Annual Meeting 1999 Washington, DC



MELA Business Meeting, Nov. 19th, 1999

Minutes

The 1999 Annual Meeting of the Middle East Librarians Association convened at about 9:20 a.m. in the Librarian's Reception Room of the Jefferson Building, Library of Congress. LC Associate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb conveyed greetings from the Library of Congress, our host for the day.

The Minutes of last year's meeting were accepted as published in MELA Notes no. 67-68. The Report of the Secretary-Treasurer was accepted as read.

Jonathan Rodgers gave the Editor's Report. The next issue of MELA Notes will probably be a double issue. He outlined the articles to appear in what he expects will be a good issue. He encouraged members to contribute articles.

Old business:

·
Cataloging manual. Joan Biella encouraged those involved in the project to rededicate themselves in the coming year to completion of the manual, which was first discussed in 1982.
·
Library directory. Brenda Bickett and John Eilts will continue to organize this work which will bring together information on Middle East specialist library staff and on Middle East collections.
·
Web reviews. Joyce Bell agreed to manage the website she has begun for collocating reviews of Middle East-interest websites. Roberta Dougherty will organize contributions of reviews. Michael Hopper said that Cheryl LaGuardia, coordinator of the Electronic Teaching Center at Harvard College Library, would welcome reviews of Middle East websites for her column in Library Journal.
·
Dues increase. Dona Straley opened discussion on the topic by citing several facts:
1.
We have had no dues increase for at least ten years.
2.
Although LC sponsored this year's meeting, at future meetings in Orlando, San Francisco, and Anchorage, we will need to cover our own hotel meeting space and refreshment expenses. Mary St. Germain said that our San Francisco meeting expenses were about $1,400.
3.
MELA Notes no longer enjoys the Mazda subvention to cover printing costs. Consequently, MELA pays for 100% of printing costs. Publication of annual double issues has become the pattern during the past two years. Our dues income must cover printing cost for MELA Notes , as well as meeting expenses.
4.
The Executive Board has authorized the awarding of the ``George Atiyeh Prize'' of $150.00 a year to support student travel to the MELA meeting. The two immediate MELA past presidents will constitute the George Atiyeh Prize Committee. The committee will solicit and review applications.
Therefore, the Executive Board proposes a dues increase of $15.00 to $30.00 per year. In the discussion, the question was raised of assessing a registration fee for the annual meeting, instead of an overall dues increase. In support of assessing the meeting registration fee, it was argued being that since institutions more typically fund registration fees in full, there would be an advantage to members in having a small dues increase and a registration fee as well. Michael Hopper suggested raisng the institutional subscription rate. With respect of our hotel meeting expenses, Ed Jajko reminded us that our meeting at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency was supported in large measure by generous gifts from our book dealers (Sulaiman's Bookshop and Leila Bookshop). Ed proposed a one-time capital campaign to build reserves.

We voted to set aside the by-laws (Article 3C, Section 4: Dues) in order to vote on a proposal to raise the dues. Fawzi Khoury proposed raising dues and all subscriptions to $30 annually. This motion was accepted, and the majority of members in attendance voted in favor of raising the dues: For 2000/2001 and forward, the dues rate and new and renewing subscriptions will be $30.00. Life membership accordingly will now be $600.00 (20 times annual dues rate). The new Executive Board had already decided that life membership dues must be paid at one time, although the Board will continue to discuss the possibility of paying in installments.

·
The future relationship of MELANET and the MELA web site (including the electronic version of MELA Notes—which is not located on the MELA website). Janet Heineck and Jonathan Rodgers will discuss this and report at the 2000 meeting in Orlando.
·
Election of new officers. Roberta Dougherty was elected President; John Eilts is Vice-President and Program Chair; Janet Heineck continues as Secretary-Treasurer; and Jonathan Rodgers continues as MELA Notes Editor. Ali Houissa continues to manage MELANET. Meryle Gaston was elected Member-at-Large.
·
Announcements. Jonathan Rodgers described the following day's MELA-sponsored roundtable at MESA and its participants: Geoffrey Roper, Fawzi Abdurrazak, Kristen Kern, Ali Houissa, and himself. Dona Straley said that George Atiyeh was nominated for the MESA Service Award and asked as many people as possible to attend the MESA awards ceremony the following evening. Shahirah El Sawy announced a position opening at the American University in Cairo for a rare books and manuscripts librarian. Basima Bezirgan called for speakers at a panel at the 2000 IFLA meeting in Jerusalem. Brenda Bickett announced a position opening for head librarian at the Middle East Institute library. Shaista Wahab announced the publication of the second volume of her bibliography of the University of Nebraska's holdings on Afghanistan and in Pushto. Geoffrey Roper conveyed greetings from MELCOM and announced that body's next meeting in Venice 22-24 May 2000. He also said that the European Association of Middle East Studies, possibly jointly with MESA, will meet in 2002 in Mainz, the city of Gutenberg. This meeting may include a session on the history of printing in the Middle East. Anyone interested should contact Geoffrey Roper.
·
Reports. Mary-Jane Deeb reported on the Library of Congress's outstanding Middle Eastern acquisitions during the year, personnel changes, events sponsored, and trips taken. Sarah Ozturk reported on cataloging at LC, personnel changes and new arrivals, and a brand new subject heading change: “Orientalism” now replaces “Middle East - Foreign public opinion - Occidental.” Lesley Wilkins said that work is continuing on the KBP classification, the Islamic law classification schedule.
New business:

Dona Straley said that MELA has sponsored panels or workshops at MESA in the past and urged that sponsorship be continued. It has been the charge of the Executive Board to organize the panels. The deadline for MESA 2000 panel proposals is February 15. Basima Bezirgan and Brenda Bickett agreed to see that a MELA workshop proposal will be prepared and submitted on time.

·
Conference registration fee. Basima Bezirgan moved, and Frank Undlandherm seconded the motion, to establish an annual meeting registraton fee of $20.00, not to include lunch, with no charge for students. The motion passed. Beginning with the November 2000 meeting in Orlando, we will charge a $20.00 meeting registration fee. Mary St. Germain suggested that the Secretary-Treasurer determine how many members had paid the 1999/2000 dues at $15.00 and compare that figure with the number of members who will pay the $30.00 2000/2001 dues and the number who pay the conference registration fee. This will be a way of determining whether we are taking in enough from the conference fee to make up for the likely drop in dues income.
At the end of the business meeting, we enjoyed an excellent lunch as the guests of the Library of Congress.



Treasurer's Report, November 19, 1999



Savings account balance November 19, 1999   $3,406.37
Checking account beginning balance November 20, 1999   $4,622.75
   INCOME         
Interest income   $26.28
Other income (dues, subscriptions,   
      ads and mailing list sales)   $3,783.88
   TOTAL    $3,810.16

   EXPENDITURES         
MELA Notes (production and postage   
      for one issue)   $891.87
Postage and Supplies   $418.49
Other costs (including 1998 lunch)   $934.70
   TOTAL   $2,245.06
Checking account ending balance November 19, 1999   $6,237.85

 



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On 29 Jul 2000, 14:14.