AMIA Member Updates

Online Voting for the 2008 Election

Dear AMIA Members,

After careful consideration, the AMIA Board of Directors, the Elections Committee and the Elections Manual Revision Task Force have decided to use online voting to conduct the 2008 election for positions on the Board. We are sending this announcement to explain our reasons for this decision and detail the safeguards that are in place to ensure a fair and democratic election.

As some of you will remember, AMIA first used online voting during our 2006 election. Questions and concerns about this practice arose at that time due largely to the Board and Executive Director’s use of voter lists. The Elections Committee investigated the 2006 election and issued a report to all AMIA members in March 2007. In that report, the Elections Committee cited several matters that they felt needed to be addressed, among them online voting, and called for an update of the Elections Manual. It also decided to return to paper ballots for the 2007 election while the use of online voting was being looked at and reconsidered.

At the request of the Election Committee, the AMIA Board created the Elections Manual Revision Task Force to assume responsibility for the manual’s revision. In January 2008, the Elections Manual Revision Task Force began drafting a new manual; that work is continuing with a complete draft expected this fall. With the upcoming 2008 election in mind, the Task Force prioritized the issue of online voting and recently recommended to the Board and the Elections Committee that it be reinstated this year. The Board and the Elections Committee have agreed to the Task Force’s recommendation.

AMIA’s 2008 election will be conducted using the Voting on Demand online software provided by VoteNet Solutions. Voting on Demand has an excellent reputation for security and reliability, and is arguably the leading online voting system in use by small-sized organizations. More importantly, the Task Force looked at Voting on Demand specifically in light of three guiding principles:

Member Update

Just in case you didn't receive the newest  AMIA Update -  which was sent via email this week - you can find it online  in the Member Central area of the AMIA website at:  http://www.amianet.org/resources/updates.php.  (You'll need your member login information.) 

The  Update  includes a call for nominations, deadline information for the 2008 Scholarship/Fellowship program, and other announcements.
 
And a quick reminder - the deadline for the next AMIA Newsletter is March 7th!

Don't Forget to Renew!

Don't forget to renew your AMIA Membership! 

You must renew by April 16th to be included in the 2007 AMIA Membership Directory.  If you need a renewal form, just contact us at amia@amianet.org.

AMIA-Member

Welcome to the new AMIA-Member listserv, an unmoderated discussion list created to encourage discussion and information sharing among AMIA members, board, and staff. You don't need to sign up, you will receive your first AMIA-Member email in your box automatically.

AMIA-Member is intended as a forum to discuss AMIA activities, projects, and business of interest and pertinence to the general AMIA membership. While AMIA-L will continue to be a useful forum for discussion of archival issues by members and non-members alike, we hope that AMIA-Member will be a more effective tool for discussion of association matters among AMIA members and a welcome benefit of membership.

As a 2006 AMIA Member, you will be automatically subscribed to the AMIA-Member discussion list. To remain subscribed, please renew your membership for 2007 by April 15th. While members wishing to unsubscribe may do so, subscription to the list will be required of the AMIA's Executive Director, office, board, and committee, task force, and interest group chairs.

AMIA-L and AMIA-MEMBER: Which is Which?

AMIA operates two listservs: AMIA-L and AMIA-MEMBER.

AMIA-L is open to anyone interested; subscribers generally include moving image archivists, librarians, technicians and all those interested in moving image preservation.  While many AMIA members subscribe to AMIA-L, many do not. 

AMIA-MEMBER is a listserv for AMIA members and is provided to encourage discussion and information sharing between AMIA members, AMIA volunteers and AMIA Staff. AMIA-MEMBER is intended as a forum to discuss AMIA activities, projects and business.

For those members who subscribe to both listservs, the following guidelines are intended to help you determine which one to post to. We encourage you to choose which list is best suited to your posting.

Rules for Posting to AMIA-Member

AMIA-MEMBER is a listserv for AMIA members and is provided to encourage discussion and information sharing between AMIA members, AMIA volunteers and AMIA Staff. AMIA-MEMBER is intended as a forum to discuss AMIA activities, projects and business. Only current AMIA members are subscribed to the list serv.

AMIA Membership Renewals Are In The Mail!

In order to provide better service to you and other AMIA members, as of January 1, 2007, all AMIA membership renewals will be done by anniversary date. Membership will run for one year from the month payment is received. The recommendation for the change in renewal dates was made by the Membership Committee as a result of suggestions from the membership, and to provide all members with maximum benefits regardless of their renewal date.

All renewals received by April 15, 2007 will be included in the 2007 Membership Directory.

AMIA at 14 Transcript Available

Summary
Back by popular demand at the 2005 AMIA Conference was “AMIA at 14: Communicating Our Needs and Desires,” designed to engage members in discussion on strengthening our common mission and guiding the organization. This session was intended to be spontaneous and member-driven, with discussion topics culled from a participatory process and used as the basis for moderating the conversation. Ideas included:

• Community building so that AMIA and its members work in synergy.
• Advocacy efforts related to moving image and cultural interests.
• National and international development issues.
• Leadership, mentoring, and communications within AMIA.
• Understanding resources available to individuals and organizations and ways AMIA might work to solve inequities.

”AMIA at 14" was not a Board-sponsored session and was not intended to focus on specific issues of Association management and governance. Rather, the session was a forum for developing consensus on direction and energy within the organization and in its relation to the world.

The Transcript
The session was videotaped, you can download the transcript here.

Meet Keith LaQua, AMIA's New Executive Director

In 2005, as part of an ongoing strategic planning process, the AMIA Board launched several initiatives to strengthen the organization's infrastructure and financial footing. A key step in this dynamic shift has been the arrival this spring of Keith LaQua, AMIA’s first Executive Director.

Keith brings to his new role more than 25 years of experience in the management of non-profit organizations, including stints at the Artists Rights Foundation at the Directors Guild of America, The Pasadena Symphony, CARE, USC School of Business Administration, and public television stations KOCE-TV, WHA-TV and Prairie Public Broadcasting.

In July, the Library of Congress, New York University and the Academy Film Archive will host three opportunities for you, the AMIA membership, to get together, meet Keith, and share your ideas for AMIA’s future directions.

July 18th - Washington DC
11:45am - Library of Congress

July 19th - New York, NY
5:30pm - New York University

July 26th - Los Angeles, CA
5:00pm - Academy Film Archive

It's important that you RSVP if you're able to attend (go to www.AMIAnet.org). The meetings are intended for AMIA members only, but if you have a colleague who isn't a member yet - this is a great chance to get acquainted with AMIA.

We hope to see you there!

- The AMIA Board of Directors