Organization > Chapters > Great Lakes > Minutes and Reports
VRA Great Lakes Chapter Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 11, 2004 Portland Hilton, Portland, OR
In attendance: Chair: Joseph Romano, Secretary: Lesley Chapman, Jean Koeller, Sue Morris, Carole Pawloski, Laura Paris
The chapter members attending the 22nd annual VRA conference in Portland met over breakfast at Le Bistro restaurant in the Portland Hilton. The meeting began at approximately 8AM with a welcome by chair Joseph Romano.
Membership issues: Joseph Romano reported on the discussion at the chapter chairs' meeting at the conference. Marcia Focht (Binghampton University) has proposed a mentoring program on a local chapter level. This program would connect new members, upon joining the national organization, to the local chapters nearest them. The local chapter would then connect the new member to the chapter member closest to them geographically. This program endeavors to strenghten communication and contact and thereby increase and/or retain membership on both a national and local level.
The issue of chapter membership was then further discussed, and falls into the following categories: 1) a chapter listserv as recruitment and membership retention tool, 2) reaching out to former members, and 3) contacting VR professionals in our region. Our main challenge as a chapter is in retaining new members. Admittedly, we are all busy with our own collections, so frequent communication is a challenge. There are things we can do, however, to increase the vitality of our chapter. Currently, we only email our chapter members when there is a meeting coming up, while other chapters communicate more often, in the style of a local listserv. In addition, some members of the VRA may be intimidated by the scope and expertise of the national listserv; they may feel more comfortable submitting questions to a smaller group of peers. Joseph Romano volunteered to look into the procedures involved in setting up and hosting a chapter listserv. It was suggested that this listserv be open to non-members as a way of recruitment. The question of whether chapter members needed first to be national members came up; we could encourage people to join the VRA on the national level after they had participated in the chapter. This may not be the correct procedure according to VRA bylaws, however, and warrants further investigation. We also discussed our geographical definition, which we believe constitutes all the schools within a 300 mile radius of the Great Lakes, and the need to reconnect with the VR professionals in Michigan. Laura Paris volunteered to find out who falls into our chapter region; Lesley Chapman will send her the most recent list from the chapter database. Joseph Romano will contact the VR professionals in the Cleveland area.
Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Astrid Otey was unable to attend due to a conflicting meeting, but submitted the annual report. The chapter has received $140 income in dues since October. $40 went to expenditures for the chapter meeting at Oberlin, and a $100 donation was made to the national conference, placing the chapter balance at $628.16.
"Managing a Digitization Project": Jean Koeller has volunteered to summarize the content of Workshop #1: Managing a Digitization Project, for the chapter's benefit.
Other business: The members present voted to keep former Secretary Jean Koeller on the chapter signature card due to her geographical proximity to Treasurer Astrid Otey, which allows for more expedient financial transactions.
Next meeting: Laura Paris presented some information about the next meeting, which she will be hosting at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, this fall. The meeting will take place on a Friday, so that members travelling long distances may spend the night and return home on Saturday. As a major focus of the meeting, Laura Paris will give a demonstration of the Madison Digital Image Database (most likely version 2 by this fall) as it is used at her institution. In addition, attendees will be able to view AND PHOTOGRAPH FREELY a new work by Maya Lin installed on campus for the university¹s bicentennial celebration, as well as a work by Jenny Holzer and other public art projects on campus. Possible dates for the meeting include September 17th-18th, September 24th-25th, and October 1st-2nd. All members are encouraged to contact Laura or any chapter officers to let us know which of these dates are best for them. Laura is also preparing a list of hotels for members wishing to stay overnight.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:45AM.
