Linda Phillips of the ACRL Board was introduced as a guest at the first Executive Committee meeting.

Stephen Lehmann, Chair of the Newsletter Subcommittee, reported on Newsletter survey at the first Executive Committee meeting; 90% of those who responded have Internet accounts; 70-80% would pay a surcharge to receive the Newsletter. The budget for FY 1994 has money only for one issue. ACRL does not propose to support online distribution of the Newsletter, but this needs to be done. Also, the international contacts of WESS and other Sections require a paper format. WESS needed to determine whether to request additional contributions from vendors, and this approach was approved. The idea of creating an “ACRL options committee” regarding the Newsletter was accepted unanimously, and this issue will be presented to the Newsletter Subcommittee, which will report back to the Executive Committee. At the second Executive Committee meeting, Stephen Lehmann reported on the meeting of the Section newsletter editors concerning recent actions of the ACRL Board concerning the Task Force report on section newsletters. He asked the WESS Executive Committee to concur with the following resolution of the editors, adopted at their meeting on January 25:

"1. We, the Section newsletter Editors, are concerned about the upcoming Executive Committee explorations of ways to implement the Task Force on Publications recommendations.

"2. Considering the importance of the newsletters to the work of the Sections, we ask that the Board actively consult with the Section newsletter Editors and seek input from us as well as involve us closely in the decisions regarding the Task Force recommendations.

"3. At our meeting today, we developed a number of specific ideas that we would like to discuss with the Board.

"Action: We ask the Board to respond to sentence 2 of our resolution."

Craig Likness moved that the WESS Executive Committee concur. Kilton seconded. The motion was approved. A brief discussion of self publication of the WESS Newsletter followed.

At the first Executive Committee meeting, it was pointed out that James Romer and John Kaiser need to be replaced as persons in charge of its compilation and distribution. At the second Executive Committee meeting, Tom Kilton reported that Heleni Pedersoli is the new editor of both versions of the WESS Directory; but, until the New Orleans meeting, John Kaiser will distribute the paper copy and James Romer the disk copy. Edward Shreeves has offered to continue updating the WESS Officers’ Manual. The WESS brochure is ready, and James Spohrer will have copies for the New Orleans conference. Recent publications include submission of the San Francisco program to Haworth Press.

Charles Fineman reported that the “London 1994” conference will not take place as planned because of unforeseen problems with the construction of the new British Library. The program committee will meet and discuss other options. It was noted that LIBER is beginning to be active and successful in numerous activities of interest to WESS, and it may be a viable partner in the future.

The results of the discussion of the New Orleans Program are presented in the article of Dick Hacken, Program Committee Chair.

John Cullers reported for the Nijhoff Award Committee on the uncertainties relative to the responsibilities of the award recipients. He will investigate further and develop some guidelines for reporting expenditures. At the second Executive Committee meeting, he reported that instructions for Nijhoff grantees concerning follow-through after receipt of the award are being devised. [Subsequently, the Committee announced that no Martinus Nijhoff International West European Specialist Study Grant would be awarded this year.]

The WESS Executive Committee supported the resolution opposing Colorado Amendment 2.

Ceres Birkhead reported a small decline in WESS membership.

Craig Likness reported on the meeting of the General Discussion Group, especially Barbara Walden's description of recent progress on the ARL project. Mention was made of a related study of the acquisition of foreign language materials being contemplated by the College and Medium-Sized Libraries Discussion Group. He led a discussion of the relationship between the membership meeting and the General Discussion Group.

There were no action items from the Discussion Groups.

Discussion groups contemplating applications for ACRL initiative awards should keep the Executive Committee informed.

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