PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.2 Winter 1999

Annual Report, Academic Interest Group
Linda M. Pitts, Chair

The group did not sponsor any programs for this year's conference, but we came up with a number of program ideas for the 1999 conference. These have been submitted to the board to be discussed at their Fall meeting.

Two members--Donna Hanson and Bob Hook--expressed an interest in bringing the Academic Statistics Report up to date and seeing that it gets published.

There was some discussion of the problems between OLA and PNLA and of declining PNLA membership in general. Many librarians feel squeezed by the demands of sometimes competing state, regional, and national organizations. Members (and potential members) have to feel that there is some tangible benefit from being a part of PNLA; since we draw members from this whole region, one solution would be to concentrate on conference programs that appeal to this regional audience. Some people expressed a desire to see more communication from the PNLA state representatives back to the boards of other library organizations within the states to better share what we have to offer as an organization. Declining interest group attendance was also a concern, and several members felt the requirement for interest groups to be re-certified each year actually discouraged attendance and participation, since a group that does not meet its membership requirement will be disbanded.

We briefly talked about future conference sites (no decisions were reached) and about the problems the exhibitors sometimes face.

We ended our meeting time with a discussion of the possibility of working with state and provincial associations to sponsor regional continuing education programs.