InULA President's Report
Ralph Papakhian
2001/2002
The executive board (Gary Wiggins, Vice-President/President elect; Andrea Singer, Treasurer; Jo McClamroch, Secretary; Representatives-at-Large: Gail MacKay, Suzanne Mudge, and Sylvia Turchyn) began its work in August by reviewing the documentation necessary for InULA to achieve exemption from federal tax as an organization described in the Internal Revenue Code section 501 (c) (3). We received official notification of that status in September. This was accomplished by the extraordinary efforts of our former treasurer, Wendell Johnting, and our former president, Julie Nilson. We must thank them once again for their tenacity in securing tax exempt status. Copies of the exemption application and notification letter have been placed in the archives, as well as in the files of the treasurer and president.
While the year started out auspiciously, the atrocities of Sept. 11 brought the country to a standstill. Nevertheless, we eventually regrouped and tended to the business at hand. Our membership recruitment campaign was extremely successful (we have a record high membership of at least 122). We established a calendar and formed committees.
As a carryover item from the previous year, the Ad Hoc Committee to Propose a Bloomington Book Sale Location submitted a final report. The committee investigated several alternative locations for the book sale (including the IMU and MCPL), but the board decided not to pursue these options at this time. We would like to thank the hard work of that committee which consisted of Andrea Morrison, Suzanne Mudge, and Carolyn Walters.
Based on the report of last year's Ad Hoc Indianapolis Book Sale Committee (chaired by Larry Griffin), we were able to form a regular Indianapolis Book Sale committee this year, with Randall Halverson as chair. That committee is preparing for a book sale in Indianapolis in the fall of 2002 and another in 2003.
Gary Wiggins, on behalf of a member, suggested that InULA participate in the Indiana Library Federation (ILF) annual silent auction for scholarships. Sylvia agreed to join Gary to form an Ad Hoc Committee to assemble a basket of IU sports-related items for the auction. The donation (a basket ball signed by Coach Mike Davis) was shipped in February and the auction was in April.
In April of 2001, the board had adopted a motion: "funds that have been and will be collected for the Anniversary Fund should be designated to establish an InULA endowment to fund scholarships for students in graduate librarianship programs at IU, as well as educational activities supporting librarianship." In the fall, at the direction of the board, the treasurer created a separate account for the Anniversary Fund in order to track contributions to the fund. While the funds currently in that account are insufficient to establish an endowment, the board felt it was time to consider renaming the "25th Anniversary Fund," to "Anniversary Scholarship Endowment Fund." This change was approved in May 2002.
A related topic was whether the board should allocate or donate excess funds from the operating budget to the Anniversary Scholarship Endowment Fund. Understanding that a decision could be reversed by future boards or the membership, we decided in May to transfer $1,000 from one of the certificate of deposit accounts to the Anniversary Scholarship Endowment Fund.
We want to thank the Program and Social Committee (Miriam Murphy, Chair; Kevin Dinkens; Taemin Park; Lois Sewell; Sylvia Turchyn; and Celestina Wroth) for organizing two outstanding meetings this year as well as the May membership meeting.
We want to thank the Bloomington Book Sale Committee (David Frasier, Erika Dowell, and Anne Haynes, Co-Chairs; Anne Bock, Gary Charbonneau, Saundra Taylor, Monique Threatt and all of the numerous volunteers) for organizing what appears to be a record-breaking book sale. The success of the sale enabled InULA to increase its donation this year to the Dean's fund.
We want to thank the Communications Committee (Jennifer Bryan, who took over as Chair when Andy Spencer left Bloomington, Emma Dederick-Colon, Jian Liu, Jacob Nadal, Sally Neal, and Gary Wiggins) for maintaining the InULA web site and InULA-L.
We want to thank the Constitution Committee (Mary Popp, Chair; Erika Dowell, Janet Feldmann; Wendell Johnting; Jian Liu; and Julie Nilson) for quickly preparing the changes required in the Constitution and By-Laws for maintaining our tax-exempt status. All of the necessary amendments were approved by June with a very substantial proportion of the membership voting.
We want to thank the Elections Committee (Saundra Taylor, Chair; Marty Rosen; Lois Sewell; Becky Cape; and Linda Zellmer) for preparing an excellent slate of new officers and board members.
And we want to thank the Professional Development Committee (Marty Joachim, Chair; Rita Barsun; Diane Dallis; Joyce Eikenberry; Jason Fields; Carol Rusinek; and Jason Yu) for reviewing and recommending the Research Incentive Fund applications. Awards were presented to Bob Noel, Moira Smith, Ellen Bosman, and Xiao Jason Yu.
The board reviewed seven applications for the InULA scholarship and awarded it to Jennifer Conn Segner. There was some discussion about how to increase the number of applications, but that topic will likely be tabled for next year's board.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all InULA members. InULA is thriving and accomplishing its purposes: to promote excellence in library service and to provide opportunities for continuing education and professional growth. It has been a great privilege to work with such dedicated colleagues in the cause of promoting librarianship.