President's Letter
By Dee Magnoni, dianna.magnoni@olin.edu

The leaves are just starting to turn and our chapter is entering the final months of its 18-month "year." The chapter board met in August and took a careful look at the board structure and officer positions. Significant changes are being put in place, and we look forward to the increased communication and involvement of chapter members. First, we discussed the use of directors on the board. We currently have a Director of Finance who is in charge of creating the chapter budget with the board each year. This task is typically performed by the treasurer in other SLA units, and we have decided to return to this uniform structure.

The use of directors to provide a broader voice on specific issues was seen as valuable, though, and the group created two new director positions that would have alternating two-year terms. The focus of each position will be discussed with each new term. For 2007, we will have a one-year Director of Strategic Planning, and a two-year Director of Communications. Hope Tillman has written the initial scope notes for these positions:

Director (Strategic Planning) Duties:

1. The Strategic Planning Director serves as a member of the Executive Board.
2. Works in conjunction with the Executive Board and Committees to gather member input to help plan future meetings, program sessions, and continuing education courses via surveys or other tools.
3. Within the framework of the Association's strategic plan, develops and recommends revisions or new strategic plan to the Board. The strategic plan will include long-term projects and objectives, which reflect the interests of Chapter members.
4. Facilitates discussion and selection of Chapter goals and priorities with input from the Chapter Executive Board and Committees.
5. Monitors progress under the current plan.
6. Reports to the Executive Board and Committees.
For more information, consult the Strategic Planning Handbook.

Director (Communication) Duties:

The Communication Director will monitor various communication tools used by the chapter and encourage participation and discussion regarding Chapter activities, affairs, issues, and other matters. Current tools include bulletin, web site, discussion list, wiki and community of practice. Director will share input at Executive Board meetings and on the Board discussion list.

1. The Communications Director serves as a member of the Executive Board.
2. Monitors various chapter communications tools: bulletin, web site, discussion list, wiki and community of practice.
3. Encourages discussion regarding Chapter activities, affairs, issues and other matters.

In addition to the new director positions, a robust discussion of our chapter programming, the President-elect duties, and our regions was held. The President-elect, rather than being directly in charge of chapter programming, will coordinate a network of regional programming volunteers. The chapter already has a number of defined regions, and we agreed to the following regional structure:

° Boston/Cambridge (downtown)
° New Hampshire/Vermont
° Maine
° Southern MA and the Cape
° Suburban Boston (outside 128)
° Western/Central MA
° Virtual

Each region will have a coordinator who will spearhead program planning, dine-arounds, and partnerships with the New Professionals and Emerging Technologies groups. Each coordinator will be a board member.

The chapter fundraising is officially included within a vendor relations committee, and the committee will have strong ties to the program development of the chapter.

Also at the board meeting, following previous inquiries and dialogs, we discussed a possible merge with the Connecticut Valley chapter. Officers of both chapters have been exploring shared leadership for several months. This merge was suggested in SLA's Chapter Modeling Taskforce report that was delivered at the 2006 annual conference in Baltimore. Details are being discussed, but in general Connecticut Valley would become a region within the Boston chapter. Similar to other regions, Connecticut Valley would have a coordinator on the board. Members could also be considered for other chapter office and committee positions. The region would receive the full chapter support that all regions receive with respect to programming and other chapter activities.

There are many, many paths for chapter involvement in our leadership and committee structure, and we look forward to an energetic and high-impact 2007!

In other chapter activities, September 13th was our Fall Kick-off event. Over 120 chapter members and guests gathered at the New England Aquarium for one of our best kick-offs ever. The networking, food, and penguins were all fabulous! I was especially happy to see so many of our student chapter members. I want to thank the committee of volunteers who put this wonderful evening together: Anna Burke, Jeff Cronin, and Katrina Reiling. We would not have had an event without their tireless energy. I also want to thank Elsevier for partnering with us for their third straight year. The generosity of Elsevier and the graciousness of their representatives allow our chapter to create truly memorable evenings for our members. Finally, I want to thank everyone who attended our kick-off. We are gifted with great talent and wisdom amongst our members, and a gathering of so many of us makes for a truly special event!

I wish everyone a happy and productive fall. Please contact me with chapter ideas, concerns, or other feedback.

Dee

Dee Magnoni
President, SLA Boston
Library Director
Olin College of Engineering
Phone: 781-292-2389
E-mail: dianna.magnoni@olin.edu
AOL IM: dmlibrarian