>> Meetings >> Board Meeting NINCH Board Meeting April 11, 1997 Conference Room, Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC   Minutes of the Meeting   1. Introductions and Apologies Stan Katz called the meeting to order. In attendance: Pat Fiske, Susan Fox, Chuck Henry, Stan Katz, Joan Lippincott (by phone); Kathleen McDonnell, Jim Morris, Claire Muldoon, Barry Szczesny, Robert Townsend, Duane Webster, Pat Williams. Apologies from: Susan Ball, Kimber Craine, Bob Lynch, Katharine Martinez, Scott Stoner, and Winston Tabb.   2. Governance Document. The basic structure of governance proposed in the governance document (an annual membership meeting, a board, an executive committee and working groups) was accepted unanimously by the board. The governance document itself was provisionally approved with some modifications. These included a separate article on mechanisms for the board to approve policy decisions, and for individual members to abstain from those decisions, and for greater clarity on the authority and reporting mechanisms of the Working Groups (including their dependence on the board's continuing authorization of their work and existence). The revised document will be shortly circulated for online approval. Discussion: The article on "Purpose" in the governance document states that "the purpose of NINCH is to advocate for the inclusion of the cultural sector in all policy deliberations on the future of the information infrastructure." Jim Morris wanted to understood what was and was not included in the phrase "cultural sector;" did this, for example include the Broadway and Hollywood industries? Stan Katz answered that in the early discussions on the establishment of NINCH, it was understood that there was an initial need to discover the common interests, needs and voice of the nonprofit sector of the arts and humanities in the digital environment. However, there was also the desire not to preclude eventual partnerships with the scientific community and the corporate sector by overly specifying who could and could not be included in NINCH membership. Kathleen McDonnell emphasized this stance from the Getty Information Institute's experience in bringing together public and private sectors, in which it was found to be vital for members of each sector to articulate their assumptions and define their core concerns and values before engaging in projects with the other sector. Chuck Henry asked whether we would consider corporate sponsorship. The feeling of the meeting was that corporate support of individual projects that NINCH would run or facilitate would be the best initial means for engaging corporate support. Chuck Henry also raised the issue of the relationship between the cultural community and the scientific community. In the past there was a tendency to pit the science sector as very much at odds with our community; recently there has been much impetus to include it. Henry referred to the successful pilot Roundtable jointly sponsored by NINCH and the National Research Council, along with CNI and Two Ravens Institute, designed to test the assumption that if scientists were more aware of humanists' concerns they could in fact be more productive.   The phrase "the cultural sector" should thus be clarified so that we understand that, although NINCH plans to work with the commercial and scientific communities, it is the nonprofit arts and humanities cultural sector, hitherto largely absent from policy debates on the future of the NII, that is our principle constituency. Decisions: a) The proposed slate of officers and members of the executive committee was unanimously approved. Officers: President Stan Katz/John D'Arms (ACLS); Vice President: Kathleen McDonnell (Getty Information Institute); Secretary-Treasurer: Joan Lippincott (interim) (CNI). Members of Executive Committee: Stan Katz/John D'Arms (ACLS) Kathleen McDonnell (Getty Information Institute) Joan Lippincott (interim) (CNI) Duane Webster (ARL)--Management Committee Pat Williams (AAM)--Management Committee Susan Fox (SAA)--elected as 2-year member from Policy Council Charles Henry (Rice University)--elected as 2-year member from Policy Council Deanna Marcum (CPA/CLR)--elected as 1-year member from Policy Council. It should be noted here that, in order to ensure greater continuity, the elected terms should be staggered. Thus one of the above elected members of the Executive Committee was asked to serve for an initial one-year term. b) The governance document allows for up to two General Membership NINCH members to be elected to the board. Based on the level of co-operation to date, Arts Wire/The New York Foundation for the Arts and the Visual Resources Association were nominated as candidates. Both were unanimously approved. c) Duane Webster, proposed that the board consider his proposal that the Association of Research Libraries continue to be a NINCH member at the Management Committee level if its own direct institutional contribution was $5,000 and, in addition, it succeeded in raising at least another $5,000 from its own individual member libraries. Pat Williams expressed interest in the concept as it might also apply to AAM. Joan Lippincott felt that although it would complicate arrangements such a scheme would add to the richness of the mix of members. With the proviso that any individual library/museum could not be claimed by more than one association claiming Management Committee membership, the board unanimously approved this proposal.   3. Summary Report from Director The director reported on NINCH's work in the six months since the October 1 Membership meeting under the three headings of the start-up strategic plan: Community Building; Advocacy and Communications & Education. Under Community Building, the director, reported on the addition of four new members, active engagement with the community through articles and presentations and the early stages of providing convening platforms across the community on several issues. On the last of these, he emphasized the early work of two cross-sectoral, collaborative initiatives: "Computers & the Humanities," and "Investing in Cultural Heritage." The first of these is a collaborative project with the National Research Council, CNI and the Two Ravens Institute that has initially produced a successful roundtable discussion (March 28) on the potential for an examination of how humanists and computer scientists could work together more productively. A joint press release is forthcoming and a report on the meeting will be available by late summer. The second initiative is in much earlier planning stages but is expected to join the forces of NINCH members with those of the Getty Information Institute, the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the Center for Arts and Culture in examining ways in which private and public sectors can work together more effectively in digitally networking cultural resources. Under Advocacy, NINCH's efforts have focused on