bursary?
Would the chapter still need to maintian a local bank account, and would we save any significant amount on bank fees?
Billy will follow up with Allan, and with NY chapter Treasurer, Barbara Trietel, and report back to the chapter membership.
Billy asked for suggestions for new programs for 2009:
Steven Kowalik asked about "green" initiatives, for example involving disposal of old slides and equipment. The discussion of this topic broadened to general facilities planning and maintenance issues that many institutions are encountering, particularl due to the transition to digital collections.
Billy asked about institutions that were integrating reference services for image collections and traditional libraries. Princeton may be working on this.
A venue is needed for the chapter's Spring meeting. Steven offered to host it at Hunter if his new VR facility is completed in time. The Met could be used as a last resort.
Conference Travel Award:
It was decided not to form a committee for this award at this time, since members at the meeting suggested that there may be other options for financially supporting the national conference. Besides, there were not any applicants last year.
SEI:
Sherman Clarke, who is the current Chair of the SEI Advisory Group, reported that several proposals had been received from institutions interested in hosting the 2010 and 2011 SEIs. It may be too late to apply for those years, unless a proposal could be pulled together very quickly. It is unclear whether a proposal should come from a VRA chapter anyway, rather than a single institution that can provide the needed facilities. Trudy Jacoby stated that Princeton was one of the applicants, and there was general agreement that the chapter would try to support it if their proposal is accepted. Holding an event at the Met as part of the SEI is still enthusiastically supported.
Chapter website:
Billy reported that recent glitches with the website were due to a change to a new server at VRA national. They should all be resolved now. Billy sought a volunteer to maintain the chapter's web page. No advanced web development skills are needed, but access to a basic html editor, like FrontPage or DreamWeaver, would be useful. Kristine Heid-Santiago has been taking care of this, and may be able to continue. But please contact Billy Kwan if you would like to help.
Finally, nominations were requested for the position of Vice-Chair fo r2009. No one present volunteered. Elections are to be held at the Spring Meeting, so please contact Billy or incoming Chair Sarah Goldstein (sagoldstein@vassar.edu) if you would liek to serve.
The business meeting was followed by a very informative presentation by Melitte Buchman, Digital Conversion Specialist at NYU.
Snacks and beverages were graciously provided by NYU.
Minutes submitted by James Mitchell.
