New England Chapter Annual Report 2020

submitted by Lisa Wollenberg

Current Roster

2019-2020 Officers

  • Sarah Funke Donovan, Chair (2020)
  • Marci Cohen Past Chair (2020)
  • Lisa Wollenberg, Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect (2020)
  • Brendan Higgins, Secretary-Treasurer (2021)
  • Patricia Brennan, Member-At-Large (2020)
  • Memory Apata, Newsletter Editor (2021)
  • Emily Levine, Archivist (undetermined)
  • Liz Berndt-Morris, Web Editor (2021)

2020-2021 Officers

  • Lisa Wollenberg, Chair (2021)
  • Sarah Funke Donovan, Past Chair (2021)
  • Sandi-Jo Malmon, Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect (2021)
  • Brendan Higgins, Secretary-Treasurer (2021)
  • Allison Estell, Member-At-Large (2022)
  • Memory Apata, Newsletter Editor (2021)
  • Emily Levine, Archivist (undetermined)
  • Liz Berndt-Morris, Web Editor (2021)

Note that the current chair will continue as Past Chair until 2022, and current Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect will continue as Chair and then Past Chair until 2023.

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  • Goal (Organizational Excellence): The board will better document current and past chapter committee membership.
    • The board has maintained an accurate list of committee membership through the 2020-2021 appointment year.
  • Goal (Organizational Excellence): To encourage greater involvement, we will continue to offer a service similar to resume review for conference proposals for both our spring chapter meeting and for the MLA annual meeting.
    • Due to lack of interest by members, we have discontinued this service for the time being.
  • Goal (Organizational Excellence): The NEMLA Archivist (Emily Levine) will be formalizing agreements to move our archives from the BPL to another Boston-area institution.
    • High staff turnover at the BPL has caused confusion. We may be able to keep our archives in that location, but we may also pursue options at the Brockton Public Library.
    • Our archivist is working with staff at the BPL. We are giving them some extra time due to COVID, and will re-evaluate our situation as the year progresses.
  • Goal (Expand Membership): Our membership numbers fell somewhat due to a transition in the renewal process. The board will send personal prompts to renew to members who were active in the past but have not renewed in MLA’s system yet. The board will also send personalized welcome emails to new and returning lapsed members, not just automated receipts for payment of dues.
    • Our membership numbers have decreased slightly.
    • To increase the number of renewals, we have decided to send renewal emails both to the NEMLA listserv and to individual members.
    • This year (2020-21) we also gave members the option to renew at our student/paraprofessional rate ($6/year) if they were facing financial hardships due to COVID.
  • Goal (Expand Membership): Increase outreach efforts to members from underrepresented groups
    • We have received an MLA Chapter grant to create an online course in Music Librarianship, with the goal of increasing the number of non-traditional students receiving music librarianship training and increasing the diversity of the profession.
  • Goal (Expand Membership): Increase outreach efforts to organizations that are underrepresented, including those whose holdings reflect many types of music
    • Both of our 2020 chapter meetings took place online and included attendees from many types of organizations beyond academic institutions.

List of Future Goals

  • Improve access to information about the chapter: Organizational Excellence
    • Although NEMLA officers and committee chairs are asked to make a report at each NEMLA business meeting, the structure and content of these reports varies widely.
    • The board will implement a more formal procedure for officers and committee chairs to establish and report their goals and outcomes each year.
  • Pursue joint ventures with other organizations: Organizational Excellence
    • We successfully held a joint chapter meeting in fall 2018 with NYSO and SQACBM. Given the high likelihood of continuing online-only meetings, it may be beneficial for us to collaborate with another chapter again, perhaps this time with a chapter that is more geographically distant.
    • Committees would also benefit from liaising with other organizations. For example, the outreach committee plans to look into a collaboration with ACRL-NE or other New England organizations.
  • Increase outreach efforts to members from underrepresented groups: Membership
    • Our Music Librarianship course task force (Liz Berndt-Morris, Memory Apata, Sarah Funke Donovan, Anna Kijas) has started to design the course, with the goal of increasing the number of students (especially non-traditional students) receiving music librarianship training and increasing the diversity of the profession.
    • The board will create a new officer position and corresponding committee to address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, and justice within NEMLA and the profession as a whole.
  • Make effective use of technology to achieve our mission: Technology
    • The board will research the costs and benefits of purchasing a Zoom license to host NEMLA meetings, board meetings, and/or committee meetings.