RMRT (Retired Members Round Table)

MINUTES
Retired Members Round Table Board Meeting
Sunday, June 26, 4pm
Georgetown University ROOM, Marquis Marriott Hotel
Members present Chair Nancy M. Bolt; Past Chair Ms. Nann Blaine Hilyard; Secretary Ann Marie Pipkin; Round Table
Councilor Mr. Aaron W. Dobbs; Staff Liaison Danielle M. Ponton; and Directors Naomi Angier, Kay A. Cassell, and
members Pat Hoffman, Ma’lis Wendt, Dorcas Hand and Louise Sherby.
The agenda was reviewed and approved and the last minutes were unofficially approved. Nancy announced that the
RMRT membership is 346 including 20 new members and that the RMRT 2021 budget was $28,816.00 and the 2022
budget is $33,874.00. She also reported that ALA is OK financially. The fiscal year starts in September, but many reports
have not been filed giving an unclear picture.
Naomi reported that the RoundTable Coordinating Assembly liked the RMRT bylaws. The Big Question on the table is
what to charge for dues. There was discussion that all round tables should have a fee structure that gives retired
members a break charging retirees only $5 RT dues. This would decimate our dues collection as RMRT presently charges
$20. It was suggested that RMRT could charge a special fee to supplement the $5 dues as a work around the set dues
fee. Naomi is the liaison to the RTCA for the next year.
Dorcas Hand is the recipient of the Norman Horrocks Award for 2022. The Gadfly Award still needs more paperwork to
get it on the ALA Award page.
The Reading Group meets after the Board meeting in the same room. The Next 5th Sunday RMRT Book Club meets July
31st
.
Nann is liaison to FTRF. The Freedom to Read Foundation continues its work on defending book challenges giving 6
Banned Book grants and 6 partial scholarships to attend a training of Intellectual Freedom in San Jose. Nancy reported
on the 9
th principle that the Committee on Professional Ethics is expanding to define it fully to include ableism, ageism,
and sexism. The EDI Assembly will include accessibility. Dorcas Hand reported on the National Voter Registration
activities of the Committee on Library Advocacy (COLA), the Advocacy Workbook and the Eco-system toolkit. Dorcas will
continue to represent RMRT on COLA.
The Nominating Committee is looking for a treasurer and one or two directors. Naomi is director for another year. Nancy
is the chair of the nominating committee for next year.
Small Round Table Councilor Aaron Dobbs reported on the Forward Together initiative in ALA specifically the discussion
of ALA not meeting in cities/states where abortion is illegal. This is just a discussion so far because in ALA everything is
flexible.
New Business
Nancy reported that Mary Ellen Minichiello is the liaison to EDI for one more year. Thomas Kaun is the new liaison to
COPE for two years.
The remaining ALA RMRT Conference activities were announced – Book Club Discussion and Chair’s Program
The Webinar on non-financial planning for retirement is still in the works Kay Cassell, Nancy,and Tom Kaum will work on
this.
We need a follow-up on the planned trip to New York suggested by Rocco Staino last meeting. Rocco was not able to
make the ALA annual conference at the last minute.
Ma’lis will clarify the assistant treasurer position and term, and she and Nancy will review the content on the RMRT
website to make sure that it is complete. We need a liaison to the ALA Membership Committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:04 pm with a 5 minute break before convening for the Book Discussion.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Marie Pipkin
RMRT Secretary