SRRT IG Meeting
Friday, April 22, 5-6 PM
Manitou Room, Red Lion, Spokane
Minutes

Officers were elected through the volunteer method. Chair: Laura Park, Secretary/Treasurer: Will Stuivenga, Webmaster: Carla McLean. Jonathan and Nancy Minton agreed to serve as members of the Coordinating Committee along with the above elected officers. The CC makes decisions and conducts SRRT business between regular meetings.

Expense forms should be sent to Will. He verifies that money is available to pay, and then send forms to the WLA treasurer who cuts checks.

Next the group brainstormed ideas for Conference programs. It was suggested that we might co-sponsor with another group such as IGLU, OLE or REFORMA. The theme of the 2006 WLA conference is "grow."

Four ideas emerged from the brainstorming session:

1. Impact of automation, outsourcing, but especially self checkout on both staff and the public, especially foreign speakers, new immigrants, seniors, and other special populations, but also the effects of lack of human contact, or reduced contact.
2. Security: difficult patrons, overall threats to health and safety of both staff and patrons.
3. Outreach to Native Americans, cooperation between tribal/school/public libraries. Jonathan mentioned a Puyallup tribe program he was aware of. A program featuring this program would be especially appropriate given the location of next year's conference in Tacoma.
4. Providing basic services to recent immigrants, such as Somalians, Hispanic/Latino populations and others. How do you break the language barrier? Issues include library catalogs, collections, acquisitions, marketing/publicity, getting users to be aware of resources after you have them

Jonathan recommended that we have someone flesh out each of these topics, and Laura suggested each one be researched to determine if there are articles relating to it. We have to determine who potential speakers might be, and an estimated cost/budget for each program. Preliminary program proposals are due by mid-July; these should include a brief description and a cost estimate.

The topics were divided as follows:

1. Impact of self-checkout-Tony Wilson will investigate impact on staff/patrons, Ken Ayala-Gollersrud will investigate impact on minorities
2. Security-Cindy Richardson
3. Outreach to tribes and Native Americans-Jonathan Betz-Zall
4. Services to new immigrants-Rayette Sterling and Ken Ayala-Gollersrud

Will volunteered to assist by searching Library Literature online, as he has access to a subscription through the State Library. Folks need to send him their defined topics and suggested search terms and keywords.

Gail Willis attended the meeting briefly and provided information about the retreat for all Interest Group chairs to be held June 9-11. The IG training is Saturday morning. Gail also provided a copy of the new officers form, and offered her advice on any problems or questions we might have. The form was filled out and signed before the meeting ended.

Jonathan mentioned that we (SRRT) have an e-mail discussion/distribution list, currently on the Telebyte system, but due to be changed over to the new service soon. Information on subscribing can be found on the SRRT homepage: www.wla.org/igs/srrt/. All SRRT members are encouraged to subscribe.

Jonathan handed out copies of draft bylaws for SRRT, which he wrote. He pointed out that while it may not be required that SRRT have bylaws, it is good practice, as it puts official procedures in place, makes it easier to manage the group's affairs, and helps prevent hostile takeover attempts, should such occur. The bylaws have to be submitted to the WLA Bylaws Committee before they can be officially adopted.

Cindy Richardson moved and Laura Park seconded that the bylaws as drafted and presented to the group be provisionally adopted and sent to the WLA Bylaws Committee for review. Motion carried unanimously.

Jonathan reported that SRRT currently has about 30 members. Our funds come from a portion of the $5.00 fee that members pay when they choose to join SRRT as part of the WLA membership renewal.

The meeting was adjourned.