Table of Contents
Greetings SEPTLA colleagues! As this is my first presidential message, I thought I’d start with an introduction. My name is Victoria Jesswein and I have worked as Archivist at United Lutheran Seminary since May 2021. Originally from Texas, I now live in Gettysburg. I hold a Master of Archives and Records Management from the University of Liverpool, UK. I have been involved with SEPTLA for about two years and sit on the Continuing Education committee.
I look forward to welcoming you all to the Fall 2023 SEPTLA Meeting to be held virtually and in-person on the campus of United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia on Monday, November 6. The presentation at this meeting will focus on the pros and cons of the various Content Management Systems used by SEPTLA libraries.
As always, the presentation will be followed by the business meeting, as well as our interest groups. For those in attendance in-person, lunch will be provided, and the day will end with a tour of the Krauth Library.
See you all soon!
Pax,
Victoria Jesswein
President
You Are Invited
SEPTLA Fall Meeting 2023
Monday, November 6, 2023
United Lutheran Seminary, Philadelphia (in person and virtual)
Please RSVP online by Thursday, November 2. If attending in person, lunch will be provided. If attending virtually, you’ll receive a link via email at least one day before the event. If you cannot attend, please still use the RSVP link to send us an institutional update (one per institution).
Location: Benbow Hall, Brossman Center, ULS-Philadelphia
United Lutheran Seminary is on the east side of Germantown Ave., where Allens Lane ends at the Avenue, across from the Wawa. Enter the Brossman Center through the glass doors and turn left toward Benbow Hall.
Parking: Please park in the Brossman parking lot. After turning into the driveway from Germantown Ave, stay to the right as you start up the driveway, then curve left past the Chapel to parking in the rear. No permit is required.
Arrival by train: From Center City Philadelphia, take Chestnut Hill East or West lines going north. The Seminary is about 3 blocks east of the Richard Allen Lane stop on the Chestnut Hill West Line, or about 3 blocks southwest of the Mt. Airy stop on the Chestnut Hill East Line.
Schedule:
- 9:30-10:00 Arrivals and Refreshments
- 10:00-10:10 Welcome and Introductions
- 10:10-12:00 Program
- 12:00-1:00 Lunch (gratis)
- 1:00-1:50 Interest Group Meetings
- 1:50-2:00 Break
- 2:00-3:00 Business Meeting and Institutional Updates
- 3:00-3:30 Tour of Krauth Memorial Library
Business Meeting Minutes
SEPTLA Spring Meeting 2023
April 25, 2023
Cairn University
Called to order at 2:08 by Greg Murray, President
Attendees
Virtual: Lydia Putnam (Missio), Joy Dlugosz (Eastern/Palmer), Myka Kennedy Stephens (Lancaster TS)
In-person: Nicholas Friesner, Sarah Danser, Virginia Dearborn, Greg Murray, Melvin Hartwick (all Princeton), Vic Broberg (Reformed Episcopal), James Humble (St. Charles Borromeo), Bob McInnes (Westminster), Patrick Milas (New Brunswick), Christina Geuther (New Brunswick), Shaelagh Martin (Lancaster TS), Alan LaPayover (Reconstructionist Rabbinical), Caleb Daubenspeck, Stephanie Kaceli, Nangtsin Lahtaw, Catherine Langholff (all Cairn), Victoria Jesswein (United Lutheran), Brian Cardell (St. Tikhon's Orthodox)
Approval of minutes from preceding meeting
Minutes from Fall 2022 business meeting were approved by acclamation as distributed.
Financial report
No treasurer’s report today, due to treasurer position being vacant. No expenditures since last meeting, so balances are the same. Dues were not billed this year; suspended during COVID and not reinstated.
Interest group reports
Research Services
Role of chair has been vacant. Shaelagh and James were elected co-chairs. Reviewed what each did in their library in addition to research services. Saw how important efforts to help students with their research are.
Cataloging/Metadata
Adding archives subject headings, how much is too much. Authorities access for St. Tikhon re: difficult names with many linguistic variations.
Committee reports
Communications
Myka updated the website to the latest version of WordPress.
Continuing education
Victoria reported that the program topic for today from survey responses after last meeting, so send more suggestions after this one.
