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

https://www.google.com/maps/place/7301+Germantown+Ave,+Philadelphia,+PA+19119/@40.0617485,-75.1907886,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c6b9a2c0e2945d:0xcd93c9b71212a10c!8m2!3d40.0617485!4d-75.1907886!16s%2Fg%2F11b8vdmnqz?entry=ttu

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

On April 25, our Spring Meeting will be held at Cairn University in Langhorne. The Continuing Education committee is preparing a program with topics of direct interest and practical use to many of our member libraries. I look forward to seeing you there, either in person or online. As always, the biannual meetings provide a unique opportunity in the region to gather with fellow theological librarians for mutual support and interesting conversations within a welcoming and collegial community. Please see the meeting invitation for details.

Please note that we have multiple leadership opportunities opening up within SEPTLA, all of which will be voted on at the Spring Meeting:

• President (one-year term)
• Secretary (one-year term)
• Treasurer (four-year term)

Nominations and self-nominations are equally welcome. I highly recommend volunteering, or accepting a nomination, for one of these roles, which include serving on the Executive Committee. Such service to SEPTLA is not only worthwhile and gratifying but also an excellent way to gain practical committee experience and gain leadership skills that will be beneficial for the remainder of your career.

Note in particular that serving as president doesn’t require previous service on Executive Committee. Ample support is built in to the SEPTLA leadership structure,  including the fact that the outgoing president serves in the official capacity of past president, thereby providing assistance, guidance and institutional memory along with the rest of the Executive Committee.

This issue of TeamWork is my last as president of SEPTLA. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve the SEPTLA community in this capacity for the last two years.

With all best wishes,
Greg

Gregory Murray
Princeton Theological Seminary
April 13, 2023

You Are Invited

SEPTLA Spring Meeting 2023

Tuesday, April 25

Cairn University (in person and virtual)

Please see the full meeting invitation for details.

Business Meeting Minutes

SEPTLA Fall Meeting 2022
November 11, 2022
Wright Library, Princeton Theological Seminary

The meeting was called to order at 2:47 by Greg Murray (Princeton Th. Seminary), SEPTLA president.

Approval of minutes from Spring 2022 business meeting

One correction was made online. Motion to approve minutes as distributed and amended passed by acclamation.

Treasurer’s Report

Greg reported on behalf of Deanna Roberts (New Brunswick Th. Seminary), SEPTLA treasurer. The previous treasurer has been removed from the SEPTLA accounts. Patrick Milas (New Brunswick Th. Seminary), SEPTLA past president, is already on the accounts. Greg and Deanna have been added to the accounts. Balances: Money Market $8,798.73, Checking $3,766.07

Deanna has created an online ledger – a Google spreadsheet in the SEPTLA Google Drive – which will preserve the data digitally and make it searchable. Currently the data goes through April 2018; subsequent time period still to be added.

Committee Reports

Continuing Education Committee: Victoria Jesswein (United Lutheran Seminary) and James Humble (St. Charles Borromeo Seminary) reported on behalf of Evelyn Frangakis (Princeton Th. Seminary), chair of the Continuing Education Committee. Jim thanked his colleagues for a great job. There is still one vacancy on the committee. The bylaws call for three members plus the chair. Victoria asked everyone to consider topics for future meetings and provide suggestions to the committee. This question is also on the post-event survey that Patrick will send out.

Communications Committee: No updates at this time.

Task Force Reports

Jim reminded everyone that there is a task force to digitize the SEPTLA paper archives. Jim, who is SEPTLA archivist, is chairing, and Greg has offered to help. Other volunteers are welcome. Work on this project has not yet begun.

Interest Group Reports

Cataloging and Metadata Interest Group: Report given by Vic Broberg (Reformed Episcopal Seminary), chair. The group discussed serials, including how to best use funds based on use, etc. Publisher embargos for online titles; would rather get print and online (to bypass embargo) instead of paying for unused popular magazines. Difficulties with reporting for statistics which don’t match up with what’s requested.

Research Services Interest Group: Patrick reported on behalf of Deanna Roberts, chair. The group reaffirmed Deanna as chair. Ongoing project in Virtual Reference, with Sep-Oct-Nov 2023 as potential trial of VR software LibraryH3lp.

Institutional Updates

Greg called attention to the need for written updates from member libraries. Please send to Greg or to Sarah Danser (Princeton Th. Seminary), SEPTLA secretary. This will ensure accuracy of your institutional update.

United Lutheran Seminary: Victoria Jesswein: United Lutheran Seminary has had many staff changes. We have just hired a new Public Services Librarian at the Philadelphia campus. At the same time, our longtime Cataloging Librarian has retired. The Temporary Processing Archivist at the Philadelphia campus has been there over 3 months now is handling the task of tackling that largely unprocessed collection admirably. The Library Director position is being finalized and will be posted soon. In the meantime, Robert Flynn is serving as Interim Library Administrator. Cody Swisher (Librarian) and Victoria Jesswein (Archivist) remain the staff at the Gettysburg Campus and are helped by student workers.