copyright and related issues, working closely with the Digital Future Coalition and ensuring that members were kept as up-to-date as possible about legislative activities. A Fair Use Education working group is an important element of these activities, focusing on the need to educate the community about fair use and its evolution in a digital environment (see below). The most important advocacy development was the formation of the advocacy working group that has produced and circulated a survey to determine members' perceived needs and advocacy priorities. Under Communications and Education, the director reported on the continuing growth of NINCH's listservs and website and the more regular production of the online newsletter. The director encouraged members to critically examine the website and forward their comments. Stan Katz also asked members to work with the executive director to ensure that their own websites included information about NINCH and linked to the NINCH site <http://www-ninch.cni.org>. NINCH is continuing to share in the development of the American Arts and Letters Network. A third working group has been formed to produce a Cultural Diversity/Cultural Heritage WebExpo both to demonstrate the range of cultural resources available online and to give NINCH broader visibility. The director has written seven articles on NINCH and related issues that have been published since October with four more currently being prepared. The director has made ten appearances since October giving presentations on NINCH or moderating panels: with three more appearances scheduled for the summer. Although it's too soon for NINCH to produce off-line publications, it is time to produce a basic introductory brochure on NINCH and its outlined programs. Stan Katz thought members could offer their skills and/or facilities in helping with the production of such a brochure.   4. Working Group Reports Three working groups have been constituted. The Advocacy working group had a successful first meeting discussing the needs and priorities of digital networking issues as far as their organizations went and in constructing a members survey distributed in March. The director reported on the early returns. A full report, together with all members' responses will be circulated shortly. This would form the basis for recommendations to be made by the Advocacy working group to the Board on the advocacy strategies and priorities to be followed by NINCH.   The Fair Use Education working group has met twice. The working group was formed as a response to the perception of many participating in the Conference on Fair Use that there was a great need to educate our grass roots communities both about current fair use and its evolution in a digital environment and about the proposed guidelines developed by CONFU. In association with the American Council of Learned Societies and the College Art Association, NINCH has assisted in the development of a series of town meetings on this issue and is producing a Fair Use Education web page to support this mission. Pat Williams pointed out that the work of this group dovetailed with the recent work of the Committee on Intellectual Property of the National Humanities Alliance. This committee's most recent project of developing a set of principles for the management of intellectual property by the educational community included the participation of several NINCH board members and the NINCH executive director. The resultant document, "Scholarly Communication and Public Education: Basic Principles for Managing Intellectual Property in the Digital Environment," is available in hypertext form, on the NINCH Web site. The Cultural Diversity/Cultural Heritage WebExpo working group has been formed but has not yet met. Details of its mandate were included in the agenda.   5. New Member Campaign In the process of discussing the list of prospective members, the board heard a suggestion from Pat Williams that a working group be established to more formally and effectively pursue the development of new members. The working group would be charged to develop a goals statement and a strategy for membership development. Pat Williams and Duane Webster volunteered to be part of this group, which will be announced to the members at large.   6. Reports from the Field Prue Adler, Assistant Executive Director--Federal Relations and Information Policy--of the Association of Research Libraries, gave the Board updates on copyright legislation and related issues. Her report included notes on implementing legislation that will be required for adopting the WIPO Copyright Treaty and links between the treaty and domestic legislation that will be insisted upon by the online service provider community (regarding liability) and manufacturers (regarding "black box" circumvention language). The Senate will lead in these related copyright discussions. Ms. Adler noted that there is great interest and concern with distance education and that there might very well be a separate legislative proposal concerning the copyright ramifications of digital distance education. Domestic legislation regarding extended database protection will be re-introduced this session, meanwhile the WIPO database treaty, dispensed with for lack of time at the December Geneva meeting, will be re-considered (although currently blocked by developing nations, holding it hostage while waiting for consideration of an important folklore treaty). Prue also mentioned the recent publication of "Bits of Power" by the National Research Council, highly critical of the proposed database protection treaty and related domestic legislation. Chuck Henry reported on further developments with the American Arts & Letters Network (AALN). "Designed to enhance teaching and scholarship as well as to preserve and make more accessible digital examples of the American cultural heritage," AALN currently provides a quality filter and links to valuable Web sites for students, teachers and scholars. The server and system are in the process of being moved from Vassar College to Rice University, where AALN should receive far greater and more active support. Pat Williams reported on AAM's developing Museum Licensing Project/ Sixteen museums were current reviewing a revised proposal for establishing a cooperative for organizing the licensing of museums' digital property. Ms. Williams also reported the newly designed handsome website of the American Association of Museums, also available from the NINCH website. And, lastly, she added that the Southern Maryland Museums Association and the Southern Maryland Libraries Association have developed a very dynamic, cooperative project for teacher training illustrating the richness of resources that can be developed using web technology even under modest budgetary capabilities.   7. Next Meeting: The director will circulate a set of dates in September/October for the next Annual Membership/Board meeting, and next April for the Board meeting