LISSA Officers Meeting 5/30/08

From lissa

Meeting was held May 30, 2008 at 6:45p.m. in the GSLIS Lounge and adjourned at 8:30p.m. In attendance: Cheryl Cohen, past LISSA President; Adrian Mitescu, new LISSA President; Barbara Raab, past LISSA secretary; Hannah Sears, new LISSA secretary; Kim Giedd, new LISSA Treasurer; Christina Gillen, Student-Faculty Representative

Each member was given an agenda.

== Agenda Item 1: == Exit interviews - suggestions from the outgoing members of LISSA for things that should be changed, improved, added or eliminated. What did the past Officers consider the most challenging, rewarding aspect of the their job? What are other initiatives from the past that could be done again? Any outstanding issues such as changes to the constitution?

Discussion:

Barbara: consider eliminating one of the secretary positions (reduces conflicts and duplication of efforts); a stronger emphasis should be placed on internal LISSA communications - currently the VP should coordinate this, but there has not been much done lately; suggestion to review the bylaws to enhance the communication between LISSA and the students. Consider creating an online folder for each LISSA position (instead of or in addition to the physical one). Consider revising the Constitution - which has outdated language and does not really reflect our day-to-day operations and activities. (Partial agreement: the Constitution should be reviewed, but given the time and effort needed to make changes, we would prefer to keep the existing one, if it meets our current purposes). Cheryl: a stronger communicative and collaborative link should be maintained with other student organizations (Agreed); consider the way the LISSA blog and listserves are used: they are often not used at all, or have overlapping information. Strongly recommended that some Faculty Curriculum Representatives are present for the entire duration of the LISSA meeting (Agreed).

Action(s):

• 1: Adrian will consult the Constitution and report back with a recommendation (change or not).

• 2: After Advising Day, June 11th, the new leaders of each student organization should be contacted.

== Agenda Item 2: == Wiki gardening issues: Discussion/vote on whether we should have personal profiles added on the LISSA wiki for Officers. (The vote should be unanimous). Also, should we add a section for past Officers? Contact Denise Davis to see if we can add some demographics (current students, recently graduated, incoming, etc). What about the Website - should we try to update or redirect to the wiki?

Discussion:

The present members have agreed to have profile information uploaded to the wiki (these will be edited and uploaded by each member - a suggestion has been made by Adrian to start from the Nominee Statements at past elections). A decision has been made to add a section for past LISSA Officers and we would consider adding archival information. An agreement has been reached to add some statistics on the Main Page of the wiki. A suggestion was made (Christina) to post a short description of LISSA's functions so students can read it quickly and easily. An agreement was reached to focus on improving the wiki (and redirecting from the website to the wiki).

Action(s):

• 1: Profile information will be created, including a clear picture.
• 2: Adrian will create a section for past LISSA Officers.
• 3: Adrian will continue to speak with Dean Denise Davis (and contact Christine Leland) to obtain statistics.
• 4: Arian will contact the College to request the redirect from the main website to the LISSA wiki.
• 5: A discussion will be initiated on the LISSA Google Group to decide the LISSA description and to communicate about LISSA.

== Agenda Item 3: == Discussion/vote on whether we should institute a standing appointment every week in the GSLIS Lounge (starting this Fall).

Discussion: This proposal is strongly supported by the present Officers. The current proposal is to have two hours per. week when two LISSA Officers can be present in the GSLIS Lounge and be ready to answer any questions from students, and actively engage the students with discussion about LISSA services.

Action(s):

• 1: Adrian will create a discussion group on Google Groups where each Officer can detail their availability for the Fall semester.

== Agenda Item 4: == Discussion on whether we should create email addresses for LISSA Officers - either on simmons.edu (contact Em Claire) or other locations. Advantages: we can advertise it on wiki (remove personal addresses), transitions between teams will be easier; they can help keep LISSA/personal information separate; archival purposes.

Discussion: An agreement has been reached to pursue this idea further. Kim expressed a preference for Gmail. A consensus has been reached to contact the College and see if we can obtain Simmons email addresses; if this takes too long, we can create email addresses on Gmail. Barbara suggested creating a secure space on the wiki where Official LISSA correspondence can be kept.

Action(s):

• 1: Adrian will speak to Em Claire about the email.

== Agenda Item 5: == Update on the online student evaluation project. Soliciting input from the LISSA Officers for suggestions on how to tackle the data-entry work.

Discussion: Adrian has presented the online student evaluations project. The Officers support this initiative and would like to see it moving forward. A number of suggestions have been made to assist with the data entry of each student evaluation.

Action(s):

• 1: Adrian will continue to work on the online student evaluation project proposal and will update Officers regularly.

== Agenda Item 6: == Discussion on whether LISSA should sponsor an annual award for one of the graduating students. Proposal is to have nominations from the students, voted by the students; largely symbolic award. Would the annual award exclude former and current LISSA Officers?

Discussion: This proposal has been met with approval by the present LISSA Officers. An agreement has been expressed to exclude former and current LISSA Officers. A brainstorming session has begun: should we decide what we should name the award and why (some ideas: "the most active student - participates above and beyond"; "outstanding, as voted by students; "leadership"; "most prepared for the real world"; "student who is most awake".

Action(s):

• 1: Continue to brainstorm about the possibilities of naming this award (Adrian will check with Em Claire).

== Agenda Item 7: == Brainstorm about the possibility of inviting speakers to address the GSLIS community - is it feasible? Whom do we invite? Whom should we speak to in order to find invitees? (Professors?) Currently we support other student organizations - should we do more on our own?

Discussion: A discussion has taken place on whether Should LISSA be more aggressive in trying to recruit speakers. There are considerable logistical issues that need to be addressed, among them: whom to invite, room booking, parking.

Action(s):

• 1: Continue to support other student organizations in recruiting speakers. Revisit the item in the Fall.

== Agenda Item 8: == Other Issues

Discussion: Christina stated that she would like to have more knowledge about, and activity with the Professors. Maybe have a "Spotlight on the Professors Day". Cheryl said that it may work, if we stated the time and date for Professors and emailed them an invitation. Possible issues: lack of free time.

Action(s):

• 1: Will continue to consider this item: speak with Em Claire / Pat Oyler to assess potential interest from Professors.