February 13-14, Charleston, SC

The meeting was called to order by Faith Meakin, Chair, at 1:00 p.m.

Faith outlined the current status of CONBLS.  In October 1999, it was decided to have a Chair again and to modify the bylaws.  Faith was elected Chair and Tamara Lee was elected Chair-Elect.  This year it was noticed that no dues notices had been sent out for two years.  Members debated various options for remedying this lapse in dues collection.

The outcome of the discussion was that Cheryl Hamberg, CONBLS Treasurer, would be instructed that CONBLS dues for 1999/2000 would be $500 and that next year’s dues will be $250.  This arrangement will allow CONBLS to recoup the dues that weren’t collected in 1998/99 and restore the treasury.  Faith will have Cheryl send out bills on CONBLS letterhead as soon as possible with a payment date of June 1, 2000 or before.  The invoices for 2000/2001 dues will be sent out July 1, 2000 and will be due back October 1, 2000.

Decision: Faith to contact Cheryl Hamberg re bills for CONBLS dues.

Members also discussed whether to reimburse members for travel costs this year.  Tom Basler explained that the historical intention of reimbursing airfare for meeting attendees was so that as many of directors could attend as possible.  If directors from nearby cities were able to drive to the meeting, they were not reimbursed for these expenses.  Hotel expenses have never been reimbursed by CONBLS.  The CONBLS treasury is primarily used to cover the costs of securing a meeting space and providing food at the meeting as well as reimbursement of airfare for the retreat attendees.  Faith expressed the need for CONBLS to codify these guidelines.  It was decided that meeting attendees might proceed with requesting reimbursement for airfare for this year’s meeting.  (Question to whom should they send them?)

Decision:  Meeting attendees can send reimbursement requests.

Tom Basler reported that the CONBLS archives are located at MUSC Library.  He will investigate its contents and report back to Faith.

Decision:  Tom Basler will review CONBLS archives.

There was discussion about the pros and cons of having the same person serving as treasurer for an indefinite period of the time and the merits of making this a rotating office.  It was decided that this position should be made into a three-year appointment and that Cheryl Hamburg should be offered the option of continuing as treasurer.  Faith will do this.  Members also discussed the need for more than one person to have signature authority on the CONBLS account.  Tom Williams reported that the account is currently located at Emory University Credit Union.

Decision: Faith is to offer the three year treasurer’s position to Cheryl Hamberg if she does not want it Suresh Ponnappa has volunteered.  The additional signature of the Chair-elect will be added to the account.

Faith reported that Nova Southeastern University now has a medical school.  It was decided that Faith would contact the director and extend an invitation to join CONBLS.

Decision:  Invitation for membership will be extended to Nova Southeastern

Members then discussed the need to elect officers.  It was explained that the Chair -Elect is responsible for planning the program for the next retreat.  It was decided that a secretary position needed to be created and that the term would be for two years.  As noted earlier, the treasurer position would be a three- year term.  These changes will require a bylaws change.  Ruth Riley was elected Secretary.  The primary responsibility of the secretary is to take minutes at retreat business meetings and at the October business meetings.

Decision:
1.       Secretary position was created for a two- year term.  Ruth Riley will serve as first secretary.
2.       Bylaws change necessary.  Carol Burns to make the addition to the bylaws

Members discussed the need for a web page.  Scott Plutchak agreed that University of Alabama Birmingham would host the site. The site will include a logo, member directory, bylaws, meeting minutes, links to CONBLS library websites, etc.

Decision: University of Alabama at Birmingham will host the website

[Ada Seltzer reported that Vanderbilt had been sending ILL requests to her library since October and expecting them to be free.  Ada indicated that she had received no formal communication from Vanderbilt or CONBLS that Vanderbilt was now participating in the reciprocal ILL agreement.  The last communication from Vanderbilt from Mark Hodges was that CONBLS was withdrawing from the group and would participate in the reciprocal ILL agreement.  Faith asked if others in the group were experiencing similar requests from Vanderbilt.  Members were not sure.  Faith will contact Nunzia Giuse about this issue.

Decision: CONBLS Libraries should verify status of billing for Vanderbilt.  Faith will contact Nunzia about an official letter asking for reinstatement as a participant in the ILL consortial agreement.

