Board of Publications Meeting Minutes for June 6, 2017

Call to Order/Introductions

Adoption of Agenda:

• Ron reviewed the Agenda.
• Motion: Susan moved and Doug seconded adoption of the Agenda. Motion passed.

Approval of April 4 Minutes:

Motion: Doug moved and Susan seconded adoption of the April 4, 2017 Minutes. Motion passed.

Open Forum:

There were no comments from guests.

New Design for ACB Braille Forum Cover

• Sharon explained that Eric initiated discussion of the cover. Kelly developed 5 samples based on previous cover designs. Sharon narrowed them to two, which she discussed with Ron, and they agreed on the best one to present to the BOP.
• Description from Sharon’s report: It features an inch and a half tall blue bar at the top, which goes the width of the cover, and in it are the words “The ACB” in white. Then there’s a 2” white space beneath it (also the width of the cover), in which is written in bold type “Braille Forum” in blue. Beneath that is a large blue square that goes the width of the cover; at the bottom left, it has the ACB logo in white, and to the right of that, the volume number, month and issue number, also in white.
• Ron asked about the typefaces and size of print. Sharon said they are much larger fonts than the publication text, but she is working with printed copies of the samples so did not have specifics.
• The current cover design has been in place since the 1990’s. Ron was not sure whether the BOP had taken action to adopt the previous cover and what the role or process should be now. Katie thought this might fall under the Marketing and Communications group. Doug commented that the Editorial Policy Manual gives primary responsibility for content of the Braille Forum to the Editor which he thought included details such as the cover design. It was agreed that the BOP would take no formal action with an assurance that the print was sufficiently large, contrast was good and the design was an improvement over the current cover. Denise suggested that Ron should advise the Communications strategic planning group that the proposed design has been reviewed and there are no concerns. Ron felt it was more appropriate to go directly to Kim since the strategic plan committee roles had not yet been formalize. It was agreed that Ron would contact Kim and Eric regarding the cover design with a copy to Katie as Chair of the Communications group.

Large Print Preference Survey

• Ron began by stating that outcomes of the large print preference survey should inform the style guide being developed by the Communications group. Katie explained that she and staff are working on this project.
• Ron summarized where we are to date with the survey. Deb has prepared sample documents demonstrating the various configurations based on variables agreed to by the working group. Survey respondents can identify which samples they find useful or which they find not useful instead of answering technical questions that might not make sense to them. This is a different approach but if accepted will allow us to move forward to conduct the survey at convention. Ron commended all who worked on the survey from the BOP and CCLVI and expressed appreciation for all of the effort regardless of whether we can move forward at this time or not.
• Leslie expressed concern about the change of approach from questions to using the samples exclusively. Deb reviewed the history: comparing nationally accepted guidelines from APH to the CCLVI guidelines and ACB current practice; determining points of agreement and differences; sorting the guidelines into constants and variables; distributing the sorted product for discussion and agreement. It was decided that the survey should be conducted on paper rather than on line and should be very simple to complete. Given the time constraints and the desire for simplicity of format, Deb created a grid based on the 3 font choices, 2 point sizes and 2 typefaces. (3 times 2 times 2=12.) The remaining variables which are of less significance were distributed among the samples. Respondents could mark which they like most and least using a rating scale and could optionally make comments.
• CCLVI expressed concerns which were discussed and resolved with the following outcomes. Some of the documents were 2 or 3 pages. This is caused by larger point sizes and typefaces. It was agreed that all samples need not be alike or complete and that each sample would be limited to 1 page to avoid overwhelming the respondents. Right justification will no longer be a variable so all documents will be left justified with ragged right margins. All documents will be named with one convention so it is not possible to identify characteristics by document name. Page numbers at the bottom of each document will be larger.
• The cover sheet will ask respondents to rate samples from 1 (low) to 10 (high) for readability and comfort. Comments will be encouraged and optional. They will be asked to consider various factors such as size, typeface, letter shapes etc. as they rate the samples.
• Deb agreed to revise the samples and draft a cover page by Thursday. Comments are due by Monday the 12th.
• We will print 200 copies which will be distributed at the ACB Information desk and in the CCLVI suite. Announcements will be made during convention and in the newspaper. A decision will be made later regarding whether to continue soliciting responses after the convention.
• Ron stated that he hoped the best outcome of the survey would be that the BOP and CCLVI would build greater trust because of having worked together on this challenging task. All agreed.

Plans for BOP Activities During the 2017 ACB Conference and Convention

Meeting Assignments

• BOP Representation During ACB Board Meeting, Friday: Doug
• BOP Meeting, Saturday: Deb.
• BOP Candidates Forum, Tuesday: Paul and Susan.
• BOP Workshop, Wednesday: Doug and Susan.

General Session Write ups:

• General Session, Saturday: Doug.
• General Session, Sunday: Susan.
• General Session, Monday: Deb.
• General Session Tuesday: Paul.
• General session, Wednesday: Deb.
• General Session, Thursday: Ron.

Awards:

Kim has determined who will be giving the BOP awards but Ron couldn’t recall at the moment.

NOTE: It’s Susan and Deb, just to complete the schedule.

