Southeast Chapter Annual Report 2023

submitted by Laura Williams

Current Roster

  • Grover Baker, Vice Chair-Chair Elect (2023)
  • Sarah Griffin, Member-at-Large (2023)
  • Amanda Scott, Secretary-Treasurer (2023)
  • Christia Thomason, Member-at-Large (2024)
  • Laura Williams, Chair (2023)

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  • 1. Transition the SEMLA webpage to a WordPress environment
    • Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year; Strategic Planning Goal 2.4 Support members working in various disciplines within an organization that also includes aspects of music librarianship. 
    • Work on this goal would establish a more secure and professional forum for member communication, and would provide important information about the mission and activities of the chapter, benefiting new and student members as well as those working in a variety of disciplines. This goal is contingent on the successful completion of the MLA WordPress migration.
    • Description of overall progress: MLA completed the implementation of the SEMLA WordPress site in the summer of 2023. Since that time, our website editor Jacob Schaub has recreated the content of our pages on the new web platform and has crafted new pages for our upcoming Annual Meeting.
  • 2. Bring SEMLA Oral Histories project up-to-date with additional interviews.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year.
    • This initiative would help to preserve institutional history, foster cohesion among members, and to share this aspect of member information through our online chapter newsletter, Breve Notes.
    • Description of overall progress: Progress on this goal has been suspended for the time being because of a vacancy in the position of Breve Notes editor.
  • 3. Review the “Music Collections of the Southeast” listings on the SEMLA website, assessing the audience and information needs provided by this resource, and how we might reshape it accordingly once the SEMLA website migration is accomplished.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year; Strategic Planning Goal 2.4 Support members working in various disciplines within an organization that also includes aspects of music librarianship.
    • This has been a useful resource for sharing collection profiles among chapter members, and also providing information to an external audience.  However, it has been many years since it has been updated, and would benefit from a re-evaluation of its audience and use to determine the most effective approach to re-vamping the resource and re-shaping it in ways that will meet current needs and interests.
    • Description of overall progress: Web Editor Jacob Schaub completed the first phase of this process when the newly-created SEMLA WordPress website went live in summer 2023, migrating “Music Collections of the Southeast” listings and stripping away outdated information for individual entries.  While the first phase of the website migration has been largely completed, this more complicated step of updating the listings will be revisited in the coming years alongside a more thorough review of their contents.
  • 4. Explore options for hybrid meetings; host the first SEMLA hybrid Annual Meeting in October 2022.  In addition to identifying the technology needed, we are committed to assessing the results of this meeting, modifying our approach accordingly and establishing some best practices for hybrid meetings.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 3.5 Prioritize accessibility at all MLA events; Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year; Strategic Planning Goal 2.4: Support members working in various disciplines within an organization that also includes aspects of music librarianship. 
    • Realizing this goal will enable us to provide broader and more equitable access to SEMLA meetings.  We recognize that many people who work in the field of music librarianship or related fields may not be able to attend our meetings in person because of a variety of issues including, but not limited to, health and accessibility reasons, lack of funding, and work/family conflicts; we would like to put our meetings in reach of anyone who would like to connect with the activities of our chapter.
    • Description of overall progress: We hosted a successful hybrid Annual Meeting in October 2022, enabling attendees and presenters to join in person at Florida State University in Tallahassee or virtually via Zoom using a Meeting Owl to help seamlessly connect virtual and in-person participants.  Because the Owl created a satisfying conference experience for the 2022 meeting, we have opted to employ this technology again for our 2023 Annual Meeting at Emory University in Atlanta, and have tested the system in advance based on the parameters that we learned were most important during the 2022 meeting. We have also begun discussions regarding an appropriate and fair registration fee for virtual attendance.
  • 5. Explore options for digital voting.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 3.5 Prioritize accessibility at all MLA events; Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year.
    • We amended chapter Bylaws in 2021 to allow for digital voting options.  This would enable members to vote anonymously and would be a means of making voting more accessible to all of our members.  We have begun investigating digital voting tools that would meet our needs and plan to implement a digital voting system for our October 2022 election.
    • Description of overall progress: We tested several commercially available electronic voting systems to identify one that provided a user-friendly and accessible interface and intuitive process for voters, an efficient back-end system for creating and managing ballots, and a means for voters to cast ballots anonymously.  We chose to use a product called ElectionBuddy which met all of these benchmarks, and we have successfully used this for our 2022 officer election, for a Best-of-Chapters vote, and also for proposed Constitution changes. We asked members at our interim business meeting in March 2023 about their experience with the electronic voting system for the officer election and received feedback that people especially appreciated the ease and anonymity of the process.
  • 6. Review onboarding documents for new SEMLA officers and the calendar for chapter officer activities.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 4.3: Develop and/or formalize on-boarding for new members, new committee members, and committee chairs.
    • Reviewing and refining these documents will improve our ability to onboard new members, as well as providing information helpful to all officers to understand the expectations, timeline, and interdependencies of chapter work throughout the year.
    • Description of overall progress: The review of documents is underway, but has not been completed.

