Publications Committee Minutes - 2008 Annual
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WESSWeb > WESS Committees > WESS Publications Committee > 2008 Annual Minutes
- WESS Publications Committee Minutes
- ALA Annual Meeting – Anaheim, CA
- Saturday 6/28/2008 from 1:30 PM- 3:30 PM
- in the Hilton Anaheim – Capistrano A
Present: Steven Atkins, Laura Dale Bischof (WESS Vice Chair), Dick Hacken (Webmaster), Jerry Heverley, Thea Lindquist, Shawn Martin (Publications Committee Chair), George Paganelis, Heleni Pedersoli, Jeff Staiger, Sheila Smyth, Paul Vermouth (Newsletter Editor), Brian Vetruba, and Sarah Wenzel (WESS Chair)
1. Updates on WESS domain name and research - At ALA Annual’s meeting, it was decided that George and Shawn research the possibilities of buying wessweb.info as the domain name for WESS’s website so that when the webpage changed editors, there would be no need to set up re-directs and change domain names to the institution where the site is housed. However, there was some discussion about ALA policies on whether WESS could pay a private company for this kind of service. Shawn discussed the possibilities with ALA and was unable to get any clear objection. The committee unanimously passed a resolution that we would go forward with this suggestion and pay for wessweb.info as the domain name.
2. Wiki and Website - Also at ALA Annual there was some discussion about whether the committee would like to do some re-design of the current website. Though everybody likes the ability to edit and update the site, the front page is not particularly user friendly. Discussion centered about whether to build features like a designed front page, logo, navbar or other features. The committee decided that it would be good to pursue this and to see if it would be possible to get professional, perhaps in-kind donations to fund a user study of the website and then a redesign of parts of it.
3. Newsletter Future - There was some concern about the size and comprehensiveness of the last newsletter and how to transition from Paul to new web editors. It was decided that Paul needs to be replaced by two people with him serving as an aid to field questions and advice as we move forward. One person will help to handle the technical aspects (Sheila Smyth) and one person will help to coordinate content recruitment (Jerry Heverley)
4. ACRL Statement on political speech - ALA has had some concerns that in the upcoming elections, some of its resources could be used to make political speech. Since this might jeopardize the organizations non-profit status, ALA, and ACRL have decided to create a policy statement about political speech. WESS publications needs to insure that this information makes it to all of the listservs that WESS sponsors and that it makes it to the WESS website.
5. Revision of ACRL By-laws - ACRL has also changed policies for sections so that sections no longer need to maintain by-laws in the same way. This will require someone to go through our current by-laws and begin revising them with further review provided by the entire WESS publications committee by ALA Midwinter. Sheila Smyth has agreed to do an initial revision and pass that on to the committee for further review.
Respectfully submitted Shawn Martin 7/18/2008
WESSWeb > WESS Committees > WESS Publications Committee > 2008 Annual Minutes
