IALL Special Board Meeting

April 20, 2001

Present: Crandall, Gilgen, Higgins, Pankratz, Rosen

Called to Order: 1:03pm

The sole agenda item was a discussion of awards to be given at IALL 2001. Read and David presented their concerns regarding IALL awards.

1. Lifetime Achievement Award

• Read presented the criteria for the award: (a) outstanding, quality service to IALL and the profession, (b) over a sustained period of time, (c) and who is at or near the end of his/her career. The offer of airfare and conference fees indicates the importance of bringing the recipient to the conference to be recognized by his/her colleagues in a special way. There are no requirements the award be presented at each conference.

• Chris raised concerns about how we surmise what constitutes the end of a career. Is there a semantics issue with the word lifetime? Significant discussion followed as to what should constitute criteria for this award, and whether any current members satisfy the criteria.

§ Read moved the Lifetime Achievement Award not be given this year. David seconded the Motion. There were two yes votes and three abstentions.

• After unfruitful discussion, Read suggested we consider forming an Awards Committee to assist the Board in identifying individuals who meet the criteria for this award.

§ David moved each Board member nominate 0 to 2 people, and forward nominations to Read for email distribution. Chris seconded the Motion. The Motion passed unanimously.

• Read and David suggested amending the wording in our award procedures to indicate that the airfare/conference fee be offered but that a candidate need not feel obligated to accept it if their travel is already covered by their institution or if they wish to decline the financial assistance for another reason. Action was tabled for further discussion at the Board and Council Meeting in Houston.

2. Henderson/Sheppard Awards.

• As voting for this award had taken place at a prior meeting, the recipients of the Henderson and Sheppard Awards were confirmed to be Monika Dressler (Michigan), and Gamin Bartle (Alabama).

3. President's Award

• Read expressed his discomfort regarding providing a monetary gift for this award. Lynne stressed her position that once the award cycle was begun, we should not remove the monetary award from the process for this cycle.

• Read recommended Bruno Browning as the President's Award recipient; the Board unanimously accepted his selection.

§ Read proposed we revert to an honorary rather than monetary acknowledgement for the President's Award. David seconded the Motion. Chris interceded to table the motion to a Board and Council discussion and decision at the Annual Business Meeting. By a 4-1 margin the Board agreed to table the vote on the Motion.

4. Outstanding Contribution Awards.

• Read and David presented their concerns regarding the recently enacted Outstanding Contributions Awards. Using prepared documentation, they explained:
• Our criteria have not yet been clearly established. It seems we were looking to fill in a missing gap, between lifetime, and newcomer. Unfortunately we began to settle on various names before defining the criteria, and also before discussing thoroughly the purpose and effect.
  
  Some of our concerns are these: (a) Do members who do their work for IALL expect an award for doing so? Or is unofficial, or even official (by way of letter) thanks enough? (b) What do those individuals who work hard but don't get recognized think when they're passed over? This may be discouraging, when if fact the whole point of giving awards is to encourage, not discourage. (c) What constitutes outstanding (i.e., how does it differ from what most of our hard working IALL members do?) (d) What's the purpose of the monetary award? It's not enough to really benefit the member, other than being a token. Also, are we convinced that we can establish a long-term financial commitment? (e) How many such awards make sense? (f) What mechanism do we use to identify candidates and select recipients?

• Read proposed we delay selecting recipients for this award this year, pending discussion of the issues with the entire Council at Houston, including its purpose, criteria, name of the award, and procedures. David seconded the Motion. The Motion passed with 4 affirmative votes and one abstention.

• Read indicated if the Council decides to proceed with the award, his preference would be to not attach a monetary gift to the award. Chris urged the Board leave wait to hear from the Council before setting parameters.

Chris left the meeting at 2:00pm.

Meeting adjourned at 2:02pm.

Respectfully Submitted by Lynne Crandall