Elections
Most are 1-year appointments with option for renewal. Treasurer is 4-year. We are electing for Secretary, Treasurer, and President.
Secretary
Sarah Danser of Princeton Th. Seminary was elected by acclamation for a second 1-year term.
Treasurer
Myka nominated Shaelagh Martin of Lancaster Th. Seminary, who accepted the nomination and was elected by acclamation.
President
Patrick nominated Victoria Jesswein of United Lutheran Seminary, who accepted the nomination and was elected by acclamation.
Shaelagh as Treasurer and Victoria as President will be added to the SEPTLA bank accounts in the near future. Greg is on the accounts and can work with PNC to authorize adding them.
Announcements
Patrick: NY Antiquarian Book Fair is on Friday, and there will be an informal NYATLA gathering. Contact him for details.
Victoria thanked today’s hosts, Stephanie and library staff of Cairn University, for a good meeting and nice lunch, good space, room for IGs, etc.
Virginia: Annual MLK Jr. lecture at PTS Apr. 26 - can register to attend in person or online.
Greg: SEPTLA awards a scholarship for Atla meeting each year for a 1st-time attendee. SEPTLA can reimburse you or your institution to attend Atla. Inquire for details on what is covered/paid/reimbursed.
Greg thanked those who volunteered today for leadership positions. Patrick thanked Greg for serving as President. Greg thanked Patrick in return for serving two years as President and two years as Past President.
Greg adjourned the meeting at 2:27.
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Danser, SEPTLA Secretary
May 4, 2023
SEPTLA Executive Committee Meeting
August 1, 2023, 2:00 PM
Present:
Sarah Danser (secretary)
Christina Geuther (newsletter editor, co-chair of Communications Committee)
Victoria Jesswein (president)
Shaelagh Martin (treasurer, co-chair of Research Services Interest Group)
Greg Murray (past president)
Excused:
Vic Broberg (chair of Cataloging & Metadata Interest Group)
Evelyn Frangakis (chair of Continuing Education Committee)
James Humble (archivist, co-chair of Research Services Interest Group)
Victoria called the meeting to order at 2:05.
1. Approval of minutes from last meeting
The minutes from the last Executive Committee meeting (6/27/2023) were approved by acclamation.
2. Updates/reminders/reports
A. Spring Meeting 2023 follow-ups
Stephanie Kaceli of Cairn University (host of Spring Meeting 2023) submitted receipts totalling $340. Shaelagh sent a check to Cairn.
Shaelagh also sent a check for the honorarium to Maddie Cooper of CCAHA (guest speaker at Spring Meeting), but she couldn’t accept it because the check was made out to her. That check was destroyed, and Shaelagh sent a new one payable to CCAHA.
B. Vacancies
Myka Kennedy Stephens has left her position at Lancaster Theological Seminary and therefore has stepped down as SEPTLA website manager and co-chair of Communications Committee (which includes serving on Executive Committee). Victoria will send a message to the SEPTLA mailing list announcing this vacancy and asking for a volunteer to fill this role.
C. Newsletter
As newsletter editor, Christina has requested a meeting with Greg to go over how to put together the biannual newsletter. They will meet within the next week or two.
3. Old Business
A. Review of reciprocal borrowing agreement
We will need to review the document in advance, prior to discussing it. We intend to discuss this at our next Executive Committee meeting (September), so we’ll be prepared to consider any questions/concerns at the plenary Fall Meeting.
B. Honoraria for guest speakers
The group considered options for setting the amount for guest speaker honoraria moving forward. One option is to give ourselves flexibility and determine the amount on a case by case basis, taking into account the duration of the talk, the speaker’s customary speaking fee (if any), etc. – although we may need to have a predefined minimum and/or maximum. But we should have a typical amount in mind for cases where the proposed speaker doesn’t have a customary fee. The group determined that $300-500 is a reasonable range. In future, Continuing Education Committee will use this guideline to arrange honoraria in advance of the event.
4. New Business
A. Representative member voting
The SEPTLA constitution (at 4.1.1) and bylaws (at 1.2.5) say that “Members shall have one officially designated voting representative to the association.” This differs from how votes at plenary meetings have been conducted in recent years, where each attendee has been given one vote. We should adhere to the “voting representative” method in future. (Otherwise larger libraries have an outsize impact on the Association.) We’ll need to make this change in practice known in advance of the next plenary meeting, both via the mailing list (Victoria will send an email) and via the newsletter (by adding a note on the meeting invitation).
