WESS Section Business

Executive Committee Meeting

January 13, 1998, New Orleans

WESS Newsletter

Spring 1998, Vol. 21, no. 2

Association of College & Research Libraries
©American Library Association

Present: Executive Committee: Heleni Pedersoli, Stephen Lehmann, Reinhart Sonnenburg, Thomas Izbicki
Others: John Dillon, Sam Dunlap, Jeff Garrett, Dick Hacken, Carol Pfeiffer (ACRL), Marje Schuetze-Coburn, Ann Snoeyenbos, Sem Sutter

Announcement:

Carol Pfeiffer announced that the ACRL board wants input on updating the strategic plan and toward the 1999 conference in Detroit. A change in the bylaws reducing the number of sections an ACRL member could join without an additional fee was announced. Discussion included concerns about support of the Newsletter. Marje expressed her concerns about continuing to solicit support from book vendors, since ACRL has announced a budget surplus and therefore would have enough funds to support the section newsletters. Carol said she would inquire about the matter and let one of us know about her findings.

Standing Committee Reports

Publications: Elisabeth Remak-Honnef will be the new editor of the Newsletter. She will work with Marje Schuetze-Coburn for a year before assuming sole responsibility. Jim Campbell will get more help in maintaining WESSWeb. Bruce Swann has assumed responsibility for maintaining the Membership Directory.

Research & Planning: Harrassowitz needs a letter from the chair of WESS requesting that the database of unselected monographs be created. Jennifer Vinopal is in charge of the Newspapers project.

Martinus Nijhoff Grant: The results will be announced soon.

Nominations: The slate of nominees was announced at the General Membership Meeting.

Discussion Group reports

Classical, Medieval and Renaissance: The principal topic was Web sites for Classical studies.

College and Medium-Sized Libraries: The topics discussed included vendor slip plans and better publicity for the group's meetings.

Germanists: Involvement in the ALCTS preconference was discussed, as was the Latin American resources project - a possible model for future cooperation. Information will be posted on a travel package for the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Romance Languages: The program included local French-language resources in Louisiana, Spanish Women Writers of the Franco Era and publishing in minority languages in Spain.

Scandinavian: Tools for selecting translations were discussed. An article based on this discussion was suggested.

Social Sciences: Strong expressions of interest in this group have been received, and a listserv is being created for the group.

Conference planning committee

1998 Conference Planning Committee: The topic will be "Digitization in Europe." 1999 Conference Program: The program will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of WESS, "Western European Studies Librarianship."

ACRL Activities Section Council

Pedersoli, Lehmann, and Chlebek reported to the council.

ACRL Board Report

John Cullars reported that ACRL's finances are good this year, but a deficit is projected for next year. Librarians are encouraged to express their opinions on Congressional bills addressing "fair use." The Institutional Priorities and Faculty Awards Task Force is preparing a defense of faculty status for librarians. Sections will have a chance to contribute to the formulation of a new mission statement for ACRL and to give input to the ALA Web Page Task Force.

Old Business: Membership Committee: A charge is being prepared. Ann Snoeynbos will investigate what is necessary to get such a group started and will report at the next meeting.

New Business: A discussion of the role of interns was deferred.

The recommendation of the Publications Committee that the Secretary should maintain the portions of WESSWeb dedicated to the listing of officers and committee members was approved.

Thomas M. Izbicki, Secretary