Members discussed the need for continuing to maintain the CONBLS union list.  The consensus seemed to be that the new version of SERHOLD would minimize the need to continue with the production of the union list.  Members reported that they intend to begin doing data input themselves.  Ruth Riley reported that the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Library was willing to continue with production of the list for another year until the new SERHOLD was fully in place.  She indicated that Karen Rosati, Head of Serials, will be sending letters to her peers at CONBLS libraries asking them to report any changes and whether they want a union list produced.  Members asked that these letters be directed to the director level instead.  Ruth agreed.  The group expressed great appreciation for the work that Tom Lange and the USC School of Medicine Library had performed over the years on the union list.  It was decided to send Tom a letter of thanks and some kind of gift from CONBLS.  Ruth requested that cards also be sent to the library staff members who have maintained the list, Karen Rosati and Annie Potter.  Members agreed.

Decision:  1. USC will send letters to directors re union list plans.
2.       A letter of appreciation will be sent to Tom Lange for his work on the Union List and as a  founding father of CONBLS
3.       Cards will be sent to Karen Rosati and Annie Potter

Faith adjourned the meeting at 2:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ruth Riley
CONBLS Secretary

At the close of the CONBLS Retreat, Tom Basler and Tamara Lee provided an update on communications with SOLINET and MD Consult.  Tom and Tamara worked with Angee Baker at SOLINET to explore options for negotiating a deal with MD Consult.  They shared the outcome of their discussion with the members.  After debating the pros and cons of moving forward with a subcontract with SOLINET to negotiate with MD Consult and Academic Press, members decided to abandon the initiative.

6 p.m.  Welcome Reception.
Vehicles leave the Peabody motor entrance at 5:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, April 6

All events will be held in General Mormon Room B (unless otherwise indicated)

7:30-8:30       Continental breakfast

8:30-10:30     Directors Roundtable
Moderator:  Tom Singarella

Each director will spend 5-10 minutes discussing what’s happening in their library and on their campus as it affects the library.  Participants are encouraged to bring brochures and other information to hand out about their library.

10:30-10:45    Break

10:45-12         Directors Roundtable (continued)
Identification of most pressing issues common to all CONBLS libraries.

12:00 p.m.      CONBLS Luncheon (Ben Hollander Room)

1:30-3:00       E-Books
Sherry Thompson, M.S.I.S.
Vice President, Library Services
Majors Scientific Books, Dallas, Texas

Overview of the current status of E-books, including challenges, concerns, trends, issues related to where the field is going, licensing, pricing, cataloging, vendors, aggregators, and archival issues, followed by audience discussion.

3:00- 3:15      Break

3:15-5:00      T. Scott Plutchak, Moderator
Panel Presentation: Strategies for Managing Electronic Resources

Electronic Resources Licensing
Faith A. Meakin

Accessing E-Journals at the Louis Calder Memorial Library
Suzetta Burrows

E-Journals
Sandra Franklin

This panel will discuss strategies, methods, and policies related to managing electronic resources in the health science library (e.g., selection criteria, tracking, licensing restrictions, the value of a separate list versus including items in the catalog).

5:00 p.m.        Adjourn for the day.  Have fun during the evening.

Dinner is on your own.  Enjoy!

SUNDAY, April 7

7:30-8:30       Continental breakfast

8:30-10:30  New EBM Informatics Course for a New Case-Based Medical School Curriculum.

Evidence-Based Medicine Longitudinal Theme of the New Outcomes-based Curriculum at the
University of Miami School of Medicine: Year 1
Henry Lemkau and Suzetta Burrows

Evidence Based Medicine and the Use of the Biomedical Literature
Course Syllabus, Fall – Spring 2001 – 2003 (Revised)

This session will describe the EBM informatics initiative developed by library faculty at the University of Miami School of Medicine to support the Longitudinal Theme #3 Evidence-Based Population Medicine of the School’s new case/competency-based curriculum implemented in the fall 2001. Included will be an overview of the new curriculum and its longitudinal themes and of the development and implementation of the EBM course.  Informal networking time on common issues and themes drawn from the Saturday discussion.

10:30-10:45   Break

10:45-11:30   Continued Discussion.

Noon  Adjourn

March 19-21

Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences, Birmingham, AL

Blueprints for the Future

CONBLS Directors’ Retreat, March 10-12, 2006

Hosted by Medical College of Georgia Greenblatt Library

Augusta, GA

Retreat Summary

Friday, March 10

4:00 p.m. Shuttle pick-up @ hotel for Greenblatt Library

4:30 p.m. NLM’s Changing Faces of Medicine Exhibit and library tour

5:30 p.m. Shuttle from Library to Reception/Dinner

6:00 p.m. Reception/Dinner (Bistro)

9:00 p.m. Shuttle from Bistro to Radisson

Note: Please let me know if you plan to arrive later than the Library visit and need transportation to dinner. I could pick you up in front of hotel @ 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 11 (Radisson)