B. Membership dues
Membership dues were paused in 2020 due to the pandemic and have not been reinstated. At the last plenary meeting someone inquired about dues and noted that if those funds are not spent they might be taken out of the library budget and not restored. Today we discussed this matter and decided that we intend to reinstate dues, although we’ll raise this with the membership at the next plenary meeting. We should also remind the membership that dues are actually utilized, not only for costs of each plenary meeting but also for the scholarship to Atla Annual.
C. Fall meeting
Victoria proposed that United Lutheran Seminary host the Fall Meeting, with a hybrid format to allow either in-person (Philadelphia campus) or online attendance. She will investigate possible dates. Regarding the program, the Continuing Education Committee has not met since the last plenary meeting. Greg emailed the Con Ed Committee with the program ideas from the post-meeting survey from the Spring Meeting.
D. Website updates
The list of member libraries and accompanying map need to be updated, along with the printable bookmark (PDF). Both Evangelical (listed on bookmark but not web page) and Missio closed their libraries when their parent institutions joined Kairos University. Greg is acting as interim website manager and will remove Missio from the Member Libraries web page. Shaelagh offered to update the bookmark.
5. Announcements/updates
Christina noted that New Brunswick Th. Seminary is hiring for a half-time position.
Victoria adjourned the meeting at 2:44.
Respectfully submitted,
Greg Murray
SEPTLA Executive Committee Meeting
February 28, 2023 11 a.m.
Attendees: Vic Broberg, Patrick Milas, Myka Kennedy Stephens, Greg Murray, Jim Humble, and Sarah Danser
Absent: Christina Geuther and Evelyn Frangakis
Greg called the meeting to order at 11:04 a.m.
Approval of Minutes from from Jan. 11 Exec Comm meeting
Revised minutes were presented and approved.
Approval of Minutes from Feb. 9 Exec Comm meeting
Revised minutes were presented and approved.
Letter re. Fall Meeting discussion of CDL
The EC collaborated to finalize the letter’s language. The motion to send the letter passed.
Possible host for Spring Meeting: Cairn
Greg reported that Stephanie from Cairn has offered to host. He will follow up about possible dates.
Program for Spring Meeting
Greg reported that he forwarded comments from the fall meeting survey re. program ideas to Evelyn. Jim Humble reported the Continuing Education Committee has not met since the last E.C. meeting.
Slack channel for Exec. Comm.
Greg noted low use of #executive-committee Slack channel and asked for clarity on its intentions. Myka said that any SEPTLA member can see any of the channels, so there’s nothing confidential in the setup. If confidentiality is a concern, the setup can be adjusted. It was decided to keep the Executive Committee channel open for communication from all members. It was also decided to forgo use of an E.C. Business (E.C. members only) channel in Slack.
Website update
Greg requested that the Officers page be updated to show vacancies for Treasurer and Research Services IG Chair. Myka made the update during the meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 11:59 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Milas
SEPTLA Executive Committee Meeting
February 28, 2023 11 a.m.
Attendees: Vic Broberg, Patrick Milas, Myka Kennedy Stephens, Greg Murray, Jim Humble, and Sarah Danser
Absent: Christina Geuther and Evelyn Frangakis
Greg called the meeting to order at 11:04 a.m.
Approval of Minutes from from Jan. 11 Exec Comm meeting
Revised minutes were presented and approved.
Approval of Minutes from Feb. 9 Exec Comm meeting
Revised minutes were presented and approved.
Letter re. Fall Meeting discussion of CDL
The EC collaborated to finalize the letter’s language. The motion to send the letter passed.
Possible host for Spring Meeting: Cairn
Greg reported that Stephanie from Cairn has offered to host. He will follow up about possible dates.
Program for Spring Meeting
Greg reported that he forwarded comments from the fall meeting survey re. program ideas to Evelyn. Jim Humble reported the Continuing Education Committee has not met since the last E.C. meeting.
Slack channel for Exec. Comm.
Greg noted low use of #executive-committee Slack channel and asked for clarity on its intentions. Myka said that any SEPTLA member can see any of the channels, so there’s nothing confidential in the setup. If confidentiality is a concern, the setup can be adjusted. It was decided to keep the Executive Committee channel open for communication from all members. It was also decided to forgo use of an E.C. Business (E.C. members only) channel in Slack.
