News

The USAIN Bylaws Committee is moving forward on a handful of changes to the USAIN Bylaws (https://usain.org/Fullbylaws).  The Bylaws were last revised in 2016.  This year we need to make some grammatical changes and modifications to officer and nominations and elections to align our Bylaws with the USAIN Procedures and Rules (https://usain.org/P-and-R) and with current practice.

There are 8 proposed amendments:

• Article I. Section 2. The amendment is proposed to correct punctuation.

• Article II. Section 3. – The amendment is to add a date for the establishment of Land Grant Universities.
• Article III. Section 1. The amendment is proposed to simply punctuation.
• Article IV. Section 1. – Removal of “disability or withdrawal” as the conditions in which the President is unable to serve. This will allow for more flexibility if transfer of duties to the President-Elect is ever needed.
• Article IV. Section 5. The amendment is proposed to correct punctuation.
• Article VII. Section 1. The amendment is proposed to correct punctuation.
• Article IX. Section 1 and 2. Clarifies language around nominations and elections. We are recommending the removal of geographic and membership category distribution, as this has limited the committee in the past, although we recognize that it is a good practice to follow. In addition, we are not always able to recruit a full slate for each open position, so we have added “strive to” to Section  

These proposed amendments have been approved by the voting members of the USAIN Executive Council, so we are now sharing the proposed amendments with the entire USAIN membership.  The amendments will be discussed and voted on during the Business Meeting at the upcoming USAIN Virtual Conference, so please review the amendments before then.  If the amendments are approved by a majority vote during the Business Meeting, they will be submitted to the entire voting membership for a final decision via electronic ballot.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact either member of the USAIN Bylaws Committee. The document with proposed changes was shared on the USAIN-L listserv. 

Respectfully,

USAIN Bylaws Committee

Kristen Mastel, Chair

Noel Kopriva 

Hello,

We hope that everyone is safe and healthy. Here is the Spring 2020 newsletter. We hope you enjoy it and if you have any suggestions for future newsletters please let us know!

Kristen C

On behalf of the communications committee

USAIN newsletter 4_13_20.pdf

Congratulations to the winners of the election! Additionally, thank you to everyone who ran and the USAIN Nominations and Elections Committee (Kristen Mastel (Chair), Melody Royster and Sarah Williams).

President-elect: Megan Kocher

Secretary: Suzie Teghtmeyer

Directors:  Kristen Cooper, Kyrille (Kiri) DeBose, Jodee Kuden, and Lorrie Pellack (will fill Megan Kocher's term for one year)

Once again, congratulations!

Thanks to all who considered the call to serve on the planning committee of the USAIN2020 Virtual Conference.  Several of you offered to serve and I am sure we will use you in some capacity as the planning progresses.  At this time, the USAIN2020 Virtual Conference Planning Committee is being formed and will be announced shortly.

For all those who registered for the USAIN2020 Conference at Texas Tech, a decision has been made to give a full refund of the conference registration.

Registrants and all others are then invited to submit a separate registration to the USAIN2020 Virtual Conference, that includes a bonus pre-conference on systematic reviews, at a total price of $150.00 for USAIN members and $185.00 for non-USAIN members.

After full consultations with our speakers and presenters, I am pleased to announce that the USAIN2020 Virtual Conference will be held the week of July 20, 2020.  The Ohio State University Libraries and the University of Minnesota Libraries have stepped forward to serve as co-facilitators of the USAIN2020 Virtual Conference. We also fully intend to recognize Texas Tech as the designated host of this year’s conference.

On behalf of the USAIN Executive Council and USAIN members, I want to acknowledge the incredible amount of hard work by the conference planning teams and committees at Texas Tech, and from within USAIN, together with all the speakers, vendors, exhibitors, friends, partners, and colleagues who have done so much behind the scenes in preparation for this year’s conference, and are lending their expertise and support to this new virtual format

Stay tuned!  We are so close!  Thanks for your patience, we expect to begin refunds next week and at the same time start registrations to the USAIN2020 Virtual Conference.

Sincerely,

Claudine

The Nominations and Elections Committee presents the slate of candidates for President-Elect, Secretary, and three Directors to serve on the USAIN Executive Council. Please take some time to review the candidates’ biographies and personal statements prior to receiving your personal link to the electronic election ballot next week. We thank all who are standing for election, as well as those who considered it.

USAIN2020CandidatesCompleteList_20200305.pdf

Respectfully,
Kristen Mastel
Sarah Williams
Melody Royster
USAIN Nominations & Elections Committee

Dear USAIN members and conference attendees,

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta issued a statement about the likelihood that the coronavirus will spread in the United States.  They are not currently able to say how far the disease will spread, and it is unclear how federal, state and local authorities will react in the weeks to come.

The USAIN Executive Council and our conference hosts at Texas Tech University are monitoring the situation with regard to our April conference in Lubbock.  As of this writing, we are continuing with our plans for the conference from April 26-29, which will feature pre-conferences, invited speakers, breakout sessions, posters, cornhole, learning the two-step, and much more.  

