MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section New Chairs orientation & EXCOMM Meeting

1. MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference Section New Chairs orientation & EXCOMM Meeting September 12, 2014

2. AGENDA • Introductions • Review Agenda • New Chair Orientation • EXEC Comm Meeting • Meeting schedules • Discussion of role of Members at Large and MARS website • Discussion of role of Secretary and Message from MARS • Discussion of MARSS/RSS Joint EXCOMM meeting

3. Welcome EXEC Committee • Stephanie Graves, Chair, stephaniegraves@tamu.edu • Donna Scanlon, Vice-Chair, dscanlon@loc.gov • Sam Stormont, Past-Chair srstormont@widener.edu • Chanitra Bishop, Secretary chbishop@indiana.edu • Amy Fry, MAL; afry@bgsu.edu • Courtney Greene McDonald, MAL crgreene@indiana.edu • Matt Torrence, MAL torrence@usf.edu • Chanitra Bishop (with Cathy Larson), MARS-L Moderator • Joelle Thomas/Members at Large, Web Coordinator

4. Welcome MARS Committee Chairs • Best Free Web Sites Ashley Rosener & Janice Wilson, Co-Chair • Conference Program Planning Beth Boatright, Chair • Hot Topics in E-Reference DG Beth Boatright, Chair • Local Systems & Services Geoffrey Morse, Chair • MERS Lindsay Johnston & Lily Todorinova, Co-Chairs • MARS Achievement Courtney Greene McDonald • Nominating Debbie Bezanson, Chair • Outreach Shannon Jones, Chair • Planning Debbie Bezanson, Chair • Products & Services Geoffrey Morse, Chair • Professional Development Kimberly Bloedel, Chair • Publications Members at Large (Courtney Greene) • UX Design Ryan Shepard, Chair • VR Ref. DG Open?

5. Chairs Orientation 6 Areas of Responsibility • Committee Engagement • Membership • ALA Conference Meetings • Virtual Meetings • Publicity • Communication

6. 1. Committee Engagement • To-Do: Set at least one goal that you would like to accomplish this year as Chair. • Maybe that’s hosting a program or updating your committee charge. Decide what’s important to you and work towards that for the rest of the year. People want to be involve on committees that “do” something. • Need help thinking about a goal? Try reviewing the content in the MARS Handbook relating to your committee. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/mars/marssection/marshandbook/mars_handbook/marshnbk08.pdf • Chairs are responsible for keeping committees moving forward toward your goal. • Remember that Executive Committee approval is needed if you are planning a program, discussion forum, publication, special project, etc. Be aware of the deadlines associated with approval for each event.

7. 2. Membership • To-Do: Check Your Membership Roster for Accuracy (including dates of appointment). • If members' personal information changes (new job, new address, etc), they must update it themselves by signing into their profile on the ALA website and updating the information. • If members need to be added or dropped from the committee roster, their status changed, (virtual, intern, consultant, etc.) or their dates of appointment are inaccurate, please inform the MARS Chair, Stephanie Graves (stephaniegraves@library.tamu.edu).

8. 2. Membership • To-Do: Identify members for re-appointment on the committee • Ask members who are completing their first two-year term on the committee to see if they wish to continue for a second two-year appointment • Consider running for a second term as Chair. • If you have served two terms as Chair already, try to identify someone who should be Chair next year. • Email reappointment information to the Vice-Chair, Donna Scanlon (dscanlon@loc.gov ) after MidWinter Meeting!

9. 2. Membership • To-Do: Take attendance at meeting using the Committee attendance form. • Visitors : If you have visitors to committee meetings, include their contact information on the Committee attendance form and give or email the information to the Vice Chair, immediately after the meeting. Visitors are potential members of MARS and potential committee members, so collecting this information is important. • Unresponsive Members : If you have a problem with a committee member not responding at all, check with the Chair. There is some boilerplate language in the MARS Handbook starting on page 73 that you can adapt as needed. • ENCOURAGE USE OF THE RUSA VOLUNTEER FORM!