8:30 a.m.—Continental Breakfast

9:00-12:00 noon—Academic Learning Space: An Information Commons, Crit Stuart, Associate Director for Public Services, Georgia Tech Libraries

Noon-1:00 p.m.-Lunch

1:00-4:00 p.m.—Smart Tech: an Institutional Repository, Tyler Walters, Associate Director for Technical Services, Georgia Tech Libraries, and, GALILEO’s Knowledge Management Repository: A State Perspective, Mark Spasser, PhD, Chair, Education and Information Services, Medical College of Georgia

4:00-5:00 p.m.—Assessment and Wrap-up

Dinner—On Your Own (numerous downtown eateries and night clubs)

Sunday, March 12 (Radisson)

8:30 a.m.—Continental Breakfast

9:00-12:00 noon—Program (State of Our Universities and Libraries)

*
Morehouse School of Medicine Library (formerly the Multi-Media Center), Cynthia L. Henderson
*
UF Health Science Center Libraries Status Report, Beth Layton
*
The Medical College of Georgia: State of the Library, Tamera Lee
*
University of South Carolina School of Medicine State of the Campus and Library, Ruth Riley

12:00 noon—1:00 p.m.–Lunch

Recommended local options for those who may arrive early or stay longer (an easy distance via the River Walk just outside hotel unless noted otherwise):

Augusta Golf and Gardens ( http://www.gghf.org/)

Morris Art Museum ( http://www.themorris.org/)

Ft. Discovery Museum ( http://www.nscdiscovery.org/)

Augusta Canal and Petersburg Boats ( http://www.augustacanal.com)–short cab ride from downtown)

Faith outlined the current status of CONBLS.  In October 1999, it was decided to have a Chair again and to modify the bylaws.  Faith was elected Chair and Tamara Lee was elected Chair-Elect.  This year it was noticed that no dues notices had been sent out for two years.  Members debated various options for remedying this lapse in dues collection.

The outcome of the discussion was that Cheryl Hamberg, CONBLS Treasurer, would be instructed that CONBLS dues for 1999/2000 would be $500 and that next year’s dues will be $250.  This arrangement will allow CONBLS to recoup the dues that weren’t collected in 1998/99 and restore the treasury.  Faith will have Cheryl send out bills on CONBLS letterhead as soon as possible with a payment date of June 1, 2000 or before.  The invoices for 2000/2001 dues will be sent out July 1, 2000 and will be due back October 1, 2000.

Decision: Faith to contact Cheryl Hamberg re bills for CONBLS dues.

Members also discussed whether to reimburse members for travel costs this year.  Tom Basler explained that the historical intention of reimbursing airfare for meeting attendees was so that as many of directors could attend as possible.  If directors from nearby cities were able to drive to the meeting, they were not reimbursed for these expenses.  Hotel expenses have never been reimbursed by CONBLS.  The CONBLS treasury is primarily used to cover the costs of securing a meeting space and providing food at the meeting as well as reimbursement of airfare for the retreat attendees.  Faith expressed the need for CONBLS to codify these guidelines.  It was decided that meeting attendees might proceed with requesting reimbursement for airfare for this year’s meeting.  (Question to whom should they send them?)

Decision:  Meeting attendees can send reimbursement requests.

Tom Basler reported that the CONBLS archives are located at MUSC Library.  He will investigate its contents and report back to Faith.

Decision:  Tom Basler will review CONBLS archives.

There was discussion about the pros and cons of having the same person serving as treasurer for an indefinite period of the time and the merits of making this a rotating office.  It was decided that this position should be made into a three-year appointment and that Cheryl Hamburg should be offered the option of continuing as treasurer.  Faith will do this.  Members also discussed the need for more than one person to have signature authority on the CONBLS account.  Tom Williams reported that the account is currently located at Emory University Credit Union.

Decision: Faith is to offer the three year treasurer’s position to Cheryl Hamberg if she does not want it Suresh Ponnappa has volunteered.  The additional signature of the Chair-elect will be added to the account.

Faith reported that Nova Southeastern University now has a medical school.  It was decided that Faith would contact the director and extend an invitation to join CONBLS.

Decision:  Invitation for membership will be extended to Nova Southeastern

Members then discussed the need to elect officers.  It was explained that the Chair -Elect is responsible for planning the program for the next retreat.  It was decided that a secretary position needed to be created and that the term would be for two years.  As noted earlier, the treasurer position would be a three- year term.  These changes will require a bylaws change.  Ruth Riley was elected Secretary.  The primary responsibility of the secretary is to take minutes at retreat business meetings and at the October business meetings.

