BOP Midyear Meeting Minutes
The Board of Publications met in person at the ACB midyear meeting, which was held at the Holiday Inn in Arlington, VA. Members present: chair Paul Edwards; Denise Colley, Nolan Crabb, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson; ex officio member Berl Colley: ACB staff/contractors Annette Carter (by phone) and Sharon Lovering. Members absent: Bob Hachey; Ron Milliman; Larry Turnbull. Approximately 20 guests were also in attendance.
Paul convened the meeting at 7:40 PM EST. Following introductions, the minutes of the February 4 meeting were approved as distributed.
In answer to a question, Paul explained the history of the E-Forum. We will produce six 56-page issues of The Braille Forum this year instead of nine 32-page issues and one 48-page issue. The other issues will be produced electronically, the first of which will come out in April.
Someone in the audience suggested that ACB advertise on the Web site and in the E-Forum, which is not sent through the mail and therefore not subject to Free Matter postal regulations. We cannot advertise in the E-Forum, however, because it is available on Newsline, which is partially funded by state government sponsors. The general consensus was reached that we should advertise on our Web site. Someone also pointed out that ACB needs to become more visible to search engines such as Google and Bing.
We discussed the difference between a vision statement, which describes what you want to do, and a mission statement, which states what the organization is. Nolan, Judy, and Mika White will work on revising the ACB mission statement.
Paul stated that we have received three bids from organizations willing to convert the Forum to DAISY files to be put up on BARD. The BOP will make a final decision on these bids at the April meeting.
Sharon pointed out that many questions received by the national office staff could easily be answered on the Web site. To that end, Paul, Sharon, Nolan, and Marcia will update the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.
In response to Ray Campbell's query, Paul said that there are several people in ACB who have the knowledge to convert things to DAISY format. Paul will put this on the April agenda.
There is a feeling that some articles in the Forum are too lengthy and lack organization. Paul asked that people let the BOP know if they see such articles in the future.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM EST.
The next BOP meeting will take place via teleconference on Monday, April 1, at 9:00 PM EDT.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia N. Dresser, Secretary