| Unconfirmed Minutes of the EAHIL
Board Meeting Krakow, September 11th, 2007 Present: Suzanne Bakker (SB), Hellene Bouzkova (HB), Arne Jakobsson (AJ), Tony McSeán (TMcS), Prijo Rajakiili (PR), Benoit Thirion (BT), Sally Wood-Lamont (SWL) 1. Apologies Apologies were received from Manuela Colombi, Meila Kretavicine, Enrica Veronesi. 2. Minutes With two minor corrections, the minutes of the February 2007 board meeting were accepted as an accurate record. 3. Matters Arising (a) Workshop proceedings: PR to confirm to Keiu Saarnit that the board would like a scanned copy of the Tallinn proceedings, so that they can be added to the web site (b) Certification: The board agreed that any new system of certification or registration would need to be supported by a web-based system, ideally linked to the existing membership database. AJ was not currently able to commit to producing such a system because of resource constraints. There is a possibility that SWL might be able to find an economically feasible solution in Cluj. This offer was welcomed by the board, but the board also felt that any development should be explicitly under the aegis of an EAHIL member library in order to provide some assurance over continuity of support and development. SB to arrange a handover meeting between TMcS and the new accreditation and registration working group. 4. President’s Report 6. Secretariat Supervisor’s Report (taken together as a a single item) The report from SB was tabled and received. During the workshop, SB to encourage councillors and all conference attendees to work on expanding EAHIL membership. 5. Treasurer’s Report The report from MC was tabled and received. The board noted with satisfaction the healthy financial picture presented in the confirmed result for 2006 and for the half-year to June 2007. 7. JEAHIL Editor’s Report The report was received, and SWL was congratulated on her achievements as editor, particularly on the 20th anniversary issue. The arrangements for managing peer review will be discussed and revised at the forthcoming editorial board meeting. AJ/SWL to produce a article on the history of EAHIL’s infrastructure, together with a review of our relationships with other professional associations and the current ambassadors with these organisations. ALL to suggest themes for the two 2008 issues still unassigned. In the absence of MK, TMcS to produce a summary of the board meeting for the next issue. 8. Website Matters (a) Newsletters: The full texts of all JEAHILs and Newsletters are now available on the site, and the few remaining conference and workshop Proceedings not yet online are promised to BT in the near future. The links page and the medical library conferences page are also scheduled for a major update. (b) The About EAHIL section is very out of date and needs revising. SB will contact Linda Lisgarten and ask if she will be willing to coordinate this task. (c) BT will add links to the home pages of Ebsco and other affiliated members. (d) SB will write an introductory paragraph. (e) Lists: To minimise the incidence of unintended broadcasting of private messages, SB to change the default reply option for EAHIL-C and EAHIL-L to list and individual, from the present default of list-only. (f) TMcS to send copies of current board and council minutes to BT for uploading to the web site, after they have been circulated on EAHIL-B and EAHIL-C respectively for correction. (g) Membership: Only 100 members have failed to review for 2007. Details on non-renewers will be sent to the respective national councillors for follow-up; all remaining lapsed members will be deleted from the database in November, after which they will need to complete the full application and approval process should they wish to rejoin. From 2008 onwards, the renewal screen will include a Join EAHIL-L tick-box. The new membership card is available for downloading. (h) Elections: The online election processes ran very smoothly, including the new link between the candidates’ names and the membership database. There was a high level of voting, even when the election was uncontested. The 2008 election cycle will begin in January with the publication of the board and presidential nomination forms online and in the Journal . Online voting for the board and the new president will be open for on month beginning May 15th. Council elections will take place in the autumn, and the number of council places for each country will be calculated on the level of membership on September 1st, 2008. The board decided that the setting up of the Nomination Committee had been a success in generating interest and participation in EAHIL elections; SB to invite existing members of the committee if they were willing to continue, and to ask council for suggestions for new members. (i) Abstract Management System: AJ reported that the new version of the abstract submission and management system was due to go live on September 24th, to be used for the Helsinki call for papers. The existing system had been reconfigured to make it easy to re-use for subsequent conferences and workshops. In effect, Helsinki will be provide the test bed for what is hoped to become a standard system for EAHIL events. Check-boxes will be added for first-timers and under-40s to assist the speaker awards process. BT to advise on the detail of screen design. Before the system goes live, a beta-test will be set up when the board can submit dummy abstracts. 9. Conferences and Workshops Ronald van Dieën and Valerie Ferguson have offered to draft a set of standard evaluation criteria to support and regularise the process of judging presentations and posters at EAHIL events. The offer was warmly welcomed by the board and accepted. BT to ask RvD and VF to work up a set of criteria and guidelines which they will be invited to bring to a future meeting of the board. SWL and SB to research what it would cost to produce a replacement EAHIL flag of durable quality. (a) Krakow: Nothing to report, and the board congratulated the organisers on their success in attracting an excellent programme and a huge number of attendees. (b) Helsinki: PR reported good progress, despite difficulties in liaising with professional conference organisers. The call for papers will be launched on September 24th, and the programme committee will meet in December for the final review of submissions. The Finlandia Hall is an excellent venue. The high cost of living in Finland is a significant planning constraint, but the organisers are making particular efforts to maximise sponsorship in order to counteract this. The working assumption is for an early-bird fee is €380, with €430 for the full fee. There was a discussion about whether the conference should end on the Friday evening or Saturday lunchtime, balancing constraints on the programme with the likely low level of Saturday attendance. The council meeting is scheduled for June 25th, and the Helka has been designated as the board’s hotel for the event. (c) Dublin: The board welcomed and noted the receipt via Linda Lisgarten of a report from the Dublin organisers. SB/MC to set up a formal agreement with the Dublin organisers, including the rate of the EAHIL levy on delegate fees. 10. Conferences and Workshops The board decided that there was continuing validity in maintaining the distinction between conferences and workshops on alternate years. To do so would preserve the quality of the programme, not overstretch the demand for places, would permit invited-only programmes, and would leave space for more practical and practice-oriented programming. ALL: to review the question again after the Lisbon conference. 11. Future Conferences and Workshops 2010: The board accepted with pleasure and gratitude the proposal to hold the 2010 conference in Lisbon. SB to confirm this is writing to the bid committee, and toraise with them a few detailed questions about minor adjustments to the proposed programme structure, and whether the proposed registration fee with include lunches and be in line generally with established EAHIL pricing practice. 2011: SB to draft a piece for JEAHIL, also to be posted to EAHIL-L and EAHIL-C inviting bids for the 2011 workshop . 12. Future Meetings 2008 board meetings: February 1st in Amsterdam (SB to circulate alternatives); and June 24th in Helsinki. 13. Any Other Business (a) SB to forward to the board a copy of the Cluj conference agreement, to serve as the basis for a discussion leading to the adoption of a standard set of terms and conditions with future conference organisers. (b) Awards: Decisions about the 2007 and 2008 annual awards will be taken at the next board meeting, SB to circulate the list of possible names arising from the brief discussion. It is likely that EAHIL will need to pay for the production of the trophies; MC to build €1,000 into the 2008 budget to cover this contingency. (c) SB to write to Betsy Humphreys stressing how we have valued the long link between EAHIL and NLM and inviting her to nominate an ambassador to EAHIL, who may or may not operate in parallel with the established MLA ambassadorial arrangements. | 