Missio Seminary: Shaelagh Martin: At Missio Seminary, many classes have remained online, although professors are encouraged to offer hybrid sessions. As a result, the library is increasingly focusing on connecting remotely with students. Although fall enrollment numbers were encouraging, the seminary is under financial strain and all departments, including the library, have been asked to make significant budgets cuts.

St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary: Brian Cardell: St. Tikhon's library once again has a full-time librarian as of Jan. 2022. We are open normally for in-person visits 0830-1630 M-F, and other times by prior arrangement. Access to the OPAC can be gained externally through a link on the seminary's web page. ILL is available only for SEPTLA-network institutions, and requires direct communication with us.

Westminster Theological Seminary: Bob McInnes: Experiencing budget problems. While our online enrollment is increasing, our on-campus enrollment is decreasing. This is problematic for the library, as on-campus students pay fees that online students do not pay, and these fees go toward financing library operations.

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: Alan LaPayover: Enrollment steady. Almost completely back in person, a few holdouts. Still virtual classes on Mondays, on campus Tue-Thu. Staffing changes throughout college. Self-study portion of Middle States accreditation is beginning. Final implementation of new curriculum. Next year first real cohort of students doing fieldwork away from the college. VP of Academic Affairs just finished 1st year and reaffirmed commitment to library and raising its profile; good working relationship. Completed early summer implementation of OpenAthens – seamless and pleased with EBSCO’s participation in helping them through that. Has begun looking into switch from SirsiDynix to WMS. Contract with SirsiDynix finished in 2 more years – very expensive. Already using pieces of OCLC for other things – might be best choice for them, but asked for advice from other members on WMS.

Reformed Episcopal Seminary: Vic Broberg: Approved by ATS and PA Dept. of Ed. to not only offer classes online, but approval to continue to offer online. Now offering two MA programs online only; MDiv prefer one year be residential. Brings in students from different locations, and helps with enrollment numbers. Students are excited.

Princeton Theological Seminary: Report by Greg with help from Virginia Dearborn on behalf of Evelyn Frangakis: PTS announced a new incoming president: Jonathan Walton, a two-time alumnus of PTS (MDiv and PhD) and former member of Board of Trustees. He starts at beginning of calendar year. He will be the first African American and first non-Presbyterian president. Starting 2 new programs: MA in Theology and Ecology, and MA in Theology (Justice and Public Life). Center for Barth Studies recently celebrated 25 years. PTS starting overall website redesign (last redesign was 2016), migration to new platform and including library website. We’ve been using CraftCMS – a niche platform, hard to find developers to support. Coming soon: tighter integration between Sierra catalog and Summon discovery system.

New Brunswick Theological Seminary: Patrick Milas: Library is home to Reformed Church in America archives. Seeking an archivist; position is open another five days, but search going well. Going to get a dumbwaiter again; has been broken for 4 years. Looking forward to 150th anniversary in 2025. Got out of offsite storage. Migrated LMS (Brightspace), SIS (Campus Cafe), upgraded ILS to latest version of TLC. Until August, library was open only to NBTS community, had ~50 users in a month. September hit 500, now 200+ per week – Rutgers undergrads using library for study space. Services geared toward seminary students, but “inundated” with Rutgers students because surrounded. Crowding out the population that will use the resources. Rutgers had largest freshman class in history.

Cairn University: Stephanie Kaceli: Cairn University went live on FOLIO hosted by EBSCO on June 28, 2022. Things are going well. We are in the midst of implementing RapidILL which will complement our RESHARE implementation in June 2021. In addition, the final phase of the library renovation was completed this fall. Our usage has been up over 300% compared to FA18.

Clarks Summit University: Sharon Gardoski:

• The Murphy Memorial Library at Clarks Summit University is back to full operations and activities on campus. It is good to see more students using the library again. We have begun working on the Middle States Self-Study process.
• This year we began promoting our newly created Murphy Memorial LibGuide to assist students in finding and using library resources. We are also updating our Staff LibGuide with detailed procedures for all tasks. We started using student Team Leaders to train new student staff and manage some library projects.
• This fall, we added Business Source Premier to our library databases to support the growing business program, and we made the transition from self-hosted EZproxy to hosted. This not only makes it easier for students to access databases off campus, but it also provides support from outside our school and takes that burden off our IT department.
• Pastors and professors donated quality commentaries, Bibles, and theology books to our library which we sold at a fall book sale. Alumni, pastors, and students were thrilled to get inexpensive resources for their ministries, donors were pleased that their books will be used, and sale proceeds will be used to purchase new books and ebooks for the library.
• Ongoing projects include identifying outdated books for discarding, copying chapel messages from the 1980s from cassettes to mp3, and making our students’ dissertations discoverable in the online catalog.

Conclusion

Greg thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting at 3:35.

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Danser

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. 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,
T. 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.

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,
T. 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,
T. Patrick Milas