Inside ASIS&T, December 2019

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

The Board of Directors met on September 12, 2019 via video conference. In attendance were Elaine Toms (President); Clara Chu (President-Elect); June Abbas (Treasurer); Dania Bilal; Sarah Buchanan; Timothy Dickey; Emily Knox; Heather O’Brien; Soo Young Rieh; Lydia Middleton (Executive Director); and Steve Hardin (Parliamentarian). Guests at the meeting were Jim Andrews (SIG Cabinet Deputy Director), Brian Detlor (President-Elect eff. 10/23/19, Ina Fourie (Treasurer-Elect, and Anna Maria Tammaro, Director-at-Large-Elect).

The agenda included the following items:

• Action on Minutes
• Discussion of Big Ideas
• Goals & Priorities
• Committees

The following issues were discussed and/or decided:

Action on June 12 Meeting Minutes
The minutes of the June 12, 2019 meeting of the Board were approved without amendment.

Goals & Priorities
The Board reviewed the goals and priorities that were laid out for the Executive Director and the Board for Fiscal Year 2020. Several of the goals were reaffirmed, postponed, and one was tabled for consideration in a future year.

Committees
The Board addressed the current committee structure and the need for filling gaps that were created in the 2018-19 committee restructuring, particularly the need to reconstitute a Publications Committee and create a structure that could address the issues previously covered by the Constitution & Bylaws Committee. There was general consensus that we need a clearer means to communicate to committees the work they are expected to undertake in each given year. The Board approved a new Publications Committee with Terms of Reference to be developed by Lydia Middleton for action at the October meeting. The Board tabled decision on a Governance Committee until a revised Terms of Reference could be developed for action at the October meeting.

Big Ideas
The meeting concluded without comprehensive discussion of the Big Ideas so that agenda item was tabled until the October 19 Meeting.

OCTOBER 19, 2019

The Board of Directors met on October 19, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. In attendance were Elaine Toms (President); Clara Chu (President-Elect); Lisa Given (Past President) June Abbas (Treasurer); Dania Bilal; Sarah Buchanan, Timothy Dickey; Emily Knox; Heather O’Brien; Soo Young Rieh; Lydia Middleton (Executive Director); and Steve Hardin (Parliamentarian). Guests at the meeting were Jim Andrews (SIG Cabinet Deputy Director), Michael Olsson (Chapter Cabinet Deputy Director), Brian Detlor (President-Elect eff. 10/23/19, Ina Fourie (Treasurer-Elect, and Anna Maria Tammaro, Director-at-Large-Elect) as well as two Wiley Representatives.

The agenda of the business portion of the meeting included the following items:

• Consent Agenda
• FY19YE Financial Statements and Variance Report
• Lois Lunin Award Proposal
• Planning Process
• Action on Big Ideas Proposals
• Chapter Restructuring Proposal
• JASIST Report

The following issues were discussed and/or decided:

Consent Agenda
The consent agenda, which included the minutes of the September 12 meeting was approved as presented.

FY19YE Financial Statements and Variance Report
Lydia Middleton presented the initial projected year end financial statements for FY19, noting that a number of postings were still pending review by accounting staff. The initial projection is for a positive bottom line in the area of $40,000. She reviewed the areas where we were either above or below budget by a significant amount. The Board thanked the staff for their hard work achieving a positive bottom line.

Lois Lunin Award Proposal
The Board reviewed and discussed a proposal for forming an award using the funds donated to ASIS&T by Lois Lunin. This award will recognize individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to the practice of Information Science and Technology through leadership, mentoring, and innovation. Eligible individuals will be in early or mid-career, and should have a record of experience and accomplishments, and also demonstrate that they are likely to make future meaningful contributions in leadership and mentoring. Recognizing Lois Lunin’s interest in the arts and in the medical/biomedical fields, nominations from these areas will be particularly encouraged.

The Board approved the proposal with one modification to the eligibility criteria to require that nominees be members of ASIS&T at the time of nomination.

Planning Process
The Board voted to amend the ASIS&T planning cycle to a July-June timeframe rather than an Annual Meeting to Annual Meeting timeframe.

Action on Big Ideas Proposals
Based on the morning’s conversation around the Big Ideas proposed by various members of the Board and staff, the following motions were voted upon. All motions passed unanimously:

Motion: To task the Publications Committee to develop a proposal to bring back ARIST with publication by early 2023.

Motion: To task ASIS&T Central with investigating and proposing a way forward vis-à-vis JASIST ABC

Motion: To task the Professional Development Committee with developing a process for webinar/podcasts acceptance and evaluation.

Motion: To task the SIG Cabinet and Chapter Assembly with developing a plan for increasing the quality and number of webinars offered at times that allow participation by members around the world.

Motion: To task the Research Engagement Committee with developing an implementation plan for delivering a symposia series.

Motion: To task the Professional Development Committee with developing an implementation plan for delivering a product that combines the objectives of the 24 hour global conference with the ASIS&T week concept.

Motion: To task the Professional Development Committee with developing an implementation plan for an institute that operates at a break even or profit.

Motion: To establish a Governance Committee.

Motion: To accept the report of the History Committee and task it with:

1. Finalizing the work of the Knowledge Management Task force and related strategic plan objectives by July, 2020
2. To document the history of ASIS&T with a view to developing a publication for debut at the 85^th Annual Meeting.

Motion: To establish a process for developing annual objectives and deliverables for the Association which are tasked to a Committee or other entity.

