Library and Information Student Association

Minutes of LISA Meetings

April 18, 1998

Minutes of LISA meeting on Saturday, April 18, 1998, 10 a.m. in the second floor Dean's office conference room at Penrose Library. Attendees: Ann Seidl (president), Traci Sanders (vice president), Deb Pruitt (secretary), Deb Grealy (faculty advisor), Roger Greer (faculty advisor), Lynn Silipigni Connaway (Director, Library and Information Services), Steve Fisher (Penrose faculty), Mary Ellen Sievert (adjunct faculty), and the following LISV students: Marcie Phelps, Rochelle Logan, Cheryl Mitz, Thyria Wilson, and Chris Brown.

AGENDA

OPENING

Ann Seidl called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. Each person attending the meeting introduced themselves briefly.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Katherine Kent won the SLA Rebecca Jackson Scholarship. Two LISV students were in candidacy for the scholarship. The scholarship is awarded based both on need and merit.

ELECTIONS

Ann Seidl pointed out that the current board were elected in the Spring of 1997, went through a dormant training over the Summer and officially took office in the Fall. The current board positions to be filled are:

The three board members attending this meeting (Ann Seidl, Traci Sanders, and Deb Pruitt) all indicated that they would not be running for their positions again in the Fall 1998 election.

Ann would like to hold a completely web based election where the board position descriptions will be posted, nominees will be listed, and election ballots will be cast, all via the LISA web site. So recruitment for new officers will begin in late Spring, elections will occur in late Summer, and induction of the officers will be done in the Fall.

Deb Grealy pointed out that the vice-president's position should be for a two-year term. The second year would ideally be as President. Ann Seidl asked for someone to move we amend the bylaws to reflect that. Rochelle Logan moved for the amendment and Steven Fisher seconded that move.

Roger Greer pointed out that in order to keep the LISA organization active and alive, we need to recruit and nominate people who really care and will be leaders. We should give thought to electing people who will provide continuity and will build on what the current board has achieved.

Deb Grealy agreed and pointed out that throughout our careers this will be an issue -- even at the national level it's crucial to elect people who genuinely care about their library organization. Deb suggested that we have a social event in the Fall that will promote interest in the LISA organization and will get new students involved.

Deb Grealy also suggested that we create a handout about the LISA group and how important it is to get involved. The document should promote the benefits of becoming an active part of the LISA organization. This handout should be passed out at the beginning of the first of each of the Fall quarter classes and someone should talk for five minutes or so about the importance of becoming an active part of LISA. Deb Grealy and Steve Fisher both volunteered to go to the classes to talk to the students about LISA. Deb G. and Steve will get together and draft a document to hand out to LISV students.

Ann pointed out that the proposed Summer open house will be a good place to get students interested.

Deb Grealy suggested that we also have a sort of open house on the first day of classes for the Fall quarter in conjunction with the election for LISA board members. It was decided that this will be held from 4 - 6 p.m. probably in the Special Collections area at Penrose Library. The Penrose faculty will sponsor the event and will provide refreshments. On September 14th the new board electees will take office and Deb G. suggested that they be inducted from 5 - 5:30 at this event. LISA will host the event and will see if Lynn Silipigni Connaway will make the introductions.

OPEN HOUSE

The Summer open house is proposed to take place on June 12th from 4 - 7 p.m. Deb Grealy suggested that perhaps we should hold the event at a more formal location like Buchtel House. Ann pointed out that we don't have the funding to pay for something like that. Deb G. suggested we approach a vendor or an organization like BCR to ask for funds. Deb Pruitt (currently employed at BCR) volunteered to approach BCR's director to see if perhaps BCR would be willing to fund the LISV program's "Accreditation Year Kick-off." Ann said she would e-mail financial details about Buchtel House rental costs, etc., to Deb P. within the next week or so.

RARE BOOKS LIBRARIANSHIP

Steven Fisher, Assistant Professor and Archives Curator at Penrose Library, spoke about the possiblity of a class on what used to be called the History of the Book in the old DU library school. The class is traditional in most library school's. Steve received 10 positive responses from a posting he did to the LISA list. He would like to offer this class as a stand-alone elective in either the Fall '98 or Spring '99 quarters. Penrose has a large amount of books on this subject which are just sitting around collecting dust. Steve just needs feedback from students on whether they are interested (and 10 responses indicates that students are interested), and which quarter they would prefer that he teach the class.

