ARLIS/NA Research Committee annual meeting
March 6, 1998

Our discussion focused on the awards process during the last year and work
to be done for 1998-99.  The application process went smoothly for the most
part; the deadlines seem to be working.  It was agreed that committee
members must plan to nominate candidates for the Worldwide Publication
award, since so few applications are received.  Solicitations for award
applicants were placed on ARLIS-L, VRA-L and in the Update column.  We
agreed that it is also important to reach chapter officers, through
Chapter-L, so that they can announce the awards at chapter meetings.  A
natural limitation on extensive publicity is that applicants must be
ARLIS/NA members.  Since the strategic plan suggests publicizing the awards
as a benefit of membership, we agreed to discuss this with the Membership
Committee in the coming year.

We continue to look for ways to publicize the awards program and the
recipients more extensively.  A history of past award winners was loaded
onto the ARLIS/NA web site and this year award-winning publications were
displayed outside the exhibits area.  It was suggested that vendors who
fund the awards might be willing to display both the award guidelines as
well as the winning titles.

The committee is also charged with providing members information about
grants and other funding sources in addition to our research funds.  We
will continue to devote our fall Update column to this topic but will also
develop a session proposal for next year on how to publish the results of
research, particularly in professional journals.  In addition, we would
like to publicize other grant sources such as those listed in the Chronicle
of Higher Education.

Submitted by Amanda Bowen