While our biennial conference is the highlight of our year and a wonderful opportunity for all of us to meet and exchange ideas, it is also important that we act in the best interests of everyone’s health, well-being and safety.  We will continue to monitor the situation in conjunction with the leadership at Texas Tech and any relevant local officials, and we will keep you updated periodically on our plans if anything changes as the April conference date draws near.

The CDC is the definitive authority on disease monitoring and on guidance regarding domestic and international travel.  So far it is international travel that is being contained at higher education institutions with advisories to limit participation in study abroad programs to and from specific countries.  We are watching for any advisories that apply to domestic travel in the United States beyond the standard precautions for preventing the spread of coronavirus that are similar to those used for colds and flu.  So far, the USAIN2020 Conference is a go!

If you have questions, you may direct them to the Texas Tech conference co-chairs, Innocent Awasum and Jack Becker or the USAIN Conference co-chairs, Kristen Mastel and Melody Royster.

Sincerely,

Claudine Jenda & 

USAIN Executive Committee 

The USAIN Nominations and Elections Committee invites nominations for the positions of President, Secretary, and Director.  Please consider nominating yourself or someone you recommend for one or more of these positions.  The committee will reach out to nominees for confirmation.

• The USAIN President has a three-year cycle (President-Elect, President, and Past President) and is typically someone who has past or current experience serving on the USAIN Executive Council.

• The USAIN Secretary serves a two-year term, starting on June 1, 2020, with the possibility of running for an additional term.

• There are three Director positions to fill.  Each Director serves a two-year term, starting on June 1, 2020, with the possibility of running for an additional term.  A Director position provides an excellent opportunity to get involved and see how the organization works.

Please refer to the USAIN Bylaws (https://usain.org/Fullbylaws) and Procedures and Rules (https://usain.org/P-and-R) for additional details about the responsibilities of these positions.

Please email your nominations to Kristen Mastel (meye0539@umn.edu) by January 24, 2020.  The election will open in March/April 2020.

We encourage you to nominate yourself or a colleague for these positions.  USAIN’s success depends on members who are willing to take active leadership roles, and new leaders are welcome!  We also hope you will agree to become a candidate if nominated to run. Feel free to contact me or the other committee members with questions.

Hello everyone!

The communications committee is pleased to share the first of our newsletters with you. We hope that you enjoy it and if you have any suggestions for future content please let us know!

USAIN newsletter 11_19_2019.pdf

The USAIN Awards Committee is pleased to announce we are now accepting applications and nominations for our biennial conference scholarships and awards. The USAIN 2020 conference will be held April 26-30, 2020 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.  The deadline for applications and nominations is January 15, 2020. 

Scholarships are to be applied to the costs of attending the USAIN 2020 conference is available to agricultural/science librarians in the following categories:

• Graduate Students (one $1000 scholarship)

• Members New to USAIN or Agricultural Information (two $1000 scholarships)

• Librarians Representing HBCU Land Grant Universities (one $2000 scholarship)

The committee is also accepting nominations for the following awards:

• Service to the Profession Award: This award is designated for USAIN members who have demonstrated leadership in advancing the field of agricultural information and who have established new directions or visions for the field.

• Honorary Membership Award: Honorary Memberships are given to individuals who are not members of USAIN, but who have been either an outstanding individual in the field of agricultural information or who have provided outstanding service and support to the Network.

Scholarship application and award nomination information can be found at the links above.  The deadline for applications and nominations is January 15, 2020.  Scholarship recipients will be notified by January 31, 2020.

The USAIN website has been updated with hotel and registration information for budgeting your trip to the 17th USAIN Biennial Conference in Lubbock, Texas hosted by Texas Tech University Libraries from April 26-30, 2020.  

The Hyatt Place Hotel at 2309 Mac Davis Lane will also offer the conference rate of $129/night. The hotel is located directly across the street from the Overton Hotel.

Other hotels in the area are the Holiday Inn Express Lubbock Central - Univ Area at 2115 Marsha Sharp Fwy and Courtyard by Marriot Lubbock Downtown/University at 308 Avenue V, Lubbock, TX.

The full conference registration fee will include the following:

• Registration
• Sunday night reception
• Monday breakfast, lunch and 2 breaks
• Tuesday breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 breaks
• Wednesday breakfast, lunch and 1 break

Registration will open in late 2019.

• USAIN or IFLA Member Registration - $350
• Non – USAIN Member Registration - $400
• Student Registration - $150
• One Day Registration - $175
• Exhibitor Registration - $600

Pre-conference and tour cost information will be posted when registration opens.

The conference will be followed by the Agricultural Network Information Collaborative (AgNIC) Annual meeting, April 29-30, 2020. You may register for both USAIN and AgNIC together or register for only the AgNIC Annual Meeting.

• AgNIC Annual Conference PLUS USAIN Member Registration - $500
• AgNIC Annual Conference ONLY (April 29-30) - $125