The ACB Board of Publications met via teleconference on Monday, September 10, at 9:00 PM EDT. Members present: chair Paul Edwards, Denise Colley, Nolan Crabb, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson; ex officio members Berl Colley, Bob Hachey, Ron Milliman; ACB staff/contractors Annette Carter, Sharon Lovering; absent, Larry Turnbull. Several guests also participated on the call.
Chair Paul Edwards convened the meeting at 9:10 PM EDT. The meeting agenda was adopted. The secretary reported that due to unforeseen circumstances, the draft of the August meeting minutes was not ready. The BOP will act on this draft at the October meeting.
Sharon reported that the October/November Forum has gone to press. She wrote the entire recap of the convention and included pictures. She is still very busy working on the database project.
Sharon stated that Melanie Brunson wants to receive all budget requests by October 1. Marcia moved and Nolan seconded a motion, adopted unanimously, that we extend the current Forum contracts for another year. Also, with regard to the budget, Paul and Denise met with Melanie to discuss the implications of changing the name of The Braille Forum. Melanie indicated that we can officially make the change in July 2013; any costs that may accrue with respect to trademark and copyright will be included in the 2014 budget. Marcia moved and Judy seconded that we use our current circulation numbers plus 5 percent wiggle room across the board to develop our current budget recommendation, which will be submitted as is. The motion was adopted unanimously.
Initial testing has begun for placing The Braille Forum on NFB Newsline. This should happen by November. Paul thanked Kim Charlson for working with him on this project.
At the 2012 ACB conference/convention, Jeff Bishop submitted a resolution regarding sub-minimum wage, which he would not have submitted if he had known that President Pomerantz had signed on to a cross-disability letter pertaining to this. In light of this incident, Jeff expressed his concern to the BOP that there is not a consistent vehicle for ACB members to learn about new policies and decisions and receive official announcements. Following a lengthy discussion, Nolan proposed and Marcia seconded a motion, adopted unanimously, that Paul recommend to the Board of Directors that the president and the executive director revitalize the ACB-Announce list and use it for its original intended purpose, to disseminate official announcements to the ACB membership. Paul will also recommend that these announcements also be placed on the Web site and on the Washington Connection.
Ron reported that the publications committee is updating their handbooks. Paul recommended that after this is accomplished, Ron should send out a list of the available publications to the leadership list.
Beginning Thursday, September 13, "ALL Things Radio" from the World Wide Legend will be broadcast on ACB Mainstream. This one-hour program focuses on terrestrial and Internet radio and what is happening in the industry.
The BOP will hold an executive session via teleconference on Thursday, September 13, to discuss some financial questions and long-term personnel planning.
There is no problem with any of the Forum formats of the September issue. Marcia and Denise will continue to evaluate the braille edition, and Ken Stewart volunteered to continue monitoring the large print edition.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 PM EDT.
The next meeting of the Board of Publications will be held via teleconference on Monday, October 1, at 9:00 PM EDT.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia N. Dresser, Secretary