Executive Committee Report
on
MALC 2008/2009 OBJECTIVES
Early in the 2008/2009 year, the MALC Executive Committee sought to address a few select objectives that would solidify MALC as a voice for the academic community. Instead, the MALC Executive Committee was frequently required to address a range of unanticipated and contentious issues throughout the year. Nonetheless, MALC members remain committed to helping the organization grow to become a recognizable voice within Lansing and the statewide academic community.
Increase the number of Deans/directors who respond to the annual activity report request, attend meetings, and contribute to the role of MALC.
This is an area which has had mixed success. Membership and conference attendance has gradually increased among private and community colleges. However, the decision of the COLD group (15 members) to leave MALC because they feel they do not have enough time to meet as a group themselves is a serious setback. Member contribution of annual reports has dropped precipitously and the executive committee has been hearing complaints that academic directors have too many statistical reports to complete as it is. As a consequence, a task force has been established to match the MALC annual report request as closely as possible with IPEDs (Dept of Education) or NCES documentation.
Work toward a statewide strategic plan to save MeLCat Databases.
On behalf of the membership, the Executive Board sent a letter to all House and Senate Appropriation Committee members urging that MeLCat databases be retained (on the basis of their cost-sharing contributions). A preliminary view of this effort suggests possible success in this endeavor.
Establish a MALC task force to conform the MALC Annual Report format with the Department of Education’s IPED or NCES questionnaire.
This task is only now getting underway.
Retain the Council of Library Directors (COLD) as part of MALC
Though a majority of COLD members paid their dues to remain part of MALC, the COLD membership at their fall meeting voted that their group become a separate Community of Practice group within the Michigan Library Association.
Per MALC Executive Board Committee vote, apply as a Community of Practice (COP) pilot group within the Michigan Library Association.
Executive Board members voted as directed by their respective memberships (COLD and MCCL voted yes, DIAL-M voted no) to become a COP. The application to join MLA as a pilot COP was completed but the application was rejected by the MLA’s Professional Development and Networking Committee. MLA determined that MALC was too organized and its processes too well defined to fall under the idea of a “pilot” which was meant to test out different operational options.
Produce a joint 2009 Spring Conference with MLA’s Academic Libraries Day at Jackson Community College.
The success of the joint MALC/MLA spring conference suggests that this arrangement will be considered in the future. As a joint conference, not only can resources be pooled but conference attendance can be expanded to include others beyond just deans/directors.
Establish an MLA-sponsored Academic Libraries Award (similar to the State Librarian’s Excellence Award) in order to give greater visibility to academic librarians within MLA.
The development of an Academic Libraries Award was ‘frozen’ as a result of MLA restructuring. Hopefully, once MLA becomes financially/organizationally stable, the topic will be reconsidered.
Several MALC Executive Committee member terms expired. As a result, several new members were recruited to serve on the Executive Committee.
From previous year, only Roy Nuffer and John Potter still serve on the Executive Committee members. They were joined by Kelly Jacobma (Hope College), Clifford Taylor (Jackson Community College), and invited member Fred Michels (Lake Superior State University). John Potter became Chair of the MALC Executive Committee in the fall of 2008. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the members of the Executive Committee Margaret Auer (University of Detroit Mercy), Rachel Chen (Eastern Michigan University), Linda Farynk (Saginaw Valley State University), Elenka Raschkow (Lansing Community College), Jack Wood (Delta College).
Other
Minutes of MALC DIAL-M and MCCL 2006 spring meetings were distributed to MALC membership and placed on the MALC web site.
Executive Committee met with MLA executive director to discuss role of academic librarians in the Association.
In the absence of COLD elected representative, a COLD library dean was invited to become member of the Executive Committee.
Distributed appropriate announcements via email from the Library of Michigan, American Library Association, MLA, ALA Councilor, etc. to the MALC membership.
Prepared and distributed survey to membership in response to MLC request to meet with their board on the needs of academic libraries in Michigan
Solicited membership fee from MALC institutions, sent invoices, and received funding from fifty-two of eight-four libraries.
Executive Committee met (nearly) monthly to keep the organization on schedule; Minutes of all Executive Committee meetings distributed to membership and placed on the web site.
Responded to member email questions; acknowledged all registrations and checks received.
Developed a history of attendance at MALC meetings to help determine where the organization need to place its efforts to attract non-participating deans/directors.
Called DIAL-M and MCCL libraries to confirm directors names and email addresses.
MALC listserv continually updated.
Dissolved the print and digital collections task force.