Annual Report 1999/2000 

Section Council

This report covers the period of May 1999-March 10, 2000.

Goal 1. Professional Development
d. develops and promulgates standards and educational policies for health sciences library and information professionals

• The Standards Committee communicated with each of the Sections to update information about standards activities within the Sections. A revised directory is scheduled for distribution to Council members at the next Council meeting. A reference document entitled "Process for Developing Standards for Sections" was added to the Section Council Website.

Goal 2. Advocacy
d. recruits qualified individuals into the profession

• The implementation of the new MLA Membership Committee structure began with a model requiring that each Section Chair appoint (or partner with another section to appoint) a liaison to the committee.

Goal 3. Organization
d. develops, evaluates, and enhances programs and services responsive to members' needs

• The implementation of the new Section Council structure started with the March 2000 representative election process. The guidelines, time-line and rotation schedule for the implementation of the new structure were added to the Section Council Website.
• The Program Planners Issues Committee worked on the initial stages of planning for identifying issues that need to be addressed related to the NPC.
• The Council and MLA Board approved the proposal for the Medical School Libraries Section to change their name to the Library Management and Leadership Section. The formation of the Corporate Services Section was also approved by Council and the MLA Board.
• The Council approved the formation of the African American Medical Librarians Alliance SIG and the Voyager SIG.
• The section programming for the 2000 Annual Meeting has been identified and submitted for the final program by the 2000 NPC Liaison for Section Council. The schedule for the business meetings has been coordinated by the 2001 NPC Liaison. The 2000 NPC Liaison submitted a narrative chronology of programming process with observations and recommendations to assist future NPC Liaisons.
• Revised editions of the Section Council and Section Chairs' procedure manuals were distributed in print format on request and the Web versions were updated. A revised draft version of the SIG Manual for SIG conveners was edited and added to the Section Council Web site for review by the Council.

Goal 3. Organization
e. fosters effective communication within the association and with external constituencies

• Communication with Council members, Sections and the MLA Board was maintained through listservs, a Council mailing sent out in August and updates to the Section Council Website on a regular basis.

Goal 6. Information Technology
a. uses technology to improve communication among members and to enhance remote access to association services and programs

• The Section Council Website expanded to reflect the ongoing activities of Council. Several new documents were added to the site, including Section Compliance Guidelines, a fact sheet for Sections and Chapters and guidelines for developing standards. Documentation to assist Sections with the new Council structure, implemented in Spring 2000 are now available at the site, as well as a revised draft version of the SIG Manual. The structure, layout and design of the site were reviewed and revised. Duke University continued to host the site on its Web server.
• The Communications Committee developed a proposal to insure the ongoing housing, maintenance and continued development of the Section Council Website. The proposal is scheduled for presentation and discussion at the next Section Council meeting.
• The Section Council Liaison to the MLANET Editorial Board (MEB) solicited comments from the Section Council membership regarding MLANet policies, structure, design and features that they would like to have reviewed. The draft policy document for content and submission requirements for MLANET resources was reviewed by the MLA Board and suggestions for revisions to the document were discussed.

MOTION
This report is informational and requires no action by the Board of Directors.

Nancy I. Henry
Section Council Chair
March 10, 2000

Section Council Members