Website update
Greg requested that the Officers page be updated to show vacancies for Treasurer and Research Services IG Chair. Myka made the update during the meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 11:59 a.m.
Respectfully submitted, Patrick Milas
SEPTLA Executive Committee Meeting
February 9, 2023 11 a.m.
Attendees: Vic Broberg, Patrick Milas, Evelyn Frangakis, Myka Kennedy Stephens, Greg Murray, Jim Humble, and Sarah Danser.
Absent: Christina Geuther
Greg called the meeting to order at 11:04 a.m.
Approval of Minutes from last two meetings
Minutes of the 9/19/22 meeting were approved as distributed and amended.
Approval of minutes of the 1/11/23 meeting is postponed until the next meeting.
Letter re. Fall Meeting discussion of CDL
The E.C. discussed how minutes for meetings that address sensitive topics may best be handled. Ideas included redacting minutes, a separate record of discussion, and retaining a copy of the letter drafted. Greg wondered if we should consider changing the long-standing practice of including Exec Comm minutes in the newsletter. Patrick asked whether this practice is required by the bylaws. Greg later checked and found that indeed the inclusion of Exec Comm minutes in the newsletter is specified in the bylaws.
Greg suggested Patrick draft the separate record of discussion to go to the Google drive or archive. Patrick agreed.
For public minutes Patrick will indicate the EC discussed the survey feedback further.
Vacancy for Treasurer
Greg asked if we should have an interim between now and the spring meeting? Patrick said that we should be able to carry on without a treasurer for now. Let us consider the new library director at St. Tikhon’s. Patrick will reach out.
Vacancy for additional member of Continuing Education Committee
The bylaws call for a chair and three members. We have a chairperson, Evelyn, and two members (not including James Humble as member-at-large). Greg pointed out that another member will be welcome. Nominations can come from Continuing Education or the E.C.
Letter re. Fall Meeting discussion of CDL (continued)
Greg introduced the topic that we have two letters. Patrick asked that the first letter draft be scrapped in favor of Greg’s. Myka who was not present asked not to sign. Evelyn asked about whether a different draft could garner approval of the E.C. as a whole.
Patrick asked about taking the matter back to the general membership. Greg thought people who wanted to add should have done so in the survey response.
Folks thought a vote by the majority would suffice for the E.C. to send the letter.
Vic thought a Bylaws change about panelists could be better. Greg pointed out that such a change would require a vote by the general membership.
Greg was hesitant to call for a vote until a fresh version of a letter is ready. Greg will prepare a Google document to carry this matter forward. And plan to have an E.C. meeting to vote on, especially for those who were present.
Host for Spring Meeting
Greg: let’s all consider a host. We can send a note to the mailing list. Thanks go to Vic for looking into Reformed Episcopal hosting.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 12:01 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Milas
SEPTLA Executive Committee Meeting
January 11, 2023 11 a.m.
Attendees: Evelyn Frangakis, Christina Geuther, Greg Murray, Myka Kennedy Stephens, Patrick Milas, Vic Broberg, Jim Humble, Sarah Danser and Myka Kennedy Stephens
Greg called the meeting to order at 11:05 a.m.
Approval of Minutes from last meeting
Deferred due to the minutes not having been distributed yet.
Fall Meeting
Patrick shared the results of the fall 2022 survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-5tSCqmp9TUWcUMfQ3JbTpw_3D_3D/
There were 9 responses.
A comment in the survey suggested asking Presbyterian Historical Society to join SEPTLA; Greg noted that he had already reached out to PHS recently, but they declined to join SEPTLA at this time.
Sarah suggested comparing the results of surveys from recent years.
Jim offered to document the surveys for the archives. Patrick will share the data accordingly.
Greg thanked the Continuing Education committee for their efforts putting together the program and inviting Michelle Wu.
The committee discussed the results of the survey, including the free-text comments, particularly the comments about the open discussion of CDL that followed Michelle Wu’s presentation.
Positions
Greg: We now have a vacancy for Treasurer; the E.C. appoints an interim person for Treasurer. Think about it for our next meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 11:59 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Milas
