ALISS Minutes
November 9, 2000 Executive Meeting, Mary Gates Commons

Attendance: Jennifer Gartin, Lisa Spagnolo, Andy Bates, Betsy Harper
 

Agenda:
1. Nominations and Elections Recap
2. Ph.D. Representative
3. Informatics Student Association Task Force
4. Booksale
5. Website Revision
6. Mentoring Sessions
7. iSchool: an Independent School
8. Other Updates from Mike
9. Student Center
10. Fundraiser
11. Palm Representative


1. Nominations and Elections Recap (Lisa):  Lisa announced our new GPSS Senator, Jill Seidenstein.  In addition, the call for nominations elicited a healthy response, with at least one nominee for each position.  Lisa expected that there may have been leftover openings, but clearly this will not be the case.  Betsy asked about consolidating the various elections--ALISS, GPSS, and Nominations.  Jen mentioned the importance of having ALISS Officers available for assisting with orientations, supporting the winter quarter elections.  Fall elections and nominations enable 1st-year student participation.  [Note: The announcement of appointees was sent by Danielle via iannounce on 11/13.]

2. Ph.D. Representative (Lisa):  Lisa brought up the need for a Ph.D. representative on ALISS to give the group's needs voice through a student organization.  We asked whether this should/could be the same person as the representative on the Ph.D. Program Faculty Committee.  It may also be a good idea to have a separate person for this position.  The representative could have input via email only, if this is a more convenient means of communication.  The group determined that it would be best to have this person in place winter quarter, as fall quarter was becoming quite hectic with final projects.

3. Informatics Student Association Task Force (Lisa):  Along these same lines, Lisa suggested the formation of a task force to set up an Informatics Student Association.  She mentioned how Registered Student Organizations (through the Student Activities Office) could have a position on the ASUW Senate after the first year of existence.  The group agreed that representation would be good for the new students.  This would also be a project for winter quarter, and the group may include Mariko, a couple of B.S. students and 1 or 2 ALISS officers.  Lisa will email Mariko regarding this (with a cc to Jen) before November 15.

4. Booksale (Lisa): Lisa mentioned the informal ichat announcement about the booksale and the need to take book donations.  The unavailability of office and storage space waylaid this going into full gear.  Lisa said that flyers and announcements to recruit committee members could  happen week 8 or 9 of this quarter.  Jen asked whether we could call it the Information School sale, with funds going to ALISS to leverage campus-wide name recognition; the change would just be a formality.  This would be checked with Mike.  Betsy mentioned there could be a way of gathering donations at the SLA Chapter January meeting.  We discussed whether we should extend the sale to other media and concluded "yes":  CDs, vinyl, video--no home cassettes (audio or video) and no software.

5. Website Revision (All): The group lamented that there had not been enough time to implement the redesigned website that Pam Green had provided us.  Jen has a list of responsibilities for developing content from a previous meeting.  We assessed that the job would take about 4 hours of work to get the site up and running.  Jen, Kristin, and Lisa said they would be available after classes ended this quarter to work on this.  The goal is to have the site up before the beginning of Winter Quarter, ideally after the end of classes and before we leave for winter holidays.

6. Mentoring Sessions (Jen): Jen communicated that at the most recent ASIS meeting 1st year MLIS students expressed a desire for an in-school mentoring program.  We all acknowledged that this was a great idea, but is very difficult to get off the ground and keep organized, based on prior experiences of other groups.  The officers did express a desire to develop 1st-year/2nd-year relationships.  The suggestion was made to provide mentoring opportunities at the end of each student group's regular open meetings, so that students could break up into small groups for questions and discussion.  This initiative will be best carried out with the coordination of the 4 different student groups.

7. iSchool, an Independent School (Jen):  Jen announced that the plans to make the iSchool an independent school were underway.  At present, the school is under the aegis of the Graduate School.  This move would put the iSchool on a par with the likes of the Schools of Law and Public Affairs.  The benefits of this are several: it would improve the stature and status of the school and make it a pillar of the University.  Our increased visibility would facilitate the continued attraction of excellent faculty.  The School would also have full control of its own budget, and the bureaucratic channels for approval of projects would be minimized.  Mike would have Dean status, allowing him to sit on the Board of Deans and have more direct input into the direction of the University.  The school would also be able to raise funds directly, for example through a space for the Information School on the Alumni Giving cards.  We have seen schools such as UCLA and Rutgers merge with schools of education or communications--making the Information School independent would ensure that this would not happen.  In terms of UW history, this would make the Information School the 16th independent school, and the 1st since 1983.  Officers were encouraged to explain the benefits of the developments if asked by fellow students, alumni or others.

8. Other Updates from Mike (Jen):  Jen also mentioned that we had about 1 more month for the completion of computer implementation in the school--we are very, very close.

9. Student Center (Jen, All):  The group discussed the suggestions for naming the Student Center, formerly the Student Lounge.  Jen noted that there were many ichat responses in favor of iSalon.  We noted that students may always refer to it as the lounge.  It was noted that one of the benefits to using iSalon was the ability to use Teresa's definition, which alluded to a periodic gathering of people of "social or intellectual distinction."  We also expressed the desire to have the room decor reflect the various interests of the students of the school: book and library related posters would be balanced by those reflecting other technologies and information workplaces.  We recalled the Chase Bobko poster from last year and offered that as possible wall decor.  Betsy also recalled the Biosis poster.  The main goal is to contribute to a welcoming environment for everyone in the school.

10. Fundraiser (Jen): Jen mentioned that the School was about to have another fundraiser aimed at School alumni.  In the past these have taken care of endowments and scholarships.  Jen said that the opportunity was there to raise money for student groups, and that she would be preparing a letter with the help of Danielle.  The aim is to have a creative and eyecatching letter.  The funds would go into Mike's discretionary fund for the use of all student groups.  Student groups are always taking on more projects, and this would enable us to accomplish our goals.

11. Palm Pitch (Lisa): Lisa mentioned that ALISS received an email message from a student who is also a Palm representative, and who wanted to come to one of our open meetings for a presentation.  The officers decided that this was not an appropriate use of meeting time.
 

Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Spagnolo
ALISS Secretary

Prepared November 17, 2000.