I would like to give the membership of the Technical Services SIS who attended the Business Meeting in Minneapolis a standing ovation! You answered the Executive Board's call for a quorum, and as a result the SIS was able to conduct business. According to the bylaws at the 2001 Business Meeting, 20 percent, or 136 members of the TS-SIS had to be present to have a quorum. At 5:30 pm on July 15 there were exactly 136 TS-SIS members in attendance at the Business Meeting! It was truly wonderful to see all of you at the Business Meeting and throughout the conference.

The primary agenda item for the 2001 TS-SIS Business Meeting was, of course, the proposed changes to the bylaws. The proposed changes resulted from a thorough review of the bylaws by the TS-SIS Bylaws/Handbook committee chaired by Eloise Vondruska. The Executive Board is very grateful to the committee for identifying the necessary corrections, and commends them for a job well done. David Bratman, the 2001/2002 chair of the Bylaws/Handbook committee has presented the proposed changes to the AALL Bylaws committee for approval. The membership will be kept informed of the status of the proposed bylaw changes through the TS listserv.

Also on the agenda for the Business Meeting was the presentation of the Renee Chapman Award for Excellence in Technical Services Librarianship to Reggie Wallen, Assistant Director for Technical Services at Stanford University. Reggie was among the first librarians I met when I first became active in TS-SIS. At that time she was the TS-SIS liaison with AALL Annual Meeting Program Committee. Reggie guided Julie Stauffer, and me through the maze of our first program proposal. She made it all seem so easy! Reggie Wallen and Renee Chapman were friends and colleagues. I think that Renee would be very pleased that her peers had honored her friend Reggie, with an award bearing her name.

On behalf of the TS-SIS Executive Board, I would like to thank Alva Stone, the immediate past chair of TS-SIS, for her hard work and perseverance in getting a quorum at the Business Meeting and juggling all the duties of the chair of a special interest section. Alva's wonderful sense of humor saved the day many times! I would also like to thank the other officers whose term ended in July: Cindy May (outgoing Member-at-Large), Janet McKinney (past Chair), Joan Liu (outgoing Serials Committee chair), and Chris Long (outgoing Cataloging/Classification Committee chair).

Thanks to the generous support of Innovative Interfaces, Inc., the TS/OBS/CS/RIPS Joint Reception has become the traditional first social gathering for librarians at the conference. This year the Joint Reception was held at the University of St. Thomas Law Library. I would like to thank the Joint Reception Committee and the chair, Cynthia May for all their hard work in planning a wonderful reception. I would also like to thank Edmund Edmonds, Director of the University of St. Thomas Law Library for providing the membership with such a lovely site for the reception. Attendees were given the opportunity to tour library and admire the lovely frescos on the ceiling in Terence Murphy Hall, while they enjoyed the excellent food and the company of their colleagues.

TS-SIS Objectives for 2001/2002

Since it's creation the Technical Services SIS has been a work in progress. Our SIS is a dynamic organization. We continue to grow and adapt to our ever-changing environment, so with that in mind the TS-SIS will be working on the following initiatives this year:

Management Committee: Discussion and work will continue on establishing a new TS-SIS Management Standing Committee based on the initial meeting held in Minneapolis. Annual TS-SIS membership survey responses indicate that there is strong interest in the development of educational programs relating to technical services management issues. Look for more discussion on this topic on the TS listserv and for more information on the web page at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/tssis.htm If you are interested in management issues and the creation of a new Standing Committee, please contact Jim Mumm, e-mail: jim.mumm@marquette.edu, tel.: (414) 288-5351.

Strategic Plan: Discussion and work will continue on the TS-SIS Three-Year Strategic Plan. The membership is invited to review the draft document on the TS-SIS web page at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/tssis.htm. The strategic plan draft was developed by the TS-SIS Strategic Plan Committee chaired by Caitlin Robinson, and by Alva Stone the immediate past Chair of TS-SIS, based on the results of the annual membership survey. The emphasis of the strategic plan is on broad based training, professional networking, and preservation issues in all types, and sizes of law libraries. The Section membership is invited to review the strategic plan draft, and offer input on the draft, as well as, offer possible implementation ideas for the strategic plan via the TS-SIS listserv.

Education Grant: This new grant is available to all TS-SIS members to be used to attend technical services related, AALL–sponsored workshops. The TS-SIS Awards Committee, chaired by Mary Lu Linnane, drafted guidelines and procedures for applying for this grant. The TS-SIS Education Grant was made available for attendance at the AALL Workshop in Washington, DC, "New Perspectives on Law Library Acquisitions and Collection Development" to be held on November 2-3, 2001, at American University. If you are interested in applying for the TS-SIS Education Grant to attend future workshops you will find the application on the TS-SIS web page at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/tssis.htm. If you have any questions regarding the grant, please contact Lorna Tang, the 2001/2002 Chair of the TS-SIS Awards Committee: e-mail: l-tang@uchicago.edu, tel.: (773) 702-9619.

Training Initiatives: Planning will begin on developing a series of training materials for "train the trainer" type programs in technical services activities that could be used at the regional, chapter, or individual library level. Planning will also begin in developing or sponsoring web-based continuing education courses for TS practitioners. If you have ideas for possible training program materials, or web-based continuing education programs, or if you would like to be involved in the development of these programs, please contact JoAnn Hounshell, e-mail: jhounshell@law.northwestern.edu, tel. (312) 503-7920.

I plan to use the Technical Services Law Librarian newsletter, the TS-SIS listserv and the TS-SIS web page to keep you informed of what is going on in your SIS. I will be asking for volunteers and feedback throughout the year. The SIS needs volunteers to keep it moving forward. If you will volunteer, I will accept your help and put you to work. If you give me feedback, I promise that I will listen and do my very best to ensure that the TS-SIS continues to meet the membership's professional needs.