MLA-Phil

PHILADELPHIA REGIONAL CHAPTER
Annual Report

The Philadelphia Chapter Board has met five times since the MLA Annual Meeting was held in Philadelphia in May 2007. The Chapter’s Annual Business Meeting and Luncheon was held on April 17. The transitional meeting of the old and new Boards will take place in July 2008. Chapter assets as of April were $12,881.76 in the checking account and $5620.41 in our investment account, for a total of $18,502.17.

The following represents the activities of the Chapter relative to the strategic plan and goals of MLA.

Goal 1: Recruitment, Membership and Leadership in the Profession
• The Chapter initiated a membership drive in 2008, led by Membership Chair, Laura Koepfler. The plan is to implore each chapter member to recruit one new member in response to the decline in membership.
• Membership Chair, Laura Koepfler, has created an online membership renewal form using Acteva, the Chapter’s new online payment and registration system.
• The Chapter welcomed eleven new members as a result of our membership drive.
• The Chapter is participating in a joint project of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Mayor’s Office entitled “One Book, One Philadelphia”. The purpose of the program is to promote reading and literacy in the city of Philadelphia. The program is in its 6th year. This year’s selection is “What is the What, by David Eggers. The story chronicles the life of Valentino Achak Deng, of Sudan, who is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan”. The program runs from January-March.
• Chapter members, Anita Chiodo, and Katherine Fischer (student member) participated in Drexel University’s Dash for Democracy. The Dash for Democracy was held on November 3rd, and was a 5K run/walk, to support a charity selected by the team members. Drexel’s team, ‘Bookin’ It, supported Books Through Bars, a non-profit organization that provides reading materials to prison libraries across the country.
• In an effort to reach out to student members, the Chapter is working with the iSchool at Drexel University, to provide MLA literature in the Placement Office. Membership in MLA Phil is free to students.
• The Chapter again participated in the “Rush@Hagerty” event sponsored by the iSchool at Drexel. The “Rush@Hagerty” is a networking and recruitment opportunity for iSchool students to learn about local library organizations. Hagerty is the main campus library.
• Members of the Chapter, including the Chair, participated in the iSchool Panel Series, which features a different library organization for each session.
• The Chapter’s Beatrice Davis Award was given to Kevin Wall, a library school student who is also a psychiatric nurse who is planning to work in a health sciences library.

Goal 2: Life-Long Learning
• The Chapter participated in the MLA Webcast, Scholarly Publishing and Open Access: Straight Talk, on November 20th. The On Demand broadcast will be made available for members who were not able to attend. The Chapter’s own Karen Albert, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, was a panelist.
• The Chapter also participated in the March 5, 2008, MLA Webcast on Web 2.0 Principles and Practices.
• Patient Safety Resources Seminar: Librarians on the Front Lines was presented by Arpita Bose of the NN/LM MAR, on March 31, 2008 at Scott Memorial Library, Thomas Jefferson University.
• Government Relations Chair, Maura Sostack, authored an article in the November 2007 issue of Information Today, on her experiences as a baby boomer learning the intricacies of the Web 2.0 software used by the Chapter for its new blog. The article features the Chapter Webmaster, Gary Kaplan, and Chapter member Anita Chiodo.
• Chapter member, Rebecca Landau, reviewed a workshop she attended on “Finding the Evidence: Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing” hosted by Health Sciences Library Association of New Jersey, and held at the New Jersey Hospital Association in Princeton, New Jersey. MLA members, Dolores Judkins and Patrice A. O’Donovan were the presenters.
• Chapter members are participating in the MLA 8 credit CME course on Web 2.0 technologies.

Goal 3: Advocacy
• Government Relations Chair, Maura Sostack, regularly shares information related to government and library advocacy issues on both the chapter website and the listserv.

Goal 4: Creating and Communicating our Knowledge
• The Chapter’s new blog (http://www.mlaphil.org/wp) debuted in the fall using Web 2.0 technology. All Chapter information has been posted on the website including the chapter newsletter, the Chronicle.
• The blog is now used for program registrations, and membership renewals.
• The Chapter nominated our new website for the MLA Chapter Project of the Year Award. Although we did not win this year, we plan to resubmit our application in 2009.
• The Communications Committee conducted a survey of our members to determine how our methods of communication are used, including the chapter website, newsletter, discussion list, and external links to the MLA national website.
• Each issue of the Chapter newsletter, The Chronicle, features a column by chapter member Carlos Rodriguez from the Biomedical Library of the University of Pennsylvania, entitled the TechnoHumanist Corner. In his column, Carlos shares information on cutting edge technologies that can be used in our daily lives as librarians.

Goal 5: Building a Network of Partners
• As mentioned above, the Chapter collaborates with the iSchool @Drexel University, with the Rush@Hagerty for the recruitment of students to MLA and other professional organizations.
• The Board has voted to participate in a joint chapters meeting with the NY/NJ MLA Chapter in 2009. We felt that this would be a good time to present a regional meeting because many of members will not be able to attend the 2009 Annual Meeting in Hawaii.
• Development Chair, Cynthia McClellan, has successfully secured donations from several vendors who do business in the Philadelphia Area. The sponsors are acknowledged on the chapter blog and at our annual business meeting.