Chapter News

By Margaret B. Hentz, Co-President
Fall 2011

Fall Meeting

We had a great turnout for the fall meeting of the Heartland Chapter held November 3rd in Richmond. More than twenty people came to hear Dave Ream represent ASI’s Digital Trends Task Force (DTTF). He talked about e-book indexes with an emphasis on the ideal e-book index (which doesn’t exist yet). He concluded his presentation with a hands-on review of indexes in some designated ebooks via iPads and Kindles. 

In the afternoon, Seth Maislin of Potomac Indexing reviewed the “Unscability of Indexing.” He encouraged (or perhaps more aptly challenged” the audience to think beyond producing back-of-the-book indexes and explore the world of taxonomies and information architecture. 

Hats off to Meridith Murray who organized this very informative meeting and provided lovely mid-morning snacks! It wouldn’t be a Heartland Chapter meeting without the delicious handmade candies that Sharon Hilgenberg shared with us. 

Business Meeting

The fall meeting concluded with a productive business meeting. Mary Peterson, Treasurer, provided the treasurer’s report and Sandy Topping, Secretary, had the minutes of the last two meetings approved by the membership. 

Carol Reed, representing Paula McCoy, Laura Ewald, John Bealle, and herself, discussed some potential changes to the chapter’s newsletter and website in an effort to streamline the production of the newsletter. After some discussion and considering previous discussion on our chapter’s listserv, Carol is going to transition our current website to a free hosting provider. We would have our own domain rather than utilizing John Bealle’s website (many thanks to John for generously providing support all these years). Within the website, the newsletter committee is considering putting articles in  the website’s navigation, indexed on an archive page, and downloadable for print reading. 

Laura Ewald and I volunteered to be on the Publicity Committee. The first task is to review and update the chapter’s current publicity brochure for sending to potential members. Once updated, the brochure will be sent to existing ASI members in surrounding states who are currently not affiliated with the Heartland chapter. The brochure will also be sent to the local library schools for distribution to their students. In addition, it will be sent to the members of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) in the local geographic area for recruitment. 

Since the annual election for officers (Co-President and Secretary) will take place late February/early March, a nominating committee is needed. Cherry Delaney volunteered to help contact existing members and see if they would like to run for an office. A short biography would be needed from each candidate. That information would then be sent to ASI’s headquarters for preparing the ballot for e-voting. No more stuffing envelopes with paper ballots!

Please consider running for an office. It is a great way to network with other chapter members and contribute to our chapter. Since we do not have a large number of members, we need everyone’s help to ensure its continuation as a chapter. In addition, Cherry needs at least one other chapter member to help her on the Nominating Committee. Contact myself and Cherry if you are interested in participating on the Nominating Committee or running for an office. 

Spring 2012 Meeting

Meridith Murray, current Co-President, discussed the possibility of having the spring 2012 meeting in Cincinnati during mid-April to coincide with Alexandra Nickerson’s visit to Cincinnati. The meeting topic would be cookbook indexing. Due to the possibility of limited meeting room and hotel accommodations because of another conference at that time, an Indianapolis location in May on another meeting topic is now being considered. Contact Meridith with meeting ideas and to volunteer with the meeting logistics.

I always enjoy meeting fellow Heartland chapter members at meetings and learning from each other. I do encourage everyone to become more involved with the chapter, either by running for an office, participating on a committee, or just helping with planning a meeting. It could be a New Year’s resolution for you!