Communications Room:

Everyone agreed to send Sharon their availability to assist. She will let us know about gaps in coverage. There was discussion on how to get more volunteers.

Update on Work Plan Items:

Ron observed that we have done a good job on some work plan items and have not gotten to some elements. We bit off a lot and some tasks took more energy and time than initially expected. Ron proposed that we spend a significant portion of the August meeting reviewing, updating and revising the work plan.

Reports:

BOP Chair: Ron Brooks

• Joined ACB-L listserv.
• Provided technical assistance to deb regarding the BOP cCLVI survey.
• Regular meetings with Eric and Sharon which assist with overall communication between the BOP and staff.
• Participating on membership development work group, working on messaging and how we reach a diverse population.

Editor: Sharon Lovering

May 2017 Issue type: hard copy: Print Page Count: 48

• Braille Distributed: 701; Returned: 7; Return Rate: 1%; Received: 694
• LP Distributed: 2,740; Returned: 53; Return Rate: 1.9%; Received: 2,687
• Cassette Distributed: 941; Returned: 37; Return Rate: 3.9%; Received: 904
• CD Distributed: 138; Returned: 5; Return Rate: 3.6%; Received: 133
• Electronic Distributed: 5,246; Returned: 0; Return Rate: 0; Received: 5,246
• Total Accessed (Excludes Returns): 9,664

June 2017 Issue type: electronic; Print Page Count: 54

• Electronic Distributed: 5,279; Returned: 4; Return Rate: 0.1%; Received: 5,275
• Total Accessed (Excludes Returns): 5,275

July 2017 Issue type: hard copy; Print Page Count: 48

• Braille Distributed: 695; Returned: none yet
• LP Distributed: 2,668; Returned: none yet
• Cassette Distributed: 939; Returned: none yet
• CD Distributed: 134; Returned: none yet
• Electronic Distributed: none yet
• Total Accessed (Excludes Returns): none yet
• In June, the title of Kim’s article was changed due to a problem Newsline was having with punctuation such as apostrophes, quotation marks, etc. – it can’t handle them. Eric and I spoke with Gina Russo at the Perkins Library, and she informed us that she has told NFB about the issue a number of times, but so far there have been no fixes. In the meantime, any title with apostrophes, etc. in it will be changed so that Newsline can read it.
• Received five entries for the candidates’ page: Kim Charlson (president), John McCann (second vice president), Ray Campbell (secretary), David Trott (treasurer) and Dan Spoone (first vice president). All five were in before the deadline, and I only had to trim one wordy entry. I have sent those along to Louisville Web Group for posting online.
• Completed work on the audio inventory assigned by the History committee, and now working on the photo/video inventory. I found a photo dating all the way back to 1965. There’s a lot of work to be done on this one, and it’s more of a challenge than the audio inventory. Most of the audio material had labels identifying the contents. A lot of the photos don’t, though a couple years do have lists of who’s who in the photos. It has been a fascinating job so far. I will continue my work on it for as long as it takes. But for the next few weeks, convention material takes priority.
• Proofread the convention program and the July Braille Forum; shipping convention materials.
• Seeking volunteers to assist in the communication center. I need people to help during the day with taking ads, answering phones, and running occasional errands, plus bursting, collating and stapling braille at times. I also need people to help in the evening hours, helping me proofread the paper, then bursting, collating and stapling the newspaper.

ACB Radio: Larry Turnbull

• Larry has not received data from Audio Now so listener stats are not available. He will send them when received.
• 12 or 13 sponsors to support with convention ads and 20 minute interviews. New sponsors include General Motors and Facebook, and Chase will have an interview this year which they have not done in the past.
• Working out the logistics for the streaming and recording schedule at convention. Guide Dog Users and Library Users want their programs recorded.
• Continuing to upload documents in the VA office to the SharePoint server.

ACB Email List Moderator: Bob Hachey

Email List Statistics, March, April and May

• ACB-L,
• March, Membership: 305. Messages Posted: 234
• April, Membership: 306. Messages Posted: 125
• May, Membership: 309. Messages Posted: 177
• ACB-Chat
• March, Membership: 139. Messages Posted: 64.
• April, Membership: 139. Messages Posted: 40
• May, Membership: 139. Messages Posted: 103.

Bob noted that footer information is not displaying in HTML messages posted on lists hosted by ACB. Larry is looking into this and believes a setting is scrubbing HTML for security reasons. He is hoping recent Mailman upgrades will resolve this.

Public Relations: Katie Frederick

• The PR Committee has put up a Google form for affiliates and committees to request photography at the convention. The form includes a question about how you intend to use the photography after the convention and whether the affiliate or committee would like help with promoting their activities.
• PR is doing a video spotlight on scholarship winners to promote this program and a convention spotlight video similar to what was done last year.
• Katie will begin sending the social media stats to the BOP since Goal 1 has disbanded and Carla is no longer sending this information.

Other Business and Announcements

There was no other business.

Next Meeting:

The next scheduled meeting is July 1, 2017 at 10:30 AM Pacific.

Adjourn

Deb moved and Doug seconded adjournment. the meeting adjourned at 11:06 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Deb Lewis, Secretary