10. 3. Ala Conference Meetings • Before ALA: • Create an Agenda • Email Meeting Agenda and Reminder of meeting date, time, and location to all committee members • Gather any info or feedback from committee members not able to attend ALA • At ALA: • Run committee meetings at conferences • Have attendees introduce themselves • Take special note if any visitors are interested in joining the committee • Keep an attendance sheet. • Encourage all committee members to participate during the meeting • Minutes: Determine who will take minutes for the meeting. Make sure that the person taking minutes has a copy of the attendance information to include in the minutes. Minutes from the committee meeting held at the last conference should be approved during the current meeting or via email prior to the meeting. All approved minutes should be sent to the MARS webmaster at marswebcoordinators@gmail.com to be posted to the committee web page. The minutes should also be sent to the MARS Chair, Vice Chair, Chair of the Planning Committee, and the Executive Committee Liaison for the committee.

11. 4. Virtual Meetings • Set regular virtual meetings with your committee. • RUSA has a license for Adobe Connect, which can also be used to schedule virtual committee meetings. There is also a teleconferencing option. • http://www.ala.org/rusa/virtualmeetings/adobeconnect • You and your committee members may also have access to other tools such as Go-to-Meeting, BaseCamp, etc. And or course there are free tools such as Skype and Google Docs. If you find a tool to be particularly worthwhile, please share your experiences with the group as we are always looking at ways to improve our virtual productivity.

12. 4. Virtual Meetings • Encourage all members to participate in work between conferences. • Delegate roles to committee members. • Send progress updates to committee members throughout the year. • Send out minutes of all virtual meetings. • Keep the Executive Committee informed through your Member at Large.

13. 5. publicity (3 ways) 1. Committee Web Page • Committee Web Pages are listed at: http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marssection/marscomm/committees. • It is one of the roles of the committee to keep your committee web page up-to-date. If the committee also chooses to maintain a separate wiki or blog, a link can be added to the committee web page; however, current information should continue to be added to the committee web page. Send documents for posting to the MARS webmaster at marswebcoordinators@gmail.com. It is not necessary to convert documents to HTML. • Committee web pages should contain: • The Committee Charge/Statement of Purpose –A short statement of what the committee does. See the description in the MARS Handbook for your committee. • http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/mars/marssection/marshandbook/mars_handbook/marshnbk08.pdf • Substantive Content –Links to publications, info about programs, discussion forums, handouts, Power Points presented during programs/discussion forums, etc.

14. 5. publicity (3 ways) • 2. ALA Connect: Administrative Information • Agenda of upcoming meeting – Can also be posted in ALA Connect • Minutes of past meetings – Can also be posted in ALA Connect • Current roster (password protected-access limited to ALA members) • If there are errors in the roster – DO NOT SEND corrections to the WEBMASTER. Personal committee member information must be corrected by the member by signing into his/her profile on ALA. If committee members' names are missing, members are listed who are not members, member's status, terms is wrong, etc., contact the MARS Chair, Stephanie Graves, stephaniegraves@library.tamu.edu

15. 5. publicity (3 ways) • 3. MARS-L / MESSAGES from MARS • Committee chairs and members should make sure they are subscribed to MARS-L and RUSA-L. The activity isn’t high and it is a good way to keep up-to-date with RUSA and MARS activities. • Chairs should draft summaries of meetings and activities for inclusion in Messages from Mars. • The MARS-L/Messages from MARS editor will send out deadline information during the year. Between issues of “Messages” feel free to send emails to the MARS-L and RUSA-L listservs.

16. 6. Communicate • Communicate with: • Your Committee members • Email frequently • Consider using a blog, wiki or other tools to manage communication • The Executive Committee • Email the MARS Chair at any time, stephaniegraves@library.tamu.edu • Ask questions of your Member at Large • Chairs should attend at least one ExCommmeetings at each ALA conference to report on the committee’s activities. • MARS and RUSA Groups • MARS-L: To subscribe, unsubscribe, manage subscription options or view MARS-L archive, go to http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/mars-l • ALA Connect : ALA Connect has been pre-populated with ALA individual and committee membership information. • Schedule time to communicate!

17. Questions? / Comments • Feel free to contact the Executive Committee Liaison for your committee or the MARS Chair if you have questions, concerns, or ideas to share throughout the year.

18. Goals • Respond to the suggestions and work that came out of the MARS Section Review. • Name Change • Update Handbook • Review Committee structure • Capitalize on Emerging Technologies interest • Explore opportunities for virtual participation and virtual engagement in the work of MARS

19. Thanks everybody!!