SCOPA Meeting Minutes
September 9, 2002

Present: Richard Boursy, Mary Caldera, Todd Fell, Stephen Jones, Cecile Mandour, Pamela Mann , Rochelle Smith, Jae Rossman (chair, recording)

Orientation
The committee discussed last minute preparations for the next New Librarians' Orientation next week. Mary, orientation coordinator, passed around the menu from catering services, asking for preferences. She commented that she still has not yet received all RSVPs. Mary also suggested that we have the attendees fill out a survey and asked for comments. Several good points were raised: should we emphasize a numerical evaluation or a written evaluation, what sort of wording should be used for the evaluation (poor, fair, etc.), the process for turning in the evaluation should be very anonymous. It was suggested the Mary consult with Holly Grosetta Nardini to get advice on the survey. Lastly, the group reconfirmed speaking assignments and the order of the agenda. All speakers will try to be brief as a section on promotion review has been added to the agenda, and time was already tight at the last orientation.

Forums
Jae reminded everyone of the updated forums schedule, noting that there are three activities in September, so the month is filled. There is also one activity scheduled for November. Jae also reminded people that when they have finalized a forum, pass on the information to Todd so he can update the forums calendar. Check the calendar when planning future forums.

SCOPA members developing forums gave updates on their progress:

Richard reported that he has been talking internally with Danuta Nitecki and Katherine Haskins about contacting Arlene Biefield of Southern CT State U to speak about digital copyright issues. SCOPA will be co-sponsoring this event with the ELI Intellectual Property Rights Group.

Rochelle reported that another episode of Librarians Without Borders is almost ready. She hopes to have the forum scheduled for October and it will feature Tatjana Lorkovic, Curator of the Slavic and East European Collection and Rich Richie, Curator of the SouthEast Asia Collection.

Steve will contact the Director of the Schomberg Center in NYC, in the hopes that we can get on the calendar for February, Black History Month.

Mary suggested a forum from the new electronic archivist, Kevin Glick, about the issues surrounding the maintenance of electronic records. The committee agreed that this would be an interesting topic.

Grants SubCommittee
Richard announced that he will be sending out an announcement reminding people to get in their proposals for the deadline of October 31. This will be the first year with the newly revised guidelines, which require direct approvals from supervisors and the systems office.

Mentoring Program
The committee discussed whether to keep the Mentoring program for next year. At the beginning of this calendar year the committee decided to keep the mentoring program going, and to re-evaluate at the end of the year. When the issue was brought forward today, the consensus was that the program should continue, as it does not take much funds or time to maintain. Pamela mentioned that she will attend a leadership/mentoring conference in the Spring along with Bethuel Hunter. She would be willing to share her knowledge and experience from this conference at a forum, and this may bring new energy to the mentoring program.