Page PageSusan M. Johns
CODI President, 1998-1999
Report to the Membership
Seattle, WA
July 1999
It has been my pleasure to serve as your President this past year. I am honored to have had the privilege and opportunity to work with all of you. This report hopes to summarize the current state of the "State", if you will, in respect to obligations and issues addressed this past year, as well as recommendations for continued Board action in the next year.
The following individuals serve in positions appointed by the Board. (They do not serve in elected positions, nor do they have the right to vote on Board resolutions.) Their knowledge, energy and effort on behalf and alongside our Board benefits the Board greatly. Their opinions and contributions to the organization are vital to the service we all provide to the organization at large. You are encouraged to utilize these individuals for their many resources. You will also receive requests from time to time to assist them in various projects.
Occasionally they may be asked to provide reports to the Board and/or sit in on specific parts of the Board meetings and agendas.
| JAD Coordinator | Marjorie Freeman |
| Newsletter Editor | Caren Soltysiak |
| Bylaws Committee Chair | Bob Gale |
The following individuals have been hired (i.e., employees of the Board.) Frances is an hourly employee, and Pia is under contract with the Board (contract currently expires June 2000 unless we choose to approve a 1-year extension at the July 1999 Board meeting, in which case the contract would be extended through June 2001). Payments of services rendered by both individuals comprise a large part of the CODI organizational budget. Their time and services to our organization are valuable, but billable. They work closely with all Board members, but are not volunteers, nor are they elected.
| Membership Services Coordinator | Frances Orton |
| ICM Conference Management | Pia Jones |
The CODI Board also has arrangements with both legal services and accounting services as needed, and various other contracts in force (Kinko's, etc.) on a year- round basis.
Two committees are currently active in support of the organization.
The Bylaws Committee was established in January 1999 with a specific scope of duties and term to run through December 1999. Members and chair of that Committee will need to be re-appointed in January 2000.
The Standing Conference Committee was established in April 1998. It is comprised of the Executive Board (VP, Pres, Past-Pres, Sec, Treas) and one representative of the members-at-large; in addition, Gretchen, Frances and Pia serve as ex-officio members for consultation, particularly on issues of contract and other matters pertaining to conference issues as they arise. An at-large representative will need to be elected to the Standing Conference Committee at our July Board meeting.
Additional Committees can be appointed by the President (per Bylaws) and approved by the Board for short-term projects on an ad-hoc basis, as necessary.
Various listservs that Board members will participate in will include the following:
Dynix_l = site sponsored by St. Bonaventure University as an in-kind service to CODI.
Scholar_l = site sponsored by Kitsap Regional Library System as an in-kind service to CODI, particularly the former Scholar sites.
Horizon_l = site sponsored by the University of Utah Medical Library as an in- kind service to Horizon members (CODI members, particularly Board members, are encouraged to join it for awareness of Horizon and Sunrise issues)
Guipacs = site sponsored by Kitsap Regional Library System as an in-kind service to CODI to provide a secure space for NetConnect and graphical (i.e., PAC for Windows and WebPAC) discussions. This is a closed list designed for sharing of .cfm files and confidential discussions of development issues related to these products.
FEDBOARD = site sponsored by the Barr-Smith Library of the University of Adelaide, Australia as an in-kind service to CODI Board members. This is a closed list set up for global communications among all Board members in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia/New Zealand, and Malaysia.
HUGCODIFD = site sponsored by the University of Utah Medical Library as an in-kind service to Horizon and Dynix Board members. This is a closed list set up for global communications among all Dynix and Horizon Board members.
In addition, Board members may be asked to contribute to the various JAD listservs sponsored by Ameritech Library Services servers and projects.
Web sites of particular interest that Board members should actively monitor include:
Dynix_l Archives: http://library.adelaide.edu.au/m/dynix_l/
CODI Homepage: http://codi.sbu.edu/
Ameritech Web Page: http://www.amlibs.com/
International Site Homepages linked to CODI page.
The CODI Organization this year, begins the 1999-2000 fiscal year on sound ground. The past year's conference in Seattle, chaired by VP/President Elect Susanne Woodford, was profitable as well as successful. To that end, we have been able this past year to recover significantly from the 1997 conference. Continued vigilance by Treasurer Cathy Schappert has allowed us to function this past year as a healthy organization.
This next year, and the years to follow, will present financial challenges to future Boards. It only takes a small wobble at an annual conference to empty organizational coffers. The impact of sites moving from one product to another may impact membership dues, and we must be able to react positively to this shift. Safeguards and policies are in place to assure checks and balances that provide accountability and stability for financial transactions within the organization. However, future bylaw and cooperative efforts that are outlined below will cause continued expenses in the areas of legal, accounting, and contractual services. CODI must continue to keep expenses to our members at a minimum, and must continue to provide highly significant value for those services that we do provide at cost to our members, such as the conference, membership benefits, etc.
