Meeting of the General Assembly, Thursday, June 13, 2002, Storrs, Ct.
1. Welcome and introductions
Chair: A Green. The meeting was called to order at: 13:00, with approximately 100 members present.
A Green welcomed attendees, and introduced the officers of the Association, thanking them for all the things they do. Also thanked University of Connecticut which made it such a wonderful conference.
2. Approval of the minutes of the General Assembly 2001 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Motion to approve: moved: A Green, seconded: T Trost. CARRIED
3. Matters arising from the minutes
There being none, the meeting proceeded.
4. Reports
Administrative Committee meeting Mon June 10
4.1 President and Vice-president (A Green)
A Green presented an outline of the committee structure:
- Publications Committee: L Niedert and P Yott are chairs, KB Rasmussen is editor
- Membership Committee: S Giles
- Constitutional Review Committee: C Geda
- Nominations and Elections Committee - election to be held in the fall
- Education Committee - expect to appoint a chair in the coming year
- Executive officers: some are elected, others appointed.
Action groups address specific issues:
- Web site Action Group
- Outreach Action Group
- Representation & liaison Action Group
- New Action Group on a 5-10 year plan, will be co-ordinated by Bill Block
The Association is in a solid condition, with successful conferences. The IASSIST Quarterly continues to be published. The listserv is very active. And the web site is a growing asset, the treasury solid, and membership growing a bit.
4.2 Regional secretariats
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Canada (W Watkins) National Data Archive Committee round II report was accepted 3 days ago. Rest of report on web.
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USA (P Adams) P Doyle was named a fellow of the American Statistical Assn last year. Report for 2001 now up on the web; the report for 2002 is pending. A great deal of data activity in the United States in last year. P Adams commended members of APDU for taking risk of holding meeting in shadow of damaged pentagon shortly after September 11th. The President’s report on homeland security focussed on data, data integrity, data standards, and telecommunications infrastructure. US members are urged to make our experience of data known to elected officials because they need our expertise.
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Europe (M Wright) Report will be posted on the web. 82 members in the region from 21 countries, largely due to last year’s Outreach Action Group. 15% of members are from eastern Europe. Lots of collaborative, pan-European projects.
4.3 Treasury (J Dionne for W Thomas)
The association is in good financial shape, having added to reserves last year. A budget has been accepted, and it does balance. Outreach Action Group budget will be $2000 next year.
4.4 Archives (A Green for Y Hackett)
Archives in process of being consolidated., with the work being done at University of Toronto. Funds have been approved funds for a Master of Information Studies student to document what is there, and a letter will be sent to past presidents requesting their old files
4.5 Action Groups
4.5.1 Outreach Action Group (I Einowski)
The mission of the Outreach AG is to assist archivists and data professionals from developing countries to attend IASSIST conferences. Have funded a total of 36 people since the AG began. Last year the AG had a lot of money, including funding from the World Bank, UNESCO, IFDO and IASSIST, and 20 people attended. This year, the AG was funded with only IASSIST funds, and only one attendee was funded, from Bulgaria. Would like the AG to begin to serve more as a liaison, looking for funding agencies to partner with us to perhaps bring a conference to a developing country that is wanting to set up a data archive. Contacts are important in this process.
4.5.2 Web site
Report deferred.
4.5.3 Representation and Liaison
Mission is to document liaisons and memberships with other organizations and institutions. Chaired by R Dekker.
4.6 Interest groups (A Green)
In the past, interest groups have been formed around e.g. the Data Documentation Initiative. Last year there was also an interest group formed focused on issues pertinent to the U.S. A Green reviewed the process for setting up an interest group.
A proposed new interest group for the coming year: to develop a 5-10 year strategic plan. The last 5-year plan is now 15 years old. The interest group will be chaired by B Block. Needs to reflect the virtual community.
4.7 Membership Committee (S Giles)
Focussing on providing content for new web site. The membership database should be totally up to date by the end of the summer. A new brochure will be developed. The directory of members has gone to press. Will also be conducting an analysis of membership over time to review representation.
4.8 Publications and Communications Committee (L Neidert and P Yott)
KB Rasmussen and L Niedert will be focussing on in expanding content. L Niedert is the point person to obtain copies of power-point presentations. Will be contacting session chairs and presentors. KB Rasmussen thanked all the people who have been active in producing the IASSIST Quarterly. Especial thanks to W Piovesan who worked on layout. Special plea for the papers from the current conference.
4.9 Committee on the Constitution (C Geda)
Proposed revisions to the constitution will be mailed to the membership. Also distributed in conjunction with the fall election for a vote on the revisions.
4.10 Nominations and Elections (P Burnhill)
Thanks to J Dionne, who has documented the election process for last couple of elections. The members will be asked to submit nominations.
5. Conference reports
5.1 Storrs, Ct. 2002
A year and 3 months ago, IASSIST lost the original proposed conference location. The Roper Center stepped in, and success of this conference on short notice is stunning.
5.2 Ottawa, Ont. 2003
The 2003 conference will be in Ottawa, Canada, at the Novotel Hotel and University of Ottawa facilities. C Humphrey is the program chair. There will be no conference bags. Conference dates: May 27 workshops, May 28-30 conference. The conference excursion will be a river cruise on the Ottawa River
5.3 Call for proposals for conference 2004
L Chou, proposed the 2004 conference be held May 25-28, 2004 in Madison Wisconsin.
A call for proposals for 2005 will be issued. Prospective hosts should check the criteria for making a proposal on the IASSIST web site.
6. Web site action team (R Rice)
A group of volunteers, including P Baxter, P Bern, S Cannon, L Cou, R de Vries, A Green, W Giesbrecht, C Humphrey, R Jantz, S Macdonald, R Nakado, C Perry, R Rice, is working on revising the IASSIST web site.
Introduced the new web site: www.iassistdata.org, to be officially opened 13 June, 2002
The first IASSIST web site, created in 1995, focused on answering such questions as “who we are” and “what we are about”. The new web site will instead focus on “why you want to come to this site”, and “what you will get by coming to IASSIST”.
The site will also be available have the DNS www.iassist.info.
6. Closing remarks
Moved to adjourn - C Humphrey. The meeting adjourned at 13:55