DERM Business Meeting minutes

Monday June 14, 2010

New Orleans   
Chair Dean Walton opened the meeting by announcing the sponsors for the sessions that are were organized by DERM. They include Ebsco, Annual Reviews, IEEE, Nature Publishing Group, Future in Science and BNA. He encouraged members to thank them when they visit their booths. 
The minutes from the 2009 membership meeting were reviewed, amended, and approved as amended. 
Dean summarized the sessions that were being sponsored by the Environment and Resource Management Division. They include a talk on Open Source Technology for Libraries, a session on Green Chemistry for the Toxicology Round Table, a session on the Impact of Storms on Coastal Cities and a session on Measuring Large Scale Environmental Change. 
Dean introduced Liz Wallace, the incoming chair of DERM. She described the sessions that were being planned for Philadelphia. They include a session that will be co-sponsored on the Vivo project and 3 sessions that we will be sponsoring, including the Toxicology Round Table, Forestry and a session on BioFuels. 
Dean summarized the results of the brainstorming session from last year's meeting. One of the things that had been discussed was the development of a Wiki. He stated that the Division now has a wiki that has been set up to inform people about the Division and provide information that might be of interest to DERM members. The Board voted to make the wiki our new web site, replacing the former web site, which was somewhat static. All DERM members will be able to add content to the wiki. In addition, we will begin to use Delicious as a source of information and links to subject information on the wiki. The system was set up by Michael Sholinbeck. Dean described that a set of subject links that have been developed on the BP oil spill. The work has been highlighted by the SLA administration and is number 5 on the Google list related to library resources on oil spills. 
Dean presented the Treasurers report in the absence of Treasurer Judy Volstad who could not attend the meeting. Last year we spent a little more than we took in. Last year we had $13,255, but are now at $10,966. We will be working to find more sponsors for programs. The officers and board were also introduced. 
Officer vacancies were announced, they include a Chair, First Year Director, Secretary and a chair for the Toxicology Round Table will be needed. Dean also thanked the Board members for their help during the year. 
Beth Wohlgemuth announced two awards.  
The student award, recognizing a student who has an interest in pursuing a career as an information professional in environment and natural resources. The student award was received by Cynthia Cohen, who is attending library school at San Jose State University. She has an undergraduate degree is in natural resource management from University of California at Berkeley and a Masters degree in English. She is working for an environmental consulting firm, where she is building their first corporate library. She is a certified arborist and has worked as a volunteer for the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Los Angeles County arboretum. Cynthia has published an article titled "The Unique Representation of Trees in the Lord of the Rings." 
Beth also announced and presented the Outstanding Member Award to Barbi Kaiser. Barbie has been an active ERMD member for a number of years and has served in a number of roles, most recently as Ethics Ambassador. She proposed a session on Social Responsibility: Ethics at Work, identifying five speakers for the session (at no cost to the Division) who spoke on government information, journalism and agriculture, and moderated the session. She also reported on her work as Ethics Ambassador at the 2009 Business and Board meetings, which summarizing the results of the ethics survey of the membership. She also was on the committee that proposed the green conference initiative to the SLA Board. The committee developed a list of recommendations for members, vendors and staff. She has also worked with other SLA groups. She was awarded the Dow Jones Leadership Award in 2009 for her work with the international information literacy programs and the computers for developing countries program. Her work on the SLA Information Ethics Initiative led to the establishment of the SLA Information Ethics Advisory Council, which is working on ethical guidelines for the Association and the profession. She serves on the Board of Directors of the World Computer Exchange that helps connect people to skills, opportunities and understanding of the Internet while keeping computers out of landfills. 
The Board Proctor was also introduced before the meeting was adjourned. 
Dean introduced our speaker, Tina Marquardt, who has been active in working to provide information after Katrina through the Beacon of Hope Resource Center, an organization that developed to help provide information to people who wanted to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.  
Submitted by Linda Zellmer, Secretary