Decision:
1.       Secretary position was created for a two- year term.  Ruth Riley will serve as first secretary.
2.       Bylaws change necessary.  Carol Burns to make the addition to the bylaws

Members discussed the need for a web page.  Scott Plutchak agreed that University of Alabama Birmingham would host the site. The site will include a logo, member directory, bylaws, meeting minutes, links to CONBLS library websites, etc.

Decision: University of Alabama at Birmingham will host the website

[Ada Seltzer reported that Vanderbilt had been sending ILL requests to her library since October and expecting them to be free.  Ada indicated that she had received no formal communication from Vanderbilt or CONBLS that Vanderbilt was now participating in the reciprocal ILL agreement.  The last communication from Vanderbilt from Mark Hodges was that CONBLS was withdrawing from the group and would participate in the reciprocal ILL agreement.  Faith asked if others in the group were experiencing similar requests from Vanderbilt.  Members were not sure.  Faith will contact Nunzia Giuse about this issue.

Decision: CONBLS Libraries should verify status of billing for Vanderbilt.  Faith will contact Nunzia about an official letter asking for reinstatement as a participant in the ILL consortial agreement.

Members discussed the need for continuing to maintain the CONBLS union list.  The consensus seemed to be that the new version of SERHOLD would minimize the need to continue with the production of the union list.  Members reported that they intend to begin doing data input themselves.  Ruth Riley reported that the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Library was willing to continue with production of the list for another year until the new SERHOLD was fully in place.  She indicated that Karen Rosati, Head of Serials, will be sending letters to her peers at CONBLS libraries asking them to report any changes and whether they want a union list produced.  Members asked that these letters be directed to the director level instead.  Ruth agreed.  The group expressed great appreciation for the work that Tom Lange and the USC School of Medicine Library had performed over the years on the union list.  It was decided to send Tom a letter of thanks and some kind of gift from CONBLS.  Ruth requested that cards also be sent to the library staff members who have maintained the list, Karen Rosati and Annie Potter.  Members agreed.

Decision:  1. USC will send letters to directors re union list plans.
2.       A letter of appreciation will be sent to Tom Lange for his work on the Union List and as a  founding father of CONBLS
3.       Cards will be sent to Karen Rosati and Annie Potter

Faith adjourned the meeting at 2:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ruth Riley
CONBLS Secretary

The meeting was called to order by Faith A. Meakin, Chair, at 12:40 p.m.

Faith welcomed members to the fall meeting and thanked Tom Williams for being such a gracious host to CONBLS and to the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association.

Faith requested that all members review the membership roster and send any corrections to Ruth Riley, Secretary.

Minutes of the February 13, 2000 meeting were approved as distributed.

Faith Meakin, outgoing Chair, gave the Treasurer’s report for Cheryl Hamburg.  The treasury balance was reported as $9,262.96.  Cheryl had just received checks from members for the previous year’s dues.  Another invoice was due to go out to members in July 2000 for the 2000/2001 dues but it hadn’t been sent out yet.  Discussion ensued about formalizing the position of treasurer.  Biddanda (Suresh) Ponnappa agreed to serve as Treasurer.  Faith agreed to work with Suresh to transfer the accounts to him from Cheryl.

Faith introduced Tamera Lee as the new incoming Chair of CONBLS for 2000-2001.

There was discussion about whether to invite Nova Southeastern University Health Professions Division Library to join CONBLS.  The question was raised as to the criteria for asking libraries to become members.  Ruth Riley cited Article III of the CONBLS Bylaws which states that members shall be academic health sciences libraries which shall have been admitted either as charter  members or by majority vote of the full membership.  No decision was made.

Faith reported that she had obtained cards to acknowledge the retirement of three CONBLS colleagues – Carol Burns (Emory), Jocelyn Rankin (Mercer), and Tom Lange (U of South Carolina).  These cards were distributed at the meeting for signatures.  Faith also purchased cards and gifts to send to Karen Rosati and Annie Potter at the University of South Carolina for their work on the SEMPUL Union List.  She also purchased a card and gift for Tom & Sammy Basler for hosting the CONBLS group at their home in Charleston at the February 2000 meeting.

Tamera thanked Faith for her leadership and service as the first official chair of CONBLS.

Tamera reported that Scott Plutchak had taken over administration of the CONBLS website and encouraged members to send him information and any needed revisions for the website.  It was reported that the old CONBLS website at MUSC Library needs to be dismantled as an Internet search pulls up the old website as well as the new.

