Regional Advisory Council (RAC) Minutes: Year 1
Date: December 5, 2006
Location: Club Quarters, Chicago, IL
Time: 8:30 am - 3:30 pm
RAC Members Present Nancy Allee, Terry Burton, Lisa Burwell, Mary Congleton, La Ventra Danquah, Mindy Egeland, Liz Fine, Pat Hamilton, Wendy Hess, Mark Holman, Rhona Kelley, Claire Kohrman, Logan Ludwig, Diane O'Keefe, Kolleen Olsen, Melinda Orebaugh, Barbara Platts, Denise Rumschlag, Ann Schaap, Sheila Shellabarger, Jan Simon, Elaine Skopelja, Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, Carolyn Warmann
GMR Staff Present: Ruth Holst, Carol Scherrer, Holly Burt, Jacqueline Leskovec, Tammy Mays, Charniel McDaniels, Bryan Vogh, Rosalva Diaz, Nelly Cruz
Members Unable to Attend: Ambrosya Amlong, Lori Bell, Irva Jenkins, Mary Markland, Celine Woznica, Jason Young
Call to Order: The first meeting of the newly appointed Regional Advisory Council for the contract period 2006-2011 was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by Ruth Holst in the Adams Room of Club Quarters Hotel in Chicago. The agenda and handouts for the meeting were reviewed and each RAC member received a thumb drive as a small token of appreciation for their participation on the RAC.
Orientation and Introductions: Ms. Holst presented a brief history of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and outlined the components of the current Regional Medical Library (RML) contract between the University of Illinois at Chicago and the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Following the formal presentation, RML staff and RAC members were asked to introduce themselves, sharing information about the knowledge and experience each one brings to the group and describing what they hoped to get out of their membership on the RAC.
Open Discussion: The floor was opened for discussion, with the following questions used as a framework to elicit responses:
- Given the overview presented, what questions do you have about the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM)?
- What questions do you have about the Greater Midwest Region (GMR)?
- To take advantage of the varied backgrounds that you bring, and to use your time and expertise more effectively, how can we identify the knowledge and skills you are willing to share with us?
- What would you like to get out of your experience on the RAC?
- What's the best way for us to communicate with you?
Introduction to Breakouts: Before beaking for lunch, members were introduced to the four topics to be discussed during the afternoon breakout sessions: Public Health, Community-Based Organizations, Electronic Licensing, and Communication Technologies.
Breakout Sessions: Members were assigned to attend one of four breakout sessions. The topics and a brief synopsis of each session follow:
Public Health:
The public health breakout session, facilitated by Holly Burt, focused on the definition of the
public health workforce and identification of potential partners for network members and for the GMR to work
with to increase awareness of and access to health information needed by public health workers. Another key
topic was resources for public health professionals, including specific NLM products. Recommended next steps
included discussion of additional resources and identification of librarians in public health departments.
Community-Based Organizations:
This group, under the facilitation of Tammy Mays, discussed ways
to increase awareness about NLM and NN/LM resources and services among community-based organizations (CBOs)
and ways to engage CBOs in the partnering process. One suggestion from the community based organization (CBO)
breakout session was for the GMR to concentrate on a bottom-up approach to CBOs.
Electronic Licensing:
In the area of electronic licensing (e-licensing), the GMR proposes to provide a variety of ways that network
members can learn about e-licensing so as to negotiate more effective agreements with vendors and to inform
network members about group licensing opportunities. The group, facilitated by Charniel McDaniels, discussed
these issues, reviewed the current GMR e-journal Web page http://nnlm.gov/gmr/resourcesharing/ejournals.html,
and contributed recommendations for implementation.
Communications Technologies:
The communications technologies session, facilitated by Jacqueline Leskovec and Bryan Vogh, focused on ways of
fostering communication through a variety of tools, such as lists, The Cornflower, web conferencing, email, and
wikis. The group offered specific suggestions and discussed possible roles for the ten state representatives,
who are members of the RAC.
Reports from Breakout Sessions: Each breakout group presented a summary of its discussion to the whole RAC group.
Wrap-up: Ms. Holst thanked the group for their active participation. Members shared some thoughts on the structure and outcomes of the meeting. Discussion across professional disciplines was viewed as a positive element of the meeting and the group agreed that having at least one face-to-face meeting each year would be useful in terms of the cohesiveness of the group.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ruth Holst
Associate Director, NN/LM, GMR
