ALAO-SSIG Program Planning Meeting
March 19, 2004
Northwest Ohio Regional Book Depository

The spring meeting of the ALAO-SSIG was called to order by chair John Burke at 10:06AM on March 19, 2004 in the conference room of the Northwest Ohio Regional Book Depository. There were 8 members in attendance including: John Burke, Angie Lorensen, Gaynelle Predmore, Karen Ketchaver, Martha Kluth, Amy Pickenpaugh, Doug Morrison, and Mary Ayres.

Welcome & Announcements

Doug announced that OLSSI is officially being held this year at Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH from August 1-3, 2004. Registration will be open from May 1st – July 6th.

Support Staff Survey

35 surveys were returned. John did note that it seems as though copyright is a topic of interest. He will analyze the rest of the information and send it out on the list.

Spring Workshop

The ALAO-SSIG spring workshop will be held at Ohio Wesleyan University on Monday, May 24, 2004 with our keynote speaker being Carol Brey-Casiano, ALA President-Elect. So far we have the keynote speaker, the site, along with the beginnings of the PR and registration. John has already submitted the budget sheet to the treasurer.

Doug has talked to Margaret. OVAL has a new director, and she wanted to know how to help. Doug thought maybe they could sponsor the goodies. OVAL is unable to do that, but are willing to sponsor a session and provide a speaker.

John made the hotel reservation for Carol, she will only be staying Sunday night. Amy was asked, and agreed to be Carol's form of transportation.

OLC has agreed to market the workshop to its members and the Support Staff Action Council.

Doug posed the question of whether or not we should have dinner with Carol the night before the workshop. It was agreed that doing this could build a relationship with ALA and make a good impression. We should do this if it can be arranged.

John has talked to Betsy Blankenship about supplies for goodies. We should know by next week.

Judy has officially signed the contract for the lunchroom.

Not sure what room we should use for Carol, but there is a consensus that we should not use the library. We would prefer to use the building where lunch will be served and use the library for breakouts.

John needs to send out a confirmation letter to Carol.

Menu
A few questions were raised regarding the menu over the list serv. John checked with Judy on these points and provided the answers. Adding fruit to breakfast would cost an extra $1.70 per person. Adding vegetables in the afternoon will cost an extra $2.00 per person. It was agreed to leave the lunch as originally planned and to add both the veggies and the fruit. However, by the end of the day it was decided to eliminate the afternoon snack and only offer a beverage.

Signage
Doug asked what we should do about signage. We agreed that we should do our own and John volunteered to work on that.

Parking
Parking was discussed, and it was decided that it shouldn't be a problem since classes will not be in session.

Registration Table
How do we handle the registration table? The table should be placed in the building where the meeting will be held, not in the library. Signage needs to be made to direct people properly.. Judy might be able to help with coming up with a registration table schedule.

Folders
Folders should include Evaluations, candidate bios, something about OLSSI, something about the outstanding awards, an agenda, any speaker handouts, and a list of the participants. A history of the SSIG and how the organization almost died could possibly be included in the folder. Mary volunteered to copy anything that needs to be copied, and Gaynelle volunteered to put together the folders

Breakout Sessions
What about Breakout sessions? Luckily we received offers from Louie at Southern State, Linda Dobb from BGSU and OVAL. A topic of morale, humor, and motivation was suggested. Gaynelle volunteered Linda Dobb and will talk to her about this idea. Louie was volunteered to present a breakout session on organizational skills and getting involved. Mary will talk to Louie about these ideas. Finally, the group decided it would like to have the Microsoft Tips and Tricks session from OVAL. Doug volunteered to contact Margaret.

Evaluations
Karen volunteered to do the evaluation with help from Martha.

Speaker Gift
The group wanted to present something nice arrangement of Ohio based products to Carol in addition to a free registration to the ALAO Conference. Some suggestions for goodie basket items include: Longaberger basket, cookbook from Apalachia, Cheryl's Cookies, Smuckers, Cat's Meow, funky honey, and a Budget newspaper from the Amish.

Election
Bios should be put into folders, and hand out ballots at lunch to ALAO members. Ballots will then be turned in the same time as evaluations at the end of the day. Brian is running for the Secretary/Chair-Elect position and so is Erin Peters. Efforts are being made to also get Pat Wood involved.

Schedule
The business meeting will take place halfway through lunch. A suggestion was made to eliminate the afternoon break, but still provide a beverage. After a little tweaking, the final schedule is as follows:

8:30 – 9:00 AM Registration
9:00 – 9:15 AM Welcome
9:15 – 10:00 AM Speech Part I
10:15 – 11:00 AM Speech Part II
11:15 – 12:00 PM Q & A Session
12:05 – 1:15 PM Lunch, Business Meeting, and Announcements
1:15 – 1:45 PM Clarification and Networking Time
2:00 – 3:00 PM Afternoon Breakouts
3:05 PM Goodies, Evaluations, Election, Go home.

New Members

Peggy Rector has shown interest in becoming involved in the SSIG. Martha will call to encourage her to come to a meeting. It is difficult to get people to participate. Brian Hickam and Erin Peters were mentioned as possibilities to encourage to become involved.

Next Meeting

John will look into OWU to determine whether or not to have a meeting before the worksop.

2004 Outstanding Awards

John is working on the publicity. This year's deadline will be July 30, 2004. An award committee needs to be formed. OVAL is still honoring free workshop, but Margaret does need to get it reapproved by the new director. Presentation of the awards will take place at the annual conference. A suggestion was made to change the name of the outstanding awards to get away from the long title and the “supporter of support staff” phrase. This discussion will work well via the list serv.

Presenter Grant

Information is on the website.

Website Update

All minutes have been added, and the continuing education area has been updated. Doug had a couple of suggestions for the website. Maybe we should include a link to offer suggestions for the award name change, we could have an online suggestion box and interest form, and we should look into electronic ballots.

Other Items – For the Good of the Order

April 30th is the deadline for poster session and presentation proposals for ALAO annual conference. SSIG will sponsor a session speaker in combination with the business meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 3:07 PM.