Tamera recommended that an entry for CONBLS be added somewhere in the Southern Chapter/MLA Membership Directory.  Fay Towell had reported that she had trouble figuring out who to contact when making local arrangements for the SC/MLA meeting.   It was suggested that a link to the CONBLS website be added to the SC/MLA web page.  Scott Plutchak agreed to contact the SC/MLA webmaster and accomplish this task.  It was also suggested that the CONBLS Chair should take the initiative to contact the SC/MLA Local Arrangements Committee Chair to make arrangements for future CONBLS meetings.

Discussion ensued about the Spring 2002 CONBLS retreat.  It was decided to keep the directors presentations on state of the campus and state of the library.  Tom Singarella graciously agreed to host the meeting in Memphis.

Henry Lemkau raised the question of whether CONBLS should have any representation on the NN/LM SE/A Regional Advisory Committee.  Faith Meakin responded that CONBLS has not had a representative on the board for the past ten years.  She also reported that although the NN/LM SE/A did not sponsor a resource library directors meeting in their last contract, they did one have planned for March 2001.

Discussion ensued about the length of term for officers.  According to the bylaws, the Chair shall serve a one-year term; the Chair-elect shall serve a one-year term and then succeed to the office of Chair; the Treasurer shall serve a three-year term; the Secretary shall serve a two-year term.

Tom Williams agreed to chair CONBLS in 2001-2002.

The meeting adjourned at 1:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ruth Riley, Secretary

Tamera Lee, Chair, called the meeting to order at noon.

Tamera welcomed everyone, especially incoming directors, Rosalind Lett (Meharry) and Victoria Delgado-Aponte (Univ. or Puerto Rico).  A round of introductions was made.

Minutes of the October 23, 2000 Business Meeting were distributed.  Corrections were necessary and the minutes were not approved at this time.

Sandra Franklin spoke briefly about the search for the Directorship at Emory and Faith Meakin announced that Barbara Shearer has been hired as Director of the new medical library at FSU.  She was formerly at Mobile AL and Thomas Jefferson Univ. She will be coming to Florida in early spring. (actually in November 2001)

Tom Singarella spoke about the 2002 retreat in Memphis. He said he expects a good turnout and that a number of people will bring staff members with them.  Reservations should be made early for the Peabody Hotel which is very convenient to many good restaurants.  Susan Thompson will speak on the topic; “E-Books: Publishers and Vendors.”  Scott Plutchak will chair a panel discussion of management of E-Resources.  Henry Lemkau offered to do a presentation on the transition to an evidence-based curriculum for Sunday morning.  Tom Singarella suggested that a record be kept of the activities of the meeting and that useful information be shared with others.  This led to some discussion about what should and should not be posted on the CONBLS web site and whether or not parts of the site should be password protected.

Tamara gave the Treasurer’s report for Suresh Ponnappa who was unable to attend.  The treasury contains $12,552.70.  Suresh had asked Tamera to poll the members on two questions:
Q:  When is the best time to invoice for dues?
A. Tom Singarella made the following motion:  “Dues will be sent by June 1st and will be due by Aug. 31st.  Ada Seltzer seconded and the motion passed.  Tom Williams asked that the treasurer grant exceptions when needed.

Q. Who should be reimbursed for travel?
A. Tom Basler explained that dues were instituted and travel reimbursement was given to everyone in order to insure that everyone would be able to attend.  Over time the funds are insufficient to cover travel for everyone and should be used to those whose institutions cannot or will not reimburse.  Henry Lemkau moved that CONBLS funds be used to support the retreat and may also be used to reimburse the transportation expenses of representatives of member institutions if required.  Tom Basler seconded.  The motion passed.

There was then a discussion about whether or not instructions for subscribing to the CONBLS discussion list should be posted on the web site.  The group decided that the list should remain private and the instructions should not be made public.

Jan LaBeause asked how to indicate that Loansome Doc requests are submitted on behalf of faculty.  It was decided earlier that this should display prominently in the notes area of the request form.

Tom Basler announced that the salary survey is almost complete.  He still needs to enter the data of one institution, but it will soon be available.  He also mentioned that he is open to suggestions about anything people would like to do to improve the survey methodology.

Tom Williams is the incoming Chair.  Need to elect a new Chair for the 2003 Business Meeting and the 2004 Retreat.  The group also needs a new Secretary.

The revised minutes will be placed on the listserv for approval.

Respectfully submitted,

Ruth Riley
Secretary, CONBLS

[Note from Secretary – Ms. Sarah Gable kindly recorded the minutes in the absence of the Secretary.]