Meeting of the General Assembly, Thursday, June 3, 2010, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
1. Welcome
The meeting was called to order at 12:59 p.m.
2. Approval of the minutes of the previous AGM (2009)
MOVED to approve the minutes of the annual general meeting of May 28, 2009 subject to typographical editorial review. Moved: T. Lindsay, seconded W. Piovesan. The motion CARRIED.
3. Treasurer’s Report
In the interest of brevity: the budget is holding steady. Pose any questions to J. Green by catching her in the hallway or by email or phone.
4. Regional Reports
Africa - L. Woolfrey on behalf of K. Kasozi
The Africa Regional Secretary could not be here. Work is being done to set up an African chapter to form the African Association of Statistical Data Archivists. There will be a meeting at end of year and a report will be provided from that.
Asia-Pacific
The position of Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary is currently empty. It is hoped that those present from that region will get together and nominate someone.
Canada - M. Andrews
Please see the full report on the web site. It was a busy year: Canada is a big country with a lot happening in the regions. We are looking forward to everyone coming to Canada next year for the 37th annual IASSIST meeting.
Europe - B. Hausstein
Members in Germany have been busy. It was a challenging year with many projects and all the details are in the report on the web site.
USA - P. Baxter
Several members deserve recognition: Myron Gutmann has moved to the NSF to head the Directorate for Social, Behavioural & Economic Sciences; Diane Geraci received the 2009 William H. Flanigan Award for Distinguished Service as an ICPSR Official Representative; and Nancy McGovern has been inducted as a 2009 fellow of the Society of American Archivists. Congratulations to one and all. Members are encouraged to look at the proposed changes to the committee structure and consider participating. We are seeking members to contribute to IASSIST initiatives. Anyone interested is encouraged to contact P. Baxter. Don’t be surprised if she reaches out to you.
5. Committee Reports
Education - M. Edwards
Thank you to all of the workshop presenters. This year there was a great slate and variety of topics. We are looking forward to a lot of work on Education this year.
Publications - W. Piovesan
We have transitioned from print to a web-based IQ. K. Boye Rasmussen is in progress on a double issue on DDI. Everyone who presented here is encouraged to start working on the papers from your presentations. Our web site will be much enriched for the membership. There will be a session this afternoon on the web site changes.
Membership - L. Timms-Ferrara
Please see the web site for the full report. Before we take into account the final numbers for this conference, we have 243 members, representing 25 countries and 22 US states and five Canadian provinces.
Nominations & Elections - E. Boyko
2011 is election year for IASSIST. President, VP, regional secretaries and one half of the members at large will be up for election. A call for nominations will come out at the beginning of October. By that time to stand for election nominees must be paid up members of the organization. During September we will work with regional secretaries to make sure everyone is up to date. Nominations will remain open through the end of December. During January we will prepare electronic ballots. During February for four weeks the election will be open. Results will be announced two months prior to the meeting. The Nominations and Elections Committee will meet tomorrow morning at 8:00. We do not have a full committee yet and we have had some informal sessions, but anyone who wants to know more about the process should come to the meeting in the morning. We really hope to get somebody to step up for the Asian Pacific Region.
International Outreach Committee - P. Lackie
The committee has developed over the last two years with lots of conversations since Stanford and Tampere. We have come up with a more sustainable model. We needed a better way to sustain participation from members from countries with developing economies and didn’t previously have the funding and stamina to keep it going. We have a new mechanism, the Fellows Program. We are currently looking for new funding models and sources of funding. Also, we have a new co-chair, L. Woolfrey who spoke for Africa earlier.
6. Conferences
2009 - T. Alaterä
It was the second best IASSIST and this is the best one. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise - we ended up making a good profit.
2010 - B. Block
We should break even. 220 people registered as of today. We hope to achieve the best conference ever this year.
2011 - W. Piovesan
IASSIST 2011 will be held in Vancouver [applause]. You are all welcome, come on down! It will be held the last week of May 2011, May 30-June 3.
2012 - T. Mulcahy
NORC at the University of Chicago is proposing to our Board of Trustees to host the 2012 meeting either in Chicago or Washington D. C. We are still working on the details.
2013 - M. Wright
There have been expressions of interest to host 2013 in Berlin. We will issue a call and other proposals are welcome, from any region.
7. Action / Interest Groups
e-Community Infrastructure Action Group - B. Wandschneider
During the E2 session we will be talking about the e-Community. The interest group has been recharged. We would really like to hear from you what ideas you have around that.
Advocacy & Liaison Action Group - P. Lackie
This group is proposed to have a much better structure, which will be announced in a bit with better activity for everyone. Please participate.
Strategic Plan Action Group - J. Herndon
We are at the end of the two-year mission to deliver a strategic plan to IASSIST. The draft plan was approved on Monday. You will see the plan in the next week as we implement the small changes the committee made for the final document. Through extensive talks with membership, survey, phone calls, and conversations at conferences we focused the plan on three main themes: advocacy, community, and professional development. I want to thank the membership for your input, which was invaluable in structuring the final document. I also want specifically to thank members of the committee: M. Edwards, P. Lackie, and R. O’Reilley who spent a great deal of time working on the advocacy section of the document. One of the goals of the AC in working through the planning document was to go forward and translate those into specific actions for the organization. On your handout you’ll see 6 action groups designed to incorporate concrete actions we heard throughout the planning process, things people wanted to see the org move forward. Each Action Group is a one-year group. If you are interested in working on one of these groups, we are looking for people.
8. New Action Groups - M. Wright
Description and elaboration of the six new action groups were given. See the accompanying hand-out [1, 2] for more detail. We are hoping through this process to make the organization more responsive to the members and to open up more avenues for people to participate in the organization. Action groups provide something concrete with a short or reasonable time frame to participate in IASSIST.
9. Constitutional and structural reform - M. Wright
A proposal for next year’s AGM will refocus the standing committees. The organization is no longer about paper publications but about community and communication.
10. New websites!
Public web site: http://iassistdata.org - R. Rice
A tour of the new web site was given. Some highlights: the Resources section is structured as a blog. All members will get a login and are welcome to post resources and comment on others. The old posts from the IASSIST Communique have been integrated. There is also an official Twitter account in the works, which we will talk about more at the session.
Membership web site: http://iassistdata.info - J. Green
The main purpose of the membership site is to keep track of the membership and as a tool for our money. Features include the membership directory and some other features, which we will cover in the session today. We are still working out some of the functionality and whether some features will go in the .org or the .info site, such as member profiles. Membership renewal messages are sent from the site automatically. There may be some spam filtering going on, so if you haven’t renewed and you’re expecting a notice, you might want to contact your regional secretary if you haven’t received one. You can also log in and check your status. There is potential for some other features, such as fora for discussions that are exclusively member-driven (private). All of this will be discussed at the session later today.
11. AOB
Local arrangements announcements - P. Baxter
In the breakfast area there’s an IASSIST message board. If you’re looking for a ride, you can look there. Please drop conference evaluations in the conference office. They can be done in print or online.
12. Motion to adjourn
MOVED: at 1:44 p.m. to adjourn the annual general meeting.
Moved: L Ruus; seconded K. Partlo. The motion CARRIED.