Chapter Restructuring Proposal
The staff presented a proposal for chapter restructuring that was initially presented in November of 2018 and included feedback gathered from the Chapter Assembly. The Board asked Lydia to move forward on incorporating the feedback into the proposal then sharing the proposal with the membership for input. See elsewhere in this Inside ASIS&T for information on this proposal.

JASIST Report
Two representatives from Wiley updated the Board on the past year’s performance of JASIST and anticipated trends in the publications market.

OCTOBER 23, 2019

The Board of Directors met on October 23, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. In attendance were Clara Chu (President-Elect); Brian Detlor (President-Elect); Elaine Toms (Past-President); Ina Fourie (Treasurer); Emily Knox; Soo Young Rieh; Ana Maria Tammaro; Jim Andrews (SIG Cabinet Director); Michael Olsson (Chapter Cabinet Director); Lydia Middleton (Executive Director); and Steve Hardin (Parliamentarian). Guests June Abbas (Past-Treasurer); Javed Mostafa (JASIST Editor); and Kendra Albright (2020 AMPC Co-Chair); Cathy Nash (Director of Meetings & Events: and Terrence Curtiss, Director of Membership).

Items on the agenda were;

• Annual Meeting Debrief
• President’s Report
• Revenue Plan
• HQ Office Options
• HQ Staffing Study
• Strategic Planning
• Board Self-Evaluation
• JASIST Report

Annual Meeting Debrief
Kendra Albright joined the discussion of what worked well and what didn’t at the 2019 Annual Meeting. While there was some negative feedback about the venue and an encouragement to be more sensitive to the timing of meetings outside of North America as well as engaging local members and others in the planning, overall the meeting feedback seemed to be quite positive. An attendee evaluation will be conducted to develop a more comprehensive assessment.

President’s Report
Clara Chu outlined her expectations for the coming year, indicating her desire that the Board hold short monthly meetings rather than quarterly longer meetings in order to better track the progress against our strategic goals.

Revenue Plan
Lydia Middleton presented a plan to increase both dues-based and non-dues revenue in the coming year, focusing largely on member retention, institutional memberships, and sponsor/exhibitor solicitation. She recommended outsourcing sponsor/exhibitor solicitation as a means to increase our market share in that area.

HQ Office Options
Lydia Middleton presented an option for downsizing ASIS&T’s office space and reducing expenses in rent. The Board determined that this was not a good use of staff time and recommended seeking a subletter to use some of the existing ASIS&T office space,

HQ Staffing Study
One of the Executive Director’s objectives for FY20 is to conduct a staffing analysis to determine the most appropriate roles and responsibilities within the ASIS&T staff. Lydia Middleton proposed hiring a staffing consultant who could objectively assess the existing talent and make recommendations for future talent needs. The Board decided to table such an undertaking until closer to AM2020 in order to allow the Committees to determine their support needs as they undertake their charges this year.

Strategic Planning
Brian Detlor, Chair of the Strategic Planning Task Force, reported that he has formed his taskforce. Members are: Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Haze Hall, Michael Olsson, Abebe Rorissa, and Rebekah Willson. He intends to call the first meeting of the Task Force in November.

Board Self-Evaluation
Lydia Middleton presented a Board Self-Evaluation tool to assess how well the Board works together and how strategic their perspective is. The Board made recommendations to improve the tool that will be administered to all 2018-19 Board members following the Annual Meeting.

JASIST Report
Javed Mostafa met with the Board to update them on the current status of JASIST.

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

The Board of Directors met on November 20, 2019 via video conference. In attendance were Clara Chu (President-Elect); Brian Detlor (President-Elect); Elaine Toms (Past-President); Ina Fourie (Treasurer); Emily Knox; Soo Young Rieh; Ana Maria Tammaro; Jim Andrews (SIG Cabinet Director); Michael Olsson (Chapter Cabinet Director); Lydia Middleton (Executive Director); and Steve Hardin (Parliamentarian). Guests were Cathy Nash (Director of Meetings & Events: and Terrence Curtiss, Director of Membership).

Items on the agenda included:

• Consent Agenda
• President’s Update
• Strategic Planning Update
• Diversity & Inclusion Report
• Staff Updates

Consent Agenda
The following ítems were included in the Consent Agenda:

• Draft Minutes of 19 October 2019 Meeting
• Draft Minutes of 23 October 2019 Meeting
• September 2019 Financial Statement DRAFT
• Membership Report

President’s Update
Clara Chu reported that the work of populating committees is nearly complete and committees will begin meeting soon. She also reported that she intends to hold monthly gatherings of the Membership (ASIS&T Hour) to make it easier for members to engage virtually with ASIS&T.

Strategic Planning Update
Brian Detlor reported that his task force is formed and would meet the first week in December.

Diversity & Inclusion Report
Clara Chu asked that the Board consider the Diversity & Inclusion Luncheon Report 2016 that was prepared following a meeting held in conjunction with the 2016 Annual Meeting. There was agreement that we should form a Diversity & Inclusion Task Force to address the recommendations from the report and identify necessary next steps.

Staff Updates
Cathy Nash updated the Board on the feedback from the 2019 meeting and provided a rundown of the work currently underway for the 2020 meeting. She also reported that we have proposals from several hotels in Europe for the 2022 meeting in Ireland, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Milan and Rome.

The next meeting of the Board will be held December 18 at 8 am USET. Please contact Lydia Middleton if you would like to observe this meeting.

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