July 19, 1999

Jack Bissett, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Jack introduced Board members and thanked them for their contribution: Brian Striman, Incoming Chair-Elect, Marla Schwartz, Member-at-Large, Ellen McGrath, Outgoing Member-at-Large, and Ismael Gullon, Outgoing Secretary-Treasurer.

Jack called for the approval of the OBS SIS 1998 Annual Business Meeting minutes as published in TSLL v. 24, no. 2. The motion was carried. Jack wrote the OBS Annual Report which is available at the OBS Web site (www.aallnet.org/sis/obssis/). He encouraged the membership to visit the Web site which also contains the procedures manual and election results and will soon include a membership roster.

Secretary/Treasurer report: Ismael Gullon reported that as of May 30, 1999, there were 317 members. He mentioned that OBS membership has been declining since 1998. Ismael announced that 314 ballots were mailed and 109 were returned for a rate of 34%. Ellen McGrath was elected Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Cynthia Cicco, Secretary-Treasurer, and Georgia Briscoe as Member-at-Large. He thanked Sue Roach and the Nominating Committee for the great slate of candidates and also thanked Virginia Bryant, George Praeger, and Richard Amelung for their willingness to run. He requested permission to destroy the ballots and it was granted.

As of May 31, 1999, we have a balance of $5,549.15. We spent $1,209.63 extra in postage/printing this year due to the forthcoming publication of the Law Library Systems Directory, 2nd ed. Forthcoming expenses include our contribution to TSLL and the 1999 Conference.

Reports of Committee and Representatives:

CONELL Marketplace: Sue Roach represented OBS at CONELL. She stated that there were 96 participants this year at CONELL and she was able to briefly introduce them to OBS.

TS/OBS/CS/RIPS Reception: Marla Schwartz stated that the reception went well. She thanked Innovative Interfaces for their contribution to the reception.

Technical Services Law Librarian: Linda Tesar reported that both Anna Belle and she enjoyed being editors of TSLL. If there are any problems or issues that have not been addressed, let them know. They are also planning to produce a 25th anniversary issue and are asking for contributions to enhance it. They are still looking for columnists to write about technical services in small libraries and automation. Jack presented Linda and Anna Belle with boxes of chocolates.

Local Systems Committee: Phyllis Post announced that the Law Library Systems Directory, 2nd ed., is due in the fall. The committee plans to update the survey questions in light of new developments in automated systems. They are also investigating the possibility of moving the directory to a Web based product. Susan Goldner is the new chair of the Local Systems Committee.

OCLC Committee: Susan Chinor-ansky informed us that the Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, July 20, 1999. They are planning to discuss the OCLC Metadata Institute and the WLN merger.

RLIN Committee: Jack Bissett reported on behalf of Pat Callahan, Chair, that Anne Myers is the new Chair of the RLIN Committee.

Research Roundtable: Ellen McGrath reported that Frank G. Houdek, editor of Law Library Journal, was the speaker at the roundtable at which there were 24 participants. He highly recommended the participation of technical services librarians in publications. Alva Stone announced that she is a member of the editorial board for Cataloging and Classification Quarterly. She will gladly advise people about the journal’s policies and the kinds of articles the board accepts. Ellen will share that information with LeGrande Fletcher, co-editor of the Research & Publications column in TSLL.

Education Committee: Ellen McGrath, Chair, reported that Committee has been discussing and exchanging ideas via e-mail. We have six proposals for the Philadelphia 2000 Conference, some fleshed-out better than others. She announced that the Education Committee meeting would be on Tuesday afternoon at 12:45 p.m. Ellen explained that the SIS will have one guaranteed slot on Sunday afternoon at next year’s conference so it would be wise to identify the best proposal program for that Sunday afternoon. The deadline for proposals was August 16, 1999.

MARBI Representative: Since most of the OBS members attended the TS business meeting, Rhonda Lawrence decided not to give the complete report that she gave at that meeting but rather to highlight details from her report. She announced that MARC has a Web page that contains texts of discussion papers, proposals and agendas. This site provides a wealth of documentation about what’s happening at the upcoming MARBI meeting (http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/marcadvz.html).

Rhonda mentioned and briefly discussed some of the proposals and discussion papers significant at the MARBI meeting. (1) Discussion Paper No. 118: Non-filing characters in MARC 21; (2) Proposal No. 98-08: Defining URL/URN subfields in the MARC 21; (3) Discussion Paper No. 114: Seriality and MARC 21. A lively discussion ensued regarding the “seriality” proposal. She needs to report to MARBI how law catalogers feel about the issues discussed so feel free to e-mail her with your comments and suggestions.

Joint Research Grant Committee: Corinne Jacox informed us that last year’s recipients were LeGrande Fletcher and Christina Tarr. Mr. Fletcher’s research resulted in an article, “Nevada Practice Materials: A Selective Annotated Bibliography,” which was published in the Spring 1999 issue of Law Library Journal. Ms. Tarr has asked for an extension until July 1, 2000 to continue her research for “Alternative Cataloging: Cataloging at Amazon.com Online Bookstore.” The Committee has granted the extension. No grant applications were received this year.

New Business:

Future of Web Advisory Committee: Jack informed the members that Sarah Andeen is the Chair of the Web Advisory Committee. If you are interested in working in the committee, please contact Sarah at (sandeen@smtpgw.maricopa.gov).

Bylaws revisions: Jack Bissett thanked Alva Stone, Chair of the Committee, Brian Striman, and Sally Wambold for their contribution to the Bylaws revision. Since the Web Advisory Committee and the Joint Research Grant Committee have served as Ad-hoc committees, we need to incorporate them as Standing Committees of OBS-SIS. The other revision to the Bylaws is the change from Robert’s Rules of Order to Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure as the official rules for conducting OBS meetings. Alva Stone, Committee Chair, moved that the revised Article 7, section 1, and Article 9 as shown, be approved and adopted. Both motions were carried.

Installation of new Board Members: Jack Bissett introduced the new Board members: Brian Striman, Chair, Ellen McGrath, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Cynthia Cicco, Secretary-Treasurer, and Marla Schwartz and Georgia Briscoe, Members-at-Large. Jack thanked the OBS membership for the opportunity and honor of serving them.

Open Discussion: Brian Striman, Incoming Chair, informed the members that he will investigate the merging issue as requested in the survey. He wants to first review our mission statement to verify that it follows what we are currently doing in OBS. He will post information in both OBS and TS-SIS lists. Alva Stone suggested that OBS be involved in creating an “Automation Resources Committee” as requested in the survey. Brian Striman adjourned the meeting.