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| INCOME | ||
| Transfer of funds, Feb. 1996 | $5000.00 | |
| Interest income | ||
| Other income (dues, subscriptions) | 3746.00 | |
| Mailing list rentals | ||
| TOTAL | 3979.31 | |
| EXPENDITURES | ||
| MELA Notes (production and postage) | ||
| Postage and supplies | ||
| Flowers for George Atiyah | ||
| TOTAL | ||
| INCREASE | $3105.37 | |
| BALANCE Nov. 18, 1996 | $8105.37 |
MELA President Midhat Abraham opened the business meeting with a discussion of whether MELA should offer lifetime and multiple year memberships. In point of fact, MELA has been accepting multiple year memberships for some time. It was decided that Brenda Bickett will look into the feasibility and appropriate cost of lifetime membership.
TDe next topic was the future of MELA Notes. One problem is how many times it should be published per year, and another is how to convince more people to contribute articles. this topic was tabled until after a new editor had been elected. Mary Ann Fadae proposed that an issue of MELA Notes be dedicated to articles on Middle Eastern librarianship, along the lines of the recent conference on area studies librarianship. this idea will be passed along to the new editor of MELA Notes.
It was announced that the Western region would be discussing forming a collection development consortium over lunch, between 12:30 and 2 P.M.
the recent request from Deborah Jakubs, Head, International and Area Studies, Duke University and Director, Global Resources Program, for comments on the problems and needs in the future of area studies was discussed. It was decided that MELA would respond as an organization. A letter was prepared after the MELA meeting, and the members who worked on its preparation took care of sending it.
Donna Straley proposed a new project: creating a searchable table of contents for Turkish periodicals. She will look into the automation issues. A sign up sheet was passed around for volunteers interested in participating in collecting and inputting data.
It was suggested that MELA should provide coaching/mentoring for new librarians. Possibly a brochure could be published by the MELA Noteseditor to publicize the option. It was also proposed that MELA should provide some money to help first time attendance at MELA meetings, with the requirement that such attendees write an article for MELA Notes.
Simon Samoeil proposed looking into having our meetings covered by Arab-American newspapers. András Riedlmayer proposed that we prepare a press release.
A discussion ensued about whether or not MELA should have a registration fee and whether or not the lunch fee should be included. It was also suggested that perhaps a late fee should be levied for on-site registration. the problem of dollar payment for foreign attendees was brought up. It was agreed that they could notify the Secretary/Treasurer of their planned attendance, but need not pay in advance. After much discussion with no particular agreement, it was agreed that the Executive Board should look into some sort of experimental registration procedure for next year, which might or might not include a fee. If there were to be a fee, there should be options for including or not including the lunch fee. Overseas members will be allowed to pay at the meeting. It was agreed that all members should be notified well in advance of the registration and lunch fees payment deadlines.
It was proposed that a special issue of MELA Notes be issued as a Festschriftin honor of George Atiyeh. It might include histories of collections and articles on his contributions to the profession. It is up to the new editor to solicit articles. By popular demand, a card for George was to be bought and circulated for members to sign. this was done the next day and the card has been sent to his home. Chris Murphy reported that the flowers MELA bought for George's retirement ceremony were large and impressive and that the Atiyeh's had taken them home.
Elections were held. Ed Jajko was elected Vice-President. Simon Samoeil was elected member at large. Jonathan Rodgers was elected Editor of MELA Notes. Midhat Abraham will continue as President for one more year. Mary St. Germain has two more years as Secretary/Treasurer, and Brenda Bickett has one more year as Member-at-Large.
Members felt that MELA should produce a membership directory indexed by institution and arranged by name. It should include the institution address of those who prefer their mail sent to their institution, and both the institutional and home addresses of those who prefer their mail sent to their home. Some members wanted an on-line directory, but others felt that a hard copy directory would be required. Mary St. Germain will send a copy of our membership database to Jonathan Rodgers. they will further consider the on-line version.
Mary St. Germain will add information about MELANET to our web page.
A need for a directory of library collections on the Middle East was expressed.
Joan Biella gave a report on Middle East activities at the Library of Congress. A total of 11,175 books was cataloged. the totals for specific languages are: Arabic 4,490; Georgian 761; Hebrew 2962; Persian 1,396; Turkish 1,492; Yiddish 74. David Littlefield, an Arabic cataloger will retire soon. Majda Shahid will probably retire next year. the cataloging being done in Cairo is to increase. Joan also talked about the PCC program and its component parts: NACO, SACO and BIBCO. She brought examples of levels of cataloging records at LC, including the new core record.
Chris Murphy reported that almost all members of the L. C. Near East reference staff are reaching retirement age. that office will be moving from the Adams building to the Jefferson building. the move will take 24-48 hours for staff, but around 6 weeks for the collection. Future collecting strategy is to change, so as to retain the level of information provision, but to reduce the cost. Staff members have been making trips abroad to look into what can be done. Chris Murphy went to Cairo and then to Turkey with Gene Smith. One result was to adjust the Turkish approval plan, which resulted in a 10% cut in the number of books acquired. One type of publication no longer acquired are bank reports, if the information contained in them was also included in publications of the Central Bank. the Library of Congress is providing better coverage of Central Asia. For the Middle East generally, LC will continue trying to acquire early imprints. It is also continuing to have holdings of Middle Eastern newspapers filmed. Its 102 titles and now approximately 80% filmed up to within 6 months to a year of the current date. Hopefully this project will be finished in the next year.
the African and Middle East Divisions of the Library of Congress are working on completing their web pages. the Middle East page should be up soon. A guide to the Middle Eastern collections, listing the types of materials available, is being written and will be printed up for sale.
Norman Ross will distribute microfilms produced by LC Photoduplication.
Eastview sells materials on Central Asia. It uses the Harrassowitz acquisitions method of paying on-site agents on the basis of what they send in.
Respecfully submitted
Mary St. Germain
Secretary-Treasurer
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