Professional Forum Minutes

April 18, 2005

 

Attendees: 

Karen Hopkins, Jason Neal, Evelyn Barker, C.D. Walter, Lea Worchester, Treva Lyday, Loretta Barker, Laura Hartswell, Diane Neal (Presiding), Noel Anderson, Leveta Hord, Julie Williams, Josie Murdock, Ann Kelley, Sunday Phillips, Gerald Saxon, Jim Welvang, Bobbie S. Johnson, Julie Alexander, Antoinette Nelson (Recorder), Carleen Dolan, Brad Gulliford, Brenda McCulkin, Tommie Wingfield, Beverly Carver, Gretchen Trkay and Ruthie Brock.

 

Minutes Approved:

Minutes were approved for the March 14th meeting.

 

Calendar feature in Outlook:

Julie Alexander asked for discussion on problems encountered using Outlook.  It was decided training sessions on features not used very often might be helpful.

 

ACTION:  Diane Neal will set up a couple of training sessions on features within the Outlook Calendar.  Suggestions to specifically cover were the “Task” and “Notes” feature

 

Conferences, workshops or seminars attended:

Beverly Carver - Art Libraries Society of North America Annual Meeting in Houston, TX, April 1-6.  She was the co-coordinator for the registration/hospitality desk and attended a Leadership workshop and marketing program

 

Tommie Wingfield - ACRL in Minneapolis, MN, April 7-10.  She attended a LibQUAL marketing program “Is there life after LibQUAL?”  She also provided two CDs that will be on Reserve – “Learn how strategic marketing can focus and energize the LibQUAL experience” and “From Information Commons to Learning Commons: Voices from the frontline.”   She is also a member of the ACRL Marketing Award Committee.

 

Brenda McClurkin –Battle of San Jacinto Symposium in Houston, TX, April 15-16.  Brenda and Ann Hodges were lunch speakers to approx. 250 attendees.  They will also make the presentation “Documenting the Texas Revolution:  Resources in The University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections” at the next PF meeting 5/16.   Exhibit cases with some Republic-era documents were also available for viewing at the Symposium.  She also announced there would be a one day viewing of the original Yellow Rose of Texas document in SpCo on 4/21.

 

Brad Gulliford and Antoinette Nelson participated in the “Open Access and Scholarly Communication” webcast hosted by Johns Hopkins Medical Library and the University of Maryland.  URL site:  http://www.openacess.umaryland.edu.

 

Antoinette Nelson participated as a Display & Safety committee member for the ExxonMobil Texas Science & Engineering Fair in San Antonio, TX

 

Julie Alexander - CNI conference in Washington, D.C. April 6-7 and TLA in Austin, TX April 5-8.  At TLA, she attended the UT Directors Meeting and an ARL program “Diverstiy in the United States.”

 

Gerald Saxon reported on the Dean’s Retreat held April 1-2 in Glen Rose, TX.  The deans are working on a draft of the strategic plan for the next few years at UTA during the summer and a presentation will be made to the UTA community in the Fall.  See the URL:  http://www.uta.edu/president/strategicplanning/ for updates as they’re posted.

 

Ruthie Brock - ACRL in Minneapolis, MN, April 7-10. She reported on two programs:  First one was The Opening Program speaker: William Mitchell, Academic Head of Media Arts and Sciences and former dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).   He discussed what new communication and information technologies mean for libraries.  Second one was on “Customer Service.”

 

Diane Neal - TLA in Austin, TX, April 5-8.  She is Chair of the Automation and Technology Roundtable and NetFair Coordinator.  Presentations from the NetFair will be available on the TLA website soon.  She also reported on the joint venture of Library Technology Now.  Information may be found at:  http://librarytechnologynow.org.  The partners are Texas Library Association’s Automation & Technology Round Table, North Texas Regional Library System, Texas Woman’s University, University of North Texas, and Texas A&M University Kingsville.

 

Evelyn Barker - Texas Distance Learning Association Conference in Ft. Worth, TX, March 7-9. She reported on UTopia, which is a UT Austin-wide university initiative to make the university more relevant to the community. The libraries is the manager of the site which actively recruits faculty research for publication on the site. The research is rewritten in layman terms so that it appeals to a non-academic audience. There are lots of articles on parenting, educational games for kids, and self-enrichment articles about art appreciation and Texas museums.  For more information see:  www.utopis.utexas.edu.

  

Jason Neal - TLA in Austin, TX.  He reported on several programs:  President’s Program “MAD about Censorship”; “Next Generation Z39.50”; “Copyright in the Digital Environment” and “Technology Impact on Academic Libraries.”  He also volunteered at the Automation and Technology Roundtable booth and will be Coordinator of the booth next year.

 

Karen Hopkins - TLA in Austin, TX.  She reported on two College and University Libraries Division (CULD) programs:  SACS and the LibQUAL summit.

 

Tommie Wingfield also thanked those who volunteered as representatives of the Libraries for UTA’s Big Event on Saturday, April 13th.  Tommie Wingfield and C.D. Walter participated at the Arlington Public Library and Antoinette Nelson participated at Randol Mill Park. 

 

Bobbie S. Johnson reminded the group of Pat Mora author of Tomas and the Library Lady speaking as part of the “Arlington Read” program on Thursday, April 21st at noon in the UC Carlisle Suite.