Governance Update, September 2023

The Board of Directors met on August 14, 2023. In attendance were Abebe Rorissa, PhD (President); Crystal Fulton, PhD (President-Elect); Naresh Agarwal, PhD (Past-President); Ina Fourie (Treasurer); Maria Bonn, PhD; Tina Du, PhD; Lisa Hussey, PhD; Aylen Imeri, PhD; Lydia Middleton, MBA, CAE (Executive Director); Chris Cunningham, PhD (Parliamentarian). Guest in attendance: Kimberly Granados, CAE (Deputy Executive Director)

The Board discussed the following issues:

Consulting Services Proposal
The Board voted to refrain from pursuing the development of a consulting service to the private and public sectors on information challenges at this time. Staff and the Board will continue to monitor opportunities and take an ad-hoc approach to a potential pilot test.

History Committee/Curator Reports
The Board took the following actions:

• Reaffirmed the decision to sunset the standing History Committee. Information science history is already within the mission of SIG-HFIS, as it "encourages and supports work on the history and theoretical development of information science. It serves as a forum for the interaction of all fields of study that have the potential for increasing understanding of the history, theories, fundamental concepts, and models of information science." Internal ASIS&T history will be overseen by ASIS&T staff, other committees, and/or a task force as needed for any future projects.
• Declined to establish a Watson Davis Library of Information Science & Technology due to the estimated cost, the fact that most of the information is already publicly available, and that as a global organization a physical, non-digital library would limit access which is contrary to ASIS&T values.
• Created a charge for the Membership Committee to focus on member engagement in the coming year, including surveying the membership on the utilization of the iConnect platform.
• Reaffirmed that the current file structure, put into place in 2017 in response to the KMTF recommendations is appropriate.

Publications Committee Report
The Board accepted the Publications Committee's Open Access Whitepaper and approved action on the first two recommendations. The whitepaper will be socialized with members, a survey will be developed and implemented, and discussions on Open Access will take place in various formats.

Annual Meeting Report
The Board reviewed the report submitted by the Annual Meeting chairs on the strength of submissions and the vigorous review of submissions. The board approved of the increasing capacity to take additional posters while still maintaining rigorous standards.

Record-breaking attendance and gross revenue were reported by Middleton. The Board is aware that due to the high cost of the meeting in London this does not mean exceeding net revenue expectations. 

SIG and Chapter Manual Revision
The Board approved revisions to the Chapter and SIG manuals the edits made to the current manuals including stronger guidelines on:

• the awards-making process,
• unspent allocations, and
• SIG/Chapter unused retained balances.

The purpose of these edits is to encourage creative, but responsible, use of funds that will help grow, engage, and benefit ASIS&T membership. SIG/Chapter orientation training will include information regarding the changes

Financial Update
The Board reviewed unaudited year-end financials. ASIS&T budgeted for a 38k loss for the year with increased investments in staff and potential programming. ASIS&T ended the year better than anticipated with a loss of 20k. Other highlights include:

• Dues received exceeded the budgeted amount for the first time in years.
•  Event revenue was down.
• Staffing expenses were up with the addition of a staff position.

The annual audit is being scheduled and should be completed by the October board meeting.

Consent Agenda
The consent agenda was approved. It consisted of:

• Minutes of June 2023 Meeting
• FYE23 Financial Information
• Membership Report
• Committee Appointments
• Editor Reports
• Oceania Chapter Bylaws