The Board met 11 times in official meetings, stayed in communication daily with one another by email, and met informally at ALA-Washington DC and ALA- Philadelphia. CODI Informational membership sessions were held at ALA-DC and ALA-Philly. In addition, CODI president Susan Johns and JAD Coordinator Marge Freeman were invited to attend the Horizon Conference in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, by the Horizon Board in November 1998.
All Board members have contributed significantly to Dynix_l, and particularly to the inter-galactic Board discussions on FEDBOARD and HUGCODIFD.
Board members were involved in discussions and approval of three key documents to Ameritech Library Services this year: the Joint Conference Document, co-authored by the Horizon Board; and the Non-Disclosure Document and Customer Support Document, co-authored by the members of CODA, CODI, HUG, HUG(UK), DUG (UK), and CANDU.
CODI was represented at International Users Groups by: Susan Johns, DUG, September 1998 and CODA October 1998, and John Hurley, CANDU, June 1999.
The Board again successfully nominated a fine slate of candidates for 1999-2000 and successfully surveyed its membership in Spring 1999.
Specific projects that were begun this past year include the following:
Bylaws Committee. Establishment of a Bylaws Committee and initial bylaws review and changes submitted to the membership, May 1999.
Horizon Liaison and Joint Conference Issues. Begun at the request of Ameritech Library Services in July 1998, the Horizon Liaison issues probably are one key area where we must continue to work deliberately and carefully this next year. While the joint conference issue urgency has temporarily subsided, considerable energy, effort, and goodwill has occurred between the Horizon and CODI Boards in finding areas of common concern, benefit, and issues to our members. It is critical that this liaison and confidence building among the two Boards, and among the two user groups, continue at a thoughtful and positive pace in this next year. The groups have begun planning arrangements to incorporate half-day sessions at their respective conferences for the benefit of the sister user group. These will be primarily given by Ameritech personnel and should occur at both the Salt Lake (HUG) and Tampa (Dynix) conferences. Success of these sessions will provide positive progress towards more substantial cooperative ventures.
International Dynix Communication. Communication among International Dynix Boards was greatly facilitated by the University of Adelaide, Australia's provision for the FEDBOARD listserv. Significant and substantial work in areas of information exchange, policy issues, and software development plans, have been facilitated with tremendous ease of process with this list. Board members who generally have been unable to attend the international conferences have now much more current and user-friendly access to their counterparts the world over, and have grown in understanding of international issues, viewpoints, and problems.
Intra-Ameritech User Group Communication. Communication among Dynix International Board and Horizon International Boards was greatly facilitated by the University of Utah Medical Library's provision for the HUGCODIFD listserv. This list will become more useful in the next year, but has served well its purpose of bringing together both international representation as well as Sunrise development issues between both Horizon and Dynix users. This list will continue to be critical to many issues the CODI Board will face this year, as well as serving as a way-station for other projects the two camps may wish to engage in together.
Canadian Relations. Work began in Fall 1998 at the Horizon Conference to begin exploring how CODI might be able to forge more formal and productive relationships with CANDU in light of Ameritech support changes in Provo and Waterloo. To that end, CODI bylaw changes were enacted, and as a result, CANDU has voted at their June 1999 membership meeting to explore options and issues relating to a merger with the CODI organization during the year 1999-2000.
JAD. Continued work and productive JAD committees on various areas of software development proceed with valued user-group input. Much work and positive promotion of the JAD process was necessary at the Horizon Conference, whose attendees had neither heard of the process, did not understand why it was needed, nor saw much value in participating. My thanks to Marjorie Freeman and Ginger Olson for extraordinary negotiating and hard work in this area this past year.
Regional User Groups. Thom Hendricks and Angela Cisco have split terms in this Member-at-Large position, and have done much to foster communication and activity among the regional groups. The regional group leadership will continue to become key in providing leadership skills for the whole CODI Organization in the future years to come.
Web Services. Ann Tenglund has continued to provide web services and listserv services in a volatile internet environment. A change in newsletter editors (Bruce Heimburger, and then later Caren Soltysiak) has caused us to examine various new strategies for conveying membership information and utilizing the web more fully, and will continue to cause us to re-examine our membership privileges, issues, and how we may best communicate with our members and the world-at-large. Her success, and, I think the Board's, was borne out in this area, by her re-election by her peers for a second term this year.
We are currently under contract with the Tampa FL Marriott Waterside Hotel for our Year 2000 Conference, March 1-3, 2000.
We should shortly be under contract with Little America, Salt Lake City UT for our Year 2001 Conference, date to be determined.
We should also fairly quickly be under contract for event insurance that should cover insurance for both conferences.
Complete Little America and event insurance contracts ASAP.
