Message from the NMRT President, August 2008


by Laurel Bliss

My Presidential year is just getting started, and I already feel like there are a ton of things going on within NMRT.  Isn't the summer supposed to be a slow time? :)  For instance, I'm very pleased to see that many committee members have been introducing themselves to each other.  That will certainly help your work go more smoothly.

Let me share some tidbits of news.  As you may know, the ALA website is getting a much needed makeover.  The NMRT Web Committee, under the able leadership of John Meier and Vincci Kwong, will be migrating all of our web content over to the new site.  Until the process is complete, our website is frozen, and can't be updated. This includes submissions via the online committee volunteer form. But don't worry!  As soon as it is back up, Courtney Young will start making committee appointments. For those of you wanting to update your committee's webpage, just hold onto your changes for the time being.

Other news is that our ad hoc "electronic participation" group has been crafting an NMRT stance to send to the ALA Task Force on Electronic Membership Participation. Members of the NMRT group are Linda Shippert, Amanda Roberts, Samantha Hines, Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen, and Courtney Young.  Once the statement is finalized, it will be posted to NMRT-L. I will quote briefly from the draft document:  "A move to accept electronic forms of participation, and providing further opportunities for involvement via electronic means, would increase participation among professionals, increase member retention, and set a higher standard for the association."  My thanks to this group for their hard work!

Please feel free to contact me at lbliss@rohan.sdsu.edu if you have any questions or thoughts that you'd like to share.