List of Future Goals

  • 1. Establish structure for digital-only voting.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 3.5 Prioritize accessibility at all MLA events,in-person and virtual, and in all MLA virtual spaces; Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year.
    • Governing documents currently do not allow for digital-only voting. The SEMLA Board will draft amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws which would enable us to conduct digital-only votes.
  • 2. Amend governing documents.  The SEMLA Board will edit Governing Documents to correct errors and ambiguities that have been identified so that communication about policies and processes are clear to the officers and the membership.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 4. Strengthen Communication. Refine and improve intraorganizational and external communications.
    • Voting to amend the SEMLA Constitution is currently underway and will end on September 27.
  • 3. Review the “Music Collections of the Southeast” listings on the SEMLA website, assessing the audience and information needs provided by this resource, and how we might reshape it accordingly once the SEMLA website migration is accomplished.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year; Strategic Planning Goal 2.4 Support individuals involved with various disciplines within an organization that also includes aspects of music librarianship, including, but not limited to, members of the Association.
    • This has been a useful resource for sharing collection profiles among chapter members, and also providing information to an external audience.  However, it has been many years since it has been updated, and would benefit from a re-evaluation of its audience and use to determine the most effective approach to re-vamping the resource and re-shaping it in ways that will meet current needs and interests. The completion of the MLA WordPress transition in the summer of 2023 enabled our web editor Jacob Schaub to complete the first phase of the website migration, but the more complicated steps of updating the listings will be revisited in the coming years alongside a more thorough review of their contents.
  • 4. Review onboarding documents for new SEMLA officers and the calendar for chapter officer activities.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 4.3: Develop and/or formalize on-boarding for new members, new committee members, and committee chairs. Incorporate current DEIA efforts into this training.
    • Reviewing and refining these documents will improve our ability to onboard new members, as well as providing information helpful to all officers to understand the expectations, timeline, and interdependencies of chapter work throughout the year.
  • 5. Explore options for and viability of hybrid preconference workshops.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 3.5 Prioritize accessibility at all MLA events, in-person and virtual, and in all MLA virtual spaces; Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Explore educational and networking opportunities beyond annual and chapter conferences. Sustain member contact throughout the year. Formalize more opportunities to meet virtually and more frequently; Strategic Planning Goal 2.4: Support individuals involved with various disciplines within an organization that also includes aspects of music librarianship, including, but not limited to, members of the Association.
    • Realizing this goal would enable us to provide broader and more equitable access to Preconference Workshops. We recognize that many people who work in the field of music librarianship or related fields may not be able to attend our meetings in person because of a variety of issues including, but not limited to, health and accessibility reasons, lack of funding, and work/family conflicts.  We would especially like to put the Preconference Workshops within easy reach of our target audience of students, those new to the profession, and library staff with music responsibilities who are not primarily music librarians; these are groups that may not be able to attend the SEMLA Annual Meeting, but who might benefit most from this training. Because engagement and mentoring are essential elements of the workshops, we would like to explore ways of maintaining these core qualities in a hybrid environment. We also need to consider and be sensitive to existing training opportunities being offered by MLA, so as not to take potential customers away from those programs.
  • 6. Identify and onboard an editor or co-editors for Breve Notes, SEMLA’s newsletter.
    • Strategic Planning Goal 2.3 Sustain member contact throughout the year. Strategic Planning Goal  2.5 Encourage member retention. Strategic Planning Goal 4.3: Develop and/or formalize on-boarding for new members, new committee members, and committee chairs. Incorporate current DEIA efforts into this training.