Roger Greer proposed that the name of the class be kept very broad – like History of the Book. Ann pointed out that proposing classes like this adds richness to the curriculum and is exciting because it shows that the LISV program is maturing.

WEB FORUM

Chris Brown has done a marvelous job with the LISA web page and his most recent achievement was the creation of the LISA web forum. The forum provides instantaneous communication and will help connect LISV students. Deb Grealy suggested that LISA host a two hour chat room at the lab where students can discuss issues. She said students might consider logging on using pseudonymns. Roger suggested posting topics of the week. Steve Fisher mentioned getting guest posters to participate like Jamie LaRue or Camila Alire.

All of this will pave the way to eventually holding virtual LISA meetings.

INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH INFORMATICS FOR LIBRARIANS & PROFESSIONAL PRINCIPALS & ETHICAL ISSUES with Mary Ellen Sievert

Lynn Silipigni Connaway asked that Mary Ellen Sievert come to this meeting and talk about the class she will be teaching next Summer (Introduction to Health Informatics for Librarians) and about the class her husband, Don Sievert, will be teaching (Professional Principals & Ethical Issues).

Both Mary Ellen and Don Sievert are visiting faculty from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Mary Ellen spoke first about her husband’s class: Don is a Professor of Philosophy and will be using the text "Ethics and Professionalism" written by John H. Kultgen. Don does not lecture when he teaches, he instead makes students ask questions and thereby makes certain that all major points on a topic have been covered. He generally takes current topics out of the media to discuss issues. Many people have said that Don reminds them of Woody Allen.

Mary Ellen, however, is not like Woody Allen. She does tend to lecture when she teaches as well as using various other activities. Medical informatics and health informatics are used interchangeably and both involve the use of computers in health care. Medical informatics are used by nurses, librarians, doctors, dentists, etc. Mary Ellen Sievert has been involved in medical informatics for seven years now. In the class she will be teaching next summer, she will cover:

Mary Ellen closed by saying that the National Library of Medicine offers an associateship for a graduate with an MLS to study informatics.

FACULTY CANDIDATE PRESENTATIONS

Lynn Silipigni Connaway said that the first three candidates for the two full-time faculty positions will be giving their presentations in the next couple of weeks. The candidates and their scheduled presentation times are as follows:

All presentations will be held at University Hall. The candidates will be talking about changes in librarianship as a profession and how it is effecting Library Information Services education in general and this program in particular.

All students currently taking classes in the LISV program are strongly encouraged to attend these presentations.

CLA STUDENT PROGRAM - OCTOBER '98

DU's LISV program has a time set up at the October '98 CLA conference for students to present their research papers. As head of the presentation committee, Rochelle Logan has put a notice out on the LISA web forum asking for students to sign-up to do a 5-10 minute presentation of a research project they are currently working on, or a paper they have done for a class. So far, there are only three people signed-up and we need more students. It's our chance to show librarians in the state what we can do -- plus it's good for students to gain experience. Deb Grealy suggested that in addition to the presentations, that we display copies of these papers in the room.

Chris Brown read an abstract of the paper he will be presenting on reference librarians and new technology.

The deadline to get presentation ideas to Rochelle is April 28th. You can contact Rochelle via e-mail at: rlogan@du.edu

The CLA will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Colorado Springs, October 16-19, 1998. The LISV program will be on Sunday, October 18th from 2 - 3 p.m. The theme of this years conference is: "Who Do We Think We Are?" All students are encouraged to attend the conference as well. The LISA Web Forum will be used to network about carpooling and room sharing, etc.

For more information about the conference, visit CLA's web page at <http://www.cla-web.org> and the conference schedule site at <http://www.douglas.lib.co.us/cla98/>

Roger Greer suggested a social hour at the conference as a way for DU alumni from the old program and current students in the LISV program to meet and get to know each other. Rochelle Logan mentioned the possibility of getting Phi Beta Mu going again. Deb Grealy asked Rochelle if she would contact Lis Lord about the possibility of a reception for current students to meet with alumni at the conference.

In conjunction with that, Roger suggested that LISA do a mailing to the alumni to generate interest in the re-accreditation this year. Roger emphasized that we need to get backing from the Colorado State Library. We need to get Nancy Bolt to say a word or two about DU's LISV program and we need to get her endorsement. He suggested that we invite Nancy Bolt to the Summer open house at Buchtel House.

CLOSING

Ann Seidl called the meeting to an end at 11:45 a.m. and thanked everyone for showing up.

The next meeting of LISA will be at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, July 31st at the Pub on campus.

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