Issues in this area that continually need to be addressed are a) clear, concise and timely communications with our membership; and b) the ability to provide a secure environment for frank and honest discussions by our members on issues of product development, customer support, and other sensitive issues without jeopardizing trade or product development plans to the marketplace as a whole. We need to be sensitive to the issues of allowing our members to vent, complain, ask valuable questions, and receive correct and timely information, but we must also weigh the dangers of accidental release of confidential product information, Ameritech server logins and passwords, and other potentially potent information which may harm Ameritech's ability to be competitive in a fiercely combative market. It is recommended that the following items be studied and implemented:
a) Secure the CODI web site with a password for members only for sensitive and beneficial information which would add value to CODI membership.
b) Debate the factors and implications of turning Dynix_l into a closed list which screens out competing automation vendors, library automation consultants, VARs, and non-Dynix-affiliated participants.
c) Examine the publications and documents produced by the Board and the membership, including conference pages, newsletters, bylaws, minutes, and other legal and formal communications, and move these documents into html and web-based notification pages with the cooperation and advise of the Member-at-Large, Web Services; Newsletter Editor; and Membership Services Coordinator.
d) Continue to explore opportunities and issues to more fully utilize web- based distribution of materials and communications that will benefit our members and umbrella organizational resources into a single focal point.
The good news of Canadian intent to enter into dialogue with CODI for exploration of amalgamation process needs to handled sensitively but with much positive action. Canadian users and the potential to organize in a strategic North-American alliance is critical to erasing a black spot in the history of CODI, and more importantly, a strong and collaborative step into the future for both groups. Significant energy and resources, particularly legal services, will be needed to bring the "Canada issue" to a successful and productive resolution by June of 2000.
The Bylaws Committee will continue under the existing charge and definition of tasks. The Board needs to carefully ascertain changes that are critical to wording and issues without reinventing the entire organization. Issues such as the Canadian proposal, Federation structure, and other key issues need to be given critical attention and be allowed to work forward to the membership for vote this spring. I recommend that Bob Gale, Bylaws Chair, be given authority to begin negotiations directly with CODI's legal services contact in order to ascertain how Canadian issues will or can impact our not-for-profit status. Once that is clear, and we have a firm proposal from CANDU, we can begin to negotiate with them as well as modify the Bylaws to accommodate the changes necessary.
International cooperation among Dynix user Boards around the globe has grown dramatically this year, and has provided an excellent spring-board for many forums of discussion. These issues should continue to grow, and as many issues that can be discussed globally should be put forward to the International Boards. I would recommend that the conference Board meeting be moved to the Tuesday prior to the CODI Conference in Tampa so that as much of a day may be fully utilized for Board and International Issues. I recommend continued support and representation of our members at the International Conferences in Swansea, Wales (September 1999); Townsend, Australia (October 1999), and Edmonton Alberta (June 2000).
Continued discussions among the various Horizon and Dynix Boards need to continue carefully and cooperatively this next year as the new Sunrise product is being developed. Difficult cooperative issues will need to be addressed, as well as the long-term future of the CODI organization. The alliance continues to be fragile, and the upcoming Horizon Conference (October 1999) in Kansas City, MO will be a good indicator to measure progress and issues after a year's work by both Boards. I recommend that the Board and JAD Coordinator be supported in attendance at the HUG Conference in Kansas City.
Continued monitoring and listening to the membership on issues of migration, upgrades, product development, and system concerns is critical to the success of the CODI Board. Surveying of the membership is extremely helpful in gauging issues and relevancy of proposed projects. Membership needs this spring clearly center around comparison of Horizon and Dynix functionality, and uncertainty regarding the new product availability, functionality, and implementation issues. With much of this comparison, we must work cooperatively with Ameritech and Horizon in order to ascertain and demonstrate the new Sunrise capabilities. The Board must continue to work on behind-the-scenes issues of structure and external cooperation with both Horizon and International Boards and users in order to best position CODI for a strong and viable voice with the new product.
Continued surveys and critical listening to both Ameritech's future plans (as well as the future system integration plans of our CODI members) are both crucial to keeping the organization healthy and providing a leadership role for the new products.
The Board (and membership) must continue to strongly advocate for the needs and design of the best possible software and customer support available in the marketplace today. Critical analysis, as well as sincere cooperation, with Ameritech, is necessary to continue our product's health, and the productive use of it in our libraries.
Let me thank all of you for your efforts and support, including Gretchen, Pia, Frances, Caren and Bruce. I know Susanne is eager to continue many of these initiatives this next year and know that you will support her endeavors in these areas. I look forward to "retiring" to my roles of International Liaison and Nominating Chair this year, as well as other duties as assigned! -- sj
Send comments to: suzyq@pittstate.edu
Susan M. Johns-Smith
Axe Library
Pittsburg State University
1605 South Joplin Street
Pittsburg, KS 66762
Phone: 620-235-4115
This page last updated Tuesday, 26-Jun-2007 19:05:44 CDT