January 20, 2005 -- 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.,
IS Building, First Floor Conference Room

In attendance : Denise Callihan (President), Barbara Zaborowski (President Elect), Kimberly Gregory (Secretary), Andrew Falk (SIS Liaison), Dorothy Spudic, Jean Petrisek, Karen Grunebach, Nancy Alstadt, Jim Kalnas and Marnie Hampton. The meeting agenda is attached.

Andrew Falk, SIS Liaison, provided a folder of information for the attendees. He covered the contents before the meeting began. Denise discusses the latest distribution list formed from interest she has received as a result of the blast e-mail that went out to all Alumnus in October 2004. An updated version has been provided by Andrew Falk, and will be used by her for SAS meeting notifications and other points of interest and activities concerning SAS.

Call to Order: Denise Callihan brought the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m.

• Minutes from the December 2, 2004 were handed out for review. No changes were suggested.

LIS Professional Development Days

• Discussion centered mainly on the LIS Professional Development Days. Barb Zaborowski provided the group with a brochure she created for its promotion and student registration. The dates set for this event are consecutive Saturdays, April 2 and 9, 2005.

• April 2, 2005 will be the first day dedicated to workshops on resume writing, job seeking, presentation and interviewing skills, etc. at the SIS Building Jim Kalnas has volunteered for these workshops due to his expertise in this area. It was suggested the resumes be dropped off by the students on this date, and feedback will be provided to them by interested and participating alums either on the spot or at a later time.

• April 9, 2005 will be the second day dedicated to mock interviews at the William Pitt Union. Twelve rooms are currently available and reserved for this activity. It was suggested the interviews total no more than 30 minutes which includes the actual interview and critique at the conclusion of such. It was also suggested that each volunteer conduct no more than two interviews.

• Promotion to Alumni in the form of a blast e-mail will occur February 7, 2005. The purpose of this is to seek volunteers for this event. Denise is to draft an e-mail to be reviewed by Dr. Ron Larsen and Andrew will provide notification to Greg Shearer, webmaster. February 21 will be the deadline for volunteers to respond.

• Promotion to the students will begin March 7. Departmental e-mail was suggested and will be explored. Distribution will be done through the professors and faculty, posting on bulletin boards and posting on the SIS website. March 23 will be the deadline for registration.

• Material for the volunteers will be provided. Letters to the volunteers will confirm their participation. Andrew suggested a face to face meeting with Tricia of Career Services. Giveaways for this event were also discussed, but not confirmed. If resumes are submitted prior to the event, Andrew will determine who the central repository will be.

I-Fest

• I-Fest was discussed. Andrew indicates this concept makes sense to the folks at SIS as well as Dean Larsen. I-Week was discussed. This event is over a year away, but the concept is a traditional book fair overlayed with an internet fest! Barb Zaborowski said she meets with Roberta Stevens from the Library of Congress on February 25 on such things as obtaining sponsors among other things. It was discussed that a meeting with the University’s Event Staff should take place to ensure the necessary permits are obtained, etc. Barb’s notes from an initial conversation with Roberta Stevens are attached to these minutes.

• I-Fest could either kick-off I-Week or can be the finale. The effort with I-Week is to increase enrollment to the IS undergraduate program and the idea of becoming an “I” School!

Social Events with Alumni

• SIS Social was discussed and tabled for more discussion at a later date, but some suggestions for the warmer weather included Kennywood Day, Zoo, Pirate game in May or June.

New Business:

• Denise discussed the revival of the Distinguished SIS Alumnus Award which was previously generated out of the Alumni Society along with faculty. Dean Larsen is fully on board with this idea. It was suggested to speak with someone like Linda Hartman on the criteria previously used. In the past, this award was Department/Faculty driven, but Dean Larsen doesn’t necessarily feel this should be the case going forward and he is not wedded to the old way of thinking. Suggested that GSA involvement should be considered. Emily Moellman is currently GSA for Maggie Kimmel, the current LIS department chair. Emily will be on board for almost an entire year and has been tapped to work with distant mentor and student relationships.

• February 15, 2005 is designated Pitt days in Harrisburg, a fund raising event.

• February 5, 2005 is Pack the Petersen – Women’s basketball team plays Notre Dame at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $1. 1-800-643-PITT for tickets.

• Meeting adjourned: 7:40 pm. Next meeting is March 2005.

AGENDA – 1-20-2005

Introductions & SIS News
           Distribution list created of "interested/engaged" alumni

Review 12-2-2004 meeting minutes

LIS Day - Logistics & support
           Email Blast for alumni volunteers - early February specifics - geographic limitations/mentoring options
           Professional Development Day - April 2
           Mock Interview Day - April 9
           Follow-up/review for IST Professional Development Day in Fall

I Fest - Book Festival update and pathforward
SIS Social - Target May/June 2005
New Business
           Distinguished SIS Alumnus Award revival
           GSA involvement (coordinate distant alumni/student mentoring)

Notes from the phone conversation with Roberta Stevens, Library of Congress. Roberta is the event coordinator for the National Book Festival.

[These notes will be brief and cryptic at times but I wanted to get down some of the major points, I can fill in more when we discuss this.]

• Major publishers were contacted to identify authors who have books about to be released. Since the authors were having books released and this was a promotion the publisher paid the travel costs to have the author present.

• Library of Congress staff also identified authors that they wanted in order to round out all the genres/venues.

• The cost of the festival is $1.5 million.

• Walmart as a sponsor donated $100,000 and then provided all the free water

• Barnes and Noble also donated $100,000 and handled all the book sales.

• The Junior League of Washington and local libraries provided the 600 volunteers.

• Planning for the event begins in February with an October event date.

• A PR firm, Fleishman-Hilliard [sp.], was contracted with to provide the setup and tear down of all the tents, provided the generators, electric, and microphones and speakers, and subcontracted the printing of the booklets and posters.

• All promotional materials were designed in-house at LOC and a painting for the cover and poster was commissioned. Once designed the PR firm handled the printing.

• There was a volunteer coordinator that worked with the volunteers beginning in the summer. Training materials and training sessions were conducted. Volunteers were assigned as author escorts. Each volunteer had to read some of the author’s works in preparation. Authors report to a VIP pavilion and are introduced to their escort who ensures that they get to the venue and book signing on time.

• Security was handled by the Park Police since they owned the property. Likewise it is the Park Police that have the contract with the food vendors, although LOC did indicate that they wanted variety.

• The only major planning disaster that she referred to was in the first year they attempted to have the event in-doors and there was not enough room for the turnout, moving it out